“No, don’t touch me,” Vikki yelled and crawled backward toward the corner of the room.

“Vikki, it’s me,” Preslie said and pulled her hand back.

“Leave me alone. No, please stop.” Vikki had her hands wrapped around her legs, her head bent, and she was rocking back and forth.

“Maybe you should try, Ricky,” Preslie insisted and stepped away.

When Ricky had found Vikki on the side of the road, she was close to being unrecognizable. Her vibrant red hair had been the only thing familiar when he’d stepped around his truck and saw her lying partially on the road.

“Me? Um, okay.” He squatted down. “Hey, kitten, you’re safe now.”

The moment the first words slipped out of his mouth, she lifted her head. Vikki’s eyes went wide. “Ricky?”

“Yeah, baby. Do you know where you’re at?”

“No,” she sighed and reached up to fist her hands in her hair. “My head won’t stop spinning.”

He knelt down to get closer and placed his hand on her knee. “Do you remember what you did last night?”

She paused for a moment and then nodded. “Ella and I went to The Flying Monkey to watch you play. I can’t remember anything after we arrived.”

“Ella?” He turned to Miles and Preslie who were sitting on a small couch about two feet away. “Do we know Ella?”

Preslie whispered, “That’s a co-worker at the hospital.”

Now Ricky was confused. “Vikki, did Ella hurt you?”

She stood and backed the rest of the way into the corner of the room. “What? No. Ella would never hurt me.”

“Right, I’m sorry. That was wrong of me to ask.”

“Just leave me alone. Please,” she yelled.

Ricky lifted his hands in surrender. “My time has expired.”

Preslie grabbed for his hand. “I think we need to give her a sedative. Whatever she had last night is not wearing off. We need to find out what was possibly slipped into one of her drinks.”

“You really think someone drugged her?” Ricky asked and proceeded to pace the length of the room. “I bet it was the guys I saw when I left after our set.”

Miles turned his head to the side. “Guys?”

“Yeah, I noticed five guys celebrating something. They gave each other high-fives and kept laughing at some inside joke.”

“I need to get my team and go back to the bar. If there are surveillance videos, we need to find every last one of them,” Miles said and left the room.

Ricky glanced at Preslie and back toward Vikki. She was facing the wall and sobbing. “Vikki, baby, do you want to sit down?” He reached his hand forward and brushed his finger lightly across her shoulder.

She jumped. “No, why won’t you leave me alone. I said no the first time.”

“What the fuck did they do to you?” Ricky whispered.

* * *

Twenty-four hours later…

“Jesus. Did someone smash a glass against my head or something?” Vikki said and rubbed her temples.

“Or maybe a bowling ball,” Ricky teased. He was sitting in a chair about a foot away from her bed. After they’d given Vikki a sedative, he’d asked to stay with her until she woke up.

She turned his way. “Ricky? What are you doing here?” Vikki pulled the covers up higher and fisted her hands in the blanket by her chest.

“I found you last night and just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“Found me? Where was I?”

“Wait.” He stood up from the chair and stepped closer to the bed. “You don’t remember when I found you or when we arrived at the hospital?”

“Should I remember?”

“Well, I don’t know. We thought you would once you arrived here.”

“We?”

“Preslie, Miles, and myself.”

She loosened her grip on the blanket. “Ricky, you’re scaring me.”

“I’m sorry.” He reached back and pulled the chair closer to the bed. “Listen, you mentioned going to The Flying Monkey with Ella last night. Do you even remember that?”

She sat there, fiddling with a loose thread on the corner of the blanket. When Vikki looked up, she said, “I do remember our car ride over to the bar, then everything goes blank.”

“Let me go grab Preslie and let her know you’re awake.” Ricky realized he was in over his head at the moment. “Do you need anything?”

“Just my memory.”

“We’ll find it, I promise.”

* * *

Just before Ricky left the room, she called, “Ricky.” Vikki reached for the cup of water on the little table beside her bed.

“Yeah.”

“Why did you volunteer to stay with me?”

“I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

She felt speechless. “Thank you.”

He turned the handle, but before he opened the door, he said, “Let me get, Preslie.” She watched him turn back toward her. “Vikki, I’m sorry it took me this long to come to my senses.” Then he opened the door and disappeared.

She flopped her head back against the pillow and closed her eyes. Her head hurt. Her legs hurt. Hell, everything hurt. One too many dirty martinis maybe.

A small sliver of her memory allowed her to only see when Ella picked her up. They were both laughing and singing to a song on the radio. Of course, the song wasn’t even in this portion of the memory.

There was a creek, and then the door to her room slowly opened, and Preslie came into view.

“Pres.”

“Hey, sweetie.”

“I think I need your help filling in some blanks.”

Preslie hopped up onto the bed and snuggled next to Vikki. “I don’t know much. Miles is checking the surveillance footage. Well, he did but he won’t tell me anything.”

“That bad?”

“No. It sounds like it’s linked to a case they’re working on.”

Vikki leaned up. “What? How is that possible?”

“I don’t know, but rest and we’ll figure this out.”

Vikki sighed and rested her head on Preslie’s shoulder.

Her mind was in a fog. There was a building in front of her that looked old and run down. Where was she? She lifted her foot to step forward and stopped suddenly at the pain that shot through her body. She could hear laughing off in the distance. The sound was familiar and sent a chill up her spine.

“Where are you going?” A male voice said from behind Vikki.

She felt the need to run. The moment she tried to take the first step, her leg gave out and she fell to the ground. The voice had to be only inches behind her now. Vikki went on all fours and crawled behind a dumpster a foot away. She huddled in a corner and tried to stay silent even with her heavy breathing.

“You can run but you can’t hide.” Then the man laughed. He said something else, but she couldn’t make out the words.

After what seemed like hours, Vikki peeked around the dumpster, worried she would find someone sitting waiting for her to appear. No one was around. Her leg still hurt, so she continued to crawl on all fours. She didn’t care where she ended up, any place was better than where she was at the moment.

Her body flopped down onto a pillow, but there was something poking her side. As she lifted up to see what was pressing into her skin, she noticed headlights off in a distance. If only she could get closer to the lights, maybe the mystery car could help her.

She attempted to crawl another foot, but her body had enough. Her shoulder gave out, and her head hit the pavement.

“Vikki?”

She could hear the sound of a man’s voice. It wasn’t the same voice she was running from. The mystery man came into view, and her body hummed. Was it him?

“Baby, I have you.”

It was him. Her music man.

“She’s not yours. We haven’t finished with her yet.”

Vikki looked over, but her eyes would not focus.

“You can have her when we’re done.” The man grabbed Vikki’s arm and started to drag her over the pavement.

“No, please. No, stop.”

“Vikki, honey, you’re safe.” Preslie placed her hand on Vikki’s shoulder and shook it lightly.

“What?” She opened her eyes and turned toward Preslie. “That wasn’t real?”

Her friend turned her head to the side. “I’m not sure what you’re talking about. You were dreaming, sweets.”

“Where’s my music man?”

“He left.”

“Why?”

“He told me he had to talk to Miles, hugged me and left.”

“Preslie, I think I saw the guy who attacked me in my dream.”