Already Gone (Laura Frost FBI)

The door to Amy’s room opened, and Laura turned with her heart leaping into her mouth. Her skull also lurched with the movement, but she ignored it in favor of concentrating hard on the figures leaving the room for news.

“Thank you, Doctor,” the man in the gray suit was saying. He looked frazzled, his white shirt crumpled and creased, his hair disheveled. Laura couldn’t judge him for that. He was the governor, and it was his daughter who had been missing for the last three days.

“Don’t mention it. Just don’t tire her out too much today. If she gets enough rest, we’ll be able to let her come home tomorrow,” an older man in a white coat said, nodding politely to everyone before hastening on his way to see another patient.

Laura read the signs, her eyes tracking urgently from face to face. The mother’s eyes were red from crying, but she was sniffling now and the sides of her mouth were turned up just fractionally. The governor seemed tired, yes, but relieved. As if they were through the worst of it.

Amy was going to be okay.

Laura felt her shoulders ratchet down a level, the tension and apprehension flooding out of them just slightly. She was out of the woods. Although there was still the question of that dark cloud, at least she was safe right now.

?

?You’re the man who found her, isn’t that right?” the governor was saying, pointing at Nate.

“Oh—well, it was myself and my partner, Agent Frost,” Nate replied, pasting his customer-friendly smile on his face as he turned to gesture toward Laura. A smile he only dragged out when having to deal with important people connected to cases. She wished he wasn’t using it right now, and especially not turning it toward her. “Actually, she did all of the work. I was just backup, really.”

“Oh, thank you,” the governor’s wife said, her voice halfway to a sob again, as she stepped forward. She clutched Laura’s hand between her own, despite the fact that one of them was also holding a decidedly damp handkerchief. “Thank you for saving our baby.”

Laura flashed a weak smile up at the woman and her husband. It was the most she could manage with the threat of danger still hanging over Amy, and the opportunity to talk to her again so close but so far. “Just doing our jobs.”

“And some,” the governor replied, giving her a look with raised eyebrows. He was the kind of man who always seemed more than slightly impressed with his own words. “You gave us our daughter back, Agent Frost. I’m going to keep my eye out for you, and that’s a promise. There’s a promotion coming your way.”

Laura nodded gratefully, though she didn’t believe a word of it. People always made big, slick promises when they were in that first flush of relief. Everything would be back to normal soon enough. “Thank you, sir.”

The governor nodded and made to step past her, but Laura saw her chance and couldn’t miss it. Hardly knowing what she was about to say, she turned after him and raised a hand, preventing the couple from moving past her. “Actually,” she said, “I was wondering if it would be all right for me to talk with Amy.”

“Why’s that?” the governor asked, the slight beginning of a frown poised to overtake his amiable expression.

“Just to make sure we understand everything,” Laura said. She was mostly making it up as she went along. Someone would be assigned to talk to Amy, yes—but not her. It would be an agent who was trained in dealing with children, who knew how to speak to them and tiptoe around trauma. “It won’t be too much for her. I want to make sure she’s all right, and we haven’t missed any injuries, or anything like that.” She kicked herself inwardly for not having come up with a better excuse, but it was the only thing she had been able to think of. She was going to have to run with it now.

“Isn’t that the doctor’s job?” the governor asked, but then the storm cloud that had been threatening his face cleared. “You know what, let’s go ahead. I’d rather be sure our little girl is all right.”

Laura held up another hand to stop him from moving forward. She knew she was risking a lot—the governor had enough power to directly impact her career, as he’d just pointed out—but she needed to see if another vision would come. “It’s important I speak with Amy alone,” she said. “If that’s all right.”

The governor hesitated, glancing at his wife. After a moment, he shrugged. “Sure,” he said. “Whatever it takes.”

CHAPTER FIVE

Laura nodded and turned to walk into Amy’s room, ignoring the fact that Nate was watching her with an obvious question in his eyes. She could explain to him later. Tell him how she just wanted to make sure the girl really was okay, how she felt responsible. He would accept it. Laura knew he wouldn’t question her then, and he wouldn’t stop her now.

She felt a painful squeeze in her chest at the sight of the small five-year-old body in the middle of the hospital bed, cleaned up and dressed in pajamas now. She was bandaged up and tiny, and her large blue eyes were sleepy as she watched Laura come into the room.

Laura took a breath before moving forward, needing to center herself. She’d recovered somewhat from her double visions, if not entirely. The coffee had helped. She just hoped it would be enough to allow her to trigger a new one—to let in the warning that little Amy so clearly needed.

“Hey there, Amy,” Laura said, keeping her voice low and soft. She made herself smile, so the girl would be reassured and not afraid. “How are you doing?”

“You’re the lady who got me,” Amy said, her head moving on the stack of pillows she was in danger of being dwarfed by.

“Yes, I am,” Laura said. She sat down in the chair by the bed. “I just wanted to check that you’re all right.”

“Yeah,” the girl said, pushing herself upright in bed, her halo of blonde hair tumbling down her back. “I was so happy when I saw you!”

“You were?” Laura asked, smiling. Amy reached out, and Laura obliged her by taking her hand, moving to sit on the edge of the bed so she could reach. She was so small. Just like Lacey. Laura blinked back unexpected tears at the thought of her daughter. Something about Amy’s hand in hers brought a wrench to her heart. Maybe it was because she’d been so afraid for her, because she’d fought so hard to save her life. They had a bond now that was new and strange, and Amy’s immediate and natural affection only made it seem all the more real.

“Yeah. I was really scared, and then you came and said it would be all right.” Amy leaned forward a little, shuffling to the edge of the bed. “And now I saw my mom and dad again! And the bad man’s gone. And the other man said you made the bad man go away.”

Laura could only smile. She could see that the girl was a born chatterbox. But the vision she had been waiting for wasn’t manifesting, not even at the touch of her hand. “I did,” she said. “You don’t have to be afraid of the bad man anymore.”