… she was helpless … and hurting. I get it. I understand.”
Riley removed her foot. She figured he got the message – at least for now, although probably not for good. But this was the best – or worst – she could do for now. He deserved death, or far worse. But she couldn’t bring herself to give it to him. At least he would never use that hand properly again.
Riley left Joel, cuffed and cringing, and rushed to her daughter’s side. April’s eyes were dilated, and Riley knew that she was having trouble seeing her.
“Mom?” April said in a low whimper.
The sound of that word unleashed a world of anguish in Riley. She burst into tears as she started to help April get back into her clothes.
“I’m getting you out of here,” she said through her sobs. “Everything’s going to be all right.”
Yet even as she spoke the words, Riley prayed that they were true.
CHAPTER ONE
Riley was crawling through the dirt in a damp crawlspace under a house. Total darkness surrounded her. She wondered why she hadn’t brought a flashlight. After all, she had been in this awful place before.
Again, she heard April’s voice call out in the darkness.
“Mom, where are you?”
Despair tugged at Riley’s heart. She knew that April was caged somewhere in this evil darkness. She was being tortured by a heartless monster.
“I’m here,” Riley called out in reply. “I’m coming. Keep talking so I can find you.”
“I’m over here,” April called.
Riley crept in that direction, but a moment later she heard her daughter’s voice speak from another direction.
“I’m over here.”
Then the voice echoed through the darkness.
“I’m over here … I’m over here … I’m over here …”
It wasn’t just one voice, and it wasn’t just one girl. Many girls were calling for her help. And she had no idea how to reach any of them.
Riley was awakened from her nightmare by a squeeze of her hand. She had fallen asleep holding onto April’s hand, and now April was starting to wake up. Riley sat up straighter and looked at her daughter lying in the bed.
April’s face was still somewhat pasty and pale, but her hand was stronger and not cold anymore. She looked much better than she had yesterday. Her night in the clinic had done her a lot of good.
April managed to focus her eyes on Riley. Then the tears came, just as Riley knew they would.
“Mom, what if you hadn’t come?” April said in a choked voice.
Riley felt her own eyes sting. April had asked the same question countless times now. Riley couldn’t bear to even imagine the answer, much less say it aloud.
Riley’s cell phone rang. She saw that it was Mike Nevins, a forensic psychiatrist who was also her good friend. He had gotten Riley through a lot of personal crises, and had been glad to help with this one.
“Just checking in,” Mike said. “I hope I’m not catching you at a bad time.”
Riley was happy to hear Mike’s friendly voice.
“Not at all, Mike. Thanks for calling.”
“How’s she doing?”
“Better, I think.”
Riley didn’t know what she would have done without Mike’s help. After Riley had gotten April away from Joel, yesterday had been a bedlam of emergency services, medical treatments, and police reports. Yesterday evening Mike had arranged for April to be admitted here to the Corcoran Hill Health and Rehab Center.
It was much nicer than the hospital. Even with all the necessary equipment, the room was attractive and comfortable. Through the window Riley could see trees on well-manicured grounds.
Just then, April’s doctor came into the room. They ended the call as Dr. Ellis Spears entered, a kindly-looking man with a youthful face but a few telltale gray hairs.
He touched April’s hand and asked, “How are you feeling?”
“Not great,” she said.
“Well, give yourself some time,” he said. “You’re going to be fine. Ms. Paige, could I have a word with you?”
Riley nodded and followed him out into the hall. Dr. Spears looked over some information on his clipboard.
“The heroin is almost cleared out of her system now,” he said. “The boy gave her a dangerous dose. Fortunately, it leaves the bloodstream quickly. She’s not likely to have any more physical withdrawal symptoms. The distress she’s going through right now is more emotional than physical.”
“Is she going to …?” Riley couldn’t bring herself to finish the question.
Fortunately, the doctor understood what she wanted to know.
“Relapse or have cravings? It’s hard to say. First-time heroin use can feel wonderful – like nothing else in the world. She’s not an addict at this point, but she’s not likely to forget that feeling. There’s always a danger that she’ll be drawn back to the glow it gave her.”
Riley grasped what the doctor was getting at. From now on, it was going to be vitally important to keep April away from any possibility of drug use. It was a terrifying prospect. April now admitted to smoking pot and taking pills – some were apparently prescription painkillers, very dangerous opioids.
“Dr. Spears, I – ”
For a moment, Riley had trouble forming the question that was on her mind.
“I don’t understand what happened,” she said. “Why would she do something like this?”
The doctor smiled at her sympathetically. Riley guessed that he heard this question quite often.
“Escape,” he said. “But I’m not talking about a complete escape from life. She’s not that kind of user. In fact, I don’t think she’s really a user by nature at all. Like all teenagers, she runs really short on impulse control. That’s simply a matter of an immature brain. She really liked the short-term high those drugs gave her. Fortunately, she hasn’t used enough to do herself any lasting harm.”
Dr. Spears thought silently for a moment.
“Her experience was unusually traumatic,” he said. “I’m talking about how that boy was trying to exploit her sexually. That memory alone might be enough to keep her away from drugs for good. But it’s also possible that emotional distress could be a dangerous trigger.”
Riley’s heart sank. Emotional distress seemed an unavoidable fact of family life these days.
“We need to watch her for a few days,” Dr. Spears said. “After that, she’ll
