*TRIGGER WARNING* Mention of SA in this chapter.
Isn't anyone tryin' to find me?
Won't somebody come take me home?
It's a damn cold night
Trying to figure out this life
Won't you take me by the hand?
Take me somewhere new
I don't know who you are
But I, I'm with you
I'm with you
Jones walked carefully behind the searching dogs. Tom walked right beside him, the two of them completely in sync.
The first few drops of rain fell from the darkening sky. Jones turned on his torch and shined it into the woods.
Maybe getting the dogs was a useless idea, he thought to himself.
They'd been searching for an hour and had turned up nothing.
It was getting darker and wetter by the second. Both Ben and Tom were just about to give up hope when suddenly an authoritative bark sounded in the distance. They looked at each other with hope.
Ben took off running with Tom following behind. The other officers and dogs were scouring the area.
"Anything?" Jones asked breathlessly.
"Nothing yet sir. The dogs are going mad though,"
Ben started to run in the other direction, but his foot tripped over what he thought was the root of a tree. He stumbled, but caught himself before hitting the ground.
"Jones?" Barnaby called.
"I'm fine, sir,"
As he dusted himself off he noticed something odd amongst the blanket of fallen autumn leaves. A bare foot was barely visible. Jones's heart all but stopped.
"Sir!" he yelled, "Here!"
He dropped to his knees and started furiously dusting the leaves away. The bare foot gave way to a bare leg, and then Jones finally was able to uncover her face.
The bloody and bruised appearance made him second guess, but in his gut he knew the ashen face he was looking at was Sophie Quinn.
"It's her!" he shouted. "Call an ambulance,"
He brushed the leaves away from her face. His fingertips brushed her skin and his stomach turned. She was ice cold.
"Is she alive?" Tom asked after he called it in.
Jones leaned his ear down to her chest, and laid his fingers on her neck. He closed his eyes and listened.
Come on, Sophie, he thought.
"She's alive," he confirmed with relief. He could barely feel the slow and thready thump of her pulse.
"All right Jones, let's get her out of here," Tom told his sergeant.
Jones stood up off his knees and then bent over and scooped her up into his arms. As he carried her towards the car to wait for the ambulance, Tom shined his flashlight on her bloodied and bruised body. Jones kept his eyes forward.
Thankfully, by the time they got back to the village the ambulance was waiting. Jones handed her over to the paramedics and wiped his hands on his pants.
"Bike accident, I don't think so," Tom said angrily.
Jones was silent as he watched the ambulance pull away. Tom eyed him. After a moment he said, "Go with her, Jones. Let me know what she says when she wakes up,"
"Where will you be, sir?"
"I'm going to tell the parents their daughter has been found. Call me when she wakes,"
"Yes, sir," Jones said.
At the hospital Jones stood in the corner of the room as a female constable assisted a nurse in collecting evidence. Sophie was still unconscious.
Small mercies, Jones thought.
As the nurse lifted Sophie's night dress, Jones stepped forward.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm going to perform an examination, and collect evidence along with your constable,"
"Why are you lifting her gown, I meant?"
"Sergeant, look at the state of her," the nurse motioned to the fingerprint bruises on Sophie's thigh.
Jones swallowed hard and shook his head once. "Could have been consensual,"
He hated the thought of what the nurse was getting at. What he hated more was that she was almost positively correct, and he knew it.
She eyed him sympathetically before lifting the gown once more. Jones turned his body and faced the door. Minutes ticked by. He felt the familiar pull of exhaustion tugging on his shoulders. He was about to head for coffee when the nurse announced they were finished.
"The doctor is going to order some x-rays, and give her an overall exam. She's been in the elements for two nights. With how cold it's been its a miracle she's still alive,"
The nurse stepped out and the constable left to take the evidence bags. Jones turned to see Sophie was now wearing a hospital gown, and the nurse had wiped some of the blood from her body.
He parked himself in a chair and waited. He prayed she would wake soon, and when she did he didn't want her to be alone. His phone started buzzing in his jacket pocket.
"Sir,"
"The parents are on their way,"
"Good," Jones said.
"Is she awake?"
"Not yet,"
"Her parents were shocked she was found so close to home,"
"That's what's bothering me. What are we thinking? Something causes her to run away, then she gets lost and disoriented in the woods a mile from home? I don't buy it,"
"Neither do I,"
"There's something else. The nurse thinks she may have been…interfered with,"
"I'm going to the station. When the parents get there, you meet me there,"
"Yes, sir,"
"And Jones,"
"Yes?"
"Bring coffee,"
Lyrics: Avril Lavigne