Cold Case Witness

He stumbled to the desk, knowing if he didn’t find her this time he was going to have to call dispatch and have them send the fire department, who had the equipment to do this kind of rescue.

His hand touched a shoe. Her foot. “Gemma?”

Still no answer. He removed his hand and felt along the floor about five feet. Her hand. That was what he’d been looking for. Matt moved his hands down the soft skin of her palm and felt for her wrist—and then her pulse. He breathed out a sigh of relief. Still alive. Matt gripped her upper arm with both hands, aware suddenly of how small she was, and pulled her toward him and into his arms. He inhaled and found the strength to stand. “Let him be gone, God. Whoever was here, please let him be gone.”

With no choice but to pray and hope for the best, he ran out into the darkness, unable to reach his gun if he needed it since he needed both hands to carry Gemma. And leaving her while he checked the outside for possible danger wasn’t an option—she needed fresh air if she was going to wake up...ever.

The darkness seemed thicker, more suffocating than it had when he’d arrived, even though the air was clean and fresh compared to the office. Matt took a deep breath, filling his own lungs with the outside air and then exhaling. He could only hope Gemma did the same. He laid her on the ground beside his police cruiser, deciding to give her one minute to wake up on her own before loading her in the car and driving straight to the small doctor’s office in town.

It only took a minute before she started to cough, and sleepily sat up.

“You got my phone call.”

Matt met her eyes and nodded.

Gemma nodded, too. “Thank you for coming.” She closed her eyes again.

“Gemma, Gemma, wake up.” Matt reached for her arm, helped her sit.

She did so, but she looked woozy to him, still.

“I’m taking you to the doctor.”

“No.” Gemma’s protest was weak. Not that it would have mattered. Matt had already made up his mind about what needed to be done.

He drove to the doctor’s office and at Gemma’s insistence waited in the car while she went inside to get checked out. He was unsettled, antsy, but he couldn’t very well go to the exam room with her anyway.

An hour later, she came back out. Matt got out of the car and opened the door for her, an action that was met with raised eyebrows. She’d been in the city too long. “How’d it go?” he asked as she climbed in.

Gemma shrugged. “Okay, I guess. He wanted to keep me overnight, but I told him I was fine.”

“You’re sure?”

The look she gave him before she pulled the door shut said enough.

Matt climbed in the driver’s seat and shut the door, then turned to Gemma. “You’re staying at your sister’s place, right? Where does she live?”

Gemma shook her head. “I don’t want to go home yet.”

He raised his eyebrows.

“If I go home, I’ll have to go to sleep. I’m not risking dreaming about tonight, not until I’m too tired to stand it. Is there somewhere we could go, just to talk about the case?” She looked away. “You know what, I shouldn’t ask you that. It’s okay, you can take me to Claire’s.”

“No, it’s fine. We should discuss the case anyway. And I know where we can go.”

“You’re sure?”

Matt nodded.

“Could I borrow your phone real quick, to let my sister know where I’m going?”

He handed it to her, trying not to eavesdrop on the call—an impossible goal when he was sitting two feet away from her.

“Claire, it’s me.”

Matt couldn’t make out the words on the other end of the line, but the tone sounded less than happy.

“I’m fine, I’m sorry... Yeah, I know you were worried. But I’m fine.”

More words from Claire.

“I was doing some investigating and someone tried to kill me. I just finished at the doctor and I promise I’m fine. It’s a long story...Yes, I promise I’m fine...Claire, really...Yes, I’m really okay, please calm down for now, okay?...Yes, they’re looking for the guy. Listen, I don’t want to go to sleep yet so I’m going to be with Matt for a little while...Yes, Matt O’Dell...I know. Okay...Mmm-hmm, I’ll be home soon, an hour or so tops, okay?...Love you, too. Bye.”

She handed the phone back to Matt. “You don’t have siblings, do you?”

“No.” Another thing he wished he could have changed about his childhood.

“I’m going to have a lot of explaining to do.”

“Unit 807 to unit 225. Call my cell.” Matt’s radio crackled before he could reply.

He turned to Gemma. “Shiloh. I need to call and it’s about the case so I’m going to talk outside. You’ll be okay?”

“I’m good, Matt.”

He stepped out of the car and walked maybe ten feet away. Just enough to have privacy in the conversation and still be close to Gemma.

“Did you find anything to lead to a suspect?” he asked when she answered, unable to wait to hear what she’d discovered.

Instead, he got a couple seconds of silence. “Matt, there’s no suspect because nothing appears different than it would from an accidental leak.”

“What do you mean?” Matt glanced down at Gemma through the windows of the car. She was looking out the window, attempting to give him privacy, it seemed.

“There’s no evidence, forensic or otherwise, that supports the idea of deliberate sabotage. We found a gas leak that the fire department is taking care of right now, but it looks accidental. And as for her being trapped... Maybe she locked herself in?”

“And couldn’t figure out how to unlock the door?”

“Hey, don’t get sassy. I’m just telling you what I found. I didn’t say I was happy, either. Frankly, I’m not happy at all because this leaves me with too many questions and I was really looking forward to a good night of sleep tonight.”

“Okay, you’re right. That was out of line. But, Shiloh... She’s not making it up.”

“She’s telling you the truth about what she thinks happened. I believe that.” But Shiloh clearly didn’t believe it had been an actual attack. And she seemed to think that he shouldn’t have been so quick to believe it, either.

Had he lost all sense of his judgment at the sight of a pretty face? Matt was mostly sure the answer was no, but still, doubts haunted his mind. “I think she’s telling me what really happened.”

“Even though I have no evidence for you that backs that up?”

He hesitated. He didn’t know Gemma, not really. And he knew and trusted Shiloh.