Surrendering (Surrender 1)

“What does that mean? Of course she has a pulse, she’s alive.”

He turns to look at me with fear in his eyes, “No, man, you don’t get it. When I first got to her, I couldn’t find it. When I did find it, it was weak. So that’s what I mean when I say she has a pulse. The rest doesn’t matter right now.”

All the breath leaves my body and I throw my head back trying to comprehend what he’s just said. He couldn’t find her pulse. He thought she was dead. The thought makes me woozy again. I feel his hand on my shoulder, but I concentrate on not breaking down.

When we get to the hospital, I jump out of the truck before it stops moving. I run through the doors to the emergency room and find Jenna in the sitting area with James.

“Where is she?”

“Declan, honey, she’s with a doctor right now. We don’t know anything yet.”

I crash into the nearest chair and text my dad to tell him we found her and what hospital we’re at. I hope he gets here soon before I completely lose it.

It seems like an eternity before a doctor comes out to us.

“Ravenel Hayes Family?”

“Yes,” we all respond. He looks at us and stops when he sees the blood on Finn’s shirt.

“I’m Dr. Harris, the attending ER physician. We are still running a few tests, but here’s what I can tell you so far. Her left hand and two fingers are broken. We’ve set them and we’ll put on the hard cast in a day or so. She has two cracked ribs from being kicked repeatedly. There’s bruising all over her torso and what looks like a Taser burn on her lower back. From what I was told from the EMT’s that brought her in here, she had probably passed out and knocked her head on the bathroom counter. It gave her a concussion and it caused a lot of bleeding. She’s severely dehydrated so we’ve started an IV. We also gave her some morphine for the pain. She’s asleep now and I suspect she’ll be out for several hours. I’m moving her up to ICU once the test results come back. If there’s no brain swelling, we’ll monitor her for several hours. If everything goes well, then we’ll move her to a regular room.”

“We think she may have suffered a migraine during the time she was held captive. She may not have eaten or drank anything for days.” James informs the doctor who takes notes.

“When can we see her?” Jenna asks.

“Once she gets to ICU, she can have visitors for a few minutes at a time.”

“But she’s all alone right now, I need to see her.” I hear the raw emotion in her voice pleading with him.

“I understand your concern, but she’s sleeping now. I promise to send a nurse for you if she wakes up so she won’t be alone.”

“Thanks Doctor,” James says as he hugs his wife.

The doctor walks out and my dad and sisters walk in. After an emotional greeting, I fill them in on what the doctor said. My sisters go to get coffee for everyone and my dad sits next to me.

A uniformed officer comes in and goes to James first. James leads him over to me.

“Declan, I’m Officer Redding and I’m assigned to this case. I need to speak to you. You might want to talk to me in private.”

I suddenly become the center of attention. “No sir, we can talk in here. These people are my family.”

He clears his throat as if trying to find the right words. “We believe you were the target of a stalker. Once Ravenel was removed from the house, we went through every room looking for clues as to why she was kidnapped. We broke through a locked door. The room was basically a shrine to you. Pictures of you covered every inch of the wa

lls and there was a video playing on a small TV. Every time Raven was in the picture, her image was either sliced or marked through. Our theory is that she took Raven to get to you.”

“Wait, a few weeks ago Christie showed up at one of my shows backstage. She was looking for me, but she made a comment to Raven about being with Finn. How did she even know about us?”

“I’m not sure, but all the evidence points to Christie Smith being a lunatic. She must have been acting ignorant because the photographic evidence dates back to late summer. She’s been watching you for a long time. She started following Raven around in November. Right now, we’re holding her until we can get a statement from Raven. We may need to press multiple charges besides kidnapping.”

“What is Christie saying?”

“She’s not talking. We also have her cousin who’s much more forthcoming with her information. I honestly believe she didn’t know what Christie planned for Raven, but she is an accessory to the crime. She may be able to cut a deal with less jail time, but not likely, especially since she didn’t come forward.”

“So what happens now?”

“We’ll need you to come in and make a statement regarding your relationship with Miss Smith and I recommend putting a restraining order in place for you and Raven. Even though she’s behind bars now, it’s a good measure in case the judge sets bail. We’ll have a set of officers question Raven when she’s up to it. I also recommend that you carry your gun until we can determine if she was working alone. I don’t think Anna was an accomplice.”

My dad puts his arms around my shoulders and hugs me to him. “Officer Redding, can he go down to give a statement tomorrow? Today has been pretty rough for all of us.”