Down Came the Rain (NOW FREE!)

36

Trigger Warning: This chapter contains themes of mental illness and abuse.

Chapter 36

The cell phone in his pocket pulsed against his chest. Myles debated looking at the text. Finally, he pulled it out, his eyes moving across the words on the screen.

I have the surveillance footage, Frank's message said. Why don't you come out and take a look.

Waves of prickly heat rolled over him. Everything was about to come to light! They could figure out who this monster was and put him away for good. Hudson would be safe. She'd be able to put all her focus into getting better. No interruptions.

The sound of giggling pulled him back to the present. He looked up and found Annie staring at him, a lopsided grin spread across her discolored face.

"Hey, loverboy." She flinched, new spots of blood dotting her lower lip. "I do believe you're blushing. What ya thinkin' about?"

Myles' throat constricted and he shifted in his seat. "I need to check on something but I'll be right back. If it's possible, I'd like for Hudson to be here when I return. I need to speak with her."

Her green eyes narrowed as they connected with his. "I'll see what I can do."

When Myles stood up, the room started to spin. His hand grasped the back of the chair and he steadied himself. For a long moment, he stood, staring at her. The bruised face, blackened eyes, and swollen lips were only worsening as the seconds ticked by. "I'll be right back," he said. Sliding open the glass door, he walked into the brightly-lit hall.

His partner stood off to the side, far enough away that he couldn't be seen from the room. "How'd it go?" The muscle tensed in his jaw.

He let out a quick puff of air. "It was Annie," he confirmed. "And she's—something else." Myles rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. "I want to see the footage."

Frank licked his lips and shifted his weight from one foot to the next. "Let's go somewhere private. Somewhere we can sit."

"The camera caught the attack?" he asked as he followed his partner down the hall.

"You can say that."

He wanted to say something more but decided against it, his partner's aloofness catching him off guard.

"Dr. Abadi said we could watch it down here." A moment later, they stepped into an empty room at the end of the hall. The silence felt deafening. Frank shut the door behind them, squelching the busy hospital noise.

Myles eyed him cautiously as they sank into the stiff cushions of the paisley-covered couch.

His partner's mouth set in a grim line. He closed his eyes and exhaled long and slow. "All these years on the force and I've never seen anything like this," he began, his voice unusually quiet. "If it were up to me, I would keep this from you. I don't think you need to see it. But I know there's no way you'd go for that."

Myles sucked in a deep breath. "It's not going to be easy to watch, but I need to know what happened. I need to see who did this to her. And then I'll find this guy and put him away for good."

With trembling fingers, Frank pulled his cell from the pocket of his shirt. Their gazes fixed and held, his partner's expression growing dark. "It isn't pretty."

Myles blinked hard before reaching for the cell. The gray and white footage flickered to life on the screen, revealing a grainy view of the darkened back alley. Several moments passed before a movement in the far right corner caught his attention. His breath stuck between his ribs. First a shadow and then a person came into view. He leaned forward, the phone quivering between his fingers. It was Hudson, and even in the muted light and fog, he could make out her expression clear as day.