“Stay close to the ambulance. Don’t let it out of your sight,” Eve ordered Tommy, her voice filled with desperation. He gave her a startled look but obeyed, stepping on the gas. Eve didn’t care if he thought she was crazy. Maybe she was, but she’d do anything to keep from losing her family again.
“Just get me to my girls, Tommy. Do whatever it takes to get me to my girls.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
LILY
Broken collarbone. Sprained wrists. Two broken ankles. Broken jaw. Six healed rib fractures. Cigarette burns. Ligament scars. Vaginal tearing and extensive trauma. Anemia. Vitamin D deficiency. Visual impairments. The list went on and on and on.
The worst injuries Rick inflicted were in the beginning when Lily still believed she could fight her way out. He’d broken her collarbone and both ankles when she’d tried to escape. He’d been holding her captive for six months, and Lily had decided she had to do something. And she thought she had a chance. She’d seen the light peeking out from the upstairs for almost forty-eight hours. But it was a trap. Lily had barely stepped foot outside the basement when Rick kicked her down the stairs. That beating nearly cost Lily her life. It was also the last time, until today, that Lily ever considered running.
Her other injuries were from the “games” they’d played, when Rick got “carried away.” He’d always apologize, bathing her, gently setting her wounds in splints, bandaging them with the intimate care of a physician, and promising he’d be more careful next time, promising that once she went along with his demands, he wouldn’t have to be so rough (a promise he never kept).
Lily had forced herself to forget each wound that was inflicted, especially once she had Sky. But now she could see that her body was a road map of Rick’s insanity, each scar and impairment revealing his depraved proclivities. Her body was officially evidence.
Cataloging that evidence was an entire fleet of medical personnel. Dr. Lashlee, an attractive resident in her early thirties with a genuine smile and an easy manner, kept Lily calm. Even when she began trembling uncontrollably as they asked her to undress, or when she sobbed through the pelvic exam, Dr. Lashlee’s voice remained measured, her words reassuring. The old-school RN, Carol, a wrinkled woman with smoker’s lines and tired eyes, held Lily’s hand, letting go only to jot notes in her chart. In the corner, a female detective took photos and made notations into a tape recorder.
Another doctor arrived shortly after the exam began, a statuesque Middle Eastern woman in starched khakis and a silk shirt, who introduced herself as Dr. Amari.
“I’m chief of psychiatry here at Lancaster General. I know you were asking about Abby. I was with her and she’s stable now. If you don’t mind, I’d like to spend some time with you and Sky.”
Lily shrugged. “That’s fine,” she said.
“If this examination becomes too invasive, please speak up. We want to make you as comfortable as possible.”
Lily wanted to tell this woman—this clueless woman—that nothing they could do to her could possibly be too invasive, but she refrained. It was easier to simply block out what was going on now in this warm, well-lit room, with everyone acting so polite and accommodating.
Lily had initially resisted the physical exam. Sky was terrified, and Lily was so tired and overwhelmed by everything that had unfolded. Plus she didn’t want to leave Abby. But Abby was still in a drug-induced haze, and Sheriff Rogers made it clear that Lily’s work wasn’t done.
“We have to nail this son of a bitch to the wall. That means documenting your injuries, running DNA tests, and getting your statement on the record. We can’t screw this up.”
Her doubts about Sheriff Rogers vanished instantly. They shared a mutual goal: Rick’s complete and total destruction. She reluctantly agreed to the exam. But first she’d had to deal with her mother. Lily knew the truth would come out, but she hoped that she could spare Mom the trauma as long as possible.
“Please, go with Abby. Sky and I will be fine here.”
Mom resisted, but Lily insisted.
“Please. I need to know Abby’s not alone.”
After a few more minutes of negotiation, Mom had caved, heading off to see Abby while the nurses whisked Lily into a room and went to work. Drawing blood, taking X-rays and photographs, and on and on and on. Lily’s exam was exceptionally arduous, but it was nowhere near as painful as watching Sky’s exam.
Sky wailed the minute the doctors’ hands touched her tiny frame, and she never stopped crying. She was horrified by their alien touch, not to mention the bright lights, the noise, and the cold metal instruments. Lily knew how she felt, and she’d experienced life outside that cold, dark basement. She could only imagine how overwhelming this amount of stimulus was for a child who, until today, had spent her entire life in isolation.