Chapter 27

Deidre washed down the last bite of toast with what coffee remained in her cup.

“Well, I’d better get going. Last night I decided I would stop and see how the three girls in the hospital are recovering. See you tomorrow. I’ll have a friend plow the road into the cabin, and the fire will be going.”

“Whoa. Just a minute,” Ben said, and he stood up from his place at the table. “You’re not getting out of here without a proper sendoff. He gave her a very tight hug, and kissed her forehead. “I’m getting to dislike the wait between our times together,” he groused.

Deidre smiled as she buried her head on his chest. She reached up and gave him a quick kiss. “See you tomorrow.”

It was shift change when Deidre stopped at the nurses’ station, and doctors were reviewing patients’ charts, preparing to do rounds. Deidre spotted Dr. Bilka, the pediatrician attending the girls. She looked up from the chart she was studying.

“Deidre, you’re saving me a phone call. I have marvelous news for you. Kimi has responded so positively to Allison’s presence, that she’s begun to come out of her shell. She has a long way to go, but she’s conversing and initiating dialogue. Her appetite has even picked up. The other girl, she says her name is Jean, is out of ICU and has joined the two for daily visits. They don’t laugh much, but they share their feelings with each other, and that is so positive. I wanted to invite you to meet with them. Each is so thankful for what you did for them. If you have time, they should have been served breakfast, and could get together right now.”

“I was hoping I could, but tell me, what happens to them now?”

“We’ve been in contact with the chief of police of the Nishnawbi Aski Nation. He’s arranging all of the legal papers that will be needed to bring them home. He’s assured us that their social service organization will provide psychiatric assistance.”

Dr. Bilka turned to a nurse. “Will you please tell Allison—she’s in room 420—and Jean in room 431, that Deidre is here and would like to see them in Kimi Thomas’s room? Thank you.”

Deidre walked down the hall to Kimi’s room, dodging workers pushing food carts, lab techs with their baskets of needles, and everyone else who made the hospital a place of restoration. She knocked on Kimi’s door before entering.

Kimi was sitting on the edge of her bed, finishing a glass of orange juice while she watched a morning TV show. When she saw Deidre, her eyes lit up in a way Deidre had never seen before.

“Deidre!” but before she could say more, the other two victims entered the room.

Allison touched Deidre’s arm. “Hi,” was all she said.

A third girl entered. “You must be Jean. I’m Deidre Johnson,” she introduced herself, and for several minutes they talked about how the hospital food was, if they were comfortable, and other mundane bits of conversation. Finally, Deidre thought she could broach the subject she wanted to discuss.

“I have an awfully big favor to ask of you girls. Maybe it’s asking too much, and if it is, I want you to tell me without hesitation.”

Quizzically, the girls looked at her.

“Can we talk about the place where you were held captive? Will you try to remember what the place looked like? If it’s too painful, please tell me, and we can just visit for a while.”

The room went silent, then Allison spoke first. “I remember the cabin had one room.”

Jean broke in. “There were eight beds, four along each wall.”

“They were made of boards, and the mattresses were old and smelly,” Allison added.

Kimi looked out the window, a faraway look in her eyes. “We were chained by one ankle to the foot of the bed. The chain was long enough for us to reach one of the pails they set in between the rows of beds. That was our toilet.”

Deidre shuddered at the image.

“There were two windows on each sidewall, and one in front,” Allison said.

“And the door was heavy, like it was made of really thick boards,” Jean added.

“It was locked from the outside with a large, brass padlock,” Kimi volunteered. The girl’s were beginning to feed off each other’s memories.

Deidre thought for a moment and then asked Kimi. “Are you sure about the lock?”

Kimi nodded. “Anna and I escaped through the front window. It was hinged and I was able to push out the bottom and crawl through the opening. I fell on the deck of a small porch, and the door was right beside me. I saw the lock.” Tears began to form in her eyes and dribble down her face. “We ran up a trail, but then we heard someone swearing and breaking through the brush. One of the men came after us. I ran one way, Anna, another. He went after Anna and caught her. I made my way to the road—it was a long way through the woods—and caught a ride with some logger going to Silver Bay. I had him drop me off at the main highway, thinking I could find my way back home. I ended up in that deserted cabin where you found me.” Kimi went silent, and neither of the other two girls had any more to say.

Together, the four of them sat with bowed heads, and the winter sun shined through the hospital window.

“I hear you will all be going back to Canada very soon. Will you please keep in touch with me? I truly want to know how you are doing.” She handed them her name card. “My e-mail address is on this. Contact me anytime. Perhaps when this is all over, we can get together for a picnic or a nice meal at a restaurant.”

The girls took turns saying goodbye and offered their thanks one more time. It was especially difficult for Kimi to let go, and after a prolonged hug, Deidre whispered in her ear, “You’re safe now. It will be okay.”

Two people were in the elevator when the door opened, and they looked at her face, then looked away in embarrassment. They didn’t want to stare at the lady dabbing her eyes and blowing her nose on the trip down to the parking garage.

Before pulling out into traffic, she called the person who plowed the driveway into her cabin. “Hey, Jerry,” she said when he answered. I’m coming up to my cabin this weekend, and I need the driveway plowed out. It will probably take a while to clear the half mile stretch, but we haven’t had too much snow yet. How much do you think, a foot? . . . Oh, that much,” she answered after Jerry upped her estimate. “Anyway, do you think you could have it opened up by this evening? Thanks a million, Jerry,” she said to his reply.