Touching Silver Read Online Free PDF

faded as she began to recognize the hospital room.
    “Stacy, it’s Detective Wright.” She kept her tone gentle, her body as relaxed and unthreatening as possible. The longer she was on the job, the harder it got to hide her fury with the perpetrators. She would never forget how hard it was for the victims or family. “How are you feeling?”
    Stacy regarded her for nearly a minute in silence. Then her gaze slid over Olivia’s shoulder to Nathan standing in the background. A short, sharp breath came out through her nose before she closed her eyes again and rolled onto her back. At least she hadn’t turned away completely.
    Olivia pulled the headshot of de los Rios from her file. “Stacy, can you please look at these photographs?”
    Stacy didn’t open her eyes or acknowledge Olivia’s request. She wished she could simply look into Stacy’s mind and save them both from this conversation. But she couldn’t, so she patiently spread five photos across Stacy’s lap.
    “Stacy, which of these men kidnapped you?”
    Still no response. Part of Olivia wanted to take the girl by the shoulders and shake some sense into her. The only way they could catch her kidnapper—and find the other girls—was with Stacy’s help. But she couldn’t actually blame her for being scared. Stacy had survived something horrible. Her battered body was proof of that.
    Time to test Isaac’s faith in his friend.
    Leaving the pictures where they were, she touched the back of Stacy’s hand. “Stacy, I brought a friend. He’d like to speak to you about your experience. His name is Nathan Pierce.”
    Olivia stood and stepped away from the bed, allowing Nathan to take her place in the chair. She didn’t want to serve as a distraction for either of them, though she still had no idea how Nathan intended to coax her into speaking, let alone get her to ID her captor.
    “Hello, Stacy.”
    He spoke in a soft, soothing voice, addressing her by name at every opportunity. He told her about the day he woke up in a hospital room, like this one, confused and frightened. He told her about the moment he realized he couldn’t talk. He recounted the days and weeks he passed in silence because it hurt, because he was scared, because he didn’t know if he even wanted to be alive anymore. Olivia knew the story was not meant for her ears, but it captivated her anyway. Where had Isaac been when this happened?
    It could have been the gentle cadences of his British accent, or the obvious empathy in his words, the similarity of the situations, or any combination thereof. But after five minutes of Nathan’s unfailing voice, Stacy’s lashes fluttered again, her eyes opening to regard him in silent solemnity as he went on. He didn’t falter. His next story spoke of the solitude of being trapped in a world that didn’t make sense, how the only thing he could do was question everything he knew to be true.
    “But it stopped?”
    The sudden sound of Stacy’s hoarse voice startled both of them. Nathan paused, while Olivia stiffened, taking a small step to the side to better see Stacy’s face.
    Her eyes were wet, and a stray tear clung to her thick lashes. “You look…” She winced, her throat working slowly as she swallowed. “You look like it stopped.”
    Nathan nodded. “It did. It takes some time to heal. I won’t lie to you, Stacy, it might take a lot of time to heal. But it did get better. It helped to know the person who hurt me could never do it again.”
    “ Quien ?”
    “ Se llamo Susanna. Ella fui mi novia. ” He continued in fluent Spanish, describing his relationship with a woman he used to know. Somebody he used to love. Olivia’s Spanish wasn’t as easy as his, but she caught enough to understand the explanation he gave, and her stomach clenched with each new detail. How this Susanna used him. How she tricked him. And how, in an effort to save her own life, she’d slit his throat.
    Neither Nathan nor Olivia moved as Stacy’s hand slipped