The Confession by Sierra Kincade Page B

lying here . . .”
    My head was spinning now.
    â€œWhat do you want?” I asked.
    â€œI just want to help.”
    She was lying. I told her as much. She was a liar. Something was seriously wrong here.
    â€œWhere are my keys?” I asked. “Where’s my . . .”
Car.
I just needed to get in my car and go home. I looked up across the parking lot, but my electric blue Fiesta was nowhere to be seen.
    She touched my arm. I told her not to touch me. I was naked beneath this dress. I wasn’t even wearing a bra. I crossed my hands over my chest.
    â€œI need to go,” I told her. “Let me go.”
    Then I stumbled back against the cold metal Dumpster and everything went black.
    *   *   *
    The next hours were a blur. A cop came. And then an ambulance. The EMT gave me a blanket to put over my shoulders. He asked me my name, and what the day was, and who was president. I didn’t give him anything. I didn’t know him. I didn’t know who had sent him. If he thought a blanket was enough to earn my trust he had another think coming.
    My head was killing me.
    They threw around words like
shock
and
drugs
and told me I was going to the hospital. I said that wasn’t going to happen. I’d answered their questions, I wanted to leave. They couldn’t hold me. I was the daughter of a cop; I knew my rights. Each one of them looked suspicious, and when they grabbed my arms and made me sit down on the gurney, I struggled.
    â€œAnna!” I honed in on the voice. It cracked something open in me and I began to cry. Big, hot, salty tears rolled down my face.
    â€œAnna?” Alec stopped in front of me. In a wrinkled T-shirt and jeans, he looked like he’d been the one to wake up beside a Dumpster. His hair was a mess, and his eyes were wild.
    They grew stone cold as they dropped to the rip in my dress.
    â€œDo you know this woman, sir?” asked one of the EMTs.
    He came close, blocking out the people behind him. One of his hands cradled my face, and I clung to it, and filled it with my tears. Alec was here. He was the one thing that made sense.
    â€œYes,” said Alec. “I know her.”
    He never took his eyes off mine.
    â€œWhat are you doing here?” I asked.
    His jaw twitched. “The kid that found you called me. He said you gave him my number.”
    I didn’t remember doing that. Then again, I couldn’t quite picture the kid who’d found me either.
    â€œShe didn’t give a last name,” said the EMT.
    â€œShe’s in shock,” said Alec. He looked angry. “She’s been missing for three days.”
    I pulled back.
    â€œNo,” I said. “I saw you last night.”
    He didn’t argue.
    â€œAlec, what’s going on?”
    He sat beside me on the gurney. “We have to go to the hospital, all right?”
    I shook my head. The last time I’d gone to a hospital, they’d taken Alec away from me. He was here now, and I needed him to stay.
    â€œIt’ll be okay, sweetheart,” he said.
    I believed him.
    He lifted me in his arms and carried me up the steps into the back of the ambulance. He whispered the whole time.
It’s okay. It’s okay. I’m here. I’m not leaving.
Tucked in his embrace, I felt warm and safe, and for the first time since I’d woken, I was calm. I wanted to ask him what he’d meant by three days, but the world was going dim again.
    I closed my eyes.
    *   *   *
    I woke in a small room with peach walls and furniture that looked like it had been covered by plastic picnic tablecloths. A steady, high-pitched beep came from a monitor to my right. The bed I laid on had metal railings and made crinkling sounds when I moved. There was an IV sticking out of my right arm, and I was wearing a thin hospital gown and scratchy underwear.
    My head ached, but not like before. My body was sore, but not unmovable. I pushed