Page 153 of Seven Deadly Sins

She watched the two of them head down the hall and tried to make out the doctor’s mumblings from behind the curtain. She moved out of his way when he joined her.

“Other than her severed fingers, Mrs. Barker suffers from dehydration. I’m sure there’s a good bit of mental trauma, as well, but that is not my department. Did I hear her husband?”

“Yes. He’ll be back. May I go in?”

He nodded. “Reporters are converging outside, so please keep the curtain closed for her privacy. I will locate Mr. Barker. I’ll stall him for a few minutes so you can question her. Make it quick.”

“Thank you, doctor.” Harper stepped behind the curtain. The nurse nodded and left. “Amber, can you answer a few questions?”

She pressed a button to raise the bed to more of a sitting position. “Yes. I want this mad man locked up.” Her eyes flashed.

Good. Harper was happy to see the woman hadn’t lost her spunk. “Do you have any idea where you were being held?”

“A cellar. Like a storm or root cellar.”

“Near where we found you?”

“No.” She took a deep breath. “They blindfolded me, but I could tell we were on a winding road and drove for…I don’t know how long. I lost all sense of time in that cellar, but they, a man, let me go on the mountain you found me on.”

“One man?”

“That’s all I saw. The car stopped. He dragged me from the backseat, yanked off the blindfold, got back in the car, and drove away. I started walking down the mountain.” Her eyes widened. “He won’t come after me again, will he? I’ve received my punishment, right?”

“You did nothing to deserve the treatment you got, Mrs. Barker.” Harper clenched her teeth as Liam and Mr. Barker entered the room.

~

Mr. Barker almost pushed Liam over in his haste to reach his wife. He fell to his knees beside her bed, cradled her injured hand in his, and sobbed.

Liam jerked his head toward the curtain. “Let’s give them a few minutes.”

Harper led the way. “She was dropped off on that mountain. Couldn’t tell me how long of a drive from where she was held and where she was let go. One man drove her. That’s all she could give me.”

“That knocks one mountain off our list. We’ll head out in the morning. With us searching on the ground, and the other agents in the air, we’ll find him.” He forced himself to sound optimistic. “Let’s head around back and try to avoid the reporters.” They were the last people he wanted to deal with.

“I agree. Let’s go home.”

Home. Strange how quickly her house and Oakdale had come to be home to him. When they finished this case, he’d have to return to his home base. Whether he came back depended on Harper. The only way he could return was if she wanted him to.

A nurse showed them a back way out of the labyrinth of hallways and outside. “If you go right, you can round the building to the parking lot. The emergency room doors are right there.”

“Thank you.” Liam led Harper at a quick pace. When they reached the corner, he peered around. The path to the car looked clear. If they hurried, they might reach the vehicle before being spotted.

“There they are!” A reporter shouted, then they swarmed toward the borrowed undercover car.

“Quick.” Liam sprinted for the vehicle.

He and Harper yanked their doors open in unison, then slammed them shut. Reporters shouted questions through the windows and held their microphones to the glass.

Liam shook his head and fished the keys from his pocket. Vultures, the whole lot of them. He started the car and slowly drove forward, forcing them to move out of his way. “I feel for the Barkers. They’re going to be overwhelmed when they step outside.”

“No, they won’t. There are two men who looked very much like security guards standing right inside the sliding glass doors.”

He glanced in the rearview mirror. Sure enough, two big guys stood like stoic bookends right inside the doors. He chuckled. “Hope they don’t scare away the patients.” Impulsively, he reached over and took her hand. “Amber Barker lives.”

A smile graced her face. “Yes, thank God.”

He drove back to her house and pulled into the garage. They had another long day ahead of them tomorrow. Hopefully, tonight they’d both get some much-needed sleep.

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