In no mood to answer he let it go to voicemail. Jason never left messages unless it was important. Sal would call him later when he was feeling more up to it. For now he had more important things to think about.

He’d only driven half a block when his phone went off notifying him of a voicemail. Frowning, Sal hit the buttons to the prompts for his voicemail and set the phone back down on speaker. A few seconds later the message started but it wasn’t Jason that spoke it was Kat.

“Sal this is Katherine. I need to talk to you. It’s about Melissa. She’s been in the hospital all weekend. She overdosed on her medication. The family thinks it was accidental but I know it wasn’t. Jason didn’t want me to call you and I know you want nothing to do with her, but I had to. I really need to talk to you. Please call me back as soon as you get the message.”

Sal pulled over and sat there even after the call ended, numb from the news. From the moment he heard overdose thoughts of his conversation with her Friday morning came to him. The way he’d gone off on her and worse—he called her a mental case. He rewound the message to make absolute certain he’d heard right. This was the last thing he needed right now.

CHAPTER 34

Sal braced himself as he waited for Kat to answer the phone. She did on the second ring. “Sal?”

“Yeah, what’s going on?”

“You heard my message right?”

“I did.”

“First of all I want you to know, because Jason was upset with me about this. I swear to you I had no idea she was on anti-depressants or that she had any of the issues that we found out about today. Growing up we knew she was a problem child. She ran away a few times but since she was an only child we all thought it was the same old thing every time. Melissa was an attention whore, always had been. And she was a teenager, everyone said it would pass. It did or so we thought but until today my aunt had never said anything about her being on meds. Apparently she’s had diagnosed psychological issues since middle school but my aunt and uncle never told anyone.

“Anyway like in the past my aunt was going to keep this to herself too until she broke down this morning because Melissa still hasn’t woken up . She couldn’t take it anymore and called my mom sobbing. She told us about how they’d found her in her apartment Friday after her work called to tell them she’d never showed up or called and they hadn’t got a hold of her. She was out of it when they found her but still semi-conscious. I was totally buying the accidental overdose thing until my aunt said… ” Kat’s voice gave, and Sal heard her soft cries.

He held the phone tight not sure what to say to her.

Then she spoke again. “My aunt said she repeated the same thing twice before she completely passed out, ‘Don’t hate me, Sal.’ And that’s when I knew. Her overdose was no accident.” She sniffed but was in more control of her speech now. “Jason didn’t want to involve you in this. He refused to call you when I asked him to but he finally gave in and said I could if I wanted to. I know it’s a lot to ask but I just think maybe if she heard your voice you know. She’s been out for almost three days now and—”

“What hospital?” Sal started the ignition on the car.

Kat seemed surprised but grateful and gave him the information. The entire way to the hospital Sal didn’t know what to think. He didn’t even want to imagine the possibility of Melissa dying and having to know the last conversation he had with her was probably what threw her over the edge. He knew she was on meds damn it. He should’ve taken that into consideration before he went off on her.

Kat met him at the entrance. Her face was worn and pale and her pink eyes were an indication of the crying she’d been doing. “Thank you so much for coming.”

“Not a problem.” He said with a gulp.

“Your timing is perfect. No one knows I asked you to come. And they all just left to grab something to eat. Only Jason knows and he left to get us something to eat, too. I told them all I wanted to stay.” They walked quickly down a corridor. “It’s better that they don’t know. My aunt would make a huge deal if she knew what I suspected.”

She stopped before they got to the ICU. “Whatever happens Sal. Jason wanted me to be sure to tell you, I’m in no way blaming you. She’s always had issues I just never knew the extent until now. The only reason I asked you to come was because I thought maybe, just maybe it would help bring her out of this. The doctors said they won’t know anything for days.”

Sal shook his head. His conversation with Melissa Friday morning was still repeating itself in his head over and over. They walked in and the reality of it struck him when he saw her. She was hooked up to so many tubes and she didn’t look anything like the perfectly groomed Melissa he’d always seen.

“Melissa,” Kat whispered next to the bed. She touched Melissa’s arm. “Sal is here. He wanted to come by and see how you were doing.”

Kat looked at him from across the bed and nodded. Sal took the few steps to near Melissa’s bedside. “Hey, Melissa.” Almost instantly there was a flinch in Melissa’s eyelids. Sal looked at Kat. She was wide eyed and brought her hand to her mouth. He was almost afraid to say anything else but Kat’s expression pleaded with him.

“I uh… was worried, but I know you’re strong.” They waited watching anxiously but there was no more movement.

Kat touched her arm again. “I’ll give you two some privacy.”