Chapter 11
The clock above the door said 5:07 and it wasn't sunrise yet. The window was still black except for the parking lot lights. I held my rabbit with both hands the way Mommy taught me, tight against my chest, and I didn't let go. My gown was itchy on my neck and the blanket was too warm but I didn't kick it off. Marcus was still kneeling by my bed. His hand was on the rail and his knuckles looked more bruised up close. Andrea stood on my other side with her phone lit up.
Deputy Harris was by the window with Mommy's flip phone plugged into a black box. He kept tapping it and his radio crackled.
"Got a ping," he said. His voice was low. "Last hit bounced off the tower by Route 17. Diner at the county road cross."
Andrea leaned in. "Time?"
"About nine last night. That's it. Phone died after that."
He picked up his own phone and called dispatch. I heard him say the diner name. I didn't know that diner but I knew Route 17 because Mommy drove it to work.
"Need you to run a welfare check," he said into the phone. "Possible female, thirties, dark hair, last seen near Miller's Diner. Sarah Collins. Injured. Stay on line."
He put it on speaker. A woman answered on the second ring. A bell jingled in the background and I could hear a grill hissing.
"Miller's," a man said. He sounded tired. "We closed at ten but I'm still cleaning."
"This is Deputy Harris, county sheriff," Harris said. "Were you open last night around nine? Did a woman come in, dark hair, maybe bruised up?"
There was a pause. I heard a chair scrape.
"Yeah," the man said. "Yeah, she was here. Skinny lady, dark hair pulled back. Had a bruise on her cheek. Asked to use the restroom and didn't come out for a long time. Said her name was Sarah."
My chest got tight. I squeezed my rabbit harder. Its ear was damp where I'd been holding it.
"She still there?" Harris asked.
"No," the cook said. "She left before we closed. She was hiding in the ladies' room. Kept looking out the window. She asked me if a man came looking for her. Big guy, shaved head, she said his name was Ray. She said if he came I shouldn't tell him she was here."
Marcus breathed out slow next to me. Andrea's hand found my shoulder.
"Did he come?" Harris asked.
"Not while we were open," the cook said. "But she wouldn't leave. She said she was waiting till she was sure he was gone. She had blood on her lip. I told her I could call somebody but she said please don't call the cops yet, just let her stay till sunrise. I gave her water. She was shaking."
"Where did she go when she left?" Harris asked.
"She went out the back. There's a storage room behind the bathrooms. Old office we don't use. I told her she could sit there if she needed. She might still be there. I locked the front but the back door sticks, she could've stayed."
Harris looked at Andrea and Marcus. Andrea's eyes were wet.
"Do not go back there alone," Harris said into the phone. "Do not unlock anything until my deputies arrive. You understand?"
"Yeah, I understand," the cook said.
Harris hung up and hit his radio. "Dispatch, this is Harris, need two units and EMS to Miller's Diner, Route 17 and County Road F. Code two, possible hidden victim, Sarah Collins, condition unknown. Have them go to rear storage room. Hold perimeter for Ray McCann. He may be en route after failed hospital approach."
The radio answered right away and said units en route, ETA twelve minutes, ambulance on standby two minutes behind.
The room was quiet except for the monitor beeping. Andrea bent down so her face was level with mine. Her gold necklace swung forward.
"Lily," she said softly. "Did you hear that? The man at the diner saw your mommy. She's alive. She's hiding there and help is going to her right now."
I tried to say yes but my throat made a little sound first. My eyes burned.
"Is she okay?" I whispered. My voice cracked.
"They're going to find her and make sure she's okay," Andrea said. She tucked the blanket around my rabbit too. "The deputies are driving there right now. And an ambulance."
Marcus didn't stand up. He stayed kneeling so I didn't have to look up. His eyes were red at the edges.
"Your mom was smart to stay put," he said. His voice was quiet and a little rough. "She knew not to go home."
I nodded and tears slid down my cheek. I felt relief like warm water and then fear right after it, cold. If Mommy was at the diner, and Ray didn't find her at the hospital, he would look somewhere else.
"What if Ray gets there first?" I asked. I clutched my rabbit tighter. My hands were shaking. "He comes before sunrise. Mommy said before sunrise."
Harris was already moving toward the door, talking on the radio again.
"He won't," Harris said, but he was looking at Marcus, not me. "We have cars closer than he does. We left here before he could circle back. We're ahead of him this time."
May you like
Andrea squeezed my shoulder. "We're ahead," she repeated to me.
I stared at the dark window. It was 5:14 now. The sky outside was still night but not as black as before. I kept thinking about the back room at the diner and the door that stuck and Mommy sitting there waiting and listening for footsteps, just like I was listening for hers.
