Chapter 15 –

The pain was coursing through her body once again as Rachel watched him drive up towards the unfamiliar house, though it was as large and impressive as the last one had been. He opened the door for her but she got out herself, stumbling towards the front door which opened as they approached, a pair of arms catching her before she fell to the ground.

"Take her through to the back room, I'll follow you there."

Rachel felt the lump in her throat grow as she heard the familiar female voice as she was passed back to the man who had driven her to the house, he picked her up and carried her through the house before lying her down on a bed, leaving her alone in the room but the solitude didn't last long.

"Hello Rachel."

Rachel opened her eyes and looked at the woman standing over her, the smile etched on her face made Rachel feel slightly sick but she knew that Sam and Zoe were safe, it was the least that she could do after all they had done to help her.

"Hello ma'am."

"Nice to see that your manners have improved since I last saw you. I'll arrange for the doctor to see you in the morning but for now I suggest that you get some rest."

Rachel nodded her head and closed her eyes, despite the pain she knew that she would quickly fall fast asleep.

Linda walked back into the office carrying three cups of coffee, after placing them on Zoe's desk she pulled out the spare chair from the corner of the room and sat next to Sam, smiling at her friend who just nodded her head towards the file.

"Zoe's calling the police."

"It's the right thing to do."

"I know, it's just."

"You're worried about Rachel, I know Sam but you don't know where she's gone and if they have got her then it's not safe for you, we've got to let the police handle everything now."

Sam nodded her head as Zoe finished the call, it was then that Linda's eyes caught the drawing that was now placed on top of the file.

"Oh my god, is that?"

Linda reached across and picked up the sketch, examining it closely before she looked at Sam and then Zoe, both of them just shrugged their shoulders.

"Do you think that he is involved?"

"I don't know Linda, I'm passing all of this over to the police and then they can investigate and we can get back to our jobs."

Zoe's voice was exasperated as she spoke before she took a hold of her coffee and drunk it slowly as Linda muttered under her breath.

"Well it would certainly explain a few things."

Alice opened her eyes and immediately closed them once again, she hadn't dreamt it, the accident had happened.

"How are you feeling?"

Recognising the voice Alice turned her head and managed to look at her colleague.

"I don't know Matt how should I be feeling?"

The Detective Sergeant managed a smile before he took a breath.

"The girl has run away."

"Did they get her?"

"We don't think so, Doctor Nicholls found a bedroom window open and Rachel left her a note asking that nobody look for her."

"Crap!"

"But she did leave us some information, an address that has unfortunately been abandoned and cleaned thoroughly."

"They knew we were coming after them."

"Yes but look at these."

Matt held up the sketches and saw the smile creep across Alice's face.

"They're great, she's added loads of detail. Get them circulated and look into the financials of that house, who paid the bills and taxes, we might well end up getting them that way."

"Will do boss, take it easy and I'll be back later to fill you in."

"Thanks Matt, oh how is Doctor Nicholls doing?"

"Quiet, she's down working in the ED but I know that she blames herself for the girl running away."

"Crap, I'll see if I can speak to her later, if we find the girl we'll need her as I doubt Rachel will talk to anyone else."

Matt nodded before he stood up and left the room, leaving Alice alone with her thoughts.

The scream that left Rachel's mouth quickly woke her up, caused not only by the nightmare she found herself in but the pain around her ribs as well, but as she opened her eyes Rachel realised that she had woken up in her own personal living hell.

"Rachel?"

"Sorry ma'am."

Rachel quickly bowed her head as the woman walked over and sat on the edge of the bed.

"It's ok Rachel you've been through a bit of an ordeal lately."

The woman smiled as she spoke, reaching out she put a hand on Rachel's shoulder which quickly caused her to shiver uncomfortably at the contact.

"I'm not going to hurt you Rachel."

Rachel nodded her head but she didn't believe her.

"The Doctor will be in to see you shortly, just sit tight until then, I've got to go and make sure that everything is progressing as it should be."

"Yes ma'am."

"Thank you Rachel and if you keep up the good behaviour you can move upstairs, we have a new girl that you can help show how things work around here."

Rachel nodded her head as inside a loud groan reverberated around her body, they had found someone else, she was right to have made the move back here as well as leave the information with Sam, she wondered if she could find some way of contacting Sam so she could tell her that someone else was in danger. But then Rachel didn't know if she wanted to take the risk of putting Sam in danger once again. Closing her eyes Rachel made the decision to sit tight and keep quiet, accept that this was her fate, the life that she had been dealt and there was nothing that she could do to change it.

Sam sat on the bench in the cold air, Zoe had tried to get her to go home and get some rest but she didn't want to leave, not yet anyway.

"Can I join you?"

Sam lifted her head and looked up, quickly nodding her head as Tess shivered slightly before she sat down.

"Zoe told me what happened."

"I screwed up Tess. She's 12 years old for god's sake, out there hurt, alone and frightened!"

Sam shouted the words out before she bowed her head once again and put her hands on top of it.

"It's not your fault Sam you were out in an impossible situation. Rachel made her choice Sam there was nothing that you could do, it sounds like she was looking out for you."

Sam puffed out her cheeks as Tess reached around and put her arm around the young doctor.

"Come on inside, it's too cold to spend the day out here."

"Have you got any good patients for me Tess?"

"A drunk with poor hygiene and a bad gash on his leg?"

Tess smiled as Sam lifted up her head and nodded in reply, they both knew that working was the best way to cope, keeping their minds occupied so they couldn't worry about what had happened to Rachel.