Page 92 of Dark Roads
“Dead,” she rasped. “In the garage.” He moved farther into the house, speaking into his radio. She didn’t understand the codes, the fast words. She thought he was going to check on her, provide first aid, but instead he was walking quickly down the hall toward the back of the house. She rested her head against the cupboard, confused and dizzy with the pain. More sirens were outside, but Vaughn was still in the other rooms. Noises at the door. Paramedics.
A man and a woman in uniform. They knelt beside her. Opened their medical kits. Speaking to her gently, they checked her pulse. She imagined it leaping in jagged lines. She watched the hall. Vaughn’s big shape was coming back now. His gaze skimmed over her. He conferred with another officer who’d come through the door.
The paramedics lowered her and put a mask over her face. She tried to breathe deeply, but her throat was closing, and she clawed at the mask. The female paramedic murmured soft words, telling her everything was going to be okay. She closed her eyes. More police. More voices. Thompson was here, kneeling by her side and talking to the paramedics. He held her hand.
Thompson helped them load her into the ambulance. They gave her something in an IV and the loud pain became a hum. Equipment swayed as they took the corners fast, a paramedic speaking into the radio. Words she didn’t understand. They rushed her into emergency, pushed her through swinging doors where doctors and nurses clustered around and called out instructions. She was sent for a scan, stitched up, bandaged, and soothed. She floated through it all. At some point she was wheeled into a room and she must have fallen asleep, because when she woke up, Vaughn was sitting in the chair beside her bed while a nurse checked her vitals.
The nurse looked at Vaughn. “Don’t tire her out. She needs to rest her throat.” She squeezed Beth’s hand. “Hit the callbutton if you need me.” Beth wanted to stop her, wanted to beg her to stay, but she was out the door with a swish of her scrubs.
“You’re a brave young woman,” Vaughn said. “Looks like you had a hell of a fight.”
She squeezed her eyes tight. She was hanging, spinning around and around. Mason was coming at her with that metal rod. “I don’t want to talk.” She never wanted to think about it again. She was going to ask the nurse for more drugs. She would live the rest of her life high.
“I just have a few questions.”
“Why isn’t Thompson here?” Her body felt so light, like she was drifting away from herself. The nurse. She must have given her more pain medication.
“Where’s Mason’s cell phone?”
“Don’t know. Didn’t see it.”
“Did he talk about any of the other victims?” Vaughn sounded distant, but he was sitting so close. How did he make his voice move around the room?
“Amber.” She could barely get her name out, like every damaged tissue in her throat had swelled at once, locking her sister’s name into her body, holding her close.
“Anyone else?”
She had a plan. She had to remember. “Hailey. He said he killed her.”
“Did he say what he did with her body?”
She shook her head. He let his breath out in a sigh, then rested his hand on top of hers. She hated the warm weight of it. She wanted to slide her hand away, but it was pinned down.
“I hope we have more answers after we finish the search of his property. Did you look into any of the other rooms? After you made it from the garage to the house?”
She shook her head again. Her eyelids were so heavy.Don’tsay anything else. He’ll trick you. Tricky, tricky.She pulled her hand away, fumbled for the call switch. “I need water.”
“One more question. Why did he cut you down without securing your wrists and feet?”
“I was pretending. To be unconscious.”
“You slit his throat. Sliced his jugular. He bled out in seconds. That takes a lot of strength.” He was staring at her, trying to shock, looking for the lie.
She pressed at the call switch, but her strength was fading. It took two times for her to find the right spot. To make it buzz. He didn’t help. “Go away. I’m tired.”
“I’m going.” He stood and walked toward the end of the bed. Then he rested his hand on her ankle, where Mason had tied her up, and squeezed the bandages. She gasped, and the sudden spasm of pain in her throat forced her into choking coughs. “We’ll talk another time.”
He walked out as the nurse came in.
Light shone through her eyelids, a soft glow, then the scent of antiseptic, plastic, and sickness. Beeping noises and movements. A warm hand skimmed across her knuckles and held her fingers. She lifted her eyelids, blinked a few times to clear away the dancing white lights. Her mom’s face came into view, blond bob untidy, some strands tucked behind her ear, some falling forward onto her face. The lines around her mouth were deep, her blue eyes watery.
“Beth.” She cupped her face. “Thank God.”
Beth lifted her hand to the bandages at her throat, wincing as the IV tugged in her arm. Her tongue felt thick and there was a strange ringing in her ear. Hospital. She was in the hospital. Vaughn had been in her room. She remembered crying.Doctors and nurses touching her. How many days had it been? One? Two? Night blurred into day. She’d woken up over and over again.
“Don’t move.” Her mom adjusted the pillow. “Are you thirsty?” Beth nodded, and her mom lifted the straw to her mouth. She held the cup with her other hand. It was shaking slightly. Beth stared, fascinated by the soft tremor. Butterfly wings. The painkillers ran through her body and gave her a floaty feeling. Later there would be a headache and nausea. But for now it was good.
“I told them not to call you.” The words tumbled out of Beth’s dry mouth, hung suspended in the air. Her mom flinched and took a few steps closer to her dad at the end of the bed. So tall. Like an oak tree. Gallant and strong. Except today he just looked tired.
