I rush out the door of the shop. The street lights cast just enough light to reveal streets and sidewalks devoid of any life. The closest car is stopped at a red light a block away. I run to it and slam my hand on the window, startling the woman inside.

“Did you see a man with a little girl?” I yell.

She cracks her window an inch. “I saw a man carrying a little girl about a block back, they were headed in the direction of the lake. I called the police because the little girl was screaming.”

I take off in a full run and my back catches, but I ignore it and run through the pain. I take a left at the next block, but see no sign of him. The lights get dimmer as I get closer to the lake. I decide to stand stock still and listen like Emma has taught me. I inhale and hold my breath. A faint noise comes from my left. I close my eyes tight, trying to concentrate.

There it is again. A man cries out in pain. I sprint in the direction of the scream and stumble when my foot goes numb. I get my balance and take off again. As I make it to the lake, I slow my pace. The surface of the dark water is churning and splashing and I hear Tennyson let out a muffled cry. It is faint and muffled but it is undoubtedly her.

“Tennyson!” I yell, moving toward her cries.

“Sam!” she cries, but the word is cut short by another loud splash. Silence follows, other than the churning of the water.

He finally is close enough for my eyes to make him out – he is holding Tennyson’s head under the water. I run up behind him and lunge at him before he can react. He falls forward and loosens his grip on Tennyson. I hear her gurgled noise coming up out of the water.

“Run, Tennyson!” I tell her.

He quickly throws me off of him and makes a grab for Tennyson. I jump on his arm and our heads collide together, filling my vision with stars. It stuns both of us for a moment, just long enough for Tennyson to get clear of the water. I see her fall to the ground trying to catch her breath. The man moves in her direction and I pounce on him again. He flings me off and starts swinging at me, landing a hard knock to my chin. My fists retaliate, connecting with his nose and sending him reeling backwards in a spray of blood. When he stands back up, the red blood soaking his shirt stands out even in the darkness.

“I’m going to fucking kill you!” he yells and reaches for something behind his back. Time slows to a crawl, and I watch everything play out frame by frame. His hand reappears from behind his back with a pistol, aimed directly for me. I dive into the water just as the gun roars to life and I see the flash at the end of the barrel just before my head is submerged. When I resurface, I see flashing lights headed toward Tennyson. It distracts him enough that I’m able to tackle him, knocking the gun from his hand. I roll on top of him in the thigh-deep water and wrap my fingers around his throat with all my strength, holding his head underwater to make sure he can’t take a breath. He fights back like a cornered wild animal, flailing his powerful legs and arms at me and writhing his body like a snake. Somehow I am able to hold him under, and his struggling has slowed to a few sporadic kicks by the time a policeman jumps on me and forces me to let him go.

The man comes up gasping for air to find three policemen with their guns aimed at him. He is lucky they got here when they did, or the next time anyone saw him would be when they dragged his corpse from the bottom of the lake. TR’s face flashes before my eyes. I fall back into the water, thinking I would have killed him too, given the chance. Does that make me a monster just like them?

Tennyson’s voice breaks me from my dark thoughts. “Sam!” She is splashing towards me through the water. I get up and engulf her in my arms.

“Are you okay?” She lays her head into my shoulder and cries. “I was so scared.”

“I know, sweetie.” I hold her tight to me.

“That little bitch bit me,” the man yells as the police are placing cuffs on him.

“Good girl,” I whisper to her, trying to soothe her.

“He was trying to drown me,” she continues to sob.

“You’re okay now, I’ve got you.” I walk out of the water and set her feet on the ground, kneeling in front of her. “You’re safe, he can’t hurt you anymore. Look, the police are putting him in the back of their car.”

She looks over in his direction and her sob catches in her throat as tears spill down her face. “Why did the bad man want to hurt me?”

“Because he is sick.” I realize for the first time that TR was sick too. There was nothing I could have done to stop him. If he didn’t use me, he would have used someone else to get what he wanted. I pick her up in my arms again.

“You need to come with us to the police station, sir.”

“The only place I’m going right now is to the hospital to have her checked out.”

“An ambulance is on its way. One of us will meet you at the hospital.”

“I need to take her back to Emma.”

“Emma and Chase are already at the hospital,” he tells me as the ambulance pulls up not far from us.

One of the paramedics tries to take Tennyson from me and she screams, “Please don’t let him take me!”

“I’m going with you.” Her little arms and legs are wrapped tightly around me. I get in the back of the ambulance and set her on the stretcher. I sit beside her with her death grip on my forearm. “I’m right here, let him check you out.”

She buries her head in my shoulder. “I want Emma.” Then a look of sheer terror crosses her face. “He hurt her.”

“She’s okay, Chase has her.” She crawls in my lap, done letting the paramedic look at her. When we get to the hospital, I try to stand up with her but my leg is so numb that I can’t get up. “This nice man here needs to take you in on the stretcher. He will take you straight to Emma, I promise.” She lets me lay her down while he straps her in. “I’ll be right behind you.”

He takes her out through the hospital doors. I try to rub my leg, hoping to get some feeling back in it. When it doesn’t subside, I lean on the ambulance to steady myself. I limp out and walk around for a little bit, but the feeling has not come back. I finally walk through the emergency room doors and head straight for Emma’s room. The triage nurse escorts me to her. “Sam, are you okay?” Tennyson is curled up in her lap and Chase gets up when I walk inside her room. Emma’s eyes are full of tears. “The police told us that you stopped him from drowning Tennyson,” Chase says. Emma’s hand is reaching out for me.

“I was lucky that I found her in time.” I take her hand and kiss her forehead. “How is your chin?”

“Eight stitches. Thank you for getting to her in time.” Her tears start to fall. “Is it finally over?”

“Yes, the police have him in custody. They will need a statement from us, but I think it can wait until tomorrow. We’ve all been through enough tonight. I wanted to make sure you two were okay. Tennyson needs to be checked out.”

“By the looks of you, you need to be looked at too,” Chase says.

“I’m okay. I think I twisted my ankle, nothing I can’t handle.”

A nurse comes through the door to check on Emma and Tennyson. Chase and I step outside to let her examine Tennyson in private. “I can’t thank you enough for showing up when you did. That bastard would have killed Tennyson, and Emma would have never recovered from losing her.”

“It’s over now, he can never hurt the two of them again. As soon as Emma gets her sight back, she can have him tried for the murder of her parents as well as kidnapping and attempted murder. He will be behind bars for a long time.”

“I can’t believe that he’s been keeping track of her all these years. He must have seen her picture all over the news.”

Pain strikes down my leg as the feeling returns and I brace myself against the wall. “Are you sure you’re okay, man?” His hand is on my shoulder.

I blow out air to try and control the pain. “Yeah, I need to get off of it. As soon as I know the girls are okay, I’ll catch a cab back to my truck.”

The nurse steps out of the room. “The doctor wants to keep both of them overnight just as a precaution.”

“Thank you for taking care of them,” I say, heading back into the room. Tennyson has settled into Emma’s arms and drifted off to sleep. I run my hand down Emma’s hair while leaning down to kiss her lightly on the lips. “Now that I know you two are okay, I’m going to catch a cab home so I can get off this ankle,” I whisper.

Her hand finds my chin. “I love you. Thank you for loving her, too.”

“I love you, too.”

“You’re not taking a cab, I’ll drive you home. Your truck will be fine where it is until tomorrow,” Chase says.

“Thanks, man. You two get some rest and I’ll see you in the morning.”

* * *

On the drive home, I can see that Chase is visibly shaken from the night’s events. He can’t quit thanking me for saving Tennyson. Right now, I’m glad it’s over, but I really just want to be left alone. “I’ll pick you up in the morning and take you back to your truck,” he says as he puts his car in park. “We can all go to the police station together.”

“I can take the car and meet you there. Emma might get a kick out of driving my car. I can program it to bring her back here and I’ll follow her in the truck.”

“She would like that.” He laughs for the first time tonight. “Okay then, we’ll meet you at the police station, say around 10?”

“Sounds good.” I carefully get out of his car, trying to act normal. I shut the door and don’t move until he’s driven out of sight, then limp over to Sadie’s pen and let her out. She runs up the porch steps and waits for me. I cling to the rail and hobble up, pain searing down my back and legs with each step. Once I make it inside, I peel off my clothes, still soaking wet from the lake. Inside the shower, I let the hot water run over my head and down my face, trying to maintain my composure. Sadie is outside the shower door, mehing at me. She knows something isn’t right. I wash quickly and drag myself out of the steamy bathroom wrapped in a towel. I open the kitchen cabinet and pull out a bottle of whiskey, tipping it up and pouring it down my throat until I can’t stand the burn anymore. I place the bottle on the counter and wipe my mouth with the back of my hand, while leaning on the counter with my other hand.

Taking the bottle with me, I make my way to the couch and lay down. Sadie jumps up and lays between my legs, watching me with her big black eyes. “It’s okay, girl.” I take another long swig of whiskey and close my eyes, letting the draw of the whiskey take me under.

* * *

“Sam…Sam. Wake up.”

My eyes flutter and I try to focus. Emma is kneeling by me on the couch. I run my hand down my face. “What time is it?”

“It’s almost noon. Chase came in to check on you, but he came back out saying you were laying on the couch naked.”

I reach down and sure enough, Sadie is balled up in the towel I had wrapped around me. I sit up and she stands. “I’ll be right back.” I walk past her.

“I don’t mind you being naked, but are you okay?” she says, following me.

“I’m fine, I guess I was really tired.” I pull on a pair of jeans. Her soft hand caresses my back. I lean my head side to side to crack my neck and take a quick note about how I feel. There is some numbness in my foot but no pain.

“Hey,” she says softly and turns me toward her. “You’re scaring me.”

I fold her into my arms. “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to scare you, baby.” She snuggles in close. “Let me finish getting dressed so we can get this whole thing over with. I don’t want you and Tennyson to have to go through this any longer than you have to. The sooner we get our statements in and the two of you identify him, the sooner this will be done.”

“I don’t know if it will be any different than before, I still can’t see him to identify him. What if he gets away with it again?”

“He won’t. I can identify him and so can Tennyson. How is she?”

“She didn’t sleep much. She kept waking up crying. The doctor cleared us both early this morning and Chase picked us up.”

“I’m so sorry.” I lift her chin up. “How is this?” I place a kiss on her chin.

“It’s a little sore, but that feels good. If we didn’t have to get going, I wouldn’t mind you kissing me all over.”

“When we get back, I will be more than happy to kiss you anywhere you want.” I chuckle. She lays her head on my bare chest and her long, soft hair drapes down my side. I reach over to the dresser and grab the remote to the car. “Do you want to drive?”

“Really?” Her voice overflows with excitement. I place the remote in her hand. “Let me finish getting dressed and I’ll program it for you.”

* * *

Several grueling hours drag by at the police department. They took Emma’s statement but still needed witnesses. She was hoping to spare Tennyson from having to see him again. I stepped in and gave them my account of the ordeal and pointed him out in a line up, but they still wanted Tennyson to point him out. I held her in my arms as she cried pointing her finger at him.

“Good girl. He can never hurt you or your sister again. I’m so proud of you for being so brave.”

She wipes her nose on my sleeve. “Really?”

“Yes, really.”

“I love you, Sam.” Her arms wrap tightly around my neck and Emma slips her hand in mine.

Officer Browne, who has known Emma for years, walks up beside us with a file in his hand. “His name is Ben Fraley. You’ll be interested to know where he has been living the past four years.”

I wrap my arm around Emma’s waist, holding her as close as I can. “Where?”

“Pine Street.”

Emma gasps and her hand covers her mouth. “That’s two blocks from our house.”

“He’s probably been keeping an eye on you all these years. He got wind of the surgery on the local news. We searched his house last night and it looks like he’s been living like a hermit. The neighbors rarely saw him. He had a crate in his house full of cocaine. There were clippings of you from newspaper articles all over his walls. He was a man obsessed with you. I will say, he was patiently waiting for you. Sick bastard,” he adds. “I think if Sam wouldn’t have stopped him, he would have killed you both.”

“I think these two have had enough for one day. Are we free to go?” I ask, while Tennyson starts to silently sob in my arms again. My leg is starting to hurt again, so I turn to Chase, “Can you take her and I’ll get Emma?” Tennyson freely goes into Chase’s arms.

“Come on, let’s get you both home.”