she just kept talking to Rachel, wanting to hear her voice.
“Honey, it’s me, Millie. You’re in a hospital. You’re safe. You’re safe. You’re going to be okay.”
Rachel’s lips parted.
Millie leaned over.
At first she just felt her sister’s breath on her cheek, and then she thought she heard a word within an exhale.
“Yes, this is Millie. You’re safe, sugar. You’re safe. I’m right here.”
The word was faint, hardly more than a whisper.
“Saa...”
“She said safe,” Millie cried.
The nurses had to agree it was a cognizant response to what Millie had been saying.
“I’m sorry, ladies, but visiting time is over.”
Before they could challenge her, Wyrick spoke.
“Rachel...who hurt you?”
The RN turned and glared at Wyrick, but she wasn’t looking at the nurse. She was touching Rachel’s leg.
“Who hurt you, Rachel?”
“Time’s up,” the RN said.
“Sonnn.”
Millie gasped. “She said a name. She said Son. What does that mean?”
Wyrick felt Rachel’s triumph as if it had been her own.
“She didn’t say Son. She’s trying to say Sonny. Sonny Burch is the name of the man they’ve taken into custody,” Wyrick said and walked past nurses and patients, and out of the ICU.
The waiting room was emptying fast. Ray was standing, holding Millie’s purse, ready to take her down to the cafeteria to get some food.
Charlie was standing by the window, watching the gathering clouds. It was going to storm.
Then all of a sudden, Wyrick was at his elbow.
“She’s regaining consciousness,” Wyrick said. “She knows she’s safe, and she named him.”
Charlie grabbed her by both shoulders, gave them a squeeze and then immediately let her go.
“Have you done all you need to do here?”
“Yes. She’ll get better now.”
He pointed to the clouds. “Then we need to head home.”
Millie came running into the waiting room and threw her arms around Ray’s neck.
“She’s waking up. She’s trying to talk. I can’t explain what Wyrick did, but I witnessed it.” Then she realized they were leaving. “Wait. Please, both of you! I have to say this. You didn’t know us, and yet your generosity saved us. Giving of your skill and time without pay, nearly getting yourself killed, finding my sweet sister and now this. Wyrick, whatever you did in there helped her turn a corner. How? How can you do that?”
Wyrick shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s just part of who I am. Please let us know how she progresses. I hope you take her home to heal. It’s going to be a long time before she feels safe again.”
“It’s okay. She’s alive. We’ll deal with the rest as it comes,” Millie said.
Charlie put his hand on the middle of Wyrick’s back.
It was her signal to move, and so she did—in long strides, all the way to the elevator. Once they were down, they hurried through the main lobby and out into the parking lot. The wind was already rising, and the clouds were rumbling and rolling overhead as they made a run for the Jeep. The first drops were just hitting the windshield as they got inside.
Wyrick was buckling up when she glanced at Charlie.
“Rachel said two words.”
Charlie’s eyes widened. “What did she say?”
“I asked Millie to keep telling Rachel that she was safe, because she didn’t know she’s been rescued, and right after Millie said it, Rachel got out enough of the word safe to be understood. And then right before we left, I asked, ‘Who hurt you?’ The nurse didn’t like it because she’d already told us it was time to leave, but I ignored her.”
“Of course you did,” Charlie said.
Wyrick shrugged. “Anyway, right after I asked, Rachel got out the word Son. That’s when I told Millie she’d just named her kidnapper... Sonny Burch.”
Charlie grinned. “That’s what Floyd and Mills have been waiting to hear. I’m driving. You call and let them know.”
“Okay,” Wyrick said and made the call.
Floyd was back at the precinct, writing up the report on finding the piece of map when his cell phone rang. He saw it was Wyrick and quickly answered.
“Good afternoon, lady. What have you stirred up for us now?”
As always, when they were on the job, Wyrick had the phone on speaker and told him everything that she’d just told Charlie.
“She named him. She named her abductor in front of her sister and a nurse.”
“This is wonderful!” Floyd said. “You just made a good day better. I’ll check in with Millie again soon, and remind her to let us know when Rachel is well enough to give us a full statement. Thanks for the update.”
“Welcome,” Wyrick said and disconnected.
Charlie