Burn (Steel Brothers Saga 5)

“I’m very sorry,” Officer Lee said, not making eye contact with me. “I’m sure it is very difficult to lose a patient.”

I swallowed down the lump that had formed in my throat. “Yes, it is.”

She paused, not speaking for a moment, and then cleared her throat. “So what happened next?”

“The intruder found me in my closet. I can’t describe him, other than he had blue eyes. He wore a black ski mask and all black clothing. I tried to attack him with a shoe, but he outmanned me. He injected me with something in my neck, and the next thing I remember, I woke up, and my first thought was that I was in a hotel.”

“But it wasn’t a hotel room?”

“No. There was nothing on the walls. They were painted a very light blue. There was a bed and a bathroom with just a toilet and sink. And there was a desk.”

“How long were you there?”

“I don’t know. I was in and out of consciousness from the drug he injected me with. He brought me food a few times. But you can extrapolate the timing, I guess.”

“How did you get out of that room?”

“He came in, bound my hands behind me with duct tape, and took me out of the room. I realized why the room was built without windows. It was in the middle of a basement. He took me up a set of stairs, and I remember there was a kitchen and laundry room to my left, but he took me to the right to a door that led to a three-car garage.”

“All right.” Officer Lee scribbled on a pad.

“He opened the door to the garage, and an older-model car was in there. A tank of a car. I wish I could tell you the make and model, but I didn’t notice at the time. Besides, if it was listed as stolen, you no doubt already know that stuff.”

“Yes, it was a 1984 Cadillac Eldorado Coupe.”

“Wow. No wonder I didn’t have much trouble crashing through the garage door.” I attempted a small laugh.

“So then what happened?”

“He told me that because the car was an older model, he could turn it on and lock the door, so I would have no way of getting in and turning it off. He…”

My God… The vivid details were coming back to me like an IMAX picture. I closed my eyes against the images.

But they were still there.

“Are you all right, Doctor? Should we resume this later?”

I open my eyes and swallowed. “No, I need to get through it now.” I cleared my throat. “I tried kicking him, but it didn’t work, and he twisted my ankle. Then he bound my feet with rope and pushed me onto the floor of the garage. He turned on the car and locked the doors with it running. Then he shut the door to the house and locked it behind him.”

“What can you tell me about the garage?”

“Concrete floor, walls were painted white—like bright stark white, the kind that hurts your eyes. There was a little bit of metal shelving on the far side, across from the entry into the house.”

“So how were you able to escape?”

“Honestly, Officer, it’s such a blur at this point. My adrenaline was rushing through me. Let me think.” All I could see in my mind’s eye were images of ice-blue eyes as he turned me around and pushed me onto the concrete floor. Leaving me to die.

“Do you need to stop?”

I shook my head. “Let’s get it over with. I knew I had to find some way to get air, so I hopped around, looking at every part of the garage.”

And then it unfolded before me, like a Technicolor film. I related to the officer how I had found the pipe, discovered the nail and then the sharp edge on the old metal shelf, released myself, turned off the car, and then turned it back on and crashed through the garage door to my freedom.

It all seemed so unreal.

“You’re a very brave woman, Dr. Carmichael,” she said. “Brave and also resourceful.”

“I didn’t feel very resourceful at the time. But I suppose resource comes from gross desperation.”