Chapter 8
I woke up because the hallway light was too bright.
I'd been dreaming about our apartment door. Not about our kitchen or my bed, just the door. It wouldn't close all the way. In my dream Mommy kept pushing it shut and it kept bouncing open a little, just an inch, and cold air came in. I could hear my own breathing in the hospital room, fast and loud, and my rabbit was wet where my hands had been squeezing it.
Nurse Patel was standing by the bed. She wasn't the night nurse from before. She had short dark hair pulled back and her badge said PATEL, RN. She'd dimmed my monitor but left the chrome rail up.
"Hey, sweetheart," she said, quiet. "You were calling out. You're safe."
I didn't answer at first. I held my rabbit tighter. Both hands around its middle, my thumbs pressed into its belly where the soft was a little matted from me holding it. Its pink nose was against my hospital gown.
"Where's Marcus?" I asked. My voice sounded scraped.
"He stepped out with Andrea," she said. "They'll be right back."
I shook my head. I couldn't stop breathing fast. "He said he'd stay. He was right here."
Nurse Patel reached for the call button and then for the phone on the wall instead. She didn't ask me if it was okay. She dialed and I heard it ring once, twice.
Marcus answered on the second ring. I could hear road noise behind him
Patel put it on speaker so I could hear. "Mr. Marcus? This is Patel in peds, room 214. Lily woke up agitated. She's asking for you."
"Put her on," Marcus said right away. His voice was rough like he'd been driving with the window down.
Nurse Patel held the phone near me. I curled tighter around my rabbit.
"Lily-bug, I'm here," Marcus said. "I didn't leave you. I'm two minutes out from the parking lot. You keep that rabbit tight, you hear me?"
I nodded even though he couldn't see me. "Don't let him take it," I whispered. It came out smaller than I wanted it to.
In the phone I heard Andrea's voice in the background, tight and clear. "Patel, this is Andrea Cole, CPS. Is security at the door?"
"Security's at the desk," Patel said. "Do you want me to call them up?"
"Yes," Andrea said. "And lock the door. Don't open for anyone but us or the deputy."
I stared at the dark window. Outside I could see the parking lot lights and the black sky that hadn't started to turn blue yet. The clock above the door said 4:07.
Marcus's voice came back, closer to the phone now. "Lily, listen to me. That rabbit stays with you. Nobody takes it. You understand? Mommy told you that, right?"
My hands squeezed without me telling them to. "Mommy said don't let the bad man take the rabbit," I said. I hadn't meant to say it that loud. Nurse Patel's eyes got wider and she looked down at my hands.
On the phone Andrea was talking to someone else now. I heard a second phone beep. "Harris? It's Andrea. We're coming back in on 21. We need a patrol at County General, peds entrance. Now. Dark pickup circling the lot."
A different man's voice came faint through the car speaker, radio crackle under it. Deputy Harris. "You got a plate?"
"No plate on camera," Andrea said. Her breathing was quick. "Security just sent stills. Dark Chevy, lifted rear, dent in the tailgate, same truck Ray Dwyer was seen in last week. He's circling. Third pass in ten minutes."
Marcus cut in. "How close?"
"Parking lot, outer loop by the ER," Andrea said. "He hasn't parked. Just slow rolling past the lights."
I felt my chest get too tight. The rabbit's long ears were bunched in my fists. Nurse Patel put her hand lightly on the bed rail, not on me.
"Patel," Marcus said, his voice dropping like he was trying to keep it calm just for me, "is that door locked?"
Patel checked it with her hip. Click. "Locked. And I'm staying right here, Lily."
I heard tires and a blinker in the phone. Andrea was talking again to Harris. "ETA four minutes. We'll be at the main entrance. Do not let anyone who says he's family back to peds. No ID, no entry."
Harris said, "Copy. Unit two rolling now. Keep Lily in the room."
The line was still open but no one talked for a second. I could hear Marcus breathing and the truck's engine. Then Marcus said, "Lily? You still squeezing that rabbit?"
I looked down. My knuckles were white. The beige fur was pressed flat where I'd been holding it since the man in the vest first knelt down.
"Yes," I said.
"Good girl," he said. "You keep holding it like that. I'm pulling into the lot right now. I see the lights. I see the truck."
I heard Andrea say, sharp, "Marcus, don't —"
"I see him," Marcus said, quieter, like he wasn't on speaker anymore but I could still hear. "Outer lane, going slow. He's looking up at the windows."
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Nurse Patel moved closer to the bed and pulled the curtain across the window a little, just enough so the parking lot lights didn't shine straight on my face. Outside, somewhere below, a siren started far off and got louder.
I didn't let go of the rabbit.
