Katie coughed and shivered at the same time as she managed to sit up, desperately looking for her partner. Tense seconds clicked on before she saw him staggering along the narrow banks trying to get to her.
There were sounds of metal crashing and screeching as the trailer was torn apart, some of it getting embedded along the banks while the rest of it continued its journey downstream.
McGaven made his way to Katie where he crumpled to the muddy ground next to her. Soaking wet and breathing hard, he managed to sit.
“You okay?” she said, still numb with her injuries and pain.
“I’m in one piece…” he said.
Katie hugged her partner again, but this time it was with relief, joy, and incredible happiness that they had made it out okay. “Thank you…” she barely whispered in his ear.
“For what? Going on a water ride with you?” Even under extreme circumstances McGaven always found a way to poke fun.
Katie smiled and looked at him. His forehead and the side of his face were bleeding. “You okay? Anything broken.”
“Maybe my head… No, I’m okay, but I’ll be hurtin’ when I get up tomorrow.”
Katie’s shivers were getting worse. “We need to get back to the car,” she said, her teeth chattering.
McGaven managed to stand. “Can you climb back up?”
“Yeah, I think so.”
The detectives succeeded in navigating the hillside. There were divots from the trailer, which made it easier for them to climb. Once at the top, Katie saw the empty spot where the trailer had sat only minutes ago. There were low dead shrubs and branches beneath it that must’ve slowed their descent.
McGaven hurried to get to the car. He suddenly bent down. “Hey, here’s my cell phone. It must’ve fallen out of my pocket when I jumped.”
Katie was relieved. She still had her phone in her pocket, but it had been submerged in water and probably wouldn’t be functioning. She heard McGaven talking to dispatch, explaining that two officers were down and needed assistance, and everything went numb in her body. She couldn’t concentrate on what she was hearing and had to sit down again.
She looked at the trailer that was on the end: #13. Sheseemed to fixate on the number like it was a bad omen. They had found the last known residence of Ian Griffin Jr., but it was of no use and brought no new information to the case. Especially now with the trailer sailing down the river.
Katie blinked. In the mud, near the back of the last trailer, there was a lady’s purse. It was an expensive brand, dark leather with silver studding, and it looked as if someone had dropped it recently. She kept staring at it and still was when McGaven got to her and helped her up.
“C’mon, let’s get you some dry clothes. There’s a blanket in the car. And let’s get some heat on.”
“Wait,” she said.
“C’mon. We don’t want hypothermia setting in.”
“No wait… wait,” she said. “Look.” She pointed.
“This can’t wait,” argued her partner, trying to pick her up.
“Stop! Look!”
Katie and McGaven stared at where she indicated. Past the purse, there was a woman partially covered in mud, wearing a skirt and sweater, her extremities stiff, staring at the detectives with a corpse’s fixed stare.
FORTY-ONE
Monday 1445 hours
It hadn’t rained in over an hour, but the temperature seemed to drop, making it very cold. It took more than an hour for help to arrive at the trailer park, but when it did it was a large scene with police cruisers, two more detective sedans, an ambulance, the fire department, and a CSI van.
Katie sat in the ambulance where they had checked out her vitals and were giving her fluids from an IV. She was feeling a lot better ever since she changed into some dry sweats that John had brought her, and a warm blanket had made her temperature climb back to normal. She watched McGaven updating deputies, Detectives Hamilton and Ames, along with a couple of the firefighters. Everyone spread out to scour the area and to see if they could recover anything from the trailer downstream.
One of the EMTs asked how she was doing.
“I’m fine,” she said.
