Her gaze suddenly shifted to the left. She stared directly at him, through him, still unblinking. Her lips, a deep purple, moved slightly as if she was trying to speak.
Relief flooded Frank so fast and hard, tears stung his eyes. “We’re here. You’re going to be all right. Just stay with me, okay? I’m going to cut the rope.” He hurried to the other side of the tree. His hands were so cold he had a hard time sawing.
Frank rushed back to the girl. He took her hands and rubbed them and her arms as fast as he could. Her skin, already fair, looked ghostly white against the moonlight. A dark blue half circle hung under each eye.
Her lips moved again. Breath froze right in front of her face.
“Gabby, it’s okay. I’m here. My name is Frank.”
“Help me…,” she whispered.
In the distance, the siren’s scream grew louder.
“Help is on the way. Hang in there.”
Her eyes closed. Her mouth gaped open.
“No, Gabby, no! You’ve got to stay with me! Stay awake!”
He heard Grayson hacking his way through the shrubs. Soon he was at the tree with a blanket from his car. “They’re on their way,” Grayson said.
Frank covered her with the blanket and pulled her next to him to try to get more heat to her. Her limp body leaned against his, her head resting against his collarbone. “Hang in there. You can’t die. Open your eyes. Meredith, look at me.”
Grayson stepped forward. “Her name is Gabby.”
Frank looked up, a startle electrocuting his heart. What had he said?
Grayson eyed him for a moment, then pulled out his phone and took a piece of paper out of his pocket.
Frank continued to rub her arms and hands. Color was starting to return to her skin. Her teeth chattered. Frank stroked her hair.
Grayson dialed a number. “Mr. Caldwell, Captain Grayson here… We’ve found Gabby… Yes, sir. She’s alive but in need of medical attention… I think so, but we need to get her to the hospital… The ambulance is here now. I’ll give you more details at the hospital.”
The quiet night air was undone by sirens and commotion. Within minutes, a dozen police officers, firefighters, and EMTs had arrived on scene.
“We can’t get the gurney through here,” one of the EMTs said, as he wrapped a silver thermal blanket around Gabby.
“I’ll carry her out,” Frank said. “See if you can get the firefighters to chop through some of those vines and branches.”
Gabby’s cheeks suddenly flushed, and her lips turned pink. Her wide eyes dimmed a little, but she looked peaceful. She gripped Frank’s arm. “Thank you.”
Frank shoved his arms under her and stood, lifting her off the ground. She was lightweight. She buried her face in his chest as the lights shone on her. Frank made his way through the shrubbery, holding her tight. The warmth of the blanket helped his body warm up too. He could finally feel his hands again.
Once he made it through the trees, a stretcher was there waiting. He carefully laid her on it and brushed her hair out of her face. For the first time, he noticed what a beautiful, innocent-looking young woman she was. Big brown eyes blinked at him. “I was praying and praying. I thought I was dead. You’re my answer. You got here just in time.”
Frank only stared. He couldn’t say anything. He felt tears trickling down his cheeks.
“You’re going to be fine,” Grayson said, stepping up to her as he glanced at Frank, giving him an odd look.
“Let’s get an IV started,” one of the EMTs said.
Frank moved away and let them tend to her. Within two minutes, they had her loaded into the back of the ambulance. The sirens wailed into the night. Officers wound crime scene tape around the trees.
Grayson slid up next to him. “This could’ve ended much, much worse.”
Frank nodded, trying to get himself under control.
“You okay?”
“I meant to say Gabby, not Meredith.”
Grayson gestured at his legs and arms. “I meant those cuts all over you.”
“I’m fine.”
“Who’s Meredith?”
An EMT offered to inspect Frank’s legs but he waved him off. “This kind of thing doesn’t happen in our town, Lou.”
“You got a lead off that tip?”
“Let’s go.”
Restlessness, inky black and suffocating, turned Kay over and over in her bed. She kept her eyes closed, trying to force sleep upon herself. But it came in short spurts, and then her body would jolt awake, her heart pounding as if it were twice its size, like she’d been running from something she couldn’t see.
She opened one eye. The clock glared at her. Five thirty in the morning and she’d barely slept. Then something caught her attention. A white note sat perched against her lamp. By the glow of her digital clock, she read it: They found her alive. Be back later. D.
Kay propped herself up on one elbow, emotion filling the emptiness that was there just moments before. Tears dripped down her cheek, and she fell back into her pillow. It cradled her. Moments before, it had tormented her. She turned over, hoping for another hour’s sleep.
But gasped.
She scrambled to a sitting position, reaching behind herself and yanking at the lamp cord. Jenna? She grabbed her shoulder. “Jenna? Are you okay?”
Jenna moaned and rolled over. “I’m fine. Go back to sleep.”
Kay sat there, her hand on her chest, staring at her daughter. The last time she’d crawled into bed with her was when she was six years old. Kay studied her face, still dainty and innocent, especially without the makeup and the attitude. Kay stroked her hair, combing it out of her face. She turned off the lamp, then slowly, quietly, slid back under the covers. She wrapped her arms around her baby girl and fell into a deep sleep.
Frank stood with Grayson outside Gabriella Caldwell’s hospital room. Nurses shuffled in and out for thirty minutes. Then the doctor stepped out.
“How is she?” Frank asked.
“Stable. She’s lucky she was found when she was. It took us a while to get her body temperature back up. She should make a full recovery.”
“Can we talk to her now?” Grayson asked.
The doctor nodded. “But make it short. She seems… traumatized. I know you guys want to catch this person, but take it easy on her, okay?”
Frank and Grayson opened the door and entered the room. A woman sitting by the bed stood when she saw Grayson. “I’m Beth Caldwell. This is my husband, Ted.” They all shook hands.
“I’m Captain Grayson. And you know Sergeant Frank Merret.”
Frank moved closer to Gabby’s bed. “She looks good. Color back in her face.”
“Thank you so much for all you did. I can’t imagine-” Beth’s voice cracked-“what she’s been through. Who would do this?”
“That’s what we want to find out. Can we ask her a few questions?”
Reverend Caldwell walked to the bedside. “Gabby?”
Gabby opened her eyes, blinked slowly.
“Gabby, can you talk to the police?”
Her eyes widened as she spotted them. “I don’t want to.”
The reverend looked confused. “What? We’ve got to find who did this to you.”
“I didn’t see anything.” She shook her head. “I don’t know anything.”
Frank fingered the railing of the bed, trying to find the right approach. He pulled up the stool the doctors normally sat on. As he sat down, he patted her arm. He could tell she recognized him. “Remember me?”
She nodded.
“Do you remember my name?”
“Frank.”
“That’s right.” He smiled. “How are you feeling?”
“Fine.”
“Warm, I bet.”
“Yeah. Warm.”
“Gabby, do you know how we found you tonight?”
She shook her head.
“Somebody came forward, told us that they suspected someone from your class did this to you.”
Gabby gazed out the window on the other side of the room. The sun, plump and dark orange, had lifted just above the horizon.
“Maybe this is too much,” her mother said, stepping next to Frank.