Family is Forever (Sequel to Running on Insulin)

Chapter 7

We sat with Samantha until the porters came to take her up to a room, and then we followed them upstairs. Once the nurses got Samantha settled in her room, we went in and sat beside her. She hadn't moved, opened her eyes or shown any sign of life, other than the fact that she was breathing on her own, and that the heart monitor attached to her was beeping steadily. 

Jenna and I sat beside her, and Josh found a chair and pulled it into the room, and sat at the end of her bed. He kept tickling her foot, hoping to get some reaction. 

My phone beeped. I pulled it out of my pocket. Brendon. He was texting to ask what was happening. I dialed his number. 

"Ty, what's happening. How's Sam?" he asked. 

"She's unconscious. She had a blood glucose  of 620 when they brought her in, and that's probably why she's unconscious. He beat her up. Her eyes are both black, she's got a bunch of bruises. She looks pretty rough. But," I said, my voice shaking with tears threatening. "But she's alive, and breathing on her own."

"That's good. That's really good news. Sarah and I are here, if you guys need anything. Okay? Just call. The police have mostly moved out, I think they're keeping a couple of guys at the end of the driveway because of the press, but you almost have your house back. We'll clean up whatever mess they leave."

"Thanks, man," I said. "I can't tell you how much I appreciate you guys being here."

"Well, it's the least we can do. You were there for us with Jess," he said, quietly. 

I hung up and picked up Samantha's slack hand again, rubbing my thumb across her knuckles. 

A little while later, there was a knock at the door and Jake was there with another detective. 

"Hey," he whispered as they came in the room. "How's she doing?" 

I sighed. 

"She's unconscious. Two black eyes and her blood sugar was 620. But she's alive, and she'll be okay."

"Good news. 620, huh? They're treating that, right?"

"She's on an insulin drip and the nurses said they'll be checking her blood sugar at least every hour."

"Good, good. So, this is Detective Albert Sinclair. He was my guy on the scene. He asked to come by with me so we could tell you what went down at the Deitz house."

"I wish we could have met you under different circumstances," Jenna said. 

"Same," Detective Sinclair replied.

"So," Jake said, sitting on the end of Samantha's bed. Josh moved beside me so that he could listen and not look at Jake's back. "Gillingham told us everything that happened from the time they left the prison to today."

"That piece of..." I said. Jake put his hand up. 

"He's no angel, but he's the reason your daughter is still alive. It turns out he actually was a social worker but got caught up in a child trafficking scheme. I'm not even going into the details of that. Deitz found out when he got to Masonville, and befriended Gillingham. He found out when he had a sentencing hearing and somehow managed to manipulate his lawyer into getting his preliminary hearing booked for the same day, so they'd be in the same transport.  Then he sweettalked and manipulated Gillingham into his plan to break out of the transport by getting someone on the outside to set up something on the road that caused the crash.  Once they were free of the van, Deitz managed to get a hold of the keys to their cuffs, probably off one of the unconscious officers with them, and the two of them got away."