"I can talk," Anderson said.Her voice was hoarse and slightly slurred from the pain medication, but comprehensible.Miles was sure that her lips were aching terribly, too.The gash on her bottom lip looked to have gone quite deep."I want to help catch this guy," she added defiantly.
Vic moved to stand on the opposite side of the bed from Miles."Can you tell us what happened tonight?Do you know everything that happened?"
Anderson took a careful breath, wincing slightly as she nodded."I finished training at the climbing gym around seven and headed to my car.A guy approached me in the parking lot…started asking questions about climbing equipment.I thought maybe he was hitting on me at first, but he seemed…” She stopped and took a shaky breath here before continuing on.“…seemed genuinely interested in the sport."
“Climbing gym?”Miles asked.
“Rock walls.I’m training to climb El Capitan…”
So heights once again,Miles thought to himself.
"What did this man look like?"Vic asked.
"He was a white guy, maybe mid-thirties.Sandy-colored hair, kind of thin.Average height, probably around five-ten or five-eleven.He wasn't particularly muscular, but not skinny either.Just average build."Anderson paused to wet her lips carefully and again winced."He had a friendly face.That's what got me.He looked like someone's nice younger brother or a high school teacher.Nothing threatening about him at all."
"Any distinguishing features?”Miles asked as Vic typed all of the information into her phone.“Any scars, tattoos, or unusual characteristics?"
"Nothing that stood out.That's what made him so forgettable.If I passed him on the street tomorrow, I might not even recognize him."
"What happened after he approached you?"Vic asked.
"We talked for a few minutes about climbing gear and outdoor climbing.I was drinking from my water bottle while we spoke...been drinking on it all night."Lisa’s expression darkened."Then I started feeling dizzy.He told me he'd dosed my water bottle about an hour earlier while I was inside the gym.He said he was impressed it took so long to affect me."
“He actuallytoldyou?”Miles asked.
She nodded, and Miles instantly began to think about security cameras in and around the gym.
Miles felt anger coil in his chest at the casual cruelty of it.The killer had drugged her water bottle and then waited, watching her climb for an hour before approaching.He’d even told her what he’d done when he knew it was too late for Lisa to do anything about it.
"Do you remember anything after that?"Vic asked.
"He caught me when I collapsed.That's the last thing I remember until I woke up in the air."Anderson's voice shook slightly."The wind was so loud and I was rising fast.I looked down and saw him standing in the parking lot, and he looked disappointed.Like I'd ruined something by waking up too early."
"How high were you when you woke up?"Vic asked.
"High enough that buildings looked small, but low enough that I could still partially see him below.Maybe a few hundred feet, I don't know exactly.The balloons were pulling me up.After about a minute or so, I realized I was drifting toward the reservoir."She shifted in the bed, grimacing with pain."I realized if I could break enough of the balloon strings, I might survive a fall into the water.So I used my teeth."She laughed in a way that made it sound more like a whimper and said, “And I guess my lips took the brunt of that.”
Miles looked at the lacerations around her mouth with new understanding.She had chewed through ropes while suspended hundreds of feet in the air, knowing that breaking too many would send her plummeting to her death.He couldn’t imagine the courage such a thing would take.
"That's incredibly brave," Vic said quietly.
"It was survival," Lisa said."I broke through five ropes before I fell.The impact still almost killed me, but it was better than waiting to drift over solid ground."
Dr.Okonkwo appeared in the doorway.Miles was pretty damned sure it had been less than ten minutes.But that was fine; he felt they had all they could get."Time's up,” the doctor said.“Ms.Anderson needs to rest now."
Miles nodded and saved his notes."We'll likely have more questions later, when you’re well-rested.But for now, you've given us crucial information.Thank you."
Lisa only nodded, but Miles could see determination in her eyes.She was a fighter, that was for sure.
They followed Dr.Okonkwo back into the hallway, and the door closed softly behind them.The nurses' station remained quiet, the staff moving through their routines with the subdued energy of a hospital in the small hours of the morning.
"She's lucky to be alive," Dr.Okonkwo said."Most people wouldn't have had the presence of mind to do what she did."
"Most people aren't professional rock climbers," Vic said."I imagine the strength in her forearms and abs made it easier for her to get to those ropes than your average person.”
Miles looked back at Lisa Anderson's room.They finally had a description of the killer, even if it was frustratingly generic.White male, mid-thirties, average in almost every way.It wasn't much, but it was more than they'd had an hour ago.And more than that, Lisa had survived.That changed everything.The killer had failed, and failure would make him angry and desperate.And if that were true, based on everything he knew of criminal profiling that meant the killer was now more likely to make mistakes.
"Let's get back to the field office," Miles said."Kim needs to hear all of this, and we need to start building a composite sketch based on Lisa’s description."
