Chapter 2
Andy's shoes made a soft squeak when she came closer and I didn't look at her right away. I kept my eyes on Marcus. His hand was still on the rail and his knuckles looked redder up close. The monitor behind my bed beeped in that slow way it had all night.
Andrea knelt down on the other side of the bed so she wasn't standing over me anymore. Her knees popped a little. She stayed on the opposite side from Marcus, so I was between them.
"Hey, Lily," she said. Her voice was low and even. "My name is Andrea. I help kids and moms when scary things happen. I'm not a nurse. I'm not going to take your bunny, okay? You can hold him as tight as you want."
I nodded but I didn't let go. My rabbit's ears were damp where I'd been squeezing. She didn't reach for him. She just rested her hands on the blanket near my leg, not touching me.
Marcus hadn't moved. He was still kneeling so his face was level with mine. I could hear him breathing.
"Lily," he said, "you did good telling us that. Can you tell us a little more about what Mommy hid? Just what you remember her saying."
My throat felt dry. I tried to remember exactly how Mommy said it, because she made me say it back twice.
We'd been in my room. It was nighttime too, but at home. She was kneeling like Marcus was now, fixing the blanket on my bed. She put the rabbit in my lap and zipped his little pocket. I didn't even know he had a pocket before that. She said, you remember our spot, right? And I said yes.
"She said it was our hiding spot," I whispered. "For bunny's pocket. She said if she didn't come back to tuck me in, I had to tell someone grown-up where she put it. At home. In my room."
Andrea glanced at Marcus. "In your room at home," she repeated softly, not asking, just letting me hear it back. "Did she show you where in your room?"
I shook my head and then stopped. "She said bunny knows. She said bunny keeps the key. That's what she called it. She said don't open it yourself, tell someone safe."
Marcus's jaw tightened a little. He didn't look mad at me.
Andrea kept her voice the same. "That's exactly right, Lily. Don't open it yourself. Telling a safe grown-up is the brave thing. You remembered really well."
My eyes stung again. I pressed my face a little into the rabbit's head. It smelled like the hospital soap and a little like home.
Marcus's phone buzzed against the bed rail. He flinched. He pulled it out of his vest pocket and turned it so I couldn't see the screen. He read it and his shoulders went stiff.
He swallowed. "It's from dispatch," he said to Andrea, quiet but I heard. "They checked Sarah's apartment. No answer on her cell. Door locked, lights off, car not there. Can't reach her."
Andrea's mouth pressed together. She looked at me, then back at him. I felt cold under the blanket.
"Is Mommy lost?" I asked.
Andrea touched the edge of the blanket, still not my hands. "We don't know where Mommy is right now, honey. That's why we're going to get help to find her. Marcus called some people to check on her, because you told us. That was important."
Marcus put his phone back away. He looked at me straight on. "Lily, your mom asked me to come if you ever needed help. That's why I'm here. I'm not going anywhere, okay?"
I nodded. My breathing was fast and the monitor beeped faster too.
Andrea leaned a little closer but kept her distance. "Lily, is it okay if Marcus asks a deputy to come here? Not to move you. Just to sit outside your door and help keep you safe while we figure out the thing at home. You would stay right here with your bunny and your nurses."
I thought about the bad man before sunrise. My chest felt tight.
"Will you stay here too?" I asked her.
"Yes," Andrea said. "Both of us stay until the deputy gets here. No one moves you tonight."
Marcus was already typing with his thumb. "I tell night sheriff to come quiet, no lights," he said to Andrea. "He stays outside room. We don't bring Lily home yet. Too late. Too risky."
Andrea nodded. "We wait here," she said to me. "You don't have to go anywhere."
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I held the rabbit tighter. The little zipper on his belly poked my thumb where Mommy had zipped him. I didn't unzip it. I just held it. Outside the window it was still dark. I could see my own blurry face in the glass next to their reflections.
Marcus put his scarred hand back on the rail, easy, where I could see it. Andrea stayed kneeling. The door to the hallway was still open, and I could hear the nurses' shoes down the hall.
