Chapter 32
RILEY
FOUR WEEKS LATER
I climb out the shower, reach for a towel, and wrap it around me when I hear someone knocking on the door. After checking through the peephole and seeing that it’s Sawyer, I open it.
“Is this important?” I keep myself hidden behind the door. I’ve kept my distance since he announced to the whole town that I was pregnant. Naturally, everyone’s wondering who the father is, and since he’s the one who let the cat out of the bag, he’s the main suspect. I’ve been telling myself it’s for the best, but seeing him standing in front of me now, makes me wanna drag him inside and give in to all my compulsions.
“Eamon mentioned that the blind you’d ordered from the store’s arrived, I thought I’d come over and fix it up for you.” He holds the long, rectangular box up beside him. He’s come prepared, wearing a tool belt and a T-shirt so tight that his muscles look even bigger than before.
“That’s kind, I was gonna ask Hank to do it.” I open the door wider, and when he sees that I'm still wet and only wearing a towel, he rolls his tongue around his cheek as he looks me over.
“Don’t get any ideas, I’m way past the horny phase,” I lie, tucking the towel tighter around my chest and leading him into my bedroom.
“So, you were gonna ask Hank to do it, huh?” He picks up the box of the new drill I bought from my chest of drawers, and looks back at me, judgingly.
“It’s handy for me to have these kinds of things. I can’t pay Hank to come over every time I need a picture hung.” I snatch the box off him and place it back.
“You don’t have to pay Hank at all, ain’t nothing he can do that I can’t.” He places the new blind against the wall and pulls the pencil from behind his ear. “You can just get back to whatever you were doin’,” he offers, looking me up and down again and smirking. After assessing the situation he takes out a screw driver and starts taking the curtain pole down.
“Have you been working out?” The words spill out as I watch the muscles in his huge, tattooed arms tense as he screws.
“Ain’t been nothin’ else for me to do.” The glance he gives me over his shoulder, combined with his wicked grin, has my stomach flipping.
If I wasn’t so stubborn, I’d grab hold of him and drag him into the shower with me. But I have to stay strong. Things are best as they are, and it gives Sawyer a much better understanding.
My phone ringing interrupts the awkward silence, and when I start searching around for it, Sawyer grabs it from my bedside table and hands it to me.
“Hey,” I answer, trying not to sound flustered.
“Sorry to bother you on your day off, boss, but I think you’d better come to the station. I got a situation here that I think would be much better handled by a female.” Hayden sounds on edge.
“Sure, I’m on my way,” I tell him before hanging up. I guess I should be grateful for the distraction. Being here while Sawyer was working would have been a challenge. I haven’t had an orgasm since we last had sex, and I’m in desperate need of one.
“I have to head to the station,” I inform him as he finishes dismantling the curtain pole.
“Ain’t it your day off?” He frowns.
“It was.” I raise my eyebrows before locating my uniform and heading to the bathroom to get dressed.
I had to admit defeat and order some maternity uniforms last week, and the pants are not flattering.
“Ya good with me staying here and getting this done?” he checks, once I come out of the bathroom.
“Sure.” I pick up my utility belt and buckle it to sit under my bump. Once I’m done, I look up at him and see that he’s staring at me.
“I know, I look ridiculous.” I laugh at myself.
“No, ya don’t.” He’s got a real serious look on his face when he steps toward me, and strokes his huge, rough hand over the fabric of my shirt. “I’ve missed this,” he tells me, and when I feel the baby move inside me, I place his hand over where it was.
“Do you feel that?” I ask, trying to ignore the throb in my core that having his hands on me has started.
“No,” He shakes his head, places his hand firmer against me, and focuses harder.
“It’s just got so much stronger, I thought you might be able to,” I explain, surprised at how disappointed I am that he can’t feel it, too. I get so overwhelmed every time I feel something, I guess it would’ve been nice to share the excitement with someone.
“Is it moving right now?” Sawyer asks.
“Yeah.” I look down and laugh. “Maybe she likes your voice.”
“She?” He looks up at me suspiciously.
“I got a hunch.” I shrug my shoulders.
“Were ya thinkin’ of findin’ out for sure? Doc did say at the last appointment that we could.”
“I think I’d prefer the surprise,” I answer, standing still while Sawyer keeps his hands flat against my stomach. Just seeing the way he smiles when he looks at it makes me want to force him onto the bed and climb on top of him.
“I should—” I glance toward the door when things start feeling too intense.
“Yeah, I’m sorry for holdin’ ya up.” He takes a step back, and I quickly head out before I do something stupid.
* * *
Harriet’s looking pale when I step through the station door and see her sitting at reception. Hayden steps out of the interview room door and seems relieved when he sees me.
“Boss.” He nods toward my office, and after I make my way to the door and open it, he follows me inside.
“What’s happened?” Whatever it is seems to have affected everyone.
“We got a few witnesses phone in concerned about a girl on the road near Holmebank Woods who looked under the influence,” he explains, looking just as pale and disturbed as Harriet. “I headed on over to check it out, and that's when I found her. She ain’t in a good way, boss.”
“Have you called Dr. West?” I question, wondering why he didn’t take her straight to a hospital.
“Yeah, I have him on stand by, he says he can come here to see her or we can take her to him. Right now, she’s refusing to see anyone. But I think we’re gonna need a more specialist examination.” He looks down at his well-polished shoes.
“Oh.” My heart sinks into my stomach when I realize what kind of examination he’s talking about.
“She’s terrified, Riley. I can barely get any words out of her. But she’s insistent that she doesn’t go to hospital. I figured speaking to you would be a little easier for her.”
“I’ll do my best, go check on Harriet.” I tap him on the shoulder and head back out to the hall then, taking a deep breath, I prepare myself to face the girl on the other side of the door.
She looks so small sitting at the interview table, and I predict that she’s no more than twenty. I can tell she hasn’t eaten properly from how gaunt she is, and with her one eye swollen shut, she looks up at me as she pulls the scratchy blanket wrapped around her shoulders a little tighter.
“Ain’t you supposed to be on the other side of the table?” she asks when I take a seat beside her. Her lips are trembling, and seeing the color variation of the bruises on her face is enough to confirm that whatever happened to this woman has been happening for a long time.
“That's how we interview suspects, you're not a suspect,” I assure her.
“My name is Riley Hale, I'm the sheriff here in Clearwater Creek. What would you like me to call you?”
“Lily,” she answers, with a snuffle.
“Okay, Lily. My deputy tells me he picked you up near the woods. Can you remember how you got there?” I move the cup of water that's on the desk closer to her.
“I was running.” She picks up the glass and shakes it all the way to her mouth. “I had to leave them behind. I had to get away.” She uses both hands to place her cup back down, causing the blanket to slip off her shoulders. When I slide it back on for her, she flinches.
“I’m sorry.” I hold my hands up, so she knows I’m respecting her space.
“You said ‘the others,’ have you been held with other people?”
“Yes.” She starts crying.
“Okay, okay, Lily, you’re safe now, and I’m gonna do everything I can to find the people you were with so they can be safe too. For me to do that, I need you to tell me everything you can. Even the smallest detail can be important.”
“I was still drugged.” She shakes her head. “The last one must have thought I was dead because he didn’t tie me back up. I saw some light, and when I realized I could feel my feet, I ran.”
“You were being kept in the dark?”
“Most of the time.” She nods.
“And when you escaped… when you ran toward the light, what was the first thing you remember seeing?” I try to get an idea of where these other people could be.
“I can’t remember, they keep us drugged. Everything was so blurry. I just focused on running and praying they weren’t coming after me. I can’t go back.” She shakes her head frantically.
“Lily. Lily, listen to me, you are never going back. I won’t let that happen.” I get a sick feeling in my stomach when I realize what this is. Jack was closing in tight on the Gendrys before he died; he was uncovering more and more of what they were involved in. I know because I studied all his files before the Bureau took them. I know what they do, I just had no idea they did it so close to their home.
“If I got you a map, do you think you could show me where you were, could you trace your steps back?” I tell myself to calm down when I realize how fast I’m talking.
“Maybe, I don’t know. But if they find me, they’ll kill me. They killed Jodie and Cleo.” She starts sobbing, and as much as I want to comfort her, I don’t want to make her scared again
“No one is going to kill you, you got away. You survived,” I assure her. “Let me get you seen by someone, we can check your injuries, and bandage your wounds.” I’m assuming the blood that's smeared on the floor has come from the soles of her feet.
“I can’t go to hospital, they’ll find me if I do. I shouldn’t even be here. Nowhere is safe.”
“Lily, this is exactly where you should be. I can have a doctor come and look at you, right here. I understand that you're scared and that you don’t know who to trust, but I promise you can trust me.”
She breaks into tears, and this time, when I comfort her, she doesn’t flinch; she lets me hold her.
* * *
I leave Lily by herself and go in search of Hayden. I find him sitting with Harriet in reception, and when he sees me, he rises to his feet and follows me into my office.
“Who else knows about the girl being here?” I waste no time, I just made the girl a promise, and I’m going to have to take a few risks to ensure I can keep it.
“No one except you, me, and Harriet. I called you straight away.”
“That’s good.” I nod, trying to form a plan in my head. “I know it goes against procedure, but I don’t want you to file anything yet.”
“Sure,” Hayden agrees, and I like that he doesn’t question me. I’m sure this isn’t the first time he’s broken the rules.
“So what do we do with her in the meantime?” he asks, and I can’t believe what I’m about to say.
“I need you to call Jamie Sullivan and ask him if he knows somewhere safe. We need to hide her.” I watch Hayden’s curiosity turn to shock. “This is important. This is how we bring the Gendrys down, but they have people higher than us. The second that girl gets logged on the system, we risk turning her back over to them,” I explain.
“Wait, you think the Gendrys are behind all this?” His reaction proves that his little organisation has no idea who they are dealing with.
“Hayden, I know the Gendrys are behind this, and we need every inch of that wood searched, because there are more like her out there.” I sit down at my desk and feel my own hands tremble.