Page 61 of The Last Straw

Charlie didn’t look away. Couldn’t look away.

“Do you hurt now?” she asked.

It took everything Charlie had to break his gaze, then finally look down. Not only had the bleeding stopped, but the cuts were already closing, too.

He shook his head, but there were tears in his eyes when he looked back up at her.

It was then that Wyrick realized what she’d done. And in front of witnesses. Her eyes widened as she looked at everyone in the room.

“Please don’t tell.”

Charlie heard the panic in her voice and added a plea of his own.

“I know you’ve all seen the video. You know a religious cult was after her. You know there were hit men sent to kill her. And this is why. Because she knows stuff...and can do stuff...like this. But it doesn’t make her anything but special. Don’t make her life any more complicated than it already is. Please.”

Doctor Julian lifted his chin.

“I couldn’t explain what I just saw if I had to, and no one would believe us anyway.” Then he looked at the others. “Do I have to say it?” he asked.

Both nurses and the orderly all shook their heads. “No, Doctor,” they said.

Wyrick didn’t know if she could trust them, but right now it didn’t matter. Her focus was on Charlie.

“We need to go back now,” she said.

“Back where?” he asked.

“To Detter House.”

Charlie frowned. “Oh, hell no! You’re going home to rest and—”

Wyrick held up her hand. “I need the IV out of my arm. So either someone take it out or I’ll do it myself.”

Doctor Julian nodded at one of the nurses, who quickly obeyed, while Wyrick kept arguing with Charlie.

“Rachel can’t wait. If she’s still alive, he’s going to panic. His little game is ruined, and she is the only person who could identify him.”

“The police will get prints and DNA,” Charlie argued.

“Time, Charlie. That all takes time, and I know in my gut Rachel Dean doesn’t have any left. I’m not one hundred percent, but I can focus, and I can sleep when this is over.”

“Hellfire,” Charlie muttered.

“No, that’s where we’re sending him,” Wyrick said. “And I need something to wear. They cut up my clothes... Oh...and where’s my phone?”

One of the nurses pointed to a sack sitting on a chair. “Those are your belongings, including the clothes we cut off you, but we were told the police would need them for DNA. Your phone is there.”

“Show me,” Wyrick said.

The nurse dug through the sack and then held up a phone.

“Please give it to Charlie,” Wyrick said. “He has pockets right now, and I do not.”

Charlie took the phone and made a point to put it in an inside pocket of the jacket he was wearing.

“Safe and sound,” he said.

Wyrick nodded. “You need to wash the blood off your hands.”

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