The Hospital Diaries

Six weeks earlier…

APO Samuel Cubito 

Adult probation officer Samuel Cubito sat in his office waiting for one of his least favorite clients to make her appearance. Eden Montgomery. He tried not to let it show, but he hated the woman. She was just one of those people who gave him bad vibes the instant they met. Montgomery was the type to push back against authority at all costs, which only made him push even harder in return. The woman was mean, rude, impatient, and ugly as fuck. He couldn't imagine what her husband ever saw in her, especially since they seemed like polar opposites. The guy was mellow and laid back and seemed to have a head on his shoulders. His wife, however, had an answer for everything and was far from the brightest bulb in the pack. She was manipulative and self-serving, always doing all she could to get out of responsibility. Sam wasn't having any of it, though. She did the crime, and she was going to do the time. Yet it didn't surprise him in the least that the rebellious Miss Montgomery failed to appear to report, which she was required to do that day. What did surprise him was the desperate phone call the front office put through to him from none other than Montgomery herself while caught in a bank siege. She stammered on hysterically, yet tried to keep her voice soft enough not to be overheard. "Calm down and slow down," Sam ordered. "Shut up and listen," Montgomery ordered, as if she were the boss of the world and wouldn't take orders from anyone ever, once again showing her lack of respect for authority. "They could catch me any second," Montgomery went on to explain. "My husband and I got in a fight, and a friend of mine went to look in an area she's familiar with for the day to decide if I want to eventually move there if my husband and I split. We went into a bank because she needed to withdraw money, and it was held up." "Where are you now?" Sam asked. "I managed to sneak into a back office. I couldn't call Jerrod because we have long-distance blocks on our phone. I couldn't remember anyone else's number or figured they wouldn't be home now, but your number was easy to remember, and it's the middle of the day." "How many others are in there?" "I don't know. Maybe a dozen or a little more. I'm scared, Sam. I really am." Of course you are, thought Sam. If you're actually in danger, of course you are. That's just about the only time you do care. "My secretary has alerted the police to try to pinpoint your location. What's the name of the bank, and where exactly is it?" "I don't know exactly where it is because I'm not familiar with this area. Other than that, it's in the direction of Sedona. I also didn't pay attention to the name of the bank, but I think it's Seymour Bank or something like that." "You don't even know where you are?" Sam asked, finding it a bit strange. "I'm not exactly in a great frame of mind right now after my husband and I got into a huge argument, so I haven't been overly observant or paying attention to much. I just trusted my friend when she said she knew the area." "Well, how long were you on the road before you stopped at the bank?" "I don't know, maybe a little over an hour." In that moment, Sam heard what sounded like gunshots in the background, and then Montgomery began whimpering audibly. "Oh, my God. Oh, my God! Oh, God, Sam, please find me. Please rescue me. Please, I'm begging you. I think they killed my friend. They're going to kill me, too." Sam didn't feel anything for Montgomery, but he certainly felt for the other victims in the situation. He wondered right away if Montgomery had been attempting to abscond, got caught up in the heist, and was now reaching out to be bailed out of her botched attempt to run. Yet even though he had his suspicions, he couldn't accuse her just yet. First, he wanted to find out more about the jam Montgomery was in and talk to her husband. Her husband had already been forthcoming and not at all quick to defend his wife, like most spouses probably would. If anything, he appeared to side with Montgomery's victims. This was based on a discussion they once had when Sam had come to the house on one of the spontaneous home visits probation officers make when Montgomery happened to be out with a friend. The impression he'd gotten was that Jerrod Montgomery wished his wife would calm down and grow the fuck up. He believed in his heart of hearts that Montgomery was much more dangerous than most people realized, and he was determined to come to her rescue, all right, just as she had asked. Not because he cared about her, but so that she could do the time she deserved if it could be proven that she had been responsible for the deaths of her husband's aunt and niece. They hadn't been able to discuss that because Montgomery had been present since their deaths, but he would love to get her husband's take on the situation. According to detectives who had interviewed both of them, they got the impression Montgomery knew something she wasn't admitting, and that Jerrod suspected this as well. Sam was soon able to learn Montgomery's exact location. It was over two hours away. So when he contacted her husband, who said she had stormed out of the house in the late afternoon, he became immediately suspicious. How did she expect to make the trip, look around to see if she wanted to eventually move there, and then make it back all in the same day? "She didn't," said the husband. "At least I don't think she did." "Are you saying she absconded?" "That's what I think, yes. But I don't know for sure." "Where do you think she was really going?" "That much I can't say, but if I had to guess, I think her friend also wanted to leave the area because, the way I understood it, she had a friend who was going to give her a job she wanted and a place to stay." "And your wife was going to tag along?" "Apparently. I was going to contact you in a couple of days if she didn't return, since she still has a few more months of probation left to do. I just didn't want to jump the gun and assume anything until I knew for sure what was going on with her." "Let me ask you something," Samuel began. "Is there any chance your wife had anything to do with the death of your family members?" "Yeah, I think there's a chance. I can't say anything for certain, but let's just say it wouldn't surprise me." "Do you happen to know the name of the friend she's on the run with?" "Cherise something or another. I don't know her last name." The men agreed to keep each other updated if they learned anything new and hung up. Suddenly, his secretary poked her head into his office. "Yes?" The older woman said, "Either your client isn't very honest, or she has a very poor perception of time, because she's in Sedona." "Sedona?" Sam said, more to himself than anyone else. "That's just over two hours away from Phoenix." "My point exactly," said the woman. Sam contacted the authorities in the area and informed them of a suspected absconder who was one of the hostages and asked for an update. The suspect was shot and killed by the police, he was told, and there had been a few casualties. The person he talked to didn't have a list of names of the survivors and those who were killed. Sam silently prayed that Montgomery was still alive. Not because he cared about her well-being, but because he was determined to help bring her to justice. "Wait," said the officer he was talking to. "Are you still there?" "Yes," Sam confirmed. "Your client survived but has been hospitalized with a nasty bump on the head. Her friend Cherise Behrend didn't make it." Sam thanked him for the information and looked up the name of her friend. Luckily for Montgomery, her deceased friend had been clean. Probationers weren't supposed to have anything to do with convicts. Samuel left work early. He was going to Sedona.