“I should keep looking,” Taylor muttered.
“Every cop in Northeast is looking for him now. Don’t be a freaking martyr,” Kovac said, putting the car in gear. “You need your head examined.”
“I’m crazy for wanting to find this guy?”
“No. I’m taking you to the ER so they can shine a light in your eyes and ask you how many fingers you see.”
Taylor didn’t protest, which said enough.
“I hate to go home empty-handed,” the kid complained as they headed south.
“We’re not,” Kovac said. “We’ve got one thing we didn’t have when we came here.”
“A concussion?”
“A suspect.”
15
Evi sat down for what seemed like the first time all day. She was tired, but in a wonderful way. They had slept in because of the ice, then Eric had cooked them his famous firehouse breakfast, with eggs and pancakes, bacon and hash browns. At Mia’s insistence they decorated their pancakes with faces, using banana slices and blueberries and strawberries and whipped cream out of a can. They had played with their daughter, then gently made love while Mia had her nap.
A perfect day, Evi thought as she curled up on the sofa. Eric had convinced her to stay home all day. The center called to cancel the meeting she had worried about missing, making for a guilt-free afternoon. She soaked in the pleasure and joy of it all the more because she would now be without Eric for a day and a half. He had left late in the day to fill in at an ambulance service for a paramedic buddy whose wife was having a baby. His regular twenty-four-hour shift at the firehouse would begin at eight the next morning.
She missed him already, which seemed kind of silly. They weren’t lovesick teenagers. They had been married for six years and had dated for two years before that. They should have been slightly bored with each other by now. But she still loved him so much it hurt when he was apart from her. She had never dreamed she could have a love like that. For most of her life she believed she didn’t deserve it, and for part of her life she didn’t deserve it. But she had learned that life is all about growth and change, rebirth and resurrection. And she deserved a chance at happiness as much as anyone.
Having gone through her own metamorphosis with the help of the caring staff at Chrysalis, she had taken her second chance and had returned to the center to give back. She found her job as a social worker for at-risk girls and young women completely rewarding. She didn’t think she could ever give back to Chrysalis as much as the center had given her, but she loved trying.
One of her current cases was a sixteen-year-old runaway named Hope Anders, who had been rescued from a sex trafficking ring. She had escaped life with her family in a strict fundamentalist cult, where she had been abused by her older brother, only to be snatched off the street by a pimp; raped, beaten, and tortured for days; and then added to his string of underage prostitutes. Hope had been through a hell Evi knew too well. The staff at Chrysalis would help her make it to the other side of that trauma, offering health care, psychological therapy, social services, and legal aid.
The meeting that had been canceled that afternoon regarded Hope testifying against her brother for molesting her. The girl was terrified at the prospect of her parents’ wrath. Even though they had abused her psychologically as surely as her brother had physically, there were still threads left from the ties that bind a child to the people who brought her into the world. As terrible as they were, the Anderses were the only family she had, and there was a part of her that didn’t want to let go. If she went forward with testifying against her brother, she would likely never see any of them again, except across a courtroom.
Evi knew firsthand what a terrible thing it was to be that young and feel utterly alone in the world, knowing the people who were supposed to care about you most cared the least.
Hope Anders was terrified. She was afraid of her parents, afraid of the religious cult, afraid of her brother, and she still had every reason to be afraid of the man who had imprisoned and profited off her on the streets.
The pimp, known as Drago, had escaped capture. Rumors were that he could still be in the Twin Cities area. Hope would be a key witness against him when he was finally caught and brought to trial. Her continued existence was not in his best interest.
Evi looked over her notes for the meeting, which had been rescheduled for the following afternoon, while the television kept her company. Mia, worn out from their big family play day, was tucked in bed, sound asleep. Evi planned to follow suit soon. She was already in her pajamas.