Document of Expectations

Tuesday, 7:00 a.m.

124 then she could shower and afterwards sit on her porch as the rain fell. the lightning knocked out the electricity, so she’d have to turn off her computer and read a novel. she thought about tony’s soul and wondered if he could now see what she saw from a better vantage point. she put her arm against a boulder. then she heard small rocks tumble down behind her. she started to turn and before she could move her shoulders to look back up the trail, something thin and hard hit her across the face with enough force to drop her to her knees. roxanne’s face felt like fire had singed it, and before she could put her hand to the laceration that caused blood to spurt onto the trail, the thing hit her nose, this time hard enough to break it. roxanne’s nose gushed blood where it was struck across the bridge, where bone met cartilage. Her eyes watered and she fell sideways onto the trail with her arms over her face. Both of her legs kicked out and upwards in defense. Her feet collided with a body. roxanne blinked against the blood streaming into her eyes. she kicked upwards again and swung the pole that was attached to her left wrist and this time felt a more solid connection along with an exclamation of “oof.” she quickly picked up one of the ski poles and poked it in the direction of the sound. the attacker gasped. then she heard through the pounding in her ears the quick steps of someone running back down the trail. she recognized the yodeling of her malamutes in the distance. she thought fleetingly that Warren had turned them loose to come get her. Her face burned and despite the adrenaline and sheer desire for survival, roxanne could not see enough to stand. the pain forced her to lie on the trail like a wounded deer, an animal that had barely escaped the hunter’s bullet. tuesDaY, 7:00 a.m. monique and clarke met at the office early. Despite her good intentions, monique felt too tired to run that morning and decided to make up for her laziness by drinking a large glass of carrot juice and eating a banana with peanut butter. When she got to work she picked up a granola bar 125 from the bowl on renee’s desk, a message on a pink paper, then sat down to read more faculty merit files before Belinda rinds arrived for her interview. “Hey, listen to what it says in this file,” said clarke. He had taken some files home with him the night before and made enough notes to half fill a legal pad. “it’s the merit summary for Belinda rinds last year: ‘Belinda rinds is an exemplary scholar/teacher. she demonstrates extraordinary talent for delivering informative lectures based on her original research. further, she exhibits a superior ability to mentor and advise graduate students.’ man, someone’s a brown-noser.” “that’s not much different than what i’m reading about ross clipper.” the phone rang in earlene’s office. “for you,” she pointed at monique. “Line 3.” she picked up. “Blue Hawk here,” she said. “Detective, this is officer Brandon Lutie.” “Yes, Brandon.” “there’s a patient who just arrived here in the er named roxanne Badger . she said to call you. she was attacked this morning. Less than an hour ago, actually.” monique eyes met clarke’s. “attacked? Where? When?” “first, she’ll be okay, although her nose is broken and the doctor says she’ll need plastic surgery on her face from a deep laceration that extends from one eyebrow down her nose to the corner of her mouth. Looks really ugly from where i’m standing. Her eye and lid aren’t touched, though. they butterflied the cuts for the moment.” “What the hell happened?” “from what she can say—she’s in some pain—someone hit her.” “Where? Who? Did she say who?” “she didn’t see who it was. she was running up the trail she normally does early this morning, and when she stopped someone surprised her. apparently that person hid behind a rock. roxanne had been gone almost an hour when her husband let their dogs go to find her. she hung on to the dogs while she limped a mile to the trailhead where her husband met her. it started raining and she also got chilled...