Chapter 23

TWENTY-THREE

COAL MOUNTAIN HOSPITAL

Treading carefully, Derrick slipped into the woman's hospital room. She was a petite brunette, probably mid-thirties, with brown hair, a non-descript face and a bandage covering her forehead. Bruises darkened her face and arms, and her lip was split. She appeared to be sleeping so he approached quietly, remembering the doctor's warning.

But the sound of his footsteps must have roused her because she opened her eyes and looked up at him. Her stare was blank, eyes filled with confusion as if she was disoriented.

"I'm Special Agent Derrick Fox," he said softly.

Her eyes flickered with something like fear. They were giant in her thin pale face and looked haunted. For a moment, he paused to give her time to focus.

"Can you tell me your name?" he asked.

Her sharp intake of breath punctuated the air, and she bit her lip then shook her head.

"You don't remember it?" he asked.

She didn't answer, just looked at him with that blank expression again. "What are you doing here?"

He offered her a tentative smile. "I wanted to talk to you about a case I'm working."

She frowned and rubbed her fingers over the bandage on her forehead. "I'm sorry, but I can't help you." Her voice was fading, slurred with sleep.

She was fragile and weak, but he had to push her.

"Tell me about your accident, ma'am."

She clenched the sheets with a shaky hand. "I… hit a patch of ice and skidded," she murmured. "I don't remember anything after that."

"Ma'am, this is important. We found two little girls dead at Emerald Falls. Your accident wasn't far from there. Would you know anything about that?"

"No."

He studied her body language, watched her shift uncomfortably. "Do you have family we can call? Children who might need looking after?"

"No… no kids," she murmured in a teary voice.

A second later, she closed her eyes and rolled to her side putting her back to him. A machine beeped and a nurse rushed into the room and hurried to the woman's bedside, checking the machines monitoring her heart and blood pressure.

"BP's dropping." The nurse shot a look at him over her shoulder. "Sir, you need to leave. You'll have to come back later. She needs to rest."

Derrick gritted his teeth and gave a clipped nod.

But as he left the room, he sensed the woman was frightened, that she knew more than she'd said. When he came back, he'd find out more.