Here After

chapter thirteen

PETER LED ROGER AWAY FROM the roadside to a flat boulder at the edge of the swamp. Using the flashlight, he sat the man down and examined the laceration in his scalp. It was about a half inch long but superficial, and Peter doubted it would require stitches. He asked Roger if he was hurt anywhere else and got only a vacant stare. Gingerly touching the bump on his own head, he sat next to Roger and turned the flashlight off.

They sat in silence for a while, nothing left to say, watching the occasional vehicle speed by on the roadway, listening to the lively chatter of insects and night birds in the swamp. The air was cool and Peter started shivering in his wet clothes, the ebbing rush of adrenalin making him feel ill. The whole thing seemed unreal to him now, sitting here at the side of a road he’d never been on before, miles from home, alone under a starlit sky with a man he barely knew, a man driven by an obsession Peter not only understood but had freely adopted as his own. The quiet was maddening; in it, all Peter could hear was the kidnapper getting farther away.

It wasn’t long before he heard the sound of sirens approaching fast, and he got up to flag down the first police car. Roger didn’t move, just sat there with his elbows on his knees, staring at his hands. Peter told the officer what had happened, saying he couldn’t be sure in which direction the van had fled after their vehicle left the road, assuring him that neither of them had been seriously injured. The officer said he’d have an ambulance dispatched anyway, then repeated into his radio exactly what Peter had told him.

Another police car appeared now, slowed, then kept on going. Within seconds an unmarked car ground to a halt behind the first cruiser. The driver introduced himself as Staff Sergeant Laking, his handshake firm, his expression grim in the glare of head lights. The tall, freckled woman who got out on the passenger side said her name was Sergeant Taylor and identified herself as the lead investigator. Peter shook her hand too, saying he was pleased to meet her, apologizing for his filthy clothes. She told him not to worry, then glanced at the Corolla in the swamp and asked the officer to call for a tow truck.

Peter led the investigators over to Roger and made the introductions, but Roger only grunted, not responding when Laking held his hand out to be shaken. Sergeant Taylor asked Peter if he was sure his friend hadn’t been seriously injured and Peter said, “I’m a doctor,” and told her he was confident Roger was fine. Then he led them a discrete distance away and said, “I think I should explain how we came to be involved in this thing.”

Sergeant Taylor said, “Are you telling us it’s more than coincidence?”

“Much more,” Peter said, glancing back at Roger, who was staring at them now. “To do it properly, though, I’m going to need a computer.”

                                                                              * * *

Graham felt the van come to a stop and let his eyes open halfway, hoping he was finally back home. But they were parked in a row of cars behind a long brick building with a bunch of red doors. The ceiling light came on now, making Graham squint, and he heard the man say, “Okay, kiddo, we have to change cars.” Then he felt a sting in his leg and saw a needle stuck in him, right through his jammies, and now the man was squeezing something into him with his thumb, saying, “Sorry, little man, but we’ve got a long drive ahead of us and you’re going to have a nice little nap.” The man pulled the needle out and Graham started to cry, hiding his quiet sobs in his pillow.

The light went off and the man got out of the van with his hair on, locking the door behind him. Graham watched him go to the small silver car parked next to them on Graham’s side and take something out of his coat...a set of keys. Then he turned his back to Graham and unlocked the car door. Graham rubbed his eyes and saw the man get in behind the wheel. He wanted to see what the man was doing in there, thinking maybe he could climb out the other side and run away, but his head felt funny now, heavy, like his neck couldn’t remember how to hold it up anymore.