This isn’t a dream, right?
“Then we'll just have to not let you have as many reasons to cry,” Eric adds, coming up to the side of my bed.
“That's always kind of the goal, isn't it?” I chuckle weakly. I look between them. “How are you both here? Did the hospital call you?”
“No. You did,” Eric explains.
“What?” I ask, trying to pull myself up. I wince in pain. Definitely not a dream.
Bellamy reaches down and adjusts the bed, helping me prop up the pillows behind me so I can still rest back on them.
“Well, not a call, exactly. But you did email me. Next time I'd appreciate a little bit of a heads up when you're going to send me pictures like that.”
“How did you get that email? I didn't have any service in the basement,” I point out.
“You must have gotten it at some point because it came through. It was the middle of the night, so I didn't get it until a few hours later. I'm sorry,” he says.
“You got it, that's all the matters. I took all those pictures and attached them to an email to you when I first got down into the sub-basement, but there was no service. I was locked down there for hours. The service must have kicked back in and sent the queued email when I escaped and ran out into the woods,” I explain.
“You escaped?” Bellamy asks.
“Briefly. But he found me and knocked me out so he could drag me back into the house. I put up as much of a fight as I could.”
“You can't blame yourself,” Eric says. “This is a man who has killed at least fifteen people.”
“More than that,” I say, recounting the story Jake told me of the vigilante murders.
“Holy shit,” he gasps. “You got out of the hands of a man who has killed much bigger, much stronger people. And because you did, that email got sent. The timing was apparently perfect. The field team you requested was consulting with the local police, literally the moment I called. I described what I saw and tracked your phone to the closest it would place you. The police chief knew immediately where I was talking about. They got to the house just in time to see it go up in flames and the two of you fall off the roof.”
“What happened to Jake?” I ask.
Both Eric and Bellamy stiffen, but I don't care. He's still a human being. One who has been tortured and tormented in a way none of us will ever understand.
“He survived the fall. We peeled the two of you out of some overgrown hedges. You got the better of it. The way he fell made him hit a rock wall and then land in the bushes. He's not doing well, but they expect him to recover. As of now, there's a war going on over who gets their hands on him first,” Eric explains. “I think the FBI is coming out on top. Considering one of our own cracked the case.”
“You make me sound like I should be wearing a fedora and chewing tobacco,” I mutter, my head still throbbing. “How is Creagan taking it?”
“Right now, he's in the thick of it all. He led the team into the house and found all the bodies. They've been linking them to all the missing persons cases. Some of them are a bit trickier than others.”
“Why?” I ask.
Bellamy and Eric exchange glances. He looks worried about her, and she releases my hand, grabbing a bucket from beside me.
“I'll go get you some ice chips,” she says.
“I'm not giving birth, Bellamy,” I call weakly after her, but she doesn't turn back.
“Some of the bodies weren't complete. A few of them have parts from others stitched onto them. The theory until we can get more out of Jake is that the original parts were damaged in some way, so he replaced them,” Eric explains.
I remember the bodies that didn't look exactly right and realize it was because they were pieced together. I shudder.
“So, they have to find out who those parts belong to,” I muse.
Eric nods. “It will probably take a good while. There are a lot of missing persons cases floating around in the surrounding areas, and this might wrap up quite a few of them. At this point, it's pretty much a mess, and everyone is just starting to unravel it all. You're going to be a lot of help in that.”
I nod, acknowledging that I'm only at the beginning of all this, but wishing I never had to think about it again. I'm glad it's over, at least this part of it, but this isn't like any other case I've ever worked on. I'm not going to be able to just put it behind me and move on it like I've been able to before. This is something I will always carry with me.
“How could I not know?” I whisper.
“Emma, don't do that to yourself,” Eric says.
“No, but how? This is my career, my entire life. The entire reason I was sent to Feathered Nest was because of this case. It was my job to figure out what was going on because no one else was able to. And I managed to, on the very first day I was there, attach myself to the man who did it. And I couldn't even tell. I was so wrapped up in the theory I had; I couldn't see what was really happening.”
“He wasn't going to let you see what was really happening. He's been fooling people for years. Well before all this started. You know that. You can't blame yourself for not immediately looking at him and knowing it was him. If it was that easy, none of us would have jobs.”
“But I shouldn't have let myself get close to him to start with. I should have been focusing on my job and not… whatever that was.”
“You’ve been through a lot in the last few months. No one blames you for wanting to find comfort in somebody. And you managed to get through this not only alive but with all the evidence we are ever going to need to make sure Jake never hurts anyone ever again.”
“What about all the people he already hurt?” I ask.
“You can't make that go away. You can't go back in time and save them. But you did give them their voices back. You gave their families the ability to bury their loved ones and know what happened to them. And you prevented anyone else from having to feel that because of him.”
“I want to petition to have the courts change his wife's death certificate to murder,” I say.
“Alright,” Eric nods. “But why?”
“Because she deserves her voice and to have her story told, too.”
Bellamy comes back into the room with a bucket of ice and a can of ginger ale. She fills a plastic cup with the ice and pours the sparkling drink down over it. It passes over my lips as one of the most delicious tastes I've ever had. I realize it must be almost forty-eight hours since I took a drink. That explains the IV in my arm, pumping fluids into me. I'm aware of my friends talking, but I can't pay attention to the words they're saying. My mind is still swimming, my brain fogs up again, and finally, my eyes close.
When I wake up again, Eric and Bellamy are sitting across the room, talking quietly as they eat from Chinese takeout containers.
“Did you order me egg drop soup?” I croak.
Bellamy smiles and carries a container over to the bed, handing it to me along with a deep spoon.
“I still don't think that's the best thing for her right now,” Eric frowns.
“The doctor didn't say she couldn't have it,” Bellamy points out.
“Did the doctor say she could have it?” Eric asks.
“Technicality.”
I smile and take a few bites of the soup. I want to think about anything but Jake and the case, but it seems like there isn't anything else to think about.
“Have they found Jake's mother, brother, and sister?” I ask.
“You should try to rest. There's going to be plenty of time for you to think about this when you get out,” Bellamy says, but I shake my head.