52
Vi paid for her restless night by sleeping until nearly noon the next day. She woke up feeling groggy, disoriented and more tired than when she fell asleep. She shoved her messy hair out of her face and took a shower, feeling marginally better. The night before seemed almost like a dream, as if it had happened to someone else. As she combed her wet hair, then braided it, Vi looked at herself in the mirror and shook her head. It wasn't as if she'd be forgetting it anytime soon.
She got dressed slowly, listening to the muted voices from downstairs. Whatever was happening, whatever Glen and Randy and that strange woman had been talking about, Vi hope it could wait a day. Or two. Or a week. She wasn't sure she could process much more information, and she would love to spend some time focused on her daughter and the first day of school that was imminent. No matter what else was happening, it wasn't like their life could come to a complete standstill.
Vi was surprised when she got to the bottom of the stairs. Josie and Drew were sitting in the living room, watch TV, talking and joking around.
"Hey, Mom." Josie grinned at her.
"Hey. Why did you let me sleep so late?" Vi cast a pointed look at Drew. Josie got it.
"Because Randy said you were up really late, and he said to leave you alone. And he and Glen went to town to pick up something for lunch. He brought Drew with him when he came back this morning."
"Glen?"
"Yup."
Vi nodded and went to the kitchen to get something caffeinated. She had a feeling she was going to need it. She chugged half a can of soda before Josie walked into the kitchen.
"Don't get mad." Josie said , keeping her voice low. Vi lifted an eyebrow.
"What did you break?"
That made Josie smile. "Nothing. Yet. Drew wants to talk to you. About his dad. Actually we were talking last night and I said he should maybe tell you some of the stuff he's told me."
"I knew there was a reason you let me sleep in late." Vi said, eying her daughter.
"That too." Josie said with a sigh.
"Well you guys come in here while I get myself something to eat. Unless the return of Glen and Randy is going to happen before I starve?" Vi made it a question. Josie shrugged.
"They've only been gone half an hour. And I'm pretty sure they were going to go by the police station to talk to the sheriff if he's there too."
"Great." Vi went back to the fridge, eyed the eggs with her nose wrinkled, and instead opted to just make a sandwich. The kids were both sitting at the table when she turned around, being uncharacteristically quiet. Especially Josie, who could almost always be counted to fill in silences. Vi took her sandwich, drink, and a bag of chips to the table before sitting down and taking a bite. "So what, exactly, did you want to talk about?" Vi asked once she'd swallowed.
Drew looked at Josie for a moment, and she gave him an encouraging nod. "I don't even know what it is exactly that's bugging me. But Josie said I could try to talk to you about it."
"Sure." Vi agreed, wondering where he was going with this.
"I guess…mostly…it's about…Mom." He finally got it out, hesitant. And he practically had to choke out the last word. Vi looked at him with an eyebrow up before glancing at Josie.
"What about her?" Vi asked when Drew seemed unable to go on.
"It's just…I'm not sure she is who she says she is." He looked so frustrated that under other circumstances Vi might have found it funny. And it struck her again, how very much like his father he could be. It was the expressive face, definitely. "Not that I have a lot to go on because I don't really remember her. I know that sounds crappy, she was my mother and I should remember her."
Vi reached over and covered his hand with hers, squeezing lightly. "Honey, you were practically a baby when you lost her. Nobody expects you to have perfect recall."
Drew seemed rather stunned by that. He thought it over for a moment. "I do remember some stuff. Like…little stuff. She used to read to me every night. I can remember that. She'd sit on the bed with me and she'd read real books - not kid's stuff." He sighed and blinked a few times, shaking his head. "We had a routine. I got a bath, Mom took a shower, and then she'd read to me for a while before bedtime. I can remember that. I can remember how she smelled. Is that weird?" He didn't give Vi a chance to answer. "She doesn't smell the same now. That's the weird part."
Vi frowned thoughtfully at him. "What do you mean?"
Drew shook his head again. "I don't know what I mean." Again frustration all but dripped from his voice. "She's not the same. I don't know how or why but she's not."
"Of course she isn't the same." Vi said, keeping her tone even, calm. "Because you aren't the same. You're not that little boy anymore."
"It's not just a time thing."
"Oh?"
"There's other stuff. Like…" He shot a glance at Josie before he resumed looking earnestly at Vi. "Dad locks himself into his room at night when he's sleeping. To keep her out. And she's just…there. She doesn't do anything like she used to do. And that's not coming from me. I'm getting that from Dad. Mostly she lounges by the pool or hangs out in the house, every few days she goes into town to 'reacquaint herself…" At this, Drew did air quotes, spitting the words out. "Nobody knows where she goes when she does it either. It's like she disappears for a few hours. And I know I'm not supposed to use my powers around her, but I can't help it."
"Is that how you know that she disappears?" Vi asked.
"Yeah. She said the other day she was going to the diner in town to talk to Gayle, the woman who runs the breakfast shift. When I went through town later I kind of…poked at Gayle a little. Just to see. And she hadn't seen her. Not the whole time that…mom…has been back."
Vi frowned at that. "So what do you think is going on then?"
"I wish I knew. Not that it would do much good."
"Let me guess. Your dad wouldn't listen to you anyway?"
Drew half-smiled without much humor. "Yeah. Pretty much."
"Maybe you underestimate him. Maybe he's just waiting for you to give him a good reason to do something." Vi offered.
Drew was shaking his head before she could finish. "I've tried. He listens…but then he says that he made a promise, he took a vow, it's something he has to do." He pulled his hand back from Vi and dragged it through his hair. "And he doesn't like having her there. It's more than just locking the door when he's sleeping. He's better at hiding this part around me, and I can't go prying too much because he would feel it, but…he doesn't trust her. He doesn't trust who she is. But he won't do anything about it."
Vi mulled that over, nibbling on a chip, not tasting it. "Have you tried reading her? Or whatever it's called?"
Drew sighed heavily. "That's another weird thing. It's like she's blocked off."
"Blocked off? Like Glen is, or like me?"
"Kind of but not really. There's something there, but it's wrapped in some other stuff. I can't explain it. If I touched her, then maybe I'd be able to get more." Drew rubbed his eyes for a moment, thinking. "That's something else funny too. Not funny like a joke, but funny weird. I don't need Dad to tell me that Mom could be the most touchy-feely person on the planet. I can remember that. She was big with hugs. But now…" He shook his head. "She backs off. Not that I really wanna hug her or anything…she's like a stranger. But she's careful about who touches her."
"What about Randy?" Vi asked, curious.
"He's tried reading her too. But he didn't really know her before. And it's been a long time since he had any contact with her. So she really is a stranger to him."
"Ok." Vi crunched another chip before speaking again. It bought her a minute to think anyway. "What do you want me to do?'
That surprised him. He was quiet for a moment. "I don't know if you can do anything. Dad's kind of…he can be stubborn when he wants."
Vi smiled sadly at that. "You don't have to tell me that. I know." She looked at Josie. "And you. Being conspicuously quiet. Makes me wonder if I'm about to be ganged up on. Which makes me wonder what it is you kids are wanting me to do."
Josie smiled sweetly. "We were hoping you would maybe talk to Drew's dad."
Vi couldn't help but snort a sarcastic laugh at that. "Because he would listen to me for some reason?"
"You're the only one I think he would really listen to." Drew confirmed, smiling half-heartedly. "I don't know how I can know that, since he's hard to read, but I do."
"But what do you want to come of it?" Vi didn't understand, not really.
"I just want…" Drew sighed again. "She's not my mother. And I'm kind of…scared. I don't know why. It's nothing I can put my finger on."
"How sure are you about that, Drew?" Vi asked, sobering. "How sure that she's not who she says she is?"
"One hundred percent. Even if she'd been dead…" But he shook his head, unable to complete that train of thought. "You've met Randy. Dad says that Randy was dead for a while too. And he came back pretty much the same. Yeah he's stronger than he was, but it's been a long time. This…my mom…she's not the same. I know it. Dad knows it, but whatever bond they had is stopping him from admitting it."
Vi let that sink in for a minute. "Let me think about it for a little bit, all right?" She said softly. In her head, her mind was already made up though. It hadn't taken much. It had been Drew's admission that he wasn't just uneasy or uncomfortable - he was scared with that woman in his house.
Drew was nodding, resigned. "At least she won't be at school in the morning. She'd leaving to go on one of her 'visiting' trips. It's like an every week thing. She says she's going to see some friend of hers in the city…I don't remember the woman's name but she's usually gone most of the day anyway."
Vi nodded absently at that, still thinking it over. "Maybe you should be locking your bedroom door too." She said, trying to offer him a more convincing smile.
"Believe me, I already do."
"Well. I need to go out to the office for a few minutes to check my messages and take care of a few things. And I am not putting you off. I promise. I just have to think." She aimed that at Drew, who nodded and smiled more naturally than he had been. Satisfied, Vi got up and cleaned up what little mess there was before heading out to her office.
Josie and Drew sat in silence for a few minutes. Josie finally grinned, trying to lighten the mood. "Do you feel better now?"
"I don't know. Should I?" He was too morose to notice how funny Josie was finding this whole situation.
"Sure. Because Mom will be going and having a talk with your dad. Maybe not today. Probably not today. But tomorrow? Yeah. I'd bet money on it."
"I don't know if it'll do any good." Drew said.
"Sure it will. You said the magic word." He frowned at her, confused, making Josie grin. "You said you were scared and didn't know why. That kind of thing drives Mom crazy. She'll talk or maybe even beat some sense into your dad for that alone."
Drew snorted. "Yeah. We'll see. And please don't tell your friends about this conversation."
Josie looked hurt at that. "Like I would."
"Not even Grace?"
"Especially not Grace. You demon types aren't the only ones who can keep secrets." Josie pointed out the window. "Glen's back." The truck had just pulled to a halt next to Vi's SUV.
"Good. I'm starving." Wanting to just drop the whole issue, Drew let Josie change the subject to lighter things. He only hoped she was right about her mom, because he wasn't sure how much longer he could put up with living with his own mother.
~~!~~
Steve only listened to Glen and Randy with one ear. Unfortunately for them, that Sunday had presented him with bigger fish to fry. He had been on the way out when they'd come in, and he was in something of a hurry.
"Ok. I get that you all have some big things going down. Just let me know when you're gonna get everybody together and I'll be there. Til then I have to go." He led them out of the station.
"What's going on?" Randy asked, noting the way the sheriff's jaw clenched in anger every few seconds.
"Fuck all if I know." Steve reached through his Jeep window and grabbed his hat, jamming it onto his head. "Got a call from the next county over. They say they picked up a girl walking around town, half naked, stoned out of her mind, bruised from head to toe."
"And what does that have to do with you? Sounds like their problem." Glen said, feeling uneasy.
"Normally it would be. Today it's mine because they ran her fingerprints and she's a match to Cammie Johnson."
"But…wait…that's good news. Right?" Glen was confused. Cammie had been missing for months, people had all but given up hope on finding her alive. It should have been cause for excitement.
"It would be. If it had happened here." Steve yanked his keys out of his pocket. "Now I gotta deal with outsiders, and try to get her transferred into town here without them being complete fuckheads about it. On top of finding out just what the fuck happened to her. They found her this morning, early. She hadn't talked yet. I'm hopin' it stays that way til I get there." He saw the confused frown on Glen's face and shook his head. "She's hurt pretty bad. I don't want her sayin' something that might reflect back on the town, that's all. Gonna have to scramble like hell to get her moved here, and do it as fast as we can before some nosy bastard from their end of things gets involved. Or worse…the state."
"Got it. You need anything, let us know."
Steve nodded and got behind the wheel. He lifted a hand in a wave before pulling out and heading out of town. He had a long drive ahead of him. He dialed home, hoping he wasn't waking up the baby. Very quickly, he explained to Jess what was going on, getting her to agree to prep the clinic and set up a room for Cammie. Steve's mind was set. The girl would be coming back with him one way or another.
The hospital in the city was crowded, and it rubbed his nerves raw. Steve hated the city with a passion, only venturing outside of his own more sparsely populated county when he absolutely had to. It was unreasonable, yes, but he had a distrust of large crowds of people. It took nearly 20 minutes to make it through various hospital checkpoints, which did nothing to calm his temper. It was a wonder anybody got treated, since it seemed everyone spent most of their time getting searched or proving their identification in the place.
He finally made it up to the fourth floor. The hospital made a rough T-shape, with the ICU and recovery rooms taking up the short wings, and the surgical center commanding the larger wing. He went there first, because he had been told that Cammie would be going through surgery. She had a few fractured bones as far as the doctors could tell, and many of her wounds were superficial but some were infected. They wanted to put her under anesthesia and clean her wounds.
Steve was directed back to the recovery room. Of course. He grumbled to himself as he went in that direction, showing his ID for what felt like the thirtieth time in under 30 minutes, before being ushered to the back of the room. There were two rooms set up with actual walls and doors instead of just a section curtained off. Jess had told him that they were isolation wards, usually used for patients who needed extra attention but not ICU attention, or those who were beyond help and needed a quiet place to die. Either way - it creeped him out.
He spotted a man he recognized through the glass door. John Layfield was the sheriff of this county, and he and Steve shared a decent working relationship. That was where it ended though. Layfield was plenty sharp for a human. It was hard enough keeping their existence quiet without the sheriff of a neighboring county getting playing nosy.
Steve let himself in, shutting the door in the curious nurse's face. Cammie Johnson lay in the bed, skin pale - at least the parts that weren't bruised or bandaged. There was no doubt who it was. Steve had personally seen her almost every day since she started working at the diner.
"Glad you could get here so fast." Layfield said, shaking Steve's hand. "Her parents are working on getting her transferred back to your clinic." A troubled shadow crossed his face. "What's wrong, they don't trust her here?"
Steve could only shake his head. "She been awake at all yet?"
"No. Well…" Layfield pulled a notebook out of his pocket, flipped it open, and nodded. "She was in and out in the ambulance. Fought the medics until they restrained her. The only reason she's off now is because she's heavily sedated. That was about two hours ago. They said she'll be out the better part of the day."
"Wanna run down what she's got?" Steve didn't bother with taking notes. He'd be getting his own reports soon enough.
"Cuts, bruises, burns galore. She's marked on every part of her body." Layfield shifted on his feet, visibly uncomfortable which was a first for Steve. He'd never seen the man ruffled. "There's signs of rape. Scratches, bruises, tearing, bleeding. We did a kit, but whoever did it cleaned her up."
"Any bite marks?" Steve asked, reaching over the safety rail of the bed to touch Cammie's hand.
"Old ones. Mostly healed. How'd you know that?"
Steve heard that hint of sharpness in the man's voice. It reminded him of a bloodhound that had caught a scent. "We figured she ran off with a boyfriend. Piece of shit kid that thought biting her was kind of a turn on." Steve lied smoothly. Cammie's parents would as well. It would keep Layfield busy, if he wanted to be involved, searching for Cammie's invisible boyfriend. "Figured when she ran off it was with him. But if the bite marks are healed up, guess she wasn't with him recently." He felt Cammie's fingers twitch in his hand, and bit his lip to hide a smirk. Some - maybe all - of what he'd said had gotten through. If Layfield or another outsider questioned her, she'd use the same story. She was still there, still with them. Weak but aware.
"They're still running toxicology tests on her blood. Girl was on something serious. She's got a few needle marks."
"So tell me again how she was found." Steve prompted, taking a seat, still holding onto Cammie's hand.
"At three-forty this morning a call came in from a woman who works at one of the all night laundry places downtown. Said she said a girl who looked like 'death warmed over' wandering the parking lot, missing half her clothes. I got there five minutes after dispatch. The girl was unresponsive to me, just kept walking, mumbling under her breath. So I called for the medical transport." Layfield had tucked his notebook back into his pocket. "You wanna tell me why it's so all-fired important to move her back to your county, to that piddly clinic instead of here? She'll get the best damn care in the state right where she is."
"I'd say that's something her parents want." Steve said after pretending to think about it. This was part of a long-standing script for his kind. "They're farmers. It's not like their work will wait for 'em while they drive back and forth and spend all their time up here. And that 'piddly clinic' is run by my wife, so you might wanna watch your tone. She's the best damn doctor in the state." He threw Layfield's words back at him.
"Sorry. Didn't meant to step on your toes." But Layfield was only saying it to say it. There were no contrition in his voice. "We'll have to investigate the rape and the apparent assault."
"Good. You do that."
"I'd prefer she stay here."
"And that's not up to you or me. That's up to her parents." Steve pointed out. He could practically feel the other man's eyes boring into him, prying at him. It was not the world's most comfortable feeling but Steve bore it well because Layfield was not a threat. Whoever had hurt Cammie, that was the threat.
Layfield eventually excused himself to go talk to Cammie's parents. Probably to try one last time to get them to let their daughter stay here. Steve was left alone to watch over the sleeping girl.
With no one there to observe him, Steve got up and leaned over, gently turning Cammie's head and brushing her hair out of the way. There was a bandage there. He carefully picked away a corner and lifted it, unsurprised to see the ring of teeth marks high on the back of her neck. The bite had been cleaned, and a few black stitches closed the deeper lacerations made by the incisors and canines.
It proved to Steve that she'd been with their murdered.
But for two entire months? Was Steve supposed to believe that Cammie had been kept for two months and then just…let go? The fact that she was still alive was a miracle, yes, but up and walking around with the amount of damage she'd been through it must have been hell. Had she escaped?
He was denying that thought before it could fully take hold. There was no way the murderer would let anyone escape him. He had kept her, used her, and then he'd let her go, alive. But why? It stood to reason that at some point during the past few months that Cammie had seen her attacker, seen his face, seen his build. He couldn't have been just a shadow for that amount of time, and Steve refused to believe that were possible.
So why would the guy who had killed so many already show mercy here? Or was it mercy at all? Steve had a bad feeling, a sinking sensation in his gut that said that this was not right. It was like he were being led away from the real issue, which was sort of crazy considering the poor hurt kid on the bed in front of him.
He couldn't shake it though. Cammie had been given up as dead and unfound. Yet here she was, alive and - while not well, at least somewhere safe where she could recover. Steve wanted to know why. He wanted to know if their killer was announcing he was still around or if he was slipping. Most of all, he wanted to know who the hell it was so he could stop him once and for all.
