This Story Might Save Your Life(90)
The other door is locked, and we’re left pacing beside the red LAFD paramedic vehicle. The longer we wait, the more people gather on the street to gawk. Finally, finally, the door opens; three blue uniforms roll out a gurney, and there she is, strapped in with an oxygen mask over her face.
“Joy!” I push through the crowd, trying to get close.
“Back away,” an EMT snaps.
“I’m her best friend. Please. Can I come along?”
They shake their heads, but I’m desperate. Her eyes are closed. She’s not moving.
“Please,” I beg. “Please.”
They’re already lifting her into the patient compartment. One EMT, a white man with spiked hair, turns to Gloria, who watches from the concrete steps. Gloria nods, and the EMT gestures for me to get in. I have to sit in the front seat, and can’t see what’s happening in the back, but I’m grateful to be near her as we drive away, siren on.
“How is she?” I ask. “What happened? Is she going to be okay?”
“She’s hemorrhaging,” he says, “but she has a pulse.”
The words are rising dough in my brain, expanding to fill the space until there’s nothing else. Why is she hemorrhaging? A pulse. A pulse means she’s alive. Why is she hemorrhaging?
I ask for more but he concentrates on the road. He turns left through a red light, and then we’re at the hospital, and there are more emergency workers now, white coats mingling with the LAFD, and Joy’s eyes are closed, her face hidden by the oxygen mask, and I’m begging to be allowed back with her, but this time the answer is no. “I love you, Joy,” I shout as she disappears behind two swinging doors.
* * *
LUNA AND SARAH arrive ten minutes later, and we all sit together in a row of blue vinyl seats, my second time in an emergency waiting room in as many days. Sarah holds my good hand, and I close my eyes, trying to focus all my energy on Joy, willing her to be okay.
“Benny…” Luna says after a while.
“No. I’m not talking to you right now.”
“I’m sorry,” she whispers. “I’m so, so sorry.”
Her face is ashen, and it’s clear she’s hurting, but I have no sympathy or shits to give.
“You should’ve told me sooner.” Anger builds with each word. “If she dies, I swear to god…”
“She was supposed to be safe. They said she would be safe.”
“Who?” Sarah asks. “Who is they?”
Luna doesn’t answer.
“Who?” I say it too loud. Everyone nearby turns and looks: an older man with an ice pack on his shoulder; a mother and child sharing a bag of grapes; a tatted man knitting what appears to be a scarf. I lower my voice. “Joy is fighting for her life right now. If you have any information that can help, you need to share it.”
The man with the scarf is blatantly eavesdropping. Luna gestures for me to follow her outside. Sarah squeezes my hand and offers to stay behind in case there’s news.
When Luna and I are past the sliding door trigger, she says, “It’s not what you think.”
“Go on.”
“It wasn’t supposed to be so complicated. She was just going to leave you the memoir so you knew what was happening, then hide out at the shelter while I served Xander with papers. But then she changed her mind, and got the big idea to tell you in person, in front of his cameras.”
I recall a pixelated Joy staring up at the ceiling. “So she did know he was monitoring her.”
Luna nods. “The cameras were all connected to some app on his phone. She knew he’d watch right away, see her telling you she intended to divorce him, and then—” She sighs. “She had this idea that if the two of you announced her separation in a very public way—”
“The episode,” I breathe.
“—he’d lose his mind and … you know, overreact in front of his own cameras. The plan was to steal the footage somehow before leaving for the shelter, either to use as leverage in the divorce, or if necessary, in court. I told her it was dangerous—there are other ways, you know?—but she wasn’t listening to reason. So when I called to check in and she told me she’d done it, and that you were gone … that she was just sitting there waiting for him alone…”
“Oh my god,” I mutter.
“Exactly. I was walking into a dinner with clients, and I turned right back around. Didn’t even tell them where I was going. Xander was already home when I got there—I could see his cars in the garage—so I rang the doorbell.” Her expression tightens. “And when no one answered, I went around back.”
My head swims. I need this to be over so I motion for her to continue.
“I didn’t understand what I was seeing. Joy was obviously hurt, but he was … he was hugging her, and kissing her all over her face…”
I press my fingers to my temples. “Why didn’t you call nine one one?”
“Because it all happened so fast. I knocked on the window, and when he saw me he was … he was so angry, Benny. All I could think was, This is what Joy’s been living with? He grabbed her arm, and I just—I don’t know, I saw red. I started banging on the window.” Luna wrings her hands. “I just needed to get her to the shelter before he could do anything else.”