Chapter 25
Chapter Twenty-Five
S am slowly walked down the hallway, trying not to stare at anyone as he took through the crowd that had gathered. People were crying, children huddled in corners, and no one spoke. Two officers stood near the open front door, trying to process people so they could leave, but no one seemed to want to talk.
Kelly tensed at his side as a woman in a suit came in carrying her high heeled shoes. He glanced over at the woman as Kelly moved behind him. Immediately, he stood his ground to protect her. There was something about the woman that made his blood run cold, but he couldn’t say what it was. All he knew for certain was that she didn’t appear to belong there.
One of the officers spoke to her, “Unless you live here, you’re going to have to leave.”
“I own this place.” She snorted.
“Then we have a few questions for you,” the officer said.
She waved him off as if he were of no consequence. “I’ll see you in my office. Just give me a moment to grab some shoes. I just had to walk for over an hour to get here.”
He hadn’t noticed how cold she looked until then. Even tough people got frostbite. Who was this woman? He watched her head to a back room. The officer who had spoken to her continued to talk with the woman he’d originally been speaking to before the woman walked in.
“Who is she?” Sam asked quietly.
“Ramona Butters, one of Viceroy’s wives,” Kelly’s voice squeaked slightly.
One of his wives? The man had multiple? He shuffled Kelly toward the door. As he reached for the handle, someone called out Kelly’s name.
Kelly turned as a young woman ran toward her. The woman’s wrists were raw and she wore little more than a tee-shirt. “Kelly, we’re free. Praise God, we’re free!” She wrapped Kelly in a hug.
He’d expected her to back away since Kelly hadn’t ever looked comfortable with touch in the short time she’d been at Wayside. With this woman, Kelly held her close as tears poured down her face. “I didn’t think it was possible. I was sure I was dead. The peace was real, Anna. It was real.”
Anna stroked Kelly’s hair and cried along with her. “It was. I felt it, too”
A team of paramedics came in, saw Kelly and Anna right away and shunted them both toward the door. “Ronald, I’ve got these two. Come talk to them in the back of number four.”
“Got it.” The officer wrote down a note, then went back to what he was doing.
Everyone seemed to have forgotten the woman who’d come in dressed in a suit limping from broken heels. Viceroy’s wife . Where had he heard the name Ramona Butters before? If only Connor had followed him in, he could ask. As far as he could tell, Connor and Edwyn hadn’t been allowed inside, and he wasn’t going to leave until he looked for this Ramona, Viceroy, and Nathan since he seemed as slippery as an eel.
Sam whistled for Zeus and made sure no one was watching him as he headed for Ramona’s office. Was she really the owner or had she made that up to get out of talking to the police right away? Unless a woman did something that immediately made her suspicious, officers often gave them the benefit of the doubt. He hoped she wasn’t behind the door plotting murder.
He gripped Zeus’s collar, then slowly opened the door. Inside, there was a closet that led to a stairway, but the room was empty. Sam dug into his jacket pocket for his keychain flashlight, flicked it on, and dove into the dark staircase.
Zeus stayed at his side instead of running ahead. While the dog’s eyes were probably better than his, Sam was glad for the stability of the dog. He couldn’t hear anything except the sound of his own footsteps. Ramona had to have escaped through this exit, but where would it lead and what would he find when he got there?
He pushed forward, taking a few steps, then waiting to see if he could hear anything. His light only penetrated a few feet into the darkness. If that woman had gone ahead of him, she had to be out of the narrow staircase by already since there was no way to navigate it without light and he didn’t see anything but pitch black ahead.
The stairs ended and the floor leveled out. His head brushed the ceiling and cobwebs clung to his hair. He brushed them away quickly and pressed ahead. Zeus sniffed the air but kept mostly silent. He seemed to know this wasn’t the time to bark or run.
Soft voices ahead made Sam stop so he could hear what they said. “Nathan was taken. He must have been too focused on the girl. I told him to leave her behind back in Wyoming. I knew where she was and could’ve easily gotten to her once we were sure we weren’t followed,” a man said.
“You think I care? You left me on the side of the highway to walk. I should’ve left you for the police,” the woman answered.
He heard the distinct sound of a hard slap echo down the hall and then a whimper.
“Don’t ever talk to me like that. You have the unfortunate belief that you’re an equal with me and you never will be. If you don’t start remembering your place, I’ll put you in the grave.”
“Y-yes, sir,” the woman didn’t sound nearly as sophisticated now.
“Get in the car. Now. It won’t be long before they realize you aren’t back there.”
“Do you even care that I made it here in time?”
Sam didn’t feel the need to listen to their arguing and it would allow him to get closer without notice. If Ramona was Viceroy’s wife, then the man she was talking to had to be Viceroy. He was within a few yards of the man they’d been chasing for almost a year. Always one step behind.
Sam reached the door and felt for his gun. It was at his side, but would the environment on the other side of the door be conducive to using it? He had to assume it would be too dark and it would be dangerous. There was no way to know if any victims were held down there. Too light and he’d be seen right away. A gun wouldn’t help him in that scenario. He might have the element of surprise, but it wasn’t like he could shoot them. That would be nothing short of murder.
He tested the knob, and it turned quietly in his hand. Zeus lowered slightly, ready to spring. A car engine started and took off. Sam whipped open the door in time to see a distant garage door opening and lights speeding out of it. A stench hit him square in the gut and he retched before he could get a handle on what was happening.
He flashed his light around him, and horror choked him. Kelly had told him that women would disappear in the night, never to be seen again. Now, he knew where they went. There was no way to follow Ramona and Viceroy, but he could get the cops to send someone from the coroner down there. What he’d found would keep them busy for a long time.
Kelly let the EMT check her over and put butterfly tape on her wounds to her cheek. He asked her if she would please consider submitting a kit once they got to the hospital, if for no other reason than to help the police convict the people responsible for all of this.
She didn’t want to. That didn’t mean she wouldn’t, but she didn’t want to. Anna reached over and squeezed her hand. “We can do this.”
Her words made her think of Sam. He’d said he wouldn’t leave her, but she hadn’t seen him for at least fifteen minutes. As soon as the paramedic had gathered her and Anna toward the ambulance, Sam had disappeared .
“You okay?” Anna reached over and held out her hand.
Kelly squeezed it in return, but touching anyone had become too emotional and she let her go right away. “Sam was here. He came for me but then was just gone. I don’t understand. He wasn’t any part of this and has no reason to hide from me or the police, so where did he go?”
Connor peered from behind one of the back doors of the ambulance. “Can we come over and say hello?”
Kelly waved them over. “Have you seen Sam? He’s missing.”
Connor looked surprised. “I thought he was in there with you. I saw people coming out finally and didn’t see him, so I thought to check the ambulances. So, he’s not here either?” Connor stood taller, glancing around at the other vehicles nearby.
One of the officers yelled, “That woman that came in is missing. There’s no one in that room where she went and there seems to be an escape route from that room. A man just came up from there after following her and says we need to call in the MEO.”
Kelly closed her eyes tightly. MEO meant Medical Examiners Office. Someone had died down there. Was it Sam? “Please,” she choked on the word. “Go make sure he wasn’t talking about Sam.”
Connor nodded. “I’ll make sure he’s all right. You just stay with these folks. Go to the hospital if you need. We’ll meet you there. Everything will be all right. Okay?”
The slight disconnect in his voice did more to shatter her hope than her own thoughts. Could Sam be dead? Viceroy would’ve shot him without a second thought. Ramona might not usually use guns, but she would kill him without question. Had she survived just to be alone ?
“Kelly . . . pray about it.” Anna touched her arm. “All that worrying won’t do you any good. It will only give you an ulcer.”
An EMT came out of the back of the ambulance. “She’s right. I’m done with what I can do out here. Both of you really need to have more fluids. I’d like a doctor to take a look at that laceration on your collar bone, and?—,”
Kelly interrupted him. “I know, the kit has to be performed there at the hospital. Can you blame us for not wanting to go? When we were here, we were trained exactly what to say to any medical professional so that no one ever knew what was going on. We both know that you’ll do your kit and nothing will happen. Nathan and Nicolas won’t ever see the inside of a jail cell. It’s just not fair.”
Her emotions were getting to her. She had to calm down and breathe until she found out if Sam was all right.
Edwyn came back, looking sheepish. “Hey, sorry. I know you really wanted to see Sam. He’s being detained right now because of what he found in the basement garage. He’s having to answer for why he went down there without any police. I don’t think they’ll take him to jail, but that’s where he is.”
She breathed a sigh of relief that he wasn’t dead somewhere and that Viceroy must not have known he was down there. “So, he can’t come back?”
Anna gave her an encouraging look. “He’ll be here when he can. He’ll have to answer questions, then he’ll come over and find you. Don’t worry.”
Except there was a very real possibility that she’d have to go to the hospital without him because he’d gone after people instead of coming with her. He’d literally said he wouldn’t leave her side, then did. Kelly bit her lip. “I know. I just wanted him here now. I don’t like being here. I’m scared. I hurt all over.” Her hands trembled and she grasped them together so no one would notice.
The EMT came over and casually checked her pulse again. “Heart rate is spiking.” He glanced down at her, then over to his partner.
“Both of these two need to go in, anyway. Are you with either of them?” He directed the question at Edwyn.
“No, sorry. Kelly is a friend.” He took a step back. “Can I ask which hospital so we can see Kelly after she’s been checked over?”
The EMT frowned. “Due to the nature of this call, I can’t give you that information. I can’t stop you from ambulance chasing, but I can’t hand you information.”
Edwyn held up his hands. He wouldn’t force anyone to break rules, even if it meant his life would be easier. “Kelly, just keep on keeping on. We’ll find you. You won’t be alone for long. Okay?”
She nodded quickly, still feeling overwhelmed by too many emotions to speak. The EMT came around and pushed her gurney into position, then slid her in place. Anna followed, her gurney close enough for Kelly to reach out and touch it.
One of the EMTs stayed in the back with them. He was perched on a built-in metal cabinet behind them. Riding facing backward without the ability to see anything left her even more disoriented than the stress. “I’m sleepy.” And she desperately wanted a shower to scrub the last 24 hours away.
“The nurses will have a bed waiting for you as soon as you’re finished being looked at. They all know that you won’t start getting better until they’re done doing what has to be done. ”
Kelly snorted. She’d never felt like clinics or hospitals were great places to heal. Whenever she’d been to one, she’d had to lie. Nothing in her chart from the last few years was the truth. She suspected that they knew what was going on, but couldn’t do anything. Accusing people of human trafficking with little to no proof didn’t do anyone good. If they were right but couldn’t prove it, life could end up much worse for her than if they’d kept their mouths shut.
A few minutes later, they pulled into the ER dock. The door swung open and both Kelly and Anna were wheeled into the emergency department. Kelly braced herself by going into what she called her blank space, the part of her mind where no one and nothing could enter. She was alone there. Unfortunately, there also weren’t comfy chairs or light, but at least she could block out most of what was happening around her.
Once they finished and got her into a room, she closed her eyes as the nurse brought out a warm blanket from the warmer and tucked it in around her. “Can I shower? Is that allowed?” She felt filthy, and the bedding was all white and pristine.
The nurse screwed up her lips in thought. “You can, but your blood sugars were really low, your blood pressures were really low, and you’re wobbly. I understand why you want a shower, but I recommend you wait until you’re fully stable.”
“Is there a seat in the shower?” she pressed.
“I can get a stool for you. If that’s a compromise that will work, then I’ll do that for you.”
Kelly closed her eyes, imagining the hot water washing away everything, hopefully even her memories, of the last day. “Please. And I know there’s a call button in there. I won’t get too far from it.”
The nurse smiled. “Thanks. That makes my job easier.” She left the room and the silence soon felt heavy around Kelly. She needed to do things. Everyone had talked about nothing but her healing the last few weeks, but that seemed even further away now. What Nathan and Nicolas had done to her would leave scars far deeper than those on her skin.
The nurse came back a few minutes later and Kelly had drifted into a semi-dream state where she felt heavy and sleepy, her eyes were closed, and moving was difficult.
“I’ve left the chair for you,” the nurse whispered.
Those words, giving her the go-ahead to shower, gave her the energy she needed to get out from under the heated blanket and semi-comfortable bed. She stripped off the hospital gown and turned the water as hot as she could stand, then inched it up a notch more.
Steam poured from the shower as Kelly stepped inside. Meticulously, she lathered her hair and left the shampoo in for maximum effect while she washed her body from her face down to her toes. Then, she rinsed her hair and did the same with the conditioner, leaving it for five minutes as she let the heat of the shower penetrate down to her bones.
When she pulled back the curtain and the cool room air hit her, dizziness threatened for a moment, and she gripped the sides of the stool to keep upright. Once her head stopped swimming, she fished her arms back through the sleeves of the gown and tied it in the back. She wished they’d left her with a robe or a spare gown she could wrap around herself the other way. After what she’d been through in that room waiting to die, having her back exposed was a painful reminder.
After about a half hour, the same nice nurse came in and pulled two things from her pocket and laid them on the tray next to the computer, out of Kelly’s reach. “The doctor prescribed some sleep assistance for you. Though you look sleepy enough as it is, I can’t go against his orders. You’ll feel heavy for a little bit, then you’ll drift off. I’ll be here when you wake up. Is there anything you want us to tell visitors if they come?”
Kelly slowly nodded her head. “If Sam comes, tell him . . . thank you.”