The man’s bushy gray eyebrows shot up, and he grinned at her. “Perfectly good question. I’m Dr. Schell. I’ve been treating you since you were brought in. I know your throat hurts. We had to give you oxygen through an endotracheal tube. We also gave you fluids to warm you up. You had hypothermia and inhaled water from the river. If it wasn’t for Mr. St. Clair, I don’t think you’d be with us.”
“What do you mean? What happened to me?” River said, her voice barely audible.
“I’ll let Mr. St. Clair tell you about that. We had to treat him too, but thankfully, he’s just fine.” The doctor went around to the end of River’s bed and picked up a clipboard. He read it over and smiled. “You’re doing very well. If you keep it up, we may be able to send you home tomorrow.”
“I’d rather leave now.” She put her hand to her throat as if that would somehow help.
Dr. Schell laughed. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. From the stories I’ve heard about you, I should have expected that. Let’s wait until tomorrow though, okay? I want to make certain we don’t have to stick you back in here, and I’m sure you feel the same.”
“How . . . how long . . . ?” she croaked.
“Have you been here?” the doctor asked.
River nodded.
“It’s been three days since you were brought in. We had to keep you unconscious for a while. Warm you up slowly and keep an eye on your lungs. I feel safe in saying you’re going to recover completely. Some patients who are brought in with your symptoms are never the same. You’re a very lucky young lady.”
“Not . . . not lucky,” Tony said. “Blessed.”
She felt Tony squeeze her hand. Her vision was clearing, and she looked up into his eyes. What she saw there filled her with joy.
“I stand corrected,” the doctor said. “I think you’re right. ‘Blessed’ is more accurate. Let’s see if we can get a little food inside you. I’m sure you’d enjoy that more than your IV.”
River suddenly realized how hungry she was. “Sounds good,” she whispered.
“Try resting your throat,” the doctor said. “I’ll get you some ice chips and something for pain.” He turned and left the room.
“What . . . what . . . ?”
“Stop,” Tony said. He let go of her hand and walked over to a chair in the corner. There was a small table next to it. He picked up a spiral notebook and brought it over to the bed. After flipping the pages several times, he handed it to her. He’d turned it to a blank page. Then he reached into his pocket and took out a pen. He put it in her hand. “Write it,” he said. “Save your voice so it can recover, okay?”
She nodded and wrote, What did the doctor mean when he said you saved me?
Tony picked up the notebook and read what River had written. His cheeks turned red. He only did that when he was embarrassed.
“Look, when we got to the spot where Prescott took you, he’d already put you in the water. The chest was almost completely submerged. That river is huge and has strong undercurrents. There wasn’t much time. I had no choice. I . . . I jumped into the water.”
River reached out for the paper and pen. You shouldn’t have done that!!!!
She handed it to him. He chuckled when he read it. “Well, we can put you back in if you want.”
River held her hand out for the notebook.
He shook his head. “No, not yet. Before you fill the pages of my notebook with angry retorts, hear me out. You would have done the same thing for me, and you know it. The truth is, I went in the water and grabbed onto the chest. There were two other officers who followed me in and the three of us were able to get you to shore. I couldn’t have done it by myself. They deserve the credit. If you want, I can track them down and you can write nasty comments to them too.”
Despite herself, River smiled. Then she shook her head. This time when she reached for the notebook, he gave it to her.
I almost didn’t make it?
He took it back. “Yes, that’s true. I performed CPR after we got you out of that chest and on the shore. Kept it up until the ambulance showed up. That’s when the EMTs took over. You . . . you had no pulse for a while. By the time they got you to the hospital, they’d revived you. Then you had to be treated for hypothermia. They were very concerned because you’d stopped breathing for a while. The doctors were also worried about brain damage, but I told them you’d always been a little off.”
So, seeing Jesus wasn’t a dream. It was real. Tears filled her eyes and dripped down her cheeks.
“I’m sorry. I wasn’t being serious.”
Tony looked so stricken, River fought back a laugh that definitely would have hurt too much. She shook her head. And wrote Something happened to me after I stopped breathing. I’ll tell you about it later. It was wonderful.
“I was so frightened at first.” He took her hand again. “What if I’d lost you?” he said. “I prayed like I’d never prayed before. But then I remembered the Scriptures we’d quoted before you left. And I felt so much peace.”
River smiled at him and wrote, I did too. God was with me the entire time.
“I know He was.”
River reached for the notepad again and wrote, Did they get him?
Tony took the notepad. “Yes,” he said. “They did. He took out a gun and pointed it at the police and they shot him. Thankfully, he didn’t die. I want him to spend the rest of his miserable life in prison.”
River grabbed the notebook. Prescott is the Strangler. Not Baker.
Tony nodded. “We know. He’s pretty proud of himself. About how he fooled us—until he didn’t. Thing is, now he’ll have a long time to think about how we beat him. How he lost. With his ego, that will cause him more suffering than anything else.” He frowned at her. “We’ll have to testify. I know you probably don’t want to do that.”
River grinned and took back the notepad. Are you kidding? I can hardly wait. I want to see his smug face when he realizes he’s going to spend the rest of his days thinking about us.
After reading what she wrote, Tony said, “I keep telling myself that God loves him too. We need to remember that. Maybe we should . . .”
“Not yet,” River said, her voice cracking under the pain and the emotion. “I know we have to forgive him, but I’m gonna have to work on that a bit.”
“That’s only fair,” Tony said. “Now stop talking.”
