Leave Yesterday Behind Read Online Free PDF Page B

incident itself.”
    “But it could come back to her?”
    Dr. Maxwell shrugged. “It’s a crapshoot, Detective. We’ll see.” He signaled the nurse to follow him, and they exited the room, closing the door behind them.
    The policeman moved closer. Callie caught a whiff of pipe tobacco clinging to him. The subtle smell comforted her. “There’s another plainclothesman right outside the door. Gotta take your safety seriously. After all, you’re a national treasure.”
    He smiled, and his words let her know he, unlike Dr. Maxwell, knew exactly who she was.
    “So what did the headlines say this morning? ‘ Jessica gets her just desserts?’”
    “Nah.” He pulled up a chair and sat. She was grateful she didn’t have to strain to look up at him anymore. “My little girl started watching you when you came on. What, ten years ago? Must’ve been ‘cause she’s nineteen now, and she was just nine when she started watching the stories. I argued with my wife that she was too young, but my kid thought you hung the moon. Wanted to grow up beautiful and smart and not take shit off nobody, just like Jessica. My kid knows everything now, at nineteen. I guess we all do at that age.”
    He gave her hand a squeeze. “I’m Paul Waggoner, Callie. Can I call you Callie?”
    She gave a bare nod. Anything else hurt too much.
    “Well, Callie, I need to know anything you remember. I’ll tell you, we already spoke to your friend Beth, so we know what time you left the coffeehouse. She also has your dog, by the way, and told me to tell you not to worry about him.”
    He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. He scrolled a moment and then held it up to her. “Beth made me take Wolf’s picture and promise to show it to you the minute you woke up. He’s as big as the side of a barn but a friendly thing.”
    The sight of her dog made everything seem better. “That’s good. He likes her. I guess he’ll be staying with her awhile.”
    “So after the coffeehouse. You walked even though the rain started. Beth says you like to ride the subway and your station was nearby. And so someone approached you on the street? That sound about right?”
    She swallowed. “He called me Jessica.” She sighed. “I turned around anyway. I always do.”
    The detective nodded. “He say anything else?”
    She thought. Waited. “He had a knife. Left hand. Wanted me to put on . . .” She paused as she tried to remember. “Lipstick,” she finally recalled. “Some lipstick.”
    She sensed the stillness that came over him.
    “But you know that, don’t you, Detective?”
    He nodded. “Was it Ravenous Red ?”
    “Yes.” Her voice sounded faint to her. “He said I . . .” Her voice trailed off. She squinted, trying to recall the rest. “Something about how I wasn’t perfect after all.”
    Her head began to pound, so loudly she couldn’t hear herself think anymore. The effort to talk became too great.
    “Can’t . . . anymore. Maybe later . . .”
    She closed her good eye. Detective Waggoner continued to hold her hand as she drifted off.
    She thought she heard him say, “We’ll get the bastard, Callie. We will get him. For you. And the others.”

Chapter 5
    Callie awoke to an empty room. Although her door was closed, she could hear muffled sounds coming from the hallway. A squeaky noise probably came from a meal cart wobbling down the hall. Voices drifted by and then faded.
    She eyed the TV remote, wondering if she had the strength to reach it. She pushed out a hand and leaned in the channel changer’s direction, only to immediately realize her mistake. A searing pain rippled from under her arm down to her hip. She knew this area must contain a zillion stitches from the stab wounds she’d suffered.
    Okay, not such a good idea. Still, she wanted to turn on the news. She rarely watched TV. Instead, she memorized script lines, read, played with Wolf, and worked with victims of domestic violence at a local shelter. She didn’t need