She and Sam were already soaked, steam rising off their clothes because of the hot air gushing out of the truck heater. The little boy’s face was sheet-white and his dark pupils were dilated. There was blood oozing down his cheek from a cut on his head.
She eased him across the front seat, raised the umbrella, and whispered against his small ear, “Grab me around the neck, Sam, it’ll make it easier.” When she straightened, he wrapped his legs around her waist. “That’s good, Sam. Now, it’s going to be all right, I promise you. You’re with me now and I’m as tough as an old boot and meaner than my father, who was meaner than anybody before he died. You know something else, Sam? Since you’re a hero, I’m not the only one who’s really proud of you. Your folks will be proud, too. Don’t worry now, everything’s going to be all right.”
She kept talking, hoping she was distracting the boy as she carried him into the empty waiting room. Katie wasn’t surprised there wasn’t anybody there, not even Heidi Johns, Dr. Flint’s receptionist and nurse. Who would want to be out in weather like this except for Monroe Cuddy, who might have shot himself in the foot again, or Marilee Baskim, who was close to having a baby?
She called out, “Jonah!”
No answer. What if he wasn’t here? She didn’t want to take Sam to the emergency room.
“Jonah!”
5
J onah Flint, just turned forty and very proud of his full head of blacker-than-sin hair, came running out of the back room, the stethoscope nearly falling out of the pocket of his white coat.
“Jesus, Katie, what’s going on? Who’s this?”
“This,” Katie said, carrying Sam into the first examination room, “is Sam and he just escaped kidnappers, believe it or not. There’s a cut on his head and I think he’s going into shock. I was afraid you weren’t here.”
“I was doing some research in the back. Now, let’s see what we’ve got here.” Dr. Flint smiled at the boy even as he peeled him off Katie and removed all the blankets, taking in all the signs and talking to Sam all the while.
“How do you feel, Sam?” He sat the boy on the edge of the examining table. “Do you take any medications? No?” He began to check him over. “Does your head hurt? I know the cut does, but do you have a headache? No, okay, that’s good. I’ll give you something to cut the pain. You got away from kidnappers? That’s something now, isn’t it? Okay, Sam, let me get you out of those wet clothes. You can just call me Doc Flintstone, okay? That’s right, you help me. Now, do you hurt anywhere else? No? Good. Katie, you can step out, please, just men in here. You going to call the kid’s parents?”
Sam looked shell-shocked.
Katie said, “I’ll call his parents in just a bit, when you’re through examining him. First things first. He’s the most important thing right now.” She took one last long look at the little boy who’d run out of a wilderness of maples and oaks. She picked up the huge office umbrella, lots bigger than hers, and fetched Keely from the truck.
She sat Keely on a chair, handed her the huge black waiting room bear, and called Wade again. “What’s the word, Wade? You see anything out there?”
“Not yet. Where are you?”
“I’m in Jonah’s waiting room. He’s with Sam-that’s the little boy. I don’t know his last name yet. Making sure he’s okay is the first priority. I’ve got Keely with me, too. With the two kids, there was no way I could do anything but get out of there. Have you checked out the old Bleaker place yet? That’s bound to be where they were keeping him. It’s hidden and nobody can hear anything for all the trees.”
“I think so, too. Me and Jeffrey are out here on the road, and even with the fog and the rain, we found where the guys had come out of the woods. We found several shells, probably from your rifle. You also dropped a blanket. We’re fixing to go into the woods now.”
Katie wanted to be the one to go to the Bleaker cabin. It was tough, but there was just no way she could leave the kids, not yet. “Listen, Wade, you and Jeffrey be really careful. Anyone else with you? Good, glad that Conrad and Danny got there. Don’t forget, these guys are dangerous. If they’re still at the Bleaker cabin, it could get dicey. If they’re not there, I want you to secure the place. Be real careful not to destroy any possible evidence.”
“You got it, Sheriff,” Wade said. “Over and out.”
Over and out? Katie shook her head. Wade sounded pleased as punch that he was the lead on this. She just hoped he’d be careful. She disconnected and said to Keely, “I sure hope Jeffrey wears his glasses.”
Keely said, not looking up from the bear, “Jeffrey has to wear his glasses or he’d step in the toilet. Millie likes him without his glasses, but she says it’s just too dangerous.”
Millie was Jeffrey’s girlfriend. Katie smiled and felt her tension lessen just a bit. She fully intended to keep the boy with her as long as it took to get him safe. She hardly knew anything about him. She hated to wait before talking with him, but the child needed Jonah a lot more than he needed to answer questions right now.
Sam’s parents. She’d get their names and phone number as soon as Jonah said Sam was okay. She knew they had to be frantic.
Jonah came out from the examination room twenty minutes later, smiling, holding the little boy’s hand. “Sam’s been telling me how his mama kept talking in his head, telling him what to do, how to get himself free.”
How could Sam be okay? He looked white and exhausted, a big Flintstones bandage on his head. Katie said, “You did great, Sam, you didn’t give up.”
“No, ma’am, I didn’t.” There was a flash of pride in that exhausted little voice, and that was good. Sam looked like the little boy he was, wrapped in two very big blue blankets, a pair of Jonah’s black socks on his small feet. Sam looked up at Jonah. “I want to go home, Doctor.”
Katie patted Keely’s head, and walked swiftly to where the boy stood. She picked him up and held him close to her. “You’re just fine, Sam, just fine. Now, if Jonah is through torturing you, I’m taking you home with me. You’ll be safe there until I can get your folks here.”
“We’re in Tennessee?”
“Yes, we are. Eastern Tennessee. Jessborough is the name of the town.”
“Where’s Tennessee?”
“We’re sandwiched among lots of states. Where do you live, Sam?”
“I’m from Colfax, Virginia.”
“A nice state, Virginia,” Katie said and turned to Jonah. “It’s not too far away from here. He’s okay?”
“Yep, he might come down with a cold from his run in the rain, but he’s a strong kid. He’ll be just fine. Give him a nice big glass of juice. He needs the sugar. I don’t want to take any chances that he’ll crash.” He patted Sam’s head, ran his fingers through his damp black hair. “His clothes are still wet. What do you want to do?”
“If you could wrap his clothes up in a towel, I’ll wash and dry them.”
Katie realized she was rocking Sam, sort of stepping from one foot to the other, swaying, just like she did with Keely. She smiled. “I’m going to squeeze him in next to Keely and take both of them home. You like hot chicken noodle soup, Sam?”
He didn’t say anything, but she felt him nod. She and Jonah looked at each other. Neither of them knew what the kid had been through, at least not yet.
“You be careful, Katie, it’s coming down thicker than confetti on New Year’s,” Jonah said. “Take good care of my patient. Keely, you keep a close eye on Sam, too, okay?”
Keely allowed Sam to sit next to her mother, his head on Katie’s leg. She pressed close to his other side. “I’ll keep him warm, Mama.”
“Sam,” Katie said, lightly touching her fingers to his pale cheek, “you’re a very lucky boy.”
Sam, who felt dopey and stupid, said, “That’s what my mama was always telling my dad.”
“I’ll call your daddy right now if you’ll just tell me his name and phone number.”