III.

Claire came back with Dr. Gardener. "Alex, can you bring her upstairs? She needs to sleep. Dr. Gardener will come with you and look after her."

The man nodded. "Of course…" And once again he lifted the unconscious girl into his arms and carried her up the narrow stairway into Tess' room, followed by Dr. Gardener who was carrying his old leather bag.

After he had put the girl down on the bed, Dr. Gardener turned to him and told him to leave.

Alex frowned. "Doc, please…"

"No, you can see her afterwards. Now if you please…" The doctor did not look at or talk to him anymore but waited patiently until Alex finally left the room. There was no use arguing.

Downstairs Claire was sitting on the couch with a beer in her hand, Tess was beside her with a cup of coffee. Meg had probably gone back to sleep. During all this, her daughter Jodie had not appeared on the scene. Jodi was the most curious person ever and everybody wondered why she was not here. But nobody took much notice if it, one word and Jodi was forgotten.

Alex dropped down next to Tess and rubbed his forehead.

"Are you ok?" Tess asked.

"Dunno…guess I'm just a little tired. There was way too much work during this summer and then this rain…"

"Ah…" came from Claire. "Just the rain?"

"What do you mean?" asked Tess.

"Well, Alex here has never complained about work or the weather, so I guess his interest is only in the girl."

"So what? I found her, it's my job to worry, eh?" Alex replied, maybe a little to harsh.

Claire turned to him. "Calm down, Doc Gardener will take good care of you, the last thing she needs is…you!"

"I don't care. I want to know what's wrong with her and how she got here…"

In that moment Becky came back.

"Found the horse, it's in pretty bad shape. Lame and completely done in. I put it in the empty box next to Blaze."

"Right. Thanx, Becky. You better go back to bed now, tomorrow's going to be another hard day."

Becky smiled. "Sure, Claire. Goodnight." She nodded to Tess and Alex and disappeared.

Alex had sunken into the sofa and stared into the nothingness that was in front of his eyes without moving.

"Alex?" asked Tess but got no answer.

"Alex!" said Claire and nudged him.

"Yeah?"

"Will you and Nick come out again tomorrow and help us with the fences? We can't keep the cattle in the horse paddock any longer and because of the rain everything's drenched and the fodder is drenched, too. It's as easy as that, tomorrow is going to be anther day of long and hard work. Everybody had to help or otherwise the animals are going to drown or starve. I don't know what's worse. So tell your brother to show up here with you on time to help us, ok?"

"Sure." Alex said and got up.

In that exact moment he heard the door of the room in which the strange girl was being closed and Dr. Gardener came downstairs.

Alex jumped to his feet. "Is she going to be ok?" he asked breathlessly.

Dr. Gardener looked at him with a serious expression on his face, then turned to Claire. "It is as I supposed, Claire."

Claire sighed and the doctor continued. "I had the feeling that she had been raped when I saw the scratches, and now after a thorough examination, I am afraid to tell you that I was right."

Alex turned all pale and had to sit down. Tess put her cup on the table with a loud noise that pierced the silence like a thunder.

"What?" she said. "Who did this?"

"I don't know yet, but we'll find out. I'll send a test to the hospital in Fisher, guess we'll get the results in a week or two. Although, if the DNA-test turns out positive, the man who did this has to have a record in the database. Then the police can search for him. If not…" Dr. Gardener let this sentence hang before him when he now turned and nodded to Claire, Tess and Alex before he left.