The Last Straw (The Jigsaw Files #4) - Sharon Sala Page 0,93

next time he came he brought food and a blanket, but I was already getting sick. I had a slight fever, and so I pretended to be out of it. He tried to get me to talk, but I pretended I could barely keep my eyes open. He hit me. A lot...and cut me, using pain to try to wake me up. I still didn’t comply. He stripped me again, but I stayed motionless, letting it happen. Then he stripped, and had the knife with him when he straddled my legs.”

Rachel paused again, remembering. Then she scrubbed her hands across her face as if trying to wipe the memory away.

“He was going to use the knife on me again, and I knew it. I saw him look away for just a second, and when he did, I grabbed his erection, dug my fingernails into the flesh and twisted it hard...so hard. He dropped the knife, screaming as I dug my fingernails into his chest and raked them deep. He was screaming and bleeding and punching me, but I wouldn’t let go. He was trying to get away, but he couldn’t move for fear I would tear it off. One minute I thought I had him, and then he knocked me out. When I came to, he was still there, crying and moaning and trying to get up to get to the sink. I saw the knife and grabbed it just as he saw me. He could barely stand up, and he knew I was coming at him, so he managed to get his clothes and get out before I could catch him. The door slammed in my face, and I never saw him again.”

“Damn,” Mills whispered.

“We found you in the dark,” Floyd said. “How did that happen?”

“Oh, right,” Rachel said. “I did that. I wanted to catch him off guard when he came back. I dragged the mattress to a corner by the door, paced off the distance from it to the toilet and sink over and over until I knew how many steps it took to get there and back to the mattress, and then I threw my shoe at the bare bulb until it broke. The downside of that was I got so sick that I forgot about all of that broken glass. I woke up disoriented and walked in the glass...and of course I’m missing one shoe. It was somewhere in the room...in the dark. Stepping on the glass both startled and hurt me. I fell, so then I had glass in my knees and hands, as well. I picked out what I could feel and crawled back to the mattress, rolled up in the blanket and held the knife, waiting for him to come back. But he never did.

“I had dreams...hallucinations. My mother was always with me telling me to hang on. Sometimes I thought it was Millie. I knew I was sick. I was mad at God. I kept begging Him to either let me die or send someone to find me. And so He did.”

“And did you know your assailant?” Floyd asked.

Rachel nodded. “Yes, immediately. His name is Sonny Burch, a resident at Detter House.”

“Did you ever have a personal relationship with him?” Floyd asked.

“No. Never. He was just someone I’d speak to in passing. I haven’t had a personal relationship with anyone since moving to Dallas some years back. I was alone. And I guess, a sitting duck for someone like him. That’s all I have to say.”

“That’s more than enough,” Floyd said.

Mills stopped the video, packed up their things and they were gone.

As soon as the door closed behind them, Rachel stared down at her hands, took a deep breath and then looked up at Millie and Ray.

“Look. I know I’m broken. But he didn’t break me. My body is healing. Eventually, so will I. I will be going to counseling. But I really, really don’t ever want to talk about this with my family again. I’m not trying to bury it. But I also don’t intend to keep it alive. It has already changed me. But it didn’t kill me. And I have to work with what I’ve got. Okay?”

“Absolutely,” Ray said.

“Very okay,” Millie said, then patted Rachel’s hand. “Can I get you anything? Maybe something cold to drink?”

Rachel sighed. “I would love a sweet tea.”

“With lots of ice!” Ray said.

Rachel smiled. “You remember!”

“Of course I remember,” he said. “I’m heading down to the cafeteria right now and bringing back one