Page 74 of Searching Blind

“Great,” he muttered. “Why not add a cherry on top of this shit sundae?”

If he wasn’t mistaken, the sound Ash made was a laugh. “He’s too busy berating the staff to notice you.”

As they moved forward, Chuck’s voice boomed down the hallway. He was arguing with a nurse by the sound of it, his words loud and belligerent.

“Don’t tell me what’s best for my son!”

“Mr. Grassley, we need to?—”

“I don’t give two shits what you need! You better find a goddamn doctor who actually knows what they’re doing.”

It was tempting to keep his head down and ignore the man as they passed, but his pride won over. He wasn’t a coward.

“Chuck,” he called.

Chuck paused in his ranting. “Sawyer?” He felt the man’s gaze slide over him. “You look like hell.”

And you still look like a jackass.

Sawyer suppressed a smile at the thought. If he said that, no doubt Chuck would take another jab at his blindness, so instead, he asked, “How’s Joel?”

The hostility drained out of Chuck’s voice, replaced by something that might have been worry. “They keep saying he might lose his leg.”

Sawyer swallowed a twinge of guilt. Joel was just a kid, and now his life was forever changed. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Yeah,” Chuck muttered, the bravado he usually wore like a second skin now noticeably absent. “Me, too.”

Sawyer figured the conversation was over and nudged Zelda forward, but Chuck called out, “Hey, Sawyer?”

He paused but didn’t turn back. “Yeah?”

“What you did up there on the mountain, fixin’ the radio, callin’ for help…” He swallowed hard like the words were hard to squeeze out. “It’s the reason my boy still has a shot at keepin’ the leg. Thank you.”

Now, he did turn, his curiosity winning out over his distaste for the guy. “What happened after Lucy and I left?”

Chuck was silent for an uncomfortable moment. “Everyone else left, too. Grant followed you, then Ethan dug up Maya’s body and took her Christ knows where. That twerp Theodore decided he didn’t wanna sit around waitin’, so he and Bea took off into the woods. Joel and I waited, and, a few hours later, a rescue team reached us on foot. Said they overheard your radio call. So, yeah, thank you.” Some of the bluster returned to his voice. “Now, that’s done, and I’m not gonna say it again. My boy and I are going home.”

With that, Chuck turned and disappeared into his son’s hospital room.

A weird feeling threaded its way through Sawyer—not quite satisfaction, but close. Chuck Grassley had just thanked him, and although he’d spat out the words as if they were poison, he was still going to count it as a win.

“All right, let’s go,” Ash said, nudging him forward. “You’re swaying on your feet, and I’m not carrying you.”

“Have you found any of the others?” he asked Ash as they caught the elevator. “Theodore? Bea? Ethan?”

“No,” the sheriff said grimly. “Unfortunately, there are a lot of missing people right now and not enough people to look for them.”

“What about Grant? Have you gotten anything out of him? Like why he’s looking for Pierce?”

Ash said nothing until the elevator slowed and the doors started to slide open. Then he sighed like a man who was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. “Grant killed himself in custody.”

The words dropped like a stone, hitting Sawyer hard. His head buzzed, and for a moment, the walls of the elevator seemed to close in on him. “What?”

“He had some kind of poison on him. We didn’t find it, and he took it as soon as we put him in a cell. We tried to revive him, but there was nothing we could do.” Ash’s hand landed on his shoulder. “I’m sorry. I know you were hoping for answers. We all were.”

Sawyer nodded, feeling a strange mix of emotions. Disbelief, anger, disappointment - all swirling around inside him like a rogue tornado. He’d been hoping Grant had answers. About Ethan and Maya. About Pierce. About why Grant had targeted him and Lucy…

And now, they would never know.

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