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“The police are here,” Miller explained. “They need your statement,” she clarified.
My stomach rolled, wondering if they would believe me, if they would think I was crazy, if there was even any point to it if I didn’t remember what happened to me. There would be nothing to go on, after all.
My head nodded despite the swirling, conflicting thoughts in my head.
It wasn’t until the police moved in that I realized I had been so out of it that I hadn’t heard the doctor or nurse or anyone talking. I didn’t know what the test results were.
I still had no idea what happened to me.
But there was no time as the detectives introduced themselves, asked if they could ask me questions. As though I had much say in the matter.
“I woke up in the woods,” I told them a moment later. “The Pine Barrens,” I clarified. “I, ah, I have no idea how I got there.”
There were questions then, some probing, some veiled insinuations. Like I was a drug addict. Like I was only pretending not to know.
As though I would cover for someone who sliced me open.
“After you woke up, what happened?” one of the detectives asked.
For some reason, my gaze went to the window, seeing the line of trees in the distance, picturing Ranger’s home there, his little sanctuary. From people. From modern life.
And for some reason, a lie came out of my lips.
“I walked until I found the road,” I told them, taking a deep breath before turning back. “And flagged down a car,” I added, looking over toward Miller.
“My boyfriend and I just got back from a trip. I had his duffle bag in the trunk. So I gave her a shirt and socks. And brought her here,” Miller said without missing a beat. I realized right there that I would never want to go up against Miller in a card game. She had the best poker face I had ever seen. Whatever she did in crisis management, I bet she did it well.
From there, I was asked about my last memories, what I had done, what I remembered about where I had been in the woods, how long I walked, if I had seen anyone.
It was about an hour later when Miller and I were alone again.
“Why did you lie?” Miller asked.
I could feel her gaze on me, probing.
And, quite frankly, I had dealt with enough probing.
“The horse trailer you brought, that was for Ranger’s animals, right?” I asked, chancing a look at her. “In case I told the truth, and the police searched the Barrens for the man who lived there with his animals and his stitching abilities.”
“Yeah,” she agreed, nodding.
“I figure it doesn’t matter if he stitched me up or whoever did this to me did it. Not in the grand scheme of things. Why should I screw up his life just because someone screwed up mine?” I asked, taking a deep breath, turning to look out the window again.
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Miller texting. Likely Ranger and Gunner. Telling them they were safe. They could go about their lives.
“I’m sure you have something else to do today,” I told her, voice sounding far away even to my own ears, distracted, zoned out again.
“What are you going to do when you leave here?” she asked, not denying that she had other things to do.
“I don’t know,” I admitted.
“You don’t have any of your IDs or cards or car…”
“I know.”
“Meadow, I know I’m nobody to you, but I don’t know if being alone is the best thing right now. Let me call someone for you.”
“There’s no one to call. Thank you for being here for me. I’m sure it wasn’t what you wanted to do with your day.”
“I wouldn’t be anywhere else,” she told me.
There was a shuffling sound that I couldn’t seem to force my head to turn to place before I could hear her footsteps leading to the door.
“This is going to get figured out,” she told me, tone definite. But before I could try to deny her, she was gone.
She’d left a stack of money on the top of the nightstand. I took a deep breath, tucking it into the drawer while I waited for someone to come back, to tell me where to go from here.
It felt like ages before the door creaked open, bringing in the nurse and doctor again.
I was free to go.
With some antibiotics, which was what Ranger had said.
I had twenty-four hours to decide if I wanted the results of my test to go to the police.
“Was I raped?” The words came out weighted and slow as my gaze slid back to the nurse with warm brown eyes.
At the words, they went a little sad.
“There is evidence of sexual activity,” she told me. “Whether it was forceful or not is a bit inconclusive. There was no semen.”
