Authors: Terri Reid
Mary was wheeled down the corridor from the radiology
section toward the examination room by the technician who performed the CT
Scan
. “I’ll finish processing the test and get the results
to the radiologist as quickly as possible,” she said. “Then he’ll call it down
to the emergency room doctor.”
“Thank you. In the meantime, can I change back into my own
clothes?” she asked, fingering the hospital gown she was wearing. “Not that I
don’t love the style.”
The technician laughed and nodded. “Yes, I think we’re done
poking at you for the time being,” she said. “Go ahead and change.”
Mary climbed out the wheelchair and nodded. “Thanks again,”
she said.
The technician closed the door behind her and Mary turned to
Mike, standing next to her bed. “Where’s Bradley?” she asked.
“Well, there was a little misunderstanding at home,” Mike
replied. “It seems that we’ve misplaced Clarissa.”
“What?” Mary exclaimed.
Mike hurried over. “Okay, you sit down and calm down, okay?”
he said. “Bradley, Rosie, Stanley and the entire Brennan crew are searching for
her.
They’ll find her in no time.”
“How could this happen?”
“Well, Clarissa told Rosie that the Brennans had called and
wanted her to stay with them, so Rosie could be here with you,” Mike explained.
“But when Katie showed up here and had no knowledge of the conversation, they
put two and two together.”
“What did Maggie say?” Mary asked.
“Katie called Maggie and asked her if Clarissa was there,”
Mike said. “Maggie said no.”
“Do you honestly believe that Maggie doesn’t know more about
this or doesn’t at least have a clue where Clarissa might be going?” she
insisted.
Mike slapped his forehead. “Of course she does,” he said.
“Those two are as thick as thieves.”
“Okay, I’ll get dressed and then let’s get going,” Mary
said, pulling her clothes out of the closet.
“No,” Mike said. “I promised Bradley that you would stay put
until the doctor released you. So, you need to stay put.”
“But, they need me,” she insisted.
“I’ll go talk to Maggie,” he said. “I can pull angel rank on
her and get her to confess. Then I’ll tell Bradley anything I learn. In the
meantime, you sit here and wait. Okay?”
She sighed loudly. “Fine,” she said. “But if you don’t find
her within thirty minutes, I’m stealing an ambulance and going out searching on
my own.”
Mike chuckled, “Yes, momma bear, I understand.”
As soon as Mike faded away, Mary quickly dressed,
hesitating
a couple of times when she felt a little
dizzy.
She finally finished and looked
around the room for her purse and her cell phone.
She needed to call Bradley to find out what
was going on.
She searched the closet
and all of the drawers, and then realized the awful truth. “Well, crap,” she
said. “They didn’t bring my purse.”
She sat down on the bed and fumed. “They better bring me
some news, fast.”
Clarissa hurried down the street before the woman on the
porch could call the police.
She didn’t
want to go to jail. She rode to the end of the block and stopped, looking up
and down the intersecting streets. But where was she going to go?
She couldn’t contact her dad; she didn’t have
any other friends in town. She sighed; the only place she could go was home.
She started to turn the bike when she saw the car glide to
the curb. “Hello there Clarissa,” Ray Giles said, hanging out of the window.
“Your father sent me over to get you.
He
said it was getting dark and he needed you to come home now.”
Clarissa shook her head. “No, that’s okay,” she said, her
heart tripping in her chest. “I’ll just ride home by myself.”
“But there’s been an accident,” he said. “Your mother has
been hurt. They need you to hurry home.”
How did he know that
Mary had been hurt?
she
wondered.
Could he be telling the truth?
He watched her hesitate and opened the car door, the
washcloth hidden in his hand. “She’s hurt badly,” he continued.
“Stepping onto the curb.
She was in a car accident.”
That was all she needed to hear.
Clarissa jumped down on the pedal and wheeled
away from him as fast as she could. “Get back here,” he shouted. “You get back
here right now.”
Clarissa sped down the sidewalk, knowing she couldn’t beat
him back home.
She crossed the road at
the small cul-de-sac on Winter Drive and rode alongside one of the houses.
She crossed through the back yard and into
the adjacent back yard and then up onto Bailey Avenue.
She rode across the street and then peered
down driveways to find a house that didn’t have a fence.
Finally, halfway down the block she found a
house whose yard backed up to another yard without a fence, she turned her bike
alongside the house and drove through both yards to end up on Wise Street.
At the end of the driveway, she paused to catch her breath
and decide what she was going to do next.
She couldn’t make it home, it was too far away and no one was
there.
Suddenly she heard the sound of a
helicopter and saw that it was very low to the ground. Of course, the hospital
was just at the end of this street and a little way down Stephenson.
She could make it to the hospital.
Mary and Bradley would be there.
They would save her.
She jumped back on her bike and pedaled in the direction of
the hospital, pausing only to wait for the light on Stephenson.
She turned into the parking lot and rode
along the back to the emergency room, dropping her bike outside the door and
running into the lobby.
To her dismay the waiting room was empty.
Where were Stanley and Rosie?
They were supposed to be here.
She saw car lights reflected against the glass doors and
turned around. Her blood ran chill as she saw Ray’s car slowly drive past the emergency
room, his eyes meeting hers.
As she
watched him pull to a stop, she knew she had to find Mary.
A nurse, pushing a gurney, came out through the large brown
doors that led to the examination rooms.
Keeping herself hidden, Clarissa waited until the gurney passed and
slipped through the doors as they were closing.
She hurried down the corridor, praying she could find Mary before anyone
found her and threw her out.
“Mary,” she called, as she walked near the rooms. “Mary.”
“Clarissa?”
Clarissa’s heart leapt with joy when she heard Mary’s
voice.
When the door opened and Mary
stepped into the hallway, Clarissa ran to her and wrapped her arms around her
waist. “I’m so sorry,” she cried. “I’m so sorry.”
Mary guided the little girl into the room, closing the door
behind her, and then knelt down and wrapped her arms around her daughter. “I’m
so glad you’re safe,” she said. “Everyone is out looking for you. You should
never run away.”
Suddenly the alarms in the emergency area sounded.
Ear-spitting sirens sounded throughout the
floor.
Clarissa raised her head, her face wet with tears. “The bad
man was after me,” she shouted. “So I came here.
The bad man wanted to snatch me.”
“What bad man?” Mary asked.
“This one,” Ray said,
stepping into the room with a gun pointed at Mary.
Mary stood up and pushed Clarissa behind her, shielding her.
“There is no way you are taking my child,” Mary yelled above the noise.
Ray smiled and shook his head. “No I have a much better
idea,” he said. “I’ll take both of you.”
Mary moved into a defensive stance. “You’ll have to get
through me first,” she said, praying that she would be strong enough to fight
him.
He stepped forward and threw a punch, Mary deflected it, but
he was too fast and slapped her on the side of her head with his gun. Dropping
to her knees, Mary fought to remain conscious. “No,” she screamed, fighting to
stand. “Stay away from her.”
“Too late,” Ray said, stepping back, Clarissa tucked against
him, the gun at her neck. “Now you’re going to do exactly what I say or this
little girl dies.”
Mary nodded, wiping the blood from the cut on her face onto
the bed sheet. “Okay, whatever you say, just
don’t
hurt Clarissa.”
“You’re going to walk with us down the corridor,” he said.
“With the fire alarm I started, they’re going to expect everyone to evacuate
the building, so no one will stop us.
You don’t talk to anyone; you just walk to my car parked right outside
the door. Got it?”
Mary nodded and Ray motioned with his head for her to lead
the way.
He was right; hospital staff was so busy helping
non-ambulatory patients out of their rooms they didn’t even notice the three of
them leaving.
He pulled out of the
parking lot just as the fire trucks came pulling in. “That will keep everyone
busy for a little while,” he said, looking over at Mary and Clarissa huddled
next to him in the front seat.
“Now, the next thing you’re going to do,” he said, motioning
with the gun he still held in left hand. “Is to make
yourself
a little more agreeable.”
He motioned to the washcloth on the floor of the car in
front of Mary. “Pick it up and put it on Clarissa’s face,” he said. “Hold it
there until she passes out.”
“You don’t need Clarissa,” Mary said. “I’ll do whatever you
want me to do. We can drop Clarissa off at the house. You don’t need her.”
“I need her alright,” he growled. “Especially now, there
ain’t
no way either of you are going to escape. Now, either
you do it, or I do it.”
Mary picked up the washcloth and held it next to Clarissa’s
face.
Burying her face into Mary’s arm, she turned her face
slightly, so she didn’t inhale the full effect of the sweet smelling
liquid.
She closed her eyes and went
limp, pretending she was asleep.
Mary
pulled the cloth from her face. “She’s out,” she said.
“Good, now put it on your face,” he said.
“Do you think I’d leave my daughter even if I had a chance
to run?” she asked. “If you have Clarissa, you have me.”
“Lady, I think you’d crawl up inside me and turn me inside
out to save your daughter,” he said. “And I’m not going to give you the
chance.
Besides, I like my women dizzy
and helpless. It makes getting to know them much more interesting.”
Nausea swept through Mary at his words and she had to
swallow to hold it back.
“Washcloth, now,” he commanded.
Mary brought the washcloth to her face and breathed it in,
she tried not to respond, but the effects of her concussion and the chloroform
were too much.
In a matter of minutes,
she was passed out next to Clarissa.
“Now, we’re going to have some real fun,” Ray said, turning
down the road toward his house.
Maggie was huddled in the window seat of the big window in
her room, staring out into the darkening evening sky. Mike appeared in her room
behind her and watched her for a few moments without speaking.
“It’s scary out there,” Mike finally
said,
his voice soft.
She nodded, not startled by him at all.
“How long have you known I was here?” he asked, moving up
alongside her.
“I knew you’d come,” she said.
“’Cause I
was praying real hard.”
“It’s always a good thing to pray, Maggie,” he said. “But
it’s also good to tell the truth.
All the truth.”
“But I promised,” she said, looking up at him, worry evident
on her face.
“And sometimes we make promises that we realize are not good
ones to keep,” he said. “Promises that can hurt someone are not good promises.
Promises that cover up lies are not good promises.”
She nodded. “So, I can break those kinds, right?”
“You need to break those kinds, to save your friends.”
“Clarissa wanted to find her dad,” she explained. “She
wanted to talk to him, so she went to her old house.”
“Was she walking?”
Maggie shook her head. “I gave her my bike,” she said. “So
she could get there faster.”
“Thank you, Maggie,” Mike said. “You did the right thing.”
“Find her, Mike,” Maggie said. “Please hurry and find her.”
Bradley was driving his cruiser slowly up and down the
streets near their house, searching for his little girl.
His stomach was tied up in knots.
He thought she was fine. He thought she was
just going through normal childhood adjustments.
He never dreamed she was so unhappy she would
run away. “Clarissa,” he called from the window.
Mike appeared in the seat next to him. “Maggie told me that
Clarissa was going to her old house,” he said. “She wanted to see if she could
find her dad.”
Without a word, Bradley turned on the sirens and sped toward
Winter Drive.
They parked at the curb
and Bradley ran up the path to the house.
He rapped sharply on the door.
A
woman quickly answered, looked at his uniform and asked, “Are you here about
that little girl?
The one on the pink bike with the white
basket?”
He nodded. “Yes, I am,” he said. “Is she still here?”
“No, like I told them when I called it in,” she said. “It
just seemed strange that a girl that young would be out all by herself and then
when that car started following her. Well, it just made my blood run cold.”
“Car?”
Bradley asked, “What car?”
“The car that was waiting down the street and took off as
soon as she starting riding away,” she said. “I waited on the porch and watched
them for a while. The man tried to coax her into his car, but she
hightailed
it out of there on her bike.”
“Do you have a description of the car or the man?” he asked.
“I have a photo,” she said.
“Took it with
my phone.
Here take a look.”
Picking up his radio, he called the license plate number
into the dispatcher, trying to keep his voice calm as sheer terror overwhelmed
him. He looked at the photo again and was sure the man driving was Ray Giles.
Handing the woman back her phone, he thanked her. “You have
probably saved this little girl’s life,” he said, his voice becoming hoarse
with emotion. “Thank you so much.”
“I hope you find her,” she called after him.
He ran to the car threw it into gear.
“You need to call Mary,” Mike said, “or she’ll go crazy.”
He punched a button on his radio. “Hey, this is
Alden,
can you connect me to the Emergency Room?”
He waited a few moments for the connection to go through.
“ER,” the woman’s voice said.
“Hey, Audrey, this is Chief Alden,” he said. “I need to
speak with Mary.
She’s in exam room
three.”
“Hold on just a moment, Chief,” she said. “I’ll connect you
to the Nurse’s Station back there.”
He sped down the road as the connection was made. “Hello,
Chief Alden, I’m afraid your wife is no longer in her room,” the nurse said.
“But it’s been crazy here.
Someone
pulled a fire alarm and we had to evacuate the building.
We think it was a child because we found a
pink bike abandoned just outside the emergency room doors.”
“Clarissa had Maggie’s pink bike,” Mike said.
“Did anyone see her leave?” Bradley asked.
“Well, now that you mention it,” she replied. “One of the
nurses thought she saw Mary leave with a little girl and a man. But I told her
that couldn’t be Mary.”
“Thank you,” Bradley said, disconnecting the call and
feeling sick to his stomach. “I think Giles might have both of them.”
“The kidnapper?”
Mike exclaimed.
“The woman at the house took a picture of a car following
Clarissa,” Bradley said, his jaw tight. “It was Ray Giles. I know it.”
“So, are we heading to Giles’s house?” Mike asked.
“And if he’s hurt either of them…” Bradley didn’t finish his
sentence, but Mike understood.