Chapter 10

Once Dougherty left, Josie and Gretchen walked down the hall to Curtain 12, which had been left partially open. Mira Summers lay on the gurney, now clothed in a hospital gown, her eyes closed. Her arms were still wrapped in gauze although it was considerably looser than it had been in the ambulance. Under the stark fluorescent lights of the hospital, she looked deathly pale, her freckles more pronounced. The angry bruise across her forehead looked even darker than when Josie had seen her in the back of the ambulance. Beside her, a portable monitor tracked her vital signs. On the other side, a bag of fluids hung, slowly dripping into the IV in her hand. Her eyes fluttered open as Gretchen pulled the curtain all the way around the track, giving them some privacy.

"Mira Summers?" Josie asked softly.

She lifted a hand, shading her eyes. "Who is it?"

Josie and Gretchen introduced themselves, offering credentials. She glanced blankly at them from under her arm. "The police?"

"Yes," Josie said. "We'd like to ask you some questions, if you're up to it. If not, we can come back another time."

She squinted at them. "About the accident."

"Yes," Gretchen said. "What do you remember about it?"

Next to the bed, the monitor beeped, indicating that Mira's heart rate had increased. Josie waited for a nurse to come in but none did. Mira covered her eyes with her arm now. Both Sawyer and Dr. Nashat had said she was sensitive to light due to the concussion, yet no one had dimmed the lights in her treatment area. "Not much. I just remember waking up in my car, this big bag in my face—the airbag. Then this man was there asking me if I was okay. He was on the other side of the car. I think there was someone else there, too. In my car."

Josie noticed that in addition to the blinding overhead light, there was a smaller one on the wall over the gurney. "That's right. There was a woman in your passenger's seat. You don't remember her?"

Mira shifted her arm so it wasn't putting pressure on her forehead but kept her eyes covered. "No. I don't even know who she is or how she got there. I was alone in my car when I left the stables."

Gretchen's notepad was in her hands. She flipped a page and grabbed the pen behind her ear. "What stables?"

"Tranquil Trails. I ride there every Sunday. Horseback riding. I'm in their therapeutic riding program, um, for my anxiety. I finished up, got into my car, and the next thing I know, there's an airbag in my face and…" Her chest rose and fell rapidly. On the monitor, her respiration count was high. "Do you know what happened to me? Where that woman came from?"

Josie found the light switches along the wall and flipped them until the overhead light was off and the one on the wall was on. "We're working to figure that out," she told Mira. "See if this is better. I turned the overhead light off. Miss Summers, you have wounds on your forearms. Do you remember how you got those?"

Mira slowly lowered her arm. Fresh blood bloomed in irregular patterns through the gauze. She blinked several times. "I don't remember. I'm sorry. I told you. I got into my car to leave the stables and the next thing I know, I wake up in a wreck. My head hurts and my arms—" She lifted the other one, staring at the gauze. "They feel like they're on fire."

"You've been stabbed multiple times," Gretchen said. "Is there anything at all you can tell us about your attacker?"

Mira slowly shook her head. Her eyes narrowed against the light, although she did look more comfortable.

"Could it have been someone from Tranquil Trails?" Josie asked.

Her pulse shot up again, sounding another alarm. Still, no nurse arrived. "No. No. The people there are so nice, and Rebecca and Jon would never do anything like that. They're good people. They help me."

Josie said, "Are Rebecca and Jon the owners?"

Mira nodded. Her pulse was still racing.

"What about one of the other clients?" asked Gretchen. "Is it possible that someone else who was there today attacked you?"

"I don't know. I just don't know."

The alarm on the vital signs machine continued to squawk. If a staff member did come in here, they'd be asked to leave. In an effort to calm Mira down, Josie turned the questions toward more mundane matters. She didn't want Mira having a cardiac event when she asked her about the child. "Let's talk about things you do remember. Have you lived in Denton long?"

It didn't bring her pulse or respirations down, but she answered. "Three years. I moved from Bucks County. Got a job here working for an insurance firm. I just answer phones and do some intake but the money is good."

Josie flipped the switch to turn off the wall light. The area inside the curtain was dim but not so much that they couldn't see one another. "Do you live alone?"

Mira's body visibly relaxed. "Oh. Yes. Just me and my cat."

"What kind of cat do you have?" asked Gretchen.

Her heart rate slowed, the alarm cutting off. "The all-black kind? I don't know. I got her at a rescue. Is that—is that important?"

Gretchen shook her head. "I'm just a cat person. Do you have children, Miss Summers?"

Her pulse spiked but not enough to set the alarm back off. More blood oozed from under the gauze pads, staining the sheet that covered her body. "No. I never had kids."

Gretchen said, "Do you ever come into contact with any children at Tranquil Trails?"

"I mean, I've seen kids there but I don't talk with them or anything."

Josie took out her phone and pulled up the child's drawing found at the scene. "Does this look familiar to you?"

Mira stared blankly at the picture until the silence became awkward. Then, licking her lips, she answered, "No. What is that supposed to be? Did a child draw that?"

"We believe so," Josie swiped to the photo of the back, where the green letters jumped off the page.

Mira stared at the message, her pulse suddenly jumping all over the place from the low fifties to over one hundred ten and everywhere in between. The alarm started to blare, cut off, and then began again. Josie wondered if it would short-circuit at the rate that Mira's heart rate was changing. "I don't know what to say," she whispered.

Josie kept the photo in view. "This was found in the hand of your passenger. We have reason to believe that whoever drew it and wrote this message on the back is in danger. I know you've just been injured, but please think carefully. Can you think of any child who might have drawn this?"

The alarm bellowed again for three beats before going silent. "No," Mira said. "I'm sorry. I have no idea."

Gretchen tapped her pen against her notepad. "You don't have children, but are there any in your life who might have drawn this?"

"No, no."

"Nieces, nephews?"

"I don't— I have no siblings."

"Do any of your friends have children?" asked Gretchen.

"I've only got one good friend here and she doesn't have any kids. Wait. You said the passenger in my car was holding that. Can't you just ask her?"

"I'm afraid not," Josie said. "The passenger is deceased."

Shock slackened the features of Mira's face. "Oh God. Did I kill her? In the accident?"

Did she really not remember anything that came before the accident? The handle sticking out of Jane Doe's abdomen? Josie looked for any telltale signs that she was lying, but in her current state, it was difficult to decipher what might indicate a lie and what was simply shock and pain from the accident.

"The medical examiner will have to perform an autopsy to determine her cause of death, but it appears as though she was in very bad shape before she got into your car."

Josie heard a click and then a loud whir. The blood pressure cuff around Mira's upper arm inflated.

Gretchen flipped another page in her notebook. "The passenger didn't have any identification. Do you have any idea who the woman in your car might be?"

Mira had already told them that she didn't know the passenger, but Josie knew Gretchen was testing for consistency by making her answer the question, especially given that she was claiming memory loss.

Mira shook her head. A grimace stretched across her face. She lifted one of her forearms again. Blood dripped down to her elbow and onto her hospital gown. The alarm on the vital signs machine shrieked again. Her blood pressure was high.

Josie searched a nearby rolling cabinet, coming up with a handful of gauze and handing it to Mira. "Can you see which wound is bleeding? Put pressure on it. The doctor said someone will be in to stitch you up soon."

Mira did as she was told.

Gretchen said, "We're going to show you a picture of the passenger."

Josie really didn't want to show anyone a photo of Jane Doe. She barely looked human. Part of Josie felt as though using the photo was an affront to her dignity, but not trying to identify her and find justice for her would be worse. Reluctantly, Josie held the picture up to Mira's face. The gauze fell from her fingers. A strangled gasp wrenched itself from her throat.

"Do you recognize her?" asked Josie.

Would anyone recognize her in the state she'd been in?

The alarm kept going. Why did they even have these things if the staff didn't respond to them? Again, Mira shook her head. Tears rolled down her face. "What do you think happened to her? She doesn't look…My God."

There were no tissues in the curtained area, so Josie grabbed another fistful of gauze for Mira. "We'll know more after her autopsy. Is there someone we can call for you while you're here in the hospital?"

Mira used a gauze pad to dab at her cheeks. "The nurse already did. My friend from work. Bobbi Ann Thomas. She's all I have around here."

"No parents?" Gretchen asked.

She found the place on her forearm that seemed to be the source of the ongoing bleeding and pressed the rest of the fresh gauze against it. "I haven't spoken with my parents in years. We don't get along."

"How about romantic partners?" Josie asked. "Are you seeing anyone?"

The alarm cut off abruptly but only because the blood pressure cuff was swelling again.

Mira said, "No. I haven't dated in years. There's no one."

"How about former partners?" asked Gretchen.

Josie held her breath as the blood pressure cuff slowly deflated, waiting for the shrill bark of the alarm to begin again. If Mira's blood pressure didn't set it off, then her heart rate would very soon. Everything was climbing again.

"What do you mean?" asked Mira.

Josie said, "Do you have any exes who were bothering you?"

As predicted, the vital signs machine began its discordant symphony once more.

"No," said Mira.

"Do any of your exes have children?"

"Um, I don't know? I told you, I haven't dated anyone in ages."

"Is there anyone else who was giving you a hard time lately?" Gretchen kept scribbling in her notebook. "Someone hanging around? Making you uncomfortable? Anything like that? Neighbor, coworker, anyone at all."

"No, nothing like that. Really, I live a quiet life. Go to work. Hang out with Bobbi sometimes. Go to the stables. That is it."

The curtain flew open, light from outside slashing across Mira's face. Her eyes snapped shut and she turned her head to the side. A nurse strode in and punched a series of buttons on the machine, quieting it. Next, a young doctor stepped into the space. "Miss Summers, I'm here to do your sutures."

Josie laid one of her business cards on the tray table next to Mira's bed. "We'll go now, but if you remember anything, anything at all, about what happened to you today, the woman in your car, or who might have made the drawing we showed you, please give us a call. Our colleague took your phone into evidence. We'll try to get it back to you as soon as possible. Until then, someone on the staff can help you get in touch with us."