Читать книгу The Fifth to Die: A gripping, page-turner of a crime thriller - Джей Ди Баркер, J.D. Barker - Страница 22

14

Lili

Day 2 • 9:15 a.m.

It hurt.

It hurt so bad.

Lili’s body convulsed in one big spasm as her lungs fought to expel water, to cough it out. She inhaled in a quick gasp even though she didn’t want to, she didn’t want to breathe in more water, she didn’t want to die. She did inhale, though, the motion as involuntary as listening, and this time her lungs filled with air. She coughed again, ridding her lungs and throat of more water. This was followed by another gasp.

She was cold.

So cold.

No longer in the water but lying on the concrete floor.

Her eyes snapped open.

The man was above her, his palms pressing down into her chest.

As her eyes met his, he stopped. His eyes went wide, and he leaned in, his stale breath rushing over her face. “What did you see?”

Lili gulped another breath of air and swallowed, then another after that.

“Slow down, you’ll hyperventilate.” He reached for her right hand and pressed his thumb into her wrist. “Your pulse is still a bit irregular, but it will even out. Lie still. Breathe in through your nose, out through your mouth, calming breaths.”

Lili forced her breathing to slow, doing as he said. Sensation returned to her fingertips, to her toes. She was so cold. She began to shiver uncontrollably.

The man reached for the quilt and draped the sour material over her body. “Your body temperature began to drop the moment you died. It will return to normal in a moment. What did you see?”

She tried to blink away the haze from her eyes, but it hurt to try and keep them open. The thin light seemed incredibly bright, hot, burning. When she pinched her eyes shut, she felt a light slap at her cheek.

Died?

“What did you see?” he asked again. He rubbed her arms through the quilt, the friction slowly warming her.

“I . . . I died?” She coughed again, the words scratching at her throat with the last bit of water.

“You drowned. Your heart stopped for a two full minutes before I brought you back. What did you see?”

Lili heard the words, but it took a moment for them to sink in. Her brain was sluggish, thoughts moving slowly, groggily.

Her chest hurt. There was a deep pain at her ribs. She realized he had probably performed CPR to expel the water and kick-start her heart. “I think you broke my ribs.”

He grabbed her shoulders and shook her limp body. “Tell me what you saw! You have to tell me now before you forget! Before it goes away!”

The pain at her chest burned like a knife gouging her belly — Lili shrieked.

The man released her, pulled back from her. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. You just have to tell me, and this will all be over, just tell me.”

Lili thought about it then, her mind jumping back to the moment she plunged beneath the water, the moment she . . . had she really drowned? She remembered breathing in water, consciousness pulling away. She remembered blackness.

She remembered nothing.

“I didn’t see anything. I think I passed out.”

“You were dead.”

“I . . .” Her words drifted off. She didn’t remember anything at all.

He was staring down at her, his bloodshot eyes wide and wild, spittle dripping from the corner of his mouth.

“I remember blacking out, then you waking me. Nothing else.”

“You must remember something?”

Lili shook her head. “Nothing.”

He released her shoulders and sat back, his back pressed against the large freezer. He pulled off his knit cap and scratched at his head in frustration.

Lili gasped.

There was an enormous fresh surgical incision running across his bald head. It started above his left ear and trailed around to the back of his head. It was stitched together with black thread, the flesh raised and purple.

He pulled the cap back down, covered up, and stood, favoring his right leg. Reaching down, he pulled Lili to her feet. The blood rushed from her head, and she swooned, her vision going white. He held her still until she could stand on her own, then led her back to the cage, guiding her inside. He tossed her clothes in behind her and slammed the door, then clicked both locks back in place.

“You can get dressed. We’ll try again in a few hours. You will remember next time,” he told her.

He started for the stairs, his right leg dragging slightly behind him. “Drink the milk. You’ll need your strength.”

Lili eyed the glass, now warm. A fly had landed in it and drowned.