My mind was back to normal, but I was on my way to meet with a police detective. A police detective to whom I had to tell my story.

“Reid?”

“Yeah?”

“Does this detective know what I’m going to say? I mean, have you told him about the stuff you’ve found out about your father?”

“We have. Roy has told his story, but because it came up during a session of guided hypnosis, the police are skeptical. Your story will corroborate his, and then they’ll be able to investigate Father Jim.”

“What about the others?”

“What others?”

I cleared my throat. “There were others. The person who brought me food. Others I saw in the hallways…”

“Can you describe these others?”

“Not really. Sometimes they were masked, other times they weren’t, but I didn’t get a good look at any of them. When you’re locked up and scared to death, or when you’re running for your life in the dark, you don’t really stop and take notice.”

He nodded. “I understand. Just tell the detective everything you remember, Zee. In fact, if you’ve held back anything up to this point, now is the time to let it out.”

I hadn’t held anything back. Not really. I just hadn’t gone into specific detail. That was difficult. The stuff my blurred nightmares were made of.

But I’d be strong. For Reid. For Riley and the others. I had to get the focus off of them. I felt strongly that none of them had killed Derek Wolfe.

Plus…at this point I’d do anything to protect Reid.

I’d fallen hard.

Too hard. It made no sense, and part of me was fighting it as if I were in a gladiator arena, but that didn’t make it any less true.

I’d never felt these emotions. Their purity and their strength. They made me brave.

For the first time, I would tell my story to someone who might be able to get justice for me and the countless others who hadn’t made it out of that hunting compound alive.

Reid’s phone buzzed. “Yeah?”

His face went pale as he listened to whoever was on the other side of his phone.

I ached to touch him, to give him some sort of comfort, as he was obviously distressed.

But I didn’t. I sat, staying still. Gathering all my courage for what I must do when we returned to the Wolfe building.

After nearly a half hour in stop-and-go traffic, Reid’s driver pulled in front of the building. Reid was still on the phone and hadn’t said anything other than a few “mmm hmms.”

The driver, Wayne, opened the door and Reid slid out. Normally he offered me a hand, but not this time.

He was distracted, and not in a good way.