Free Blood Dahlia - A Thriller (Sarah King Mysteries) by Victor Methos Page B

that were on in various rooms, the beep of machines, the creaking of a cleaning cart as it rolled down the hallway.
    She found Jeannie’s room and poked her head in. No one was around to stop her , and no one asked questions. She wondered if that was normal for this time in the morning or if the nursing staff that was supposed to be watching the front desk had stepped out. Sarah had no experience with hospitals and didn’t know. She’d only been to one once, two years ago after a car accident. It’d been the oddest experience of her life to have machines hooked up to her.
    When she was young, about two years old, she’d almost gone to a hospital. She’d had a fever so high that her parents thought she might die. Her mother wanted to take her into town to the hospital, but her father refused, saying it was God’s will that she be sick. She didn’t remember the incident, but her mother later told her that she had, briefly, died. That her heart had stopped and they’d thought they’d lost her. And then, just as quickly, she gasped for breath and screamed.
    Jeannie was asleep. Sarah didn’t want to wake her but didn’t want to leave , either. Taking quiet steps, she came next to the bed and sat in a chair, staring at her friend. Some of the bruising had actually increased around her face, though it was dark and Sarah couldn’t really tell, but her face did have a sort of shadow over it. Sarah gazed at it a long time before she noticed that Jeannie’s eyes had opened.
    “How did you know?” Jeannie asked, in almost a whisper.
    Sarah fidgeted, wishing she had something other than her car keys to roll around in her fingers. She stared down at her hands. They appeared rough and scarred compared to other hands she’d seen on girls her age. Since the time she was six years old, she’d been working on the farm and in the home.
    “It’s just something I’ve always had, Jeannie. I’m sorry I didn’t try harder to stop you.”
    “It wasn’t your fault. I didn’t listen. I thought that… I don’t know. I don’t know. I’m so fucking stupid.”
    “No, you’re not. You hear me? This is not your fault in any way.”
    “I don’t think anyone else will see it that way. I was in his hot tub. I would’ve had sex with him. I was planning on it. And then I passed out. When I woke up, I was naked in front of this hospital. He broke my arm, my nose… I had to get stiches everywhere, Sarah.”
    She looked up at her friend and then back down at her hands. “I know.”
    “I just feel so stupid.” She began to cry softly, and Sarah reached out and held her hand. After a minute, Jeannie stopped but didn’t have the strength to wipe the tears away. Sarah did it for her.
    “Did you call the police?” Sarah asked.
    “No. Who would believe me?”
    “I believe you.”
    She shook her head. “I’m not going through that. They’ll tear me apart in court. I was drunk and naked and willing to have sex with him. And I can’t look at him—to see him sitting there smiling at me…”
    Sarah dipped her head low. She couldn’t think of anything to say. No other words seemed to come to her , so she just said, “You’re stronger than you think you are.”
    Jeannie looked at her. “What is it exactly? This thing you have?”
    “I don’t know.”
    “So, what do you do with it?”
    “Nothing.”
    “Seriously? You don’t play the lottery, or go to Las Vegas, or anything?”
    Sarah grinned. “How about you get better and we’ll go get rich in Atlantic City ?”
    Jeannie chuckled softly. “I don’t think I want to do anything but lie in my own bed for a long time… I’m sorry I said those things.”
    “You don’t have to apologize.”
    Jeannie closed her eyes and took a deep breath, gripping Sarah’s hand tightly. “You should do something with it, Sarah. I don’t understand it. But you could’ve helped me if I would’ve listened to you. You should be helping other people.”
    “It doesn’t… It’s not a