“Thanks for coming.” His blue eyes misted over as he grasped Brooke’s hand, holding on for several seconds. He glanced at his daughter, then back at Brooke. “I’ll just go get a fresh cup of coffee. Are you going to be here for a few minutes?”
“I won’t leave until you come back,” Brooke promised. If it were her daughter in that bed, Brooke wouldn’t leave her alone for a moment either. Nausea rose in her throat at the thought. She swallowed, grateful that Haley and Chris were stashed with Mrs. Holloway.
Mr. Thorpe blinked hard, took off his rimless glasses, and rubbed one eye with a knuckle. “I’ll go catch up with my wife in the cafeteria. Thank you.” He nodded and, with a tight glance backward, walked out the door.
Brooke went to the bedside. Maddie lifted a hand to grab Brooke’s. The IV line got caught on the bedrail. Brooke untangled it and squeezed Maddie’s palm.
“Thank you.” A tear slipped down Maddie’s unmarred cheek. “I thought I was going to die.”
“I’m just glad I was there.” Still holding Maddie’s hand, Brooke eased into the chair Mr. Thorpe had vacated. “How do you feel?”
“My head hurts.”
“I’ll bet it does. You tell me if it hurts too much to talk, OK? I’ll still stay here with you until your dad comes back.”
“No. I want to talk to you.” Maddie shuddered. “You were there. You’re the only one who understands.”
Brooke gave her a gentle, close-lipped smile. “Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?”
Maddie lifted her chin a millimeter, enough to exhibit the spunk that had likely saved her life. “You can ask me anything at all. They already sent a psychiatrist to see me. She said I should talk about it.”
“How much of a description were you able to give the police?”
“Not much.” Maddie’s voice dropped to a whisper.
“Was there anything about him that seemed familiar?”
“No.” Maddie reached for a cup of water on her wheeled tray and sipped through the straw. “Nothing at all.”
Brooke switched tack. “Do you have a boyfriend?”
Maddie frowned and shook her head. She closed her eyes for a few seconds, as if the movement caused her pain. “We broke up.”
“Was he upset about the breakup?”
“A little.” Looking down, Maddie picked at the edge of the sheet, rolling it between her finger and thumb, over and over. “I met someone else I thought I liked. I didn’t think it was right to keep him on a string.”
“Could it have been him last night?”
“No way.”
“How do you know?”
“Because my ex, Tyler, is Asian. This guy was not.”
Brooke froze. “How could you tell?”
“I saw his skin!” Maddie brightened. “His sleeve was pushed up. Even though it was dark, I could see that his skin was very white. Also, Tyler is thin. The man was bulkier, older maybe?”
“Did you tell the police this?”
Excitement glittered in Maddie’s good eye. “No. I just remembered it.”
“Let’s call them.” Brooke pulled out the Coopersfield officer’s card and dialed his number. The call went to voice mail, so she left a brief message.
Maddie looked pleased to have contributed some information. While they waited for the cop to call back, Brooke fished for more information. “Do you have any hobbies?”
“I like Zumba.”
“That does look like fun.”
“It is. The classes at Forever Fitness are great.”
More meat market than fitness center, Forever Fitness was in a strip mall a few miles away. A greater percentage of floor space was devoted to the juice bar than the exercise equipment. Brooke had toured it when it first opened, but found she much preferred the heavy bag in her basement. Beating on her punching bag relieved stress the way no treadmill ever could.
“Head hurt?”
“A little.”
“We don’t have to talk.” Brooke patted her forearm. “Why don’t you close your eyes?”
“I don’t want to.” Maddie studied her fingers. The nails were ragged, torn below the quick. “Did you sleep last night?”
Brooke thought of her own restless slumber, full of wooden creaks and shifting shadows. “No.”
“I know I’m safe here in the hospital, but every time I hear a noise, every time I close my eyes, he’s there.” Maddie’s voice trembled. “He’s going to come after me. I know it. What if the police don’t find him? What will I do?”
Brooke wanted to make everything right, but she was powerless and almost as frightened as Maddie. “I don’t know.”
“Are you afraid he’ll come after you?”
Brooke was tempted to lie. She’d been denying her fears for a long time, but Maddie deserved better. She needed to know she wasn’t alone. Brooke looked her straight in the eye. “Yes, Maddie. I’m scared. I’m going to be extra careful, but I’m not going to feel safe again until this man is caught. Until then, all I can do is face one day at a time.”
Maddie sniffed. “The policeman said you teach self-defense classes. When I’m better, I’d like to take some.”
“That’s a great idea.”
Maddie crumpled the sheet in a tight fist. “He kept telling me to be quiet and stop fighting, but I couldn’t. It was like I didn’t have any control over that. The screaming, the struggling, I couldn’t stop.” She paused, sniffed, and braced herself. “Do you think he wouldn’t have hurt me as much if I’d been quiet, if I’d cooperated like he said?”
Good God. She thought she’d caused her own injuries.
Brooke held the girl’s hand in both of hers. “No, Maddie. You did exactly the right thing. If you hadn’t screamed, I wouldn’t have heard you. All that fighting bought you time. Time for me and the janitor to find you.”
A relieved Maddie dozed off a few minutes later. While she waited for Mr. Thorpe to return, Brooke slid down in the chair and rested her head. Her phone buzzed. Officer Kent’s number showed on the screen. She answered it with a whispered, “Hello,” fumbling with the button and hobbling to the doorway so she didn’t wake Maddie. She explained what Maddie had remembered to Kent, who promised to come to the hospital immediately. Brooke returned to the chair.
Ten minutes or so passed. Then rolling carts full of dinner trays clanked down the hall. A green uniformed woman brought Maddie’s dinner and set it on the wheeled tray by her bed. Maddie stirred and opened her eyes.
“Your dinner’s here.”
Footsteps in the doorway caught Brooke’s attention. Mr. and Mrs. Thorpe walked in.
“I’m going to leave.” Brooke gave Maddie’s hand a last squeeze. “When Officer Kent gets here, tell him exactly what you told me.”
Mrs. Thorpe hugged Brooke hard. Moisture glistened in her eyes. “I can’t thank you enough.”
“I’m just glad I was there.” With a last glance at the battered young woman, Brooke left the room. Brooke shuddered as she walked toward the elevator. Without that snafu in event scheduling, the class would have ended on time last night, and Maddie would be dead.
Maddie watched Brooke leave with a fleeting surge of panic. She sipped some water and swallowed the salty clog in her throat. Brooke could hardly stay with Maddie 24-7.
She closed her eyes and repeated her new mantra. I am safe. I am safe. I am safe.
How many times would she have to say it to feel secure?
When Brooke had been here, Maddie had stopped staring at the door, waiting for a dark shadow. Waiting for him. Brooke had saved her once. Maddie had no doubt she would do it again.
Would he really give up so easily?
Her dad eased back down into the chair next to the bed, while her mom fussed with the rolling tray, adjusting the height so she could push it across Maddie’s lap. She wanted to tell her mom not to bother. The scents coming from the covered dishes weren’t all that appetizing. But Mom needed to stay busy.
Her father hadn’t left her
bedside for more than five minutes since the attack. He would protect her with his life. But Maddie still didn’t feel safe.
Brooke was smaller than Dad, but there was something in her eyes: ferocity.
Maddie eased forward and let her mom stack the bed pillows behind her. The back of her neck prickled, and she glanced at the doorway. Of course no one was there, but a quiver of panic slid through her. Gooseflesh rippled along the bare skin of her arms.
“Do you want another blanket?” Mom shook out the napkin and draped it across Maddie’s lap.
“No. I’m OK.” A blanket couldn’t cure her paranoia, not as long as he was still out there.
Mom lifted the insulated cover from the dinner plate.
Maddie stared down at her mashed potatoes.
No.
It couldn’t be. Not here.
A scream ripped through Maddie’s swollen throat, along with the certainty that she would never be safe again.
A scream, high-pitched and frantic with terror, echoed in the hallway.
Brooke stuck a hand between the elevator doors. They bounced back and separated. Ignoring her knee, she rushed back toward Maddie’s hall. Medical personnel gathered outside the doorway. Through the open door, Mr. and Mrs. Thorpe clutched their daughter. A security guard talked on his radio just inside the door.
Maddie was sobbing, a hysterical hitch in her voice that cracked Brooke’s heart.
Mr. Thorpe met Brooke’s gaze. He kissed the top of Maddie’s head and left her in her mother’s arms. He pulled Brooke outside the hospital room.
He exhaled and pressed his lips together, as if composing himself enough to speak. “He was here.”
Brooke tracked Mr. Thorpe’s gaze to the dinner tray. The rolling cart had been pushed away from the bed. A lump of mashed potatoes sat on the plate. Standing in the well of gravy like a conquering flag was one of Maddie’s missing earrings.
Luke tossed the newspaper back onto the chair next to him. He sat forward and rested his forearms on his thighs to take the pressure off his back. Leaning on it for too long irritated the sensitive scar tissue.
A security guard ran across the lobby. Agitated people were moving and making calls at the front desk. Alarm buzzed in Luke’s gut. Something was up. He got up and strode across the lobby. He pushed the elevator call button. He fished his buzzing phone out of his pocket and opened a text from Brooke.
COME TO 3RD FLOOR.
He waited. One elevator was on three, the other on four.
Luke bolted into the stairwell. No one stopped him. He took the steps two at a time. On the third floor, he followed the sounds of commotion. Two security guards talked into radios. Nurses and other staff milled in the hall.
Someone was crying softly.
He spotted Brooke in a doorway. She saw him and hobbled over. Her face was pale as skim milk, her eyes a composite of fear and fury.
“What happened?”
“He was here.”
“You don’t mean…?”
“Yes. Last night, he ripped her earrings off and took them. Maddie said they got in his way as he was choking her.” Brooke glanced over her shoulder at Maddie. “One of them was on her dinner tray.”
“Jesus.” Luke’s exclamation took the air from his lungs. He followed her gaze to the room’s occupants. A parent sat on each side of the hospital bed. A young woman was sandwiched between them, the left side of her face battered, bruised, and bloody. Her quiet sobs were wretched and beyond distraught. They were the sounds of a soul breaking, of someone suffering beyond comprehension.
Her despair radiated to Luke, like a palpable current in the air. Pity and anger welled up in his throat.
Luke turned back to Brooke. She was watching Maddie break down.
Brooke’s chin lifted and her jaw tightened as fury beat back fear with a stick.
Luke whipped out his phone. “I’ll call my grandmother and make sure everything is all right there.”
“I already checked with the kids. They’re fine.”
“Did you tell them what happened?”
Brooke shook her head. “Not over the phone. It might upset them too much.”
Footsteps clomped in the hall. Two uniformed police officers conferred with the security guards. Luke recognized Ethan, the young black-haired cop who’d responded to the vandalism call that afternoon. The middle-aged cop with him was clearly senior. “I’m Lieutenant Winters. I’d like everyone except Mr. and Mrs. Thorpe to clear out of the room, but please don’t leave. Officer Hale will be taking a statement from each and every one of you.”
Twenty minutes later, Brooke was ushered into a small waiting area at the end of the hall. “Hi, Ethan.” Grimacing, she lowered herself into a chair.
“What can you tell me, Brooke?” Ethan’s pen hovered over a notebook.
“I didn’t see anything.” Brooke summed up her visit with Maddie.
The cop took notes. “We have your personal information. Give us a call if you think of anything else.”
“I will.” Brooke pushed to her feet. Pain lined the corners of her eyes and mouth. “In the meantime, are you going to make sure Maddie is protected? He’s obviously fixated on her.”
“That’ll be the chief’s decision, but you know how he is. He’ll look after her.” The cop’s assurance seemed to satisfy Brooke, but all Luke could think was, what about Brooke?
Luke escorted her to the elevator. The doors slid open and Officer Kent from Coopersfield walked off. Brooke filled him in.
The cop swept a frustrated hand across his short blond hair. “There was a girl raped three weeks ago in Hillside. She was also attacked while jogging. DNA was collected in that case, so we’re hoping for a match. The victim survived and got a good look at her attacker. The Hillside PD has some leads on the composite sketch.” Kent took a step toward Maddie’s hall. “I’ll let you know when I have more news.”
Luke and Brooke rode the elevator down in silence. Brooke’s jaw was shifting back and forth. He watched her sift through the information the cop had given them.
Outside, dark had fallen. The parking lot was well-lit, but rows of cars provided too many places to hide.
Luke debated getting the car so Brooke wouldn’t have to walk through the parking lot, but he didn’t want to leave her alone. Not for a second. The hospital had already proved to be a vulnerable location.
“You OK with walking to the car?”
“Yes.” She answered quickly, stepping off the cement curb and onto the asphalt.
He kept her close, scanning the lot for any sign of movement or shadows that didn’t belong. As they approached each row of cars, Luke bent over and glanced under the vehicles. A car drove up the row, slowed, and pulled into an empty spot. Luke circled Brooke so he was between her and the man climbing out of the sedan. He kept one eye on the guy’s progress through the lot and into the entrance of the hospital.
In the fourth row, he let out a tight breath as he helped Brooke into the car. He slid into the driver’s seat. But he didn’t breath easily until the car was locked, the engine started, and they were pulling out of the lot onto the rural highway. He drove toward his grandmother’s house.
“Do you know all the local cops?”
“Just the Westbury Police Department. They help me with my self-defense classes. In the last class of each unit, I bring in a padded attacker and let the girls practice the techniques they’ve learned. The Westbury cops take turns. Ethan’s helped out quite a few times.”
Brooke leaned her head on the passenger window. “He still wants her.” The statement was issued without emotion, as if she were rambling off a fact sheet. “He won’t stop. And if he’s willing to take the kind of risk he took tonight just to see her, to give her that message…” A shudder rolled through her.
Luke turned up the heat.
The desperate edge in her voice worried him.
“The police officer said Maddie would have a guard all night.”
“Sure, tonight,
and maybe for a couple of days. But what about after that? What’s she going to do in two weeks if the police haven’t caught this bastard? They’re not going to give her a permanent police escort.”
“There are security cameras all over the hospital. One of them had to have gotten this guy’s picture.” Luke stopped at a traffic light. “It sounded like the Hillside cops were close to making an arrest.”
“Let’s hope.” But her tone implied she wasn’t counting on it.
Brooke was right. Maddie’s assailant had waltzed right into a crowded hospital to leave her his message, a move too bold for Luke’s comfort. This guy was either crazy or confident. Both of those options gave Luke a huge dose of paranoia.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Physical exhaustion oozed over Brooke, saturating her muscles. Limping up her porch steps depleted her last ounce of oomph. The wind kicked up. A sudden gust streaked across the yard, chasing dead leaves on the lawn into swirling piles. Cold air slipped into the neck of her jacked, and she hunched her shoulders against the chill. All she wanted to do was flop into bed and pull the covers over her head. Unfortunately, her nerves were still humming like transformers.
The kids were already at the door. Haley slung her heavy backpack over one shoulder. Chris held a container of chocolate chip cookies. Luke stepped in front of them. He unlocked the door and crossed over the threshold.
Brooke remembered the dog. “Watch—”
“Ah.” He stumbled, throwing a hand out to steady himself against the wall.
“Out,” Brooke finished.
Under his feet, Sunshine scrambled upright, tail wagging. Luke reached down to scratch her head. “Sorry, girl.”
Flipping light switches as he passed them, Luke walked through the living room and dining room on either side of the main hall. He went into the kitchen, opened the pantry, and looked inside.
“Wait here.” He grabbed a flashlight from a wall peg and disappeared into the basement.
She Can Scream (She Can Series) Page 9
