100 Ways to Solve a Murder-Chapter 84: Act 4--Insanity

Private Mental Facility, Cardiff

Lisa knelt before the redhead, a kind smile on her face as she tried to gain the unresponsive woman’s attention seated in the wheelchair. Lisa was very glad she was able to see Sam, glad that she was alive. Liz had been asking about her whenever she saw the picture of the woman on the telly, and that had been happening more and more lately.

The Press had found out that she was Institutionalized. But from where? They don’t know. Marco assumed that someone was feeding the media information, who, he can’t tell, but when he figures it out, someone is going to go straight to the A&E.

It’s been a week since she was taken there, Elle visited as regularly as she could, which was often. The doctors say, based on her past psychological history, she had always been prone to depression, thus, suicide.

She was still on suicide watch. Locked in a room with a view of the garden outside. No sharp objects or chemicals inside, and monitored 24/7 by the staff through the camera’s around the facility. In a fancy Private mental facility for rich people, just outside Cardiff.

Lisa had informed Marco that she will be visiting Sam, which Marco encouraged in a heartbeat. Unknown to Marco, Lisa had forced Levi to join her. She does have a way of making the slick blond agree, blackmail most people would call it. She knows the fact that he had been purchasing scratch cards behind Marco’s back.

"Hey, Sam. It’s me, Lisa, look... even Levi came to visit." Lisa said softly. She pointed behind her where Levi stood, hands in his coat pockets, observing everything in the room.

But she received no response from the younger woman. The look on her face was empty as if her thoughts were somewhere else and the reality around her did not exist.

"I’m sorry, Atty. Evans, Mr. Jackson. She’s in her catatonic state. She can’t see you or hear you. She’s not present, unfortunately." The Doctor explained, apologetically.

Lisa stood up, nodding in understanding and she approached the doctor. "How is she?" She asked, not knowing what else to say, leaving the redhead in her wheelchair, after giving her shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

The doctor explained to Lisa, how Sam had remained unresponsive since Day 1. Levi listened, while he made his own observation on the facility, as he expected from the Fredricksen’s it was the best facility money could buy. The place was clean, and one could mistake it for an expensive spa; all the patients were clearly taken care of.

He approached the redhead slowly, standing beside her seat, looking at the same view before her, the Garden where other patients were roaming about.

He had nothing to say to her.

He was angry, like everyone.

No, he was furious. His chest ached, he wanted to shake her and demand her to stop.

But he knew better not to make a scene, you never know who’s watching.

He could see the dark circles under her eyes, the bones sticking out of her wrist, she wasn’t eating healthy, there were even signs around her mouth that said she was being forced to eat. Her complexion was bad, the skin was dry, lips chapped probably from the meds. And her hair was falling. And she seemed weak, she seemed frail. Yet he found her beautiful anyhow, her eyes had that same spark it always had. And her hair seemed redder if that was possible, reminding him of blood.

Lisa watched quietly as Levi gently tucked a lock of her red hair behind Sam’s ear.

Lisa frowned, heartbreaking. Marco told her, Levi stopped caring.

Yet the way he held her hand in his, palm to palm; while he placed his other hand on top of hers, says otherwise.

Levi wasn’t one for affection. But the look he had when he gazed at her, says more than he was willing to admit, or maybe even realized himself.

Bloody hell, he was worried, and at the same time he was furious at her; this was going worse than he anticipated.

Lisa couldn’t tell if Sam responded to Levi in any way, for her back was facing her. But she saw the way Levi’s eyes lit up, for a split second; like he received an answer to a silent question.

He squeezed her hand one last time, kissed the back of her palm, and expelled a lungful of breath. He stood up, walked towards Lisa and the Doctor with his usual smug mask back into place.

"Are we done?" the slicked blond asked, ready to leave. Lisa nodded, walking back to Sam and giving her a chaste kiss on the cheek.

"I’ll make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid...I mean, too stupid." She whispered to the redhead, holding her hand in hers. Lisa didn’t expect an answer, but she did receive one.

Sam squeezed her hand in return. And the two left where they came.

The drive home was silent till Lisa broke it while she slowed the car into a stop in front of 7 Eastbourne Rd.

She didn’t bother to tear her eyes away from the street,

"I hope you know what you two are doing." She commented, Levi looked at her knowing she was smarter than her husband. Without muttering a response he exited the vehicle.

Lisa drove home, cursing under her breath.

They know that what they’re doing is incredibly stupid and dangerous. But they’ll do it anyway, she thought.

She wondered, what the fuck were they planning?

....

Mental Facility, Cardiff

Carl Murdoch sat across Sam, a gentle hand over hers, patting it adoringly. She was after all his cousins. "Sammy, how are you doing?" he asked softly.

Elle observed with her watchful eyes, as the current president of Hidden Truth performed a one-sided conversation with her boss. Elle met him once, at her grandmother’s house years before. She didn’t like him, but her boss didn’t seem to have any animosity towards the man. So she had considered him safe enough. Czar Murdoch was family after all, but then again Sam didn’t have good relations with her family. She was cast out when she was young. The disgraced child was sent to America. She was considered an embarrassment.

Elle was aware of Lisa and Levi’s visit yesterday, she allowed it hoping that even for a brief moment Sam would be lucid. But, she remained catatonic.

Czar turned to Elle, looking up where he sat.

"How has she been doing?" he asked, concerned.

"She’s been unresponsive, Severe Catatonic Depression the Doctor’s say. She’s been in four series ECT’s..." Elle started to explain, it was her family’s right to know how she was doing anyway.

Czar’s eyes widened in shock,

"Sorry, ECT?!" he repeated, shocked by the information.

"Electroconvulsive Therapy," Elle said, mirroring his disgust. But it had to be done.

"Isn’t that just a fancy word for shock therapy?!" Czar asked, face filled with both concern and disgust.

Elle, frowned, it was true. "Yes. The Doctor’s thought it would help her condition since she’s not responding well to the mood drugs," she explained.

Czar turned back to his cousin, holding her frail hand in his, patting it softly.

"Oh, my. Oh, my. Sammy, oh my dear. That is cruel! Is there any other way?" he asked, looking back at Elle.

"The doctors say, they are seeing improvements. They no longer force her to eat. " Elle said sadly.

"Oh, Sammy. You get well soon, so you can get out of this hell hole. I will speak to this with your brother, I can’t believe you agreed with this Ms. Hart." Czar said, trying to mask his anger.

He walked out of that facility soon after, he sat in his car in the parking lot and waited.

Czar looked at his reflection on the rearview mirror, his dark blond hair was combed to the side. His blue eyes were filled with concern, and slowly a smile broke into his face.

A knock on the car window was heard, and he turned seeing someone. He rolled the window down and a male nurse in uniform handed him a flash drive, no word was exchanged.

And Czar Murdoch left.

He got home soon, at Maverick. The pride and joy of his late father, the building was an architectural marvel, state of the art. It was one of the few that was created by Sam’s late father, an architectural genius back in his time.

Czar flopped down on the matte black sofa after inserting the flash drive to his widescreen TV and watched it play.

On the screen was his cousin, Samantha. She was being coached to a chair, an IV was inserted to her vein to relax the muscles. She was strapped down, a mouthguard was inserted to prevent her from biting her tongue. And an oxygen mask is placed over the mouth so her brain was not deprived of oxygen.

Conducting jelly was rubbed on both her temples and the electrodes connected.

The nurses stood on the sideline, while the doctor pressed a button on the machine in the corner. Electric current shoots through her brain, and her muffled screams of pain echoing made Czar hot inside. The way she struggled against the straps, and how she made guttural sounds as she was shocked once again, her body in Grand-mal seizure.

He increased the volume of his TV, closed his eyes, and savored the sounds of her non-stop screams filling his living room.

A self stisfied smile spread on his lips .