Chapter VII
“Cale,” said a woman who sounded vaguely familiar. Cautiously, I opened one eye and saw the young woman who was Penny’s mom.
“I’m sorry,” I moaned. “Sorry. I tried to save her. I really did try.”
“Hush, Cale. She’s still alive. The Paramedics managed to save her. You saved her. She’s hurt but alive. He left her there to take you.”
“But the girl in the car---”
“It wasn’t Penny. Another child, someone else’s baby. But not Penny. She wants to see you. We can only visit with you for 15 minutes but she wants to see you.”
I struggled to wake up, to rejoin the world, step back through the curtain I’d drawn around my mind. I could see her face smiling through her tears and her eyes widened as she saw mine.
“Your eyes. Your eyes are so beautiful,” she admired in wonder. “You’re awake. They said you were catatonic, might never return.”
“Where’s Penny?” My voice was hoarse, low. I cleared my throat, tried again. “Where am I? He said I was in Arkansas. I thought Penny was in Dallas?”
“They flew us both up here, figured it would be safer for both of you.
“The doctor said your throat would be sore. You bruised it when the car flipped. I can give you ice, let it melt.”
I nodded and she picked up a cup. She blushed. “I’m sorry. I’m Josie Lynch, Penny’s mom.”
“I know. Where am I?”
“Little Rock, Arkansas. Your friend Dr. Deleon flew us up here when they found you. The man who hurt Penny and took you was named Wilson Penzies. He worked as a delivery man, delivered stolen kids on the side. I can’t say much, your friend will explain everything. It’s his turn next. And your uncle is here, too.”
I swallowed the ice chips, chewed on some and the crunch sounded loud and artificial in my ears. My room was private with the curtain pulled round; I had two IVs in my arms and was tucked under a mound of blankets. I kicked several of them off until I could see under the sheet and my legs. I felt around surreptitiously and couldn’t feel anything sore besides my belly, and across my chest. Penny’s mom interrupted my unvoiced fears and took my wrists.
“It’s okay, Cale. He didn’t touch you that way. They checked. He might have…fondled you but he didn’t…rape you.” Her voice broke and I knew she realized that wasn’t so for her little girl.
“She’s okay. She says she doesn’t remember, that you came into her head and took away the bad memories.”
“I did?”
“My time is up, Cale. I’ll come back later. I love you for what you did for my little girl.” She kissed me softly on the cheek and left me alone. Next in was the doctor, the woman from the ER.
“Cale. How are you feeling?”
Her hands were cold on my throat, wrist, and the stethoscope on my chest and back. “Throat’s sore,” I rasped.
“It will be for a few days. You bruised it pretty hard in the car crash, seat belt slipped across your neck, snapped against your belly and chest. What do you remember?”
“The little girl, man with a rag over my mouth, tied up in the car.”
“He used diesel starting fluid to knock you out. The main ingredient is ether. It made you pretty sick, gave you chemical pneumonia. He didn’t sexually assault you and he is dead. He was crushed to death when the car flipped.”
“How did it wreck?”
“People behind you saw someone transfer you to the front seat from a van and followed. They hit the rear of the car, caused it to flip, and called it in on their cell phone. We don’t know who they were, they didn’t leave a name and the number is no good anymore. They didn’t stick around. State Troopers saw the car and found you.”
“Little girl? Not Penny?”
“We don’t know her name yet. She was three or so. Dead for several days. Died about a day before he took you. You’ve been here three days. You were hysterical when they brought you in, and then unresponsive, catatonic. The doctors wanted to try ECT but I vetoed it. I knew you’d responded to me in the ER. I hoped you would come back on your own.” She paused and her eyes were kind and full of wonder. “How did you know, Cale? How did you see her, find her, and know the things you do?”
“Please,” I shivered. “Don’t. It’s not some…gift like a birthday present. It haunts me, the only place I’m safe is in my sleep, buried deep in my unconscious brain. I know what it feels like to be raped and sodomized, to be stabbed, choked to death, burnt alive, electrocuted, crushed, beaten by someone who’s supposed to love you. Do you want to exist that way?”
She didn’t know what to say.
“What’s wrong with me? Anything broken?”
“You have chemical pneumonia from the ether. Severe hematomas on your chest, belly and upper thighs, neck from the lap belts. No broken bones, no internal injuries, no damage to your anus or genitals. He didn’t sexually penetrate you. We found no traces of semen on you. The FBI agent believes the…buyer wanted you delivered intact for the contract.”
The knock on my door was loud and the person didn’t wait for her to call enter but came in first. The hand that pulled back the curtain was square with neatly trimmed nails, wearing a large signet ring and French cuffs in the delicate gray pin stripe with lime sherbet shirt.
Jed looked like he’d slept in the suit, even his hair was awry. He came in, stood over me and then gathered me in his arms and hugged me close. I felt the stubble on his cheeks and smelled his cologne and it struck a familiar chord in my memory. I could almost remember my father.
“Don’t you ever run off without me again, Cale,” he threatened into my hair. “I thought you were dead.”
“I hoped for that when he took me.”
He ignored that. “The doctor says you can be discharged and recover at home. You ready to see your uncle?”
“Are the girls with him?” I asked, uneasily, remembering the last incident.
“No. We only flew him up.”
“Maybe later. I’m tired. I want to sleep.”
I pushed away from him and lay back down. “I want to see Penny.”
He turned to the doctor and she nodded. “I’ll bring a wheelchair; disconnect your IV so you can see her. She’s in the PIC Unit. Be right back.”
She unhooked me from the lines and pulled out the needle, slapped gauze and a Band-Aid on both sites, smiled and closed the curtain. Returning scant minutes later with an orderly, they helped me up, put slippers on my feet and transferred me to the chair.
I was sore, felt the bruises on my chest and belly, and was uneasy when the man touched me. I had an instant urge to scream and hit at him and it took extreme will power to stifle the urge. Only the desire to see the little girl overrode the fear. We went rolling down the corridor and as we passed the uniformed policeman in the vinyl chair, he rose and came with us like a caravan.
Jed was at my side and when I reached for his hand, he grabbed mine; the contact was warm and steadying, kept me grounded and pushed back some of the fear.
“He can’t get me, right?” I asked.
“He’s dead, Cale. Car crushed him,” the FBI agent replied.
“No. The man who stole me.”
He stopped and stared at me, the entire group paused. I explained, “The man who took me was young, thirties, in a brown shirt and shorts. The man in the cars was older with dark hair and eyes. He was just the delivery guy. I can remember being transferred from car to car. Three times I woke, three different cars, drivers. Don’t remember their faces but knew they were different than the guy that died.”
“What kind of vehicles?”
“First was a SUV of some kind, then a small boxy thing, then the car that flipped---a four door sedan. I can’t remember anything else about it.”
“I’ll get this out to the authorities before he can take another child. Will you excuse me, Cale? I’ll return as soon as I make a phone call. You go on and visit with Penny. Officer Garret will be right outside the door.” They went on, turned the corner and went through the doors marked ‘Authorized Personnel Only.’”
We were greeted by a bevy of nurses in cheerful scrubs who took us over to a bed with the rail pulled up and a small mound under bright sheets with cartoon characters.
She opened her eyes and the contact was electric. I understood why there was such a bond between us, she could almost read my mind and I, hers. We spoke without words and I gently erased all the bad memories not that she would ever forget them but so that it was like it had happened to a little girl she used to know. Her smile was wide and genuine; although she couldn’t speak above a whisper, we all heard her say my name and thank me. She took my hand in her two little ones and patted me, consoled me, whispered that she wished she could make the bad things go away for me and a certain portion of the heavy despair lifted.
I sighed deeply, breathed to the bottom of my lungs and felt…lighter. I yawned. I was suddenly exhausted, could not keep my eyes open, laid my head near her chest and fell into a dreamless sleep.
She would not let them move me so they put me in the bed next to her and she curled herself against me and followed me into dreams where we shared a landscape that was so remarkable; I could never explain or describe it.