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Twenty-Eight
Cassie dropped the knife. Tension drained from her body. Blood drained from her head and she felt as though she were about to collapse to the ground. The hum of the bone saw faded until all she heard were the crickets and labored breaths surrounding them.
Then the woods erupted in chaos.
Several officers, including Harris, moved in on the doctor and his victim, separating the two. They pushed the doctor to his knees and handcuffed him while a pair of EMTs emerged from the trees to check out the woman, who was shaking and crying in earnest.
David appeared by Cassie’s side like he had materialized out of thin air.
“Are you hurt?”
Cassie shook her head no. It was all she could manage. Her voice had left her. Her knees shook uncontrollably. She sunk to the ground and David stayed with her the entire way down.
“Jesus Christ,” he whispered. “You scared me.”
Another EMT ran over to Cassie and looked her over. She heard the paramedic talking with David, but the words sounded far away. She felt a cool sensation on her legs and looked down to see a woman covering the worst of her cuts with gel and several small bandages.
“Is she okay?” Cassie heard her own voice as if it belonged to someone else. “The woman, is she okay?”
“She’s fine,” David said. “You saved her life.”
The EMT threw a blanket over Cassie’s shoulders and shined a light in her eyes. She inspected the bruise forming around Cassie’s neck. When she looked back up at David, the EMT said, “No major damage. She’ll be fine.”
“Thank God.” David’s hunched shoulders retreated.
Harris appeared out of the darkness and knelt in front of Cassie. Her face was a strange combination of concern and anger and confusion. It took her a few minutes to find any words.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” Cassie said. As the adrenaline faded, she regained sensation in her arms and legs, and she was grateful the paramedic had taken care of the deeper cuts. The tender areas around her neck would take longer to heal.
“You shouldn’t have come here by yourself.” Harris’s words were controlled. She was speaking just above a whisper, but her voice still held all its power. “That was incredibly stupid.”
“I know.”
“Cassie, I—” Harris broke off and took a few seconds to gather herself. “Cassie, I’m thrilled you’re okay, but what you did tonight... You should’ve called me.”
“I know. It didn’t go as planned.”
“And how were you planning it to go?”
“I-I don’t know.” Cassie put her head in her hands. The reality of the situation dawned on her. “I didn’t think. I reacted. I didn’t want to bother you if it was nothing, but I knew I couldn’t let it go.”
“How did you find the van?”
“Coincidence.”
Harris surprised Cassie by laughing. “I’m trying to figure out if you’re the luckiest person alive or the unluckiest.”
“If you figure that out,” David said, “let me know.”
“Why would you come here by yourself, Cassie?”
“I wanted to see if he could be a suspect.” Cassie pulled the blanket around her shoulders. “When I got here, I saw him leading her into the woods. I couldn’t let him go and risk not stopping him. I figured I could stall him long enough for you guys to get here.”
“You messaged David but not me.”
“You were pretty angry the last time we spoke.”
