Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 67000 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 335(@200wpm)___ 268(@250wpm)___ 223(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67000 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 335(@200wpm)___ 268(@250wpm)___ 223(@300wpm)
At some point in your childhood, you and your friends went out to play with each other for the last time.
—Things that make me want to cry
QUAID
The day had been long, and technically my shift had just started.
I was in the room with a woman who’d survived a serial killer, and my stomach was in knots, centered wholly on the woman who should be arriving at any second.
Just the thought of her having to deal with the same thing this current victim had to experience was debilitatingly scary.
The woman, Sage Solomon, currently lying in the hospital bed across from me was… broken.
There were no other words for what she was.
She was going to be scarred for life, and even worse, the killer was still out there, likely already making plans to get her back.
Because people like the man doing these hideous things didn’t just give up. They were persistent, and they would finish what they started.
Our only hope at this point was that he’d make a mistake when he tried again.
“And did you see, or hear, or maybe smell…” Tobin was questioning the girl.
I’d tried to intervene with him twenty minutes ago, noticing the woman flagging, but he’d shot me down and pulled rank.
Which had pissed me off enough that I was now in the corner watching, silently stewing.
Luckily, Tobin hadn’t tried to kick Atlas out of the room again.
The last time he’d tried, saying that he shouldn’t be here since he didn’t have enough clearance, the girl had freaked the fuck out and hadn’t been able to answer questions for a solid twenty minutes while everyone got her calmed back down.
“I don’t know,” the girl rasped in her broken, probably permanently screwed up, voice.
She’d screamed so much that she had nothing left. The doctors thought she might’ve possibly damaged her vocal cords, but only time would tell.
I saw Ellodie come into the room, and my attention was immediately caught.
She took everything in, and her shoulders stiffened.
I knew what she was going to say before she opened her mouth.
“Everyone out. Now.”
All focus turned to her, even mine.
My eyes trailed down the length of her blue scrubs, taking in all of her many curves.
Especially when she crossed her arms over her torso, pushing her chest up.
“Sorry, but we have more questions.” Tobin turned, ready to slam Ellodie.
“I realize that.” She walked farther into the room, taking in the girl’s vital signs. “But she’s just gone through a very traumatic experience. She needs rest right now. She’ll answer your questions later, after she’s accomplished that.”
Tobin grumbled, looking like he was about to put up a protest, so I chose that moment to step in and remind him that we needed the doctors and nurses to continue to like us if we were going to continue this investigation.
“Let’s head out,” I urged my oldest friend. “We can give them an hour or so.”
Tobin crossed his arms over his chest, and then nodded, his eyes taking on this look that took years of me being in his presence to know that he respected the hell out of Ellodie’s authority.
“There’s a conference room just to the left once you leave out of the ER doors,” she suggested. “Feel free to hole up there. Once she’s recovered a bit, she might want to talk to you again.”
Everyone filed out, but Atlas only moved enough so he could hook his foot into the chair beside the bed and bring it closer to him.
He took a seat, kept the girl’s hand in his, and nodded at me, letting me know he’d bring me any information that popped up.
I left, not looking back, even though I wanted to talk to my girl.
There was a magnetic pull that had my body reaching for her despite the fact that we were both still working, and it would be inappropriate.
Goddammit, I hated being an adult sometimes.
“…though he has six plastic horses up his ass, his condition is stable.”
I paused, wondering if I’d heard the words correctly.
Turning, I looked to see if Tobin had caught it, too, and sure enough, he had.
His mouth was twitching hard.
As a police officer, I heard and saw a lot. I mean, I dealt with the dregs of life. It was inevitable that I’d have to deal with shit that was fantastical.
But the ER? The nurses and the doctors of the ER had to deal with so much worse.
Then, the doctor, I think his name was Dr. Brewn but for the life of me I couldn’t be sure, paused as he thought about what he’d just said. “I… can’t believe I just said that.”
The nurse who was staring at him with wide eyes started to snicker.
Then they were both full on laughing.
Tobin and I walked into the conference room off of the ER seconds later, taking a seat at the table as we waited for more officers and FBI to arrive.