Page 25 of The Finder

“Which is where?” an officer interrupted.

“Hope House,” Emma said quietly.

The officer jerked his head up. “You homeless?”

Emma felt her face burn in humiliation, but she managed a quick nod.

The officer taking notes turned to Kyle. “You homeless?” he asked. Emma panicked for a second. Their story was going to fall apart before it even started.

“I’m not. I live with my wife. We keep trying to get her to live with us, but she refuses,” he lied easily.

Emma held her breath, but the officers seemed to believe his story. They turned back to her. “Go on,” an officer said.

Emma started again. “I was heading to the house when two men stopped me, one in front and one behind me. The one behind me grabbed my hair, and...” she broke off for a moment as memories assailed her. She closed her eyes.

“It’s okay,” she heard one officer say. “You’re safe now.” Emma opened her eyes and nodded. “What happened next?”

“My adrenaline kicked in, and I knew I had to get away. I hit the guy behind me with my head and I kicked the guy in front of me in the, uh, private area,” she said. “Then I ran. I ran into a friend, and he helped me escape,” she said.

At this point, the officer who had been taking notes stopped and looked down at her, his brow furrowed. “You just happened to run into a friend?”

Emma nodded, knowing it was the truth. She had nothing to hide from this part of the story. “He had been looking for me.”Which isn’t a lie.“I assume he heard me screaming and that’s when he came. He put me in his car and I guess brought me here. I was passed out.”

The other officer looked at Emma. “And what of the guys that attacked you?” he asked.

Emma noticed that Kyle inched a little closer to her at that question. Emma didn’t dare look at him. “I’m not sure what happened to them,” she said. It was the truth; she technically didn’t know what had happened to them. “I woke up here a little while ago,” Emma finished.

The officers asked a few more questions, mostly about the things she had already told them. The one officer wrote a few more things down in his book, then closed it. “All right. That’s all the questions we have for now. Get some rest, Miss,” he said. Then they both left the room.

Emma felt herself relax. She looked up at Kyle. “Thanks for being here with me,” she said sincerely.

He nodded. “Thanks for protecting Levi and me,” he said with a quick smile.

Madison came into the room then. “How did it go?” she asked worriedly.

“Emma handled it all perfectly,” Kyle said.

Madison turned to Emma. “Are you okay?” she asked.

Emma nodded, but before she could say anything, the doctor was back. “Now, Emma, let’s try that again.” He spent the next five minutes asking her questions about how she felt. He looked her over, checked her head, and did a few other things. “All right, Emma. I believe you are free to go. Just take your time easing back into things,” he said. “I want you to check in with your primary doctor in three days. If you have any neck pain, tingling, numbness, or vomiting, come right back to the hospital.”

Emma nodded. The doctor stood up. “All right. You are good to go. I’ll have the nurse start the discharge process.”

“Thank you,” Emma said.

He nodded and disappeared out the door. Emma let out a sigh of relief. She was free to go. Madison came over to her. “That’s great. You can get out of here.”

Emma looked down at the hospital gown she was wearing and frowned. “Do you think I could get a shower?”

“I don’t see why not. Let me just check with the nurse,” Madison said.

“I’ll do it,” Kyle said and left the room.

Emma sat on the edge of the bed. She didn’t have to wait long. Kyle was back a moment later. “Nurse said it’s fine.”

Emma stood up and stood still for a moment, trying to get her bearings. “Do you need help?” Madison asked in concern. Emma shook her head no. “Okay. Everything you need is in the shower already. I brought some of my clothes to wear for now. I figured we were about the same size. I hope that’s okay,” she said, sounding unsure.

“That’s great. Thank you so much,” Emma said. Emma made her way to the bathroom. Emma found everything she needed in there, thanks to Madison.

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