Page 24 of The Kidnapped

“Yes,” she replied.

“I wish I could say something that would make this better for you,” Hollis said.

“It’s okay. Really, I do this at least once a day.” Raleigh wiped at her own cheeks. “I’ll be fine. You can go home, if you want. Your mom–”

“Is asleep. If you want me to go, I’ll go, but if you want me to stay, I’m okay. Do you want to be alone?”

Raleigh recalled how, just a moment ago, she’d thought she’d wanted space, but now, being pressed up against Hollis made her not want to be alone tonight after all.

“No,” she answered.

“Do you maybe want to go wash your face and climb into bed?”

“How did you know?” She let out a little laugh.

“I’ve been there,” Hollis said. “Not the same situation, but I’ve been doing a lot of crying, washing my face, and trying to sleep and failing lately.”

Raleigh pulled away a bit to look at her and asked, “Would you mind staying until I fall asleep? I don’t know if I actually will, but I’m exhausted, so I’d like to try to get at least a few hours tonight.”

“Of course,” Hollis replied.

They stood, and Raleigh walked them to her bedroom, passing Eden’s closed door and resisting the impulse to open it and sit on the floor for a while until she was all cried out. Once in the master bedroom, she went to the bathroom and cleaned up. Hollis was sitting on the edge of her bed when Raleigh got out, and then she stood and pulled back the blanket for her.

“How did you know I sleep on this side?”

“Two pictures of Eden on your table,” Hollis explained, nodding to the bedside table. “She’s beautiful.”

Raleigh nodded, smiled softly, and slipped beneath the covers.

“Thank you, Hollis. I mean it. Thank you for everything.”

“I’ll sit in the chair until you fall asleep,” she said, pointing to the rocking chair in the corner of the room.

“You can lie next to me, if you want. I usually put the news on the TV and try to fall asleep to it.” Raleigh picked up the remote off the table.

Hollis took it from her and put it back down.

“Considering you have a hard time falling asleep, I don’t think that method is working. Just close your eyes.”

“When I close my eyes, and I’m wide awake, I see her,” Raleigh replied.

Hollis nodded and pulled out her phone.

“Do you have headphones?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“I have a meditation app that works for me sometimes. Well, it did before… Anyway, you could try it.”

Hollis passed Raleigh her phone, and once Raleigh had connected her headphones, Hollis moved to lay beside her over the blankets. Raleigh put the headphones into her ears, and Hollis scrolled through the app when Raleigh passed her the phone back. She chose something that she liked herself, the sounds of rain and maybe a rainforest with animals chirping, and within minutes, Raleigh’s eyes got heavy, and she fell asleep.

CHAPTER 10

“Hey, great work on that Rodriguez thing,” Kenna said as she leaned against Hollis’s desk.

“Oh. Thanks. Did everything work out?”

“Yeah, we have more background on the guy than I think the cops do. What did you do, surf the dark web or something?”

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