A stab of guilt went through me, but I pushed it away. The time for that was later. Besides, why should I feel bad? He'd dug his own grave. All I'd done was save myself from landing in it with him.
A moment later, a policeman came down the stairs in front of me. He saw me at once, and seemed to hesitate, as if surprised by what he saw. Perhaps that was to be expected, as you don't often come to the rescue of ten-inch-high kidnap victims. "A-are you all right, ma'am?" he asked after a moment.
"I will be," I replied, "after you get me out of here!"
"Come with me," he said, looking down at me with a look of wonderment on his face. He didn't approach me, however, instead staring at me like I was a stick of dynamite about to explode.
"After all I've been through," I said somewhat irately, "you're going to make me climb those stairs on my own?"
"I-I guess not," he replied sheepishly, then reached down and let me climb into his hand. Then, cradling me like I was a handful of expensive crystal that could shatter if disturbed, he walked carefully up the stairs.
A week or so ago I would've been scared as hell to be picked up like this. Now, though, I welcomed it, and was actually pretty amused by the cop's nervous manner. I guess, if nothing else, my abduction by Irwin had cured me of my fear of being held.
On the way out, several other policemen paused to look at me, most of them shaking their heads in wonder. None of them spoke to me directly, being too awed by my tiny size to do much but gawk. I did hear some chatter that confirmed my impression of what had happened to my captor, though. Apparently, Irwin had put a gun to his head just before the police reached his room.
Once I was in the gigantic police cruiser, I had a moment to pause and think about Irwin a little more, but I wished I hadn't. He had shot himself because of my rejection, so in a way, I was responsible for his death. But what else could I have done? My only other option was to accept a lifetime of servitude as his pet doll.
I suppose I could've lied when he asked me if I loved him, but what then? Would he have fought the police? Held me as a hostage? Tried to run? None of those options could have ended well for either him or me. So I tried to tell myself it had all been for the best.
So why, then, was there a tear running down my cheek?
I wiped it away after a moment, trying to put Irwin out of my mind. The police car drove on, and to my relief, the driver didn't turn on the siren, which would have deafened me. Instead, I spent the ride trying to keep from being thrown off the seat every time we turned a corner. The cop never spoke to me, not even to see if I was all right. I guess that was just as well, because I didn't feel much like talking. I should've been happy to be free, but instead I just felt numb.
When I was a cop, and a couple of times early on with the FBI, I'd rescued hostages on occasion. Sometimes they were hysterical, but most of the time, they just sat silently, staring ahead into space. I wonder if they felt like I was feeling now? Probably, only to a much greater extreme. At least I had training to help me get through it.
Finally we came to a stop, and the huge cop opened up the door for me. "Come on," he said, holding out his hand for me, and I saw to my surprise that we were parked in front of the Sidewinder Casino, not a police station!
I climbed into his hand and he carried me inside, where he was met by two security men, as well as Beth. "Thank God you're all right!" she exclaimed as soon as she saw me. "We thought you were gone forever!"
"No, he made a mistake," I replied. "He let me get to the 'net." I didn't bother explaining it all to her, figuring that would come later.
The cop set me down on the floor at Beth's feet, and was immediately escorted out by the security guards, without giving me a chance to thank him for the ride. Meanwhile, Beth led me into the dressing room area through the employee's entrance, affording me my first view of this part of the casino from a smaller scale. As we walked, Beth taking care to move slowly, she asked me a few more questions. "We got an anonymous tip," she told me. "Do you have any idea who sent it?"
"No," I lied. "I don't know anyone with an email who could help, so I went somewhere I knew, and asked someone there to call you."
"Where'd you go?" she inquired.
I thought about not telling her, but it wouldn't matter, and besides, I didn't want them in any way suspicious of me. "A shrinking fantasy site, if you must know," I replied honestly. The best part of this explanation was that it was true--I didn't even have to make up a lie. "I started going there to deal with my fears, back after I started working here. I felt like I could trust a couple of those people."
"Oh, you mean the Clubhouse?" asked Beth, and I nodded in assent. "Yeah, I've been there before. Do they still have my picture out there floating around on the 'net?"
I laughed. It was the first time I'd done that in a while, I thought. "Yeah," I agreed. "Yeah, I saw it."
"I hated that picture!" she complained. "You know, that was taken the first time I'd ever gone down to 5%? I was scared out of my wits!"
"I thought you looked a little less than pleased," I agreed.
By now we'd reached the restorer, much to my relief. I don't think I'd ever seen anything that looked quite as good as that enormous device did at that moment. I almost ran to get inside it, waiting breathlessly as its lights flashed and I started growing again.
In a matter of moments I was back to normal, and I've got to tell you, it felt fantastic! Looking back, I can't remember if I felt happier about being five foot nine then or after my first shrinking experience, but either way it was pretty close. I stepped out, spun around with my arms extended, and laughed out loud. "This is great!" I exclaimed. "Sorry, Beth, but I've got to say it's good to be looking down at you again!"
She laughed along with me. "You've probably just spent the longest time shrunk of any of us," she said. "Ten hours is my record, though early on, before the ban against recreational shrinking, I knew some girls who stayed down for a couple of days. You were gone for three, and then some."
"Yeah, I know," I replied. "That was much too long, I think. Oh, and listen, thanks for getting me back here so fast. I don't think I would have liked having to go down to the police station or something first. Do I have to go there now?"
"Nope," said Beth. "Everything's taken care of. Since the guy who grabbed you killed himself, you won't even need to show up as a witness at his trial. The casino will take care of handling all the charges."
"Great!" I said happily, masking my internal realization of just how much of a violation of procedure this was. Surely the police would at least have wanted to interview me? Apparently not, it seemed. "Do you want me to come in to work tomorrow, then? I have to make up those three days I lost."
Beth looked at me incredulously. "Are you serious?" she asked incredulously. "After what you've just been through, you want to come back to work?"
"Absolutely," I replied. "Gotta pay the bills. And besides, I think I'm used to being shrunk now. It's not so terrifying any more."
"Really?" she asked, looking at me curiously. "Did the guy who captured you do anything--um, anything bad to you?"
"I'd rather not talk about that right now," I replied, choosing my words carefully. "Maybe someday, but not right now. I'd rather just keep it out of my mind. But I think if I can get through that, I can certainly survive working here, can't I?"
Beth shrugged and gave me an approving look. "Well, then, I guess I'll slide you back in the rotation on Monday, so you can have the weekend to recover. Come back in at noon."
"All right," I agreed.
And just like that, I was back on the case.