Broken Trust

Chapter 2

Rachel

I have to be strong, Camilla needs me, and I won't let her down, but I can't believe what is happening. I have known Scott since we were toddlers, our families being friends and moving in the same circles, but I never imagined he would leave his wife in a moment like this. And I trust Camilla, I can see she is in pain, and what the doctor said. I have to get to the bottom of this.

"Scott Stone, speaking," he answers.

"Why the hell are you not with your wife? Do you even know she is in the hospital right now?" I demand to know.

"Rachel? What did she tell you? Look, never mind, whatever it was, don't believe a word that comes out of her lying mouth," he says, in a tone so cold that it gives me chills.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Look, I don't want others to find out, but Camilla has been cheating on me. I have been warned by several people already, but I refused to believe, until Sharon's party. I walked in on her with one of her lovers," he says, and I don't believe what I'm hearing.

"That's crazy, and not possible. Camilla loves you..."

"I saw her with my f*****g eyes!" he yells at me. "I don't care what she told you, I know what I saw. I have heard rumors, for months, but I refused to believe it, I trusted her, but, I can't argue the truth."

"Didn't it occur to you that you might have misunderstood what you saw?" I try to reason with him.

"No. I know what I saw. I recommend you don't answer her calls. She is persona non grata. We will deal with her, but in the meantime, just, stay out of this," he hangs the call, and I just stare at my phone for a while, not sure what I will tell Camilla.

I never expected Scott to act that way. And what does he mean by being warned already? One of the reasons I left the party early is because I never liked Sharon, nor her crazy obsession with Scott. We come from the world of the rich and fake, but even in that circle, Sharon is the worst. Did she have something to do with all this?

I realize I let my emotions get the best of me. I need to find out what really happened. And for that, I will have to interrogate Camilla, something I hate to do, but that it's inevitable.

I walk back into the room, and find the doctor is already back and, just as she promised, she is taking samples. I watch her take a few hairs and blood, and it seems she collected urine already. I need to find out if there were drugs involved. This will make it easier to convince Scott. And, I hate myself for this, but it will also confirm Camilla's story.

"So, how did you end up here?" I ask, and I see the look in the doctor's face. "I mean, there are other hospitals closer to Sharon's place."

"I know this is not the kind of place you would expect a CEO like her to land, but, my brother Nando brought her here," the doctor explains.

"I met Nando at one of the charities I help, and I got him a job with the catering company that worked at Sharon's party. He told me about his sister's clinic, and I helped with a fundraiser. I'm guessing that has something to do with me ending up here?" Camilla asks.

"As you say, Nando was working at that party," she takes a seat and a deep breath. "He told me that something happened when the party was coming to an end, and that everyone was warned not to go the back of the apartment. He said it sounded weird, as the catering people had no business there, but then, he saw a man running out, he was covered in blood and was coming from the back. Curiosity got the better of him and he went to investigate, and found Camilla in bed, covered in blood."

"Then he should have called 911," I interrupt, because this is not making sense.

"He tried, but the housekeeper told him not to bother, that no one was allowed to get inside, not even the police, and to mind his own business. He was thrown out, but with the help of one of the others in his team he managed to get back inside, and they hid Camilla and got her out. He said he had a feeling they would let her to bleed out rather than to get her help, and since the whole thing felt wrong, he brought her here."

"I think that Sharon was involved in whatever happened. They had no idea about my miscarriage, but maybe they would have preferred to let me die," Camilla says in a tone that worries me, so... detached, as if she is talking about someone else.

"Still, we need to involve the police if there was an assault," I say, and Camilla scoffs.

"You know Mr. Stone is friends with the chief of police. They will just ignore whatever happened. Still, if we can at least have a report," Camilla adds, looking quite pensive. "I have a bad feeling about all this. It feels premeditated, and I'm afraid it was a setup to make me look like the bad guy. They are about to do something drastic, and they need me to be the bad guy."

"We need to start with a complete medical report, let's get those tests done, and I will talk to the police and have a report done." Having something to do makes me feel a little better. "We will start with that, and see what happens."

"She will need to stay at least another day here, after that she will be free to leave. But I don't feel comfortable letting her go alone. She will need someone to keep an eye on her for a few days, and with the whole situation, I worry about her."

"She can stay with me," I say immediately.

"Are you sure," Camilla looks at me, and I can't decipher what she is thinking.

"Of course. I'll be right back, I just have to make a few calls," I say and walk back out. The doctor follows a moment later. "Can I ask a few questions?" I ask her as soon as we get far enough not to be heard from Camilla's room.

"Of course."

"Can you tell me more about Camilla's condition and what happened?" I ask.

"Well, since she said it was okay to share that information with you. What do you need to know?"

"You say that your brother brought her here, and that she was bleeding. What was your first impression?"

"Well, she was delirious, but that's not unheard of in cases of trauma like hers. It never occurred to me to think she had been assaulted, and we were more worried about the bleeding. Miscarriages are often a really straight forward process, sometimes we only have to monitor the process and the body takes care of everything. Sometimes the process doesn't complete on its own and we need to do a curette. Camilla's case was one of the most extreme, because the bleeding was out of control. In cases like that if we don't act fast she has a risk of bleeding out, or if we don't clean it properly, infection can set down and the risks are great."

"Could the attack on her cause all this complication?" I ask for clarification.

"Maybe, maybe not. Like I said, there is no way to know, but it certainly didn't help."

"And what happened after? Did you see signs of her being drugged?"

"She was certainly delirious, and was saying a lot of weird things, she even said someone tried to kill her, but she said she had been pushed from the balcony and other weird stuff. Like I said, trauma, drugs and pain can cause this kind of delusions, it's not something to worry about."

"Will she be okay?"

"I believe so. She is a young, healthy woman, and her body should recover fast. It's her mind that I'm worried about, not because of what I just told you, but, losing a baby, and being rejected by your husband at the same time? This is a really hard thing to process, and it's difficult enough when you have people to comfort you, but alone? I really don't want her to be alone with all this, she will need all the support she can get from her loved ones. And, honestly, when I tried to call her husband, I was really surprised by his response, I don't think it would be healthy for her to go to him right now."

"I'm starting to get the same impression. Don't worry, I will take care of her, and I will find out what happened. She will be safe with me."

"Thank you. She is really a good woman. She has helped my family a lot. What she did for my Nando, and the help she got for this clinic, we owe her a great deal. Whatever we can do to help her, you can count on us."

"Thanks, I appreciate it."

This whole situation doesn't make sense, but I don't know who to turn to. And Scott's words are coming back at me. Someone had already warned him that Camilla has a lover, or lovers? That doesn't make sense, but he seems to believe it. It's hard for me to believe that, but that's something I have to look into. If there is a chance that she was cheating on him, I owe it to him to find the truth and be on his side, but if not, if someone puts those crazy ideas in his head, I owe it to him and our friendship to find the truth and clear the air. They belong together, and it's not possible for them to end their fairy tale story because of a misunderstanding, or a setup.

I will need to go back to the office, I have some cases I have to work on. First, I need the results from Camilla's tests, and then, I will go from there and find out what really happened. If she is telling the truth, and I have a feeling she is, then I will make sure that Sharon, or whomever is responsible for this, pays.