Gay bashing? Oh no. Poor Troy. Meredith couldn’t stand the thought that someone had hurt him like that. Kate must not have known about his assault either, because she was shocked into silence.
Troy wasn’t paying attention to Meredith or Kate. His focus was on Mallory. ‘When I was fifteen. They didn’t call it that back then, of course. I spent a month in the hospital. My injuries were . . . extensive. And when I got out of the hospital, I really didn’t want to think about it. I just wanted to go forward and never think about it again, but I couldn’t because I had doctors and physical therapy and follow-up visits. And because the entire town knew. It had been written up in the local paper and everyone knew. They knew everything that had happened to me. A lot of them laughed about it. It was . . . humiliating, to say the least.’
‘How did you deal?’ Mallory asked, subdued now.
‘I didn’t, not for years. Therapy wasn’t really a thing back then, not for sons of blue-collar guys who worked in a steel mill. You sucked it up and kept it in. And every time I saw one of the people who’d attacked me, I’d get physically ill. Every time I had to walk by the place it happened, I’d throw up. So I decided that no one would ever be able to hurt me again. I worked out, bulked up. Studied hard, went to college. Joined the FBI. Thought I’d made it, that I’d dealt. But every now and then something happens. I see something or hear something, and it takes me back. Just like you.’
‘How do you deal with it now?’
He smiled at her. ‘Went to therapy twenty years too late, but I went. And I learned how to tell that story like it happened to somebody else.’ He chuckled at her expression. ‘You don’t believe me, do you? Look at the blood pressure monitor. It’s normal and it has been this entire time. Do I like to talk about this? No. I’ve never even told Kate and I’m gonna take another ration of shit for that on top of the one she just gave me because I didn’t tell her about this.’ He gestured to his most recent injuries.
‘There,’ he said kindly when Mallory grinned. ‘There’s the smile I was fishing for. Mallory, there is no shame in being a victim. By definition, you didn’t do anything wrong. Now you’ve got to deal the best way you can. You’ve got an amazing support structure, so use it. Use us. We want you to succeed and be happy.’
‘Okay.’ Mallory leaned down to kiss his cheek. ‘Thank you. For telling me.’
‘Yeah,’ Meredith echoed. ‘Thank you. You should be the shrink.’
Troy snorted. ‘I’m not that nice.’ He glanced up at Kate. ‘I’m sorry I didn’t call you about this thing today. I was freaked out about going into a hospital, because I don’t like them either. I’ve learned to deal with visiting other people, because I can leave whenever I want, but ambulances and these damn beds? They make me cranky.’
‘I understand,’ Kate said. ‘I was just worried about you.’
‘Don’t be. I’m fine. And visiting hours are over. You guys need to get your asses out of here and somewhere safe.’
Meredith got out of the chair and nudged Kate out of the way so that she could kiss Troy’s other cheek. ‘I wanted to thank you. You saved our lives today. You’re a hero. Bona fide.’
His cheeks grew charmingly rosy, even as he looked away. ‘Just doing my job.’
Her lipstick had left a smudge on Troy’s cheek, so Meredith leaned forward and planted a harder kiss on the top of his newly bald head. ‘There.’
Troy scowled. ‘You did not just put a lip print on my head, did you?’
‘I did,’ Meredith said. ‘What are you gonna do about it?’
He rolled his eyes. ‘Get outta here, all of you.’
They obeyed, Meredith returning to the chair as they said their goodbyes. When they stopped at the elevator, Kate typed a text into her phone. ‘Van’s waiting downstairs.’ The elevator opened and it was thankfully empty. Meredith didn’t want to deal with any more people tonight.
I’m tired, she thought as the elevator opened and they made their way through the lobby toward the sliding glass doors. And her head still hurt. All she wanted to do was go back to the condo and go to sleep in the bed that hopefully still smelled like Adam. He’d eventually finish his work and he’d come to her and then they would—
Kate stopped short as soon as they got outside. ‘The van is supposed to be here. I just texted them that we were coming down and they texted back that they were here.’ She pulled Meredith out of the wheelchair and shoved her back toward the glass doors. ‘Get inside and get down. Now!’
Meredith’s feet refused to move, frozen in panic. Papa. Papa was in the van.
‘Now, Meredith!’ Kate roared. ‘Get inside.’
Meredith turned to grab Mallory, but . . . ‘Where’s Mallory? She was right behind us.’
‘Get inside,’ Kate gritted, then went still. ‘Where is Mallory?’
The two of them looked at each other in horror. ‘Mallory!’ Meredith shouted.
‘Inside,’ Kate ordered, taking off at a run toward the front parking lot. ‘I’ll find her.’
No. No way was Meredith hiding. ‘Mallory!’ Running in the direction opposite the one Kate had taken, she ran over the grass and around the piles of snow until she turned the building’s corner. And her heart stopped.
Mallory, whiter than a ghost, was being dragged away by a man wearing a ski mask.
He had one arm over Mallory’s throat and held a gun to her head.
Meredith’s brain turned off and her feet moved.
Cincinnati, Ohio,
Sunday 20 December, 8.45 P.M.
‘No!’ Meredith shouted at the man. ‘You can’t have her!’
She continued to run, ignoring the pounding in her head and the even harder pounding of her heart. Where was everyone? No one walked around and many of the cars had inches of snow built up over their windshields, like they hadn’t been moved in weeks.
Overflow parking, she realized. This lot was much farther from the entrance than the other lots. Nobody wanted to walk that far, especially in the cold. And so this back parking lot was nearly empty, the man’s SUV parked away from the few other cars.
The SUV was black. Just like the one from yesterday.
‘Wait!’ Panting, she slowed down when she was about ten feet away, her hands up, palms up. ‘You don’t want her. Take me instead. Please.’
The man laughed as he reached behind him to open the back passenger door. ‘But I don’t want you.’ He threw Mallory to the floorboard where she curled into a ball. Meredith took a few steps forward then froze when he turned to face her, his gun now pointed at her. ‘Or maybe I do,’ he said salaciously. ‘Hands up where I can see them.’
Swallowing, Meredith made herself breathe. And think. Because everything had just fallen into place, her ears ringing with the thunderous bang of a mental gavel.
We all thought they wanted me yesterday. But it was Mallory all along. I’m so stupid.
She had been stupid, but she wasn’t going to be now. She still had her gun. Adam had never taken it from her as they’d come up from the parking garage in an elevator that required a key, bypassing the CPD lobby with its normal security checks. She’d excused herself to an ER restroom, transferring it from her bra holster to her coat pocket before they’d taken her back to an exam room. But she couldn’t get to it now. He’d shoot her before she could get her hand into her pocket.
‘I said hands up,’ the man growled. ‘Or I will kill you where you stand.’
Meredith did as he’d demanded. Kate, where the fuck are you? She glanced into the car to where Mallory lay, unmoving. ‘Let her go. She’s been through enough.’
The man didn’t answer. Just reached for the collar of Meredith’s coat.
‘Freeze. FBI. Drop the gun. Now.’
Thank God. Meredith’s knees buckled, hitting the asphalt before she could stop her fall. Finally. Kate came around the SUV to stand behind him, shoving her gun into his back.
‘I said drop the fucking gun,’ Kate commanded.
Wishing she could close her eyes, but unable to look away, Meredith watched as the man’s gloved hand opened and the gun clattered to the asphalt.