Page 25 of Now or Never
“How are you feeling?”
Jax hung back by the door, leaning against the wall. Probably trying to look unobtrusive. Or at least, nonthreatening.
Kenna went and stood by Megan’s bedside, tugging off her coat and laying it on the chair because the hospital had the heat cranked.
Megan shrugged one shoulder. “They want me here for observation. Whatever that means.” She shook her head.
“Are you worried about Joseph?”
“The social worker came by and explained. He brought the family who are going to take Joseph in. Church people. They seem nice. He’ll be the first kid they’ve ever fostered. And the wife is a therapist, so she’ll be able to help Joseph.”
“That’s good.” Kenna leaned against the side of the bed, today’s outfit of stretchy jeans and a T-shirt not complete until she’d pulled out a pair of Converse she hadn’t worn in years. “That’s really good.”
Her effort to feel like herself today might have worked on the outside, but inside she still felt like someone else. Which meant she was a fraud. Pretending she was fine, or at least on the road to recovery.
But nothing she did was going to change what had happened to her.
“Anyway,” Megan said, “that’s part of why I wanted to talk to you. The doctor brought in a therapist to see me, but what’s the point? It isn’t like I’ll get better.”
“You don’t know that.” Kenna shook her head. “I happen to know from personal experience that things do get better.”
“Because you know about being held against your will?” Megan laced her words with sarcasm.
Kenna just looked at her.
The hardness in Megan’s expression dissipated. “Oh.”
“I know it gets better.” Kenna paused. “You just have to keep moving forward.”
“That’ll be difficult,” Megan muttered.
“Yes, it will be. Don’t think this is going to be easy. It might be some days. But others, the whole thing will hit you like a freight train. You’ll feel like you can’t breathe. Like you’re right back there, trapped with no way out.”
“Doesn’t matter. What matters is Joseph, and they’re going to take care of him.” Megan sniffed. “But you should know, it was a family thing. The reason Mitch and Carl were able to stay in the military as long as they did, even with all the complaints and times they were written up in their personnel files, or whatever they’re called.”
Kenna’s ears pricked. “Someone in their family protected them?”
“Yeah, and for the record they’re both psychopaths. I thought Mitch was nice, but he killed Samantha and left.”
“The last time he was deployed?”
Megan nodded. “Someone covered it all up because they’re family. I think like an uncle, or someone like that. That’s why Carl will never go to prison for keeping me for years. It doesn’t matter, though. He’ll kill me anyway.”
From the door, Jax said, “The police can protect you.”
“Someone already came here and stuck me with a needle.” Megan rubbed the outside of her arm. “It’s too late. I’m already dead. I just figured you should know that there’s someone in the military, or the government, or whatever, and they’re going to fix it all for Carl, so he doesn’t face charges or whatever.”
Kenna stared at the girl. “Carl came here?” He should still be in prison, not free and coming to this room and…sticking a needle into his victim?
“Not Carl. Another guy did it. He had a nurse badge, but I knew he was one of them. He had the same look in his eyes that Carl always got.”
Kenna didn’t know what to say.
Jax moved to the end of the bed and showed Megan his phone. “Is this the man who came in here and stuck a needle in you?”
Kenna’s sketch. “The ghost.”
“That’s him. Now it’s me who’s the ghost,” Megan said. “He was here in the middle of the night. He told me not to bother telling the nurse about what he did. He said I’d be fine for a while, but it would come on quickly when he was long gone. Far enough away that no one will catch him. He was happy about it.”
