“I’m going to stay here for a while,” he told Shaun as the witnesses left the waiting room. “I have all the information I need with me, and I want to be here when she wakes up.”
Shaun said he wanted to wait around as well, and when the guards Shaun had requested arrived, they informed them they'd be in the waiting room if the victim woke.
53
A FEW HOURS later, Aidan woke to the neck pain he'd earned from sleeping in the uncomfortable waiting room chairs. Shaun was next to him, sipping a cup of coffee. Aidan realized his head was resting on his shoulder.
“Good morning, sleeping beauty,” Shaun said.
Aidan sat up and flexed his neck and arms, bones popping as he did.
“You make an awful pillow,” he told Shaun. “Any news on our live one?”
Shaun shook his head.
Aidan glanced at his phone to see that Cheyenne had called five different times.
Great.
He was in trouble now.
As Aidan went to pour himself a cup of coffee, he called her back.
When she answered, she began spewing angry words at him, demanding to know why didn't he come home, and did he know how worried she was when she woke in the middle of the night to find only a note saying he'd touch base with her later.
Once he was able to get a word in edgewise, Aidan apologized for his haste and explained the reason he ran out.
She stuttered as though she wanted to remain angry, but ended by saying, “Well, as long as you're safe.”
A doctor entered the waiting room, and Aidan recognized him from the night before, so he told Cheyenne he was sorry for his disappearing act, and he'd talk to her later.
The doctor acknowledged them and informed them that the victim's name was Carol Rider, and she was now alert. He'd allow them to question her but warned them not to stay with her for long.
Shaun thanked him and Aidan followed him into the room where a nurse was checking Carol’s vitals. Seeing the agents, she offered a friendly smile and reminded them of the doctor’s orders.
“She’s got to rest. She has a long road of recovery ahead of her.”
“We understand,” Aidan assured the nurse.
Again, she smiled and left the room.
Aidan stepped over to Carol’s bedside. “I’m Agent O’Reilly, and my partner is Agent Henderson.”
“How are you feeling, Mrs. Rider?” Shaun asked.
She coughed. She put her fingers over the eye patches and said, “Like I’ve been through Hell and back.”
“You’re very brave,” Aidan assured her. “And very lucky.”
Carol shook her head. “I don’t feel very lucky.” Her voice was soft and scratchy.
“Do you remember anything?” Aidan knew it was best not to press her. Memory can be very fragile, especially during a traumatic experience.
“I had a flat tire,” she recalled. “A man came to help. He said his name was...” She hesitated, then said, “John.”
“Do you remember if you’ve seen him before?” Shaun asked.
“I don’t know,” Carol said. “Maybe.”
Aidan wrote the name in his pad but knew the offender most likely made it up. He asked Carol what he looked like, and she said she wasn't sure.
“My mind's fuzzy. I can't remember him much. I think his hair and beard were gray, but I'm not positive.” She let out a series of coughs and again put her hand over her eye patches. Aidan assumed it made her feel uneasy.
She went on to say he used a taser on her and she passed out from the pain.
“It felt like I was being electrocuted.”
“Then what happened?”
“I woke up and could tell I was moving. But it was dark where I was. Then we stopped moving and a second later, I saw him standing over me. I couldn’t move or talk. He'd taped my mouth, and my hands and feet were tied. He picked me up and carried me.”
“Do you know where you were?”
She whimpered slightly, and a single tear escaped from underneath her eye patch. “I don’t know. He opened a door. He carried me through a dark room. Then he opened another door and turned on the lights. It was so bright. I couldn’t see.”
That'd explain the extensive damage to her eyes.
She paused as she tried to think, but was interrupted when one of the men stationed outside the door peeked his head in.
“I’m sorry to interrupt, sir, but there’s a man outside. He says he’s her husband? A Staff Sergeant Rider.”
“Frankie? Frankie, where is he?” Carol whimpered.
“Let him in,” Aidan replied.
A second later, a man wearing an army uniform pushed his way into the room.
“Baby,” he exclaimed. He cursed. “What did he do to you, baby?” Frankie sat on the edge of the bed and leaned down to wrap his wife in a hug. “I was so worried when you weren't home. Are you okay?”
Through her tears and scratchy voice, Carol told him she was.
Aidan introduced himself and promised they would do their best to find the man who hurt his wife, and that they only had a few more questions.
He refocused his attention on Carol.
“What happened after he took you to the bright room?”
“He cut me loose. He said he was going to let me go.” She whimpered again, her words catching in her throat. “But he tased me, then hit me. He hit me so much, I just wanted him to stop. I begged him.”
“How did you escape?” Shaun asked.
She hesitated. Her husband lifted her hand to his lips and kissed her.
“He had a phone call,” she remembered. “I heard him step out of the room. I was hurting so much. But I managed to
