Dr Dani gestured to her polyester pants. ‘They look a little big.’
Linnea stared down at them, backtracking in her mind. ‘I got them from the hotel.’
‘That hotel?’ The doctor pointed to the bag, its name clearly printed. ‘Did someone give them to you?’ she asked when Linnea nodded.
Linnea shook her head. ‘Found them. In the laundry closet.’
Dr Dani smiled and Linnea’s stress receded. A little. ‘How did you get to the hotel?’
‘Walked.’ After abandoning the SUV. She remembered following a couple into the lobby, getting on the elevator with them, like she was with them, so the people at the desk wouldn’t throw her out. ‘Was going to ask them to call me a cab.’ From a house phone. So it would look like she’d belonged there. ‘Then I saw the closet.’
‘And you changed your clothes there?’ Dr Dani asked gently.
‘Yeah. Left money for the pants.’ A few dollars. I’m not a thief. ‘Took a taxi.’
Another kind smile. ‘Well, I’m glad you’re here. Let’s get you taken care of.’ She handed Linnea a paper drape. ‘Bottoms off. Unless you’re bleeding anywhere else.’
Linnea hung her head, her cheeks heating in humiliation. ‘No. Just there.’
A finger tipped up her chin and Linnea found herself staring into the doctor’s mismatched eyes. ‘You are not to blame, Denise. Whoever did this to you is to blame. I’m going to do a rape kit.’
Linnea shook her head so hard the room began to spin. ‘No. Don’t want that.’
‘Why not?’ The question was asked gently.
‘Not . . .’ Not a rape. But she couldn’t make herself say it, because it was a dirty lie. It had been. Every single time she’d been peddled to a ‘client’ or an ‘associate,’ it had been.
‘Did you consent?’ Dr Dani asked.
Linnea shook her head again. ‘No,’ she whispered, tears burning her eyes.
‘Did you tell him no?’
‘Yes.’ Linnea’s voice broke on a sob. ‘Over and over. I begged him to stop. But he wouldn’t.’ Because Butch had liked making her scream and then he had laughed, egging Butch to go harder. Because he’d wanted Andy to bend. To break. To obey.
Andy hadn’t. And now he was dead.
Dr Dani’s hand was rubbing Linnea’s back in slow circles. ‘When did this happen?’
‘Last night.’
‘Then I’ll do a rape kit. There will be evidence. I’ll call a police officer and you can give a statement. I’ll stay with you. I promise.’
Linnea lurched to her feet, terror keeping her upright. ‘No. No police.’
‘Shh,’ Dr Dani soothed, patting the exam table. ‘Sit down, Denise. I don’t want you to collapse on me.’ She smiled encouragingly. ‘I won’t call the police if you say no. Can you at least tell me why you’re so afraid? I don’t want you to be afraid.’
Linnea swallowed, wondering if she could believe the doctor. Swaying on her feet, she knew that right now she didn’t really have a choice. ‘He . . . he’d find out.’
‘The man who did this?’
‘I can’t . . .’ She edged toward the door. ‘He’ll . . .’ Kill me painfully. After he tortures me just to hear me scream. ‘He wouldn’t be happy.’
The doctor’s lips firmed. ‘All right. You have time to decide what you want to do. You might change your mind later and report him. I have to submit the rape kit, though.’
Linnea considered it. She could file the report after he paid for killing Andy. Once he was dead, his right-hand man could rot in prison for all she cared. ‘All right. Do the kit. I’ll think about going to the police.’
‘Good.’ Dr Dani touched her shoulder, lightly urging her back to the exam table. ‘I can see the bruises on your face. Where else did he touch you?’
‘Nowhere.’ Not this time, anyway. She crossed her arms over her chest protectively. As if that could hide the scars he’d put there.
‘All right. I’ll be waiting outside in the hall. I’ll give you a few minutes to get yourself ready. Do you have somewhere safe to spend the night?’
Linnea hesitated. She couldn’t go back to the apartment she shared with Jolee. Or to Andy’s place. Those would be the first places he’d look. ‘No, I don’t.’
‘I know of a shelter for battered women. Would you like me to call them for you? It’s one hundred percent confidential. Whoever you’re afraid of will not find you there.’
Linnea couldn’t hold back her tears any longer. She blinked, sending them down her cheeks. ‘Yes, please. Thank—’ Her voice broke again. ‘Thank you.’
Cincinnati, Ohio,
Saturday 19 December, 6.15 P.M.
‘Whose car is that?’ Wendi asked from the back seat where she had her arm around Mallory’s shoulders.
In the front passenger seat, Meredith roused herself in time to see a blue pickup truck in her driveway as Colby parked his sedan behind it. She blinked sleepily, her brain a fuzzy mess. She was warm. Colby’s heater worked well. And I smell better.
It hit her then. What had happened. What she’d seen. She steeled her spine. She would not throw up again. That her hair was finally clean made it so much easier to keep that resolution. Thank you, Adam.
He’d been kind to secure a room for her. A change of clothes. A way to feel human again. Meredith wanted to read more into it than a gentlemanly gesture, but she couldn’t allow herself to do so.
As if she had a choice. She’d spent the last two hours hoping like hell that Adam’s explanation would be one that she’d want to hear. One that ended with them together.
That a happy ending was in their cards was a leap, to say the least.
‘The truck is Diesel’s,’ Colby said, putting the car in gear.
‘I know that.’ Wendi craned her neck. ‘I meant the other one.’
‘What other one?’ Meredith hadn’t opened her eyes in time to see another car and Diesel’s truck was so tall that it blocked their view. She felt a prickle of hope that it was Adam’s Jeep, but quashed the thought. Wendi knew the Jeep and she wouldn’t have passed on the opportunity to rag on Adam. Her friend’s loyalty was beginning to grow irksome.
‘There’s a Mazda parked in front of the truck,’ Colby said. ‘Blue four-door. It’s a rental. It has a sticker in the back window,’ he added when Meredith opened her mouth to ask him how he knew. ‘Were you expecting anyone else?’
‘Not for a few days.’ Meredith rubbed the back of her neck. She’d fallen asleep in an awkward position. ‘For the holidays.’
Wendi frowned. ‘Will you see who it is, Parrish?’
‘Of course. You ladies stay here.’
‘Wait.’ Meredith’s mind was slowly clicking back into gear. ‘Whoever it is let Diesel in my house, because he doesn’t have a key unless you gave him one.’
‘We didn’t,’ Wendi said, but Meredith was already out of the car, running for her front door.
Her friends had keys, but none of them would have been driving a rental. Only two other people had keys – her cousin, Alex, and her grandfather.
The front door opened and a pair of burly arms caught her in a hard hug.
Meredith clung, shuddering, breathing in his scent. Old Spice and pipe smoke. It always had been his, ever since her earliest memory. ‘Papa. Oh God. You’re here.’
Her grandfather pulled her tighter. ‘I got here about an hour ago,’ he murmured into her hair, rocking her where they stood. ‘I just heard about what happened downtown. I would have driven straight from the airport to bring you home myself if I’d known.’
She burrowed her face into the softness of his sweatshirt. Downy fabric softener. Her big, burly grandfather loved the scent. She loved it too, even though it totally clashed with Old Spice. Because whenever she inhaled the combination, she’d been safe. Home.
He gently wiped the tears from her face. She hadn’t even realized she’d shed them. ‘Your hair is all wet, Merry. Go inside, get warm.’