Part 24 (2/2)
When she came to, Sadie was sitting upright in the dark, cramped closet, with the door closed. The mist and Iris were gone. She opened the closet and stepped into the room.
”That didn't go well.” Sadie scratched the back of her head. ”I've done my best and it isn't good enough.”
She made up her mind that if Gayla hadn't left the house, the next step would be a bald-faced lie. She'd tell Gayla that Iris was gone and hope that she'd be let go.
She opened the bedroom door and called out quietly.
”Gayla?”
There was no response. Maybe the sound she heard was Gayla leaving after all? Maybe she'd been scared off by whatever loony-tune ghosts rambled inside her crazy little head!
Sadie took off down the stairs at a dead run. When she hit the main-floor landing she turned the corner and came to an abrupt stop.
Gayla lay in a heap on the floor. She'd been stabbed multiple times and she was missing the index finger of her right hand.
Chapter 18.
Sadie bolted out the front door of the house and into the torrential rain. In her state of shock she didn't even notice she was shoeless and jacketless. All she knew was that she had to get away from that crazy house and the body of Gayla. She made it up the street about a block when she spied a boy about sixteen years old walking with his hoody pulled up over his head. He was hunched over, chatting on his phone. Sadie s.n.a.t.c.hed the phone from his hand.
”I've gotta call 9-1-1!” she explained.
The teen looked at the crazy shoeless woman in the rain and took off running in the opposite direction.
It took the cops less than five minutes to find her even though she thought she was hiding pretty well behind a clump of bushes at the corner. She was grateful it was them and not Owen Sorkin wielding pruning shears.
An officer tucked her into the back of the cruiser and then drove up the block to Halladay Street. Sadie watched as unmarked cars pulled up to the scene and rushed inside. When Petrovich arrived, the detective nodded to her in the back of the cruiser first, then went inside the house. After a few minutes, the detective came back out. He pulled Sadie from the squad car and, in an uncharacteristic show of emotion, he drew her into a fatherly hug. She began shaking and sobbing against his shoulder.
”I thought I told you to stay with friends?” he said, patting her on the back.
He brought her over to his car and tucked her into the front seat. He turned the heat on high and got her a blanket from the trunk. The wool blanket smelled like mildew and scratched against her bare arms, but to Sadie it felt plusher than the best hotel duvet.
”Lester Pacheo was Gayla's fiance. She thought he was waiting for her in Mexico,” Sadie said. She blurted it all out in a rush. She didn't bother to withhold anything, including the part about her being sucked into a closet while Gayla was being hacked up. She ended with, ”It's gotta be Owen Sorkin.”
Petrovich didn't say anything for a minute. He was obviously trying to absorb the deluge.
”I'll be back.” He pointed a finger at her. ”Don't go anywhere until the EMTs get here.”
Truthfully, Sadie didn't think she was capable of putting one foot in front of another at that point, so she just put her head between her knees and tried hard not to vomit. By the time paramedics arrived, she'd restored some control over her jackhammering heart and trembling fingers.
”I'm fine,” she told them.
”She's not fine,” Petrovich barked from a few feet away. He came closer and said to the paramedics, ”Take her to the hospital.”
He instructed an officer to follow the ambulance to the hospital.
”You were drugged. You gotta get checked out,” he said to Sadie. ”I'll come by the hospital later to take your statement.” Then he added, ”And I called Bowman. He's coming in from Portland.”
”What!” Sadie shook her head. ”You didn't need to do that. You shouldn't have called him, because-”
”There's no way SPD is going to a.s.sign an officer to watch you 24/7 when you get out of the hospital. We don't have that kind of budget. Who knows how long it'll take to catch this guy?” Petrovich said evenly. ”And I'd rather have an ex-cop keeping an eye on you right now than one of your strange psychic friends.”
”Then there's something else you need to know.” Sadie swallowed. ”I slept with Owen Sorkin.”
Petrovich stared at her.
”You probably want to leave that part out when you tell Bowman what happened.”
He turned on his heel and thundered away, making his word final.
When she arrived at the hospital it felt good to lie beneath clean, cool sheets and to be fussed over. Even all the blood work was bearable when she considered the alternative-that she could've been full of holes caused by Owen Sorkin.
The doctor insisted she stay overnight and Sadie tried to argue that she couldn't afford it, but he used some lame-a.s.s excuse that your health had to come first. Sadie figured that was something only doctors and the rich could afford to say out loud.
A nurse wheeled her back to her room after tests and there were so many people waiting they had a hard time making a path to allow her to get to her bed. Maeva was there with Osbert and Terry. Rick and Rosemary were also there, along with Sadie's mom and Dawn.
”It would be really nice if you wouldn't always put yourself into such unsafe situations,” her mom griped.
Sadie climbed into bed and wanted to offer her mom a sarcastic reply, but when she saw the tears in her eyes she only said, ”Sorry, Mom.”
The nurse gave everyone five minutes before they had to leave.
”Detective Petrovich asked that we tell you that Owen Sorkin's car was spotted on the I-5 headed for Canada. They'll apprehend him at the border,” Maeva said.
Relief lifted from Sadie's shoulders and suddenly she felt very tired.
”I can't believe I got such a good vibe off that guy.” Rosemary shook her head.
”He fooled us all,” Rick added.
Sadie yawned and everyone took that as their cue to leave.
Maeva was the last one in the room.
”Osbert wasn't crying,” Sadie remarked.
”He got his first tooth,” Maeva said.
”So that's what all the fuss was about?” Sadie smiled. ”Good news. You'll only have to go through that another nineteen times.”
”Thanks for pointing that out,” Maeva said sarcastically. ”I'm going to let you get some sleep. Petrovich told me Zack will be here to get you in the morning. Are you okay with that?”
Sadie nodded hesitantly. ”You know what? Considering I slept with a serial killer, I think the next time I get romantic feelings about a guy, we need to have some kind of intervention.”
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