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“Here.” Tanner handed him a set of handcuff keys.
“I won’t hurt you. I’m just going to get these chains off you. Okay?” Garrett stood a few feet away from the bed where she could easily see him. He was a big guy, and after everything she’d likely been through, he didn’t want to scare her.
He waited for her nod, then moved in and unlocked the handcuffs. The chain fell with a loud metallic noise in the heap by the bed. She offered him a small smile of appreciation, and Garrett swore it was the sweetest smile he’d ever seen.
He lowered himself to his knees next to the bed beside her while Tanner got the ropes off her ankles. “It’s going to be okay. You’re safe now. What’s your name?” Garrett asked again, carefully taking one of her fragile hands in his. Her fingers were ice cold, so he covered them with his other hand. While they’d used a portable generator to power the cameras and a few lights, they hadn’t bothered to provide any heat. “Is there someone we can call for you? Maybe your parents or a sibling -”
“No.” Her voice was scratchy, but he didn’t miss the steel behind it. This poor woman had been tied down to a bed, endured unspeakable things, but she still had fight left in her.
“Okay,” he said, gentling his tone even more. “We’ll call for an ambulance and get you taken to the hospital to be checked out.”
The woman shook her head so hard he thought her neck might snap. “No hospital. No ambulance. I’ll be fine.” She started to sit up, and Garrett placed a soft hand at her back to help her. When she was sitting on the edge of the bed, her feet planted on the ugly carpeting, Garrett noticed the flimsy flip flops she wore.
“I can’t just let you loose on the streets. You need to be checked out by a doctor, and we need to file a report about what happened to you.”
The woman stared at him as if he was speaking a foreign language. “No.”
The corners of his mouth started to curve upward. She might be small, but there was a fighter inside her. And he liked that, a lot. It would serve her well.
“No?” He asked, repeating what seemed to be her favorite word. “Why? Vivian and her guys won’t hurt you anymore. They can’t get to you.”
The woman swallowed and pushed a strand of hair out of her face, tucking it behind her ear. It was Garrett’s first chance to get a good look at her, and he stifled a gasp as realization and recognition set in. “Oh my God, you’re - I’ve been looking for you. You’re Teresa Graham.”
The woman’s eyes widened in horror. “Please don’t tell him you found me. Please.”
Garrett swallowed hard. He had no intention of pretending not to know who she was talking about. “Russell?”
She nodded. “I have no proof he was part of whatever is going on here, but he was the one who had me committed before these people found me. If he finds out where I am, he’ll come for me again. Maybe even put me back in that awful place.”
“Teresa,” Garrett started to say, but she raised her hand to stop him.
“Call me Reese. No one’s used my full name since I was a little girl. My mother would only use it when I was in trouble.” That same sweet smile returned as she no doubt thought of her childhood, and Garrett wondered where her mother was now. As if reading his mind, she said, “she died in a car accident my first year in college.”
“I’m sorry,” Garrett said. “Okay, no hospitals. No ambulances. But tell me, did they hurt you? Any injuries? Sexual assault?”
Reese shook her head. “No. Nothing like that. They even fed me somewhat regularly, and I got to use the toilet.” Her eyes traveled to the bucket, and Garrett felt another wave of nausea roll over him.
“That’s not a fucking toilet,” he bit out,but Reese just shrugged.
“They weren’t gentle, but I think whoever was screaming in the other room got it much worse than I did.”
Garrett visibly recoiled at the thought of Hallie’s screams. Caden had left in an ambulance with her a while ago, so Garrett could only hope she was already getting the care she needed.
“Did you know her?” Reese asked softly.
The woman sure was perceptive. He nodded slowly, not bothering to correct Reese that Hallie was still alive. At least he hoped for Caden’s sake that she was. “Let’s get you out of here,” he said, then turned back to Tanner. “Go let Blake know what’s going on.”
Tanner nodded and left, leaving Garrett alone with Reese. He shrugged out of his jacket and draped it around her shoulders before helping her slip into it. “It’s not that cold outside, but this should keep you covered up.”
“Thanks.” She wore a pink tank top and denim shorts. Both were filthy, but they did nothing to hide her soft curves and long legs. Even in this condition, Garrett couldn’t deny that Reese Graham was a beautiful woman with a very sweet smile. He moved to lift her into his arms, but she held her hand out to block him.
“I was carried into this hellhole. I’ll be damned if I let anyone carry me out. I can walk.” That steel in her tone had a bite to it, but Garrett understood where she was coming from. Still, he stayed close as she started to stand. He offered his arm, but she refused to take it. He respected the strength behind her attitude and hoped it never faded. She would need it in the days and weeks to come.
He grabbed the camera with one hand, and guided her to the door, pleased that she seemed to lean into his touch at the small of her back rather than pull away from it. Just before taking her first step out of the room she’d been held prisoner in, she stopped and turned to Garrett.
Her gaze landed somewhere on his mouth, but he doubted it was meant in a sexual way. He really wished she would look him in the eye. Because if this had anything to do with shame, Reese Graham had absolutely nothing to be ashamed of. She was probably one of the strongest women he’d ever met, and he hardly knew anything about her.
“Where are we going?” She demanded. The bravado in her voice just barely hid the quiver of uncertainty. Even vulnerability. “Because I’m not giving a statement.” Reese lifted her chin in defiance, almost daring him to make her.
