CHAPTER 12

“T his is where we would go all the time when you were little,” Olivia said.

“I don’t remember much, so it’s still hard, trying to separate what’s real from what’s not,” Hollis replied.

They were sitting on a blanket in the middle of a grassy park. Nearby, children were playing with each other on the playground equipment. There was a birthday party going on underneath the open lodge, which someone could rent for a few hours, and pink, red, and purple balloons brought Hollis back to that ever-present balloon in her mind.

“Mom, did we ever get balloons here?” she asked.

“I don’t know. We might have. Why do you ask?”

“I have this memory of you handing me a balloon. There was grass. That’s really all I remember, though.”

“You know what, I think you’re right,” her mom said, turning to her with a smile. “On the weekends, there were usually vendors here. Some sold ice cream, but there was one guy who sold balloons. Now that we’re talking about it, I remember they interviewed him back then. All the vendors were interviewed.”

“Really?”

“We came here at least once a week. Sometimes, more often, if the weather was good. I can’t remember a specific time I bought you a balloon, but I’m sure I gave in at least once. I do remember buying you a popsicle from the ice cream man, though. Oh, there was another little girl who was looking at you and was disappointed because she didn’t have one. You walked over and offered her a lick of yours. I think you were about three then.” Olivia chuckled. “It was adorable. Her mom said she couldn’t have sugar, though, or she’d never go to sleep.” Olivia coughed then. “Anyway, when you went missing, the police wanted to talk to anyone who might have come in contact with you, so they asked where we went. I told them we were here a lot. They spoke with all the vendors, parents who brought their kids here, and even the people from the parks department who might have seen you here.”

“Mom, how did Dad manage to do this?” she asked.

“What do you mean?”

Hollis stared out at the kids running back up after sliding down on the equipment.

“He’s not a stupid man, but he’s also not joining MENSA anytime soon. Yet, somehow, he always seemed to know when someone was getting close enough to figure out what he’d done, and we’d pack up and go.”

“Well, I imagine when you know that you’ve done something wrong and that people are looking for you, you get good at thinking on your feet.”

“All I remember is a really long drive right after it happened. I know now that we left from here and went to Michigan first, but later, when I would ask him why we’d driven for so many days before, he just told me we’d gone from one side of Canada to the other and asked me how I couldn’t remember seeing the things we saw along the way. He’d bring up some things we stopped to do that I did not remember, making me feel bad almost for not remembering these cool things that we supposedly did. When I’d ask to see pictures, he said we couldn’t afford a camera back then. Once, I asked him what happened to the camera we did have because he had that one photo album, and he said he’d sold it to get money for the trip. He always had a reason or explanation, and I feel like such an idiot for falling for it.”

“You were five years old, Hollis,” her mom replied.

“And I believed him this whole time.”

“No, you didn’t,” her mom pointed out. “You didn’t entirely, or you wouldn’t have ended up here with me, honey. Those memories you have that never made sense until now, the fact that you picked up that book and you recognized a little girl who looked like you, and that you kept asking him all those questions for years – all of that tells me that you knew something wasn’t right. You trusted your instincts and read that chapter in Kenna’s book. You are not at fault for what your father did. You’re not to blame for believing the lies your dad told you, Hollis.”

“Had I put it all together earlier, though…”

“No, you can’t think like that,” her mom told her. “Trust me; I’ve been through all the would have, could have, should haves . It never did any good. It just made things worse.” She coughed again. “And, as much as I’d love to stay out here with you, honey, I’m getting tired. I think we should head back home.”

“Sure,” Hollis replied, standing up.

She packed up the little picnic basket they’d brought with them and helped her mom back to the car. The trip home was a short one, and she got her mom into her nightgown and into bed for a nap.

Then, Hollis went out to the living room and decided to get some work done before she would have to make dinner. She’d been given another high-profile murder case to check out and verify some facts, and she wanted to get a head start. Being a researcher on a true crime show wasn’t exactly Hollis’s cup of tea, but she still wanted to do a good job for Kenna and the families of the victims. The paycheck also wasn’t much, but it was more than she’d been making in Vancouver. She still paid rent there on an apartment she wasn’t sure she’d be going back to anytime soon, but since breaking her lease was even more expensive, she couldn’t do that just yet.

Hollis finished up what she needed to and went to the kitchen. Opening the fridge, she found what she wanted, pulled it out, and started chopping. Not long after that, though, she heard a loud thump on the other side of the wall, coming from her mother’s bedroom. Hollis dropped the knife and the carrots and rushed to the bedroom door. She opened it and found her mother on the floor next to her bed.

“Mom! ”

Kneeling beside her, Hollis could see she had a small gash above her eyebrow that was bleeding, and she wasn’t responding. Hollis quickly covered it with her hand and reached for her mom’s cell phone, which was on the table. She hit the emergency button.

“911. What is your emergency?”

“My mom fell! She’s bleeding, and she’s unconscious,” she yelled.

“Okay. Can you give me some information while I get the ambulance sent your way?”

Hollis answered all of the questions as she held one hand to her mother’s forehead, trying to staunch the blood. She stayed on the line with the dispatcher until she heard the sirens. Quickly, she hung up and realized she’d have to leave her mom on the floor to unlock the front door and get the paramedics to her. She ran, opened the door, and motioned for them to come inside. They came in with a stretcher and asked her questions that she did her best to answer, but she hadn’t been there as it unfolded, so she didn’t know exactly what had happened. She could see a little blood on the edge of the table by her mother’s bed, so it was possible her mom was trying to get out of bed and slipped somehow, hitting her head, but Hollis didn’t know.

Making sure to grab her mother’s purse and her own, she rode in the ambulance with them, holding Olivia’s hand the entire time as the paramedics attempted to figure out why the woman was still unconscious. Hollis felt like she couldn’t breathe. They hadn’t had nearly enough time together yet. Her mom had cancer, yes, but this wasn’t the cancer; at least, she didn’t think it was the cancer. A fall like this could not take her mother this soon after she’d just found her.

Once at the hospital, Hollis was forced to sit in the waiting room, filling out way more paperwork than she’d ever had to fill out in Canada when going to the doctor. She had her mother’s insurance card, thankfully, and gave them that information. Then, she sat down in an uncomfortable plastic chair and stared down the hall, waiting. An hour went by, and she hadn’t heard anything. She didn’t know what to do.

She pulled her phone out of her purse and realized she only had one number there that she could call. Everyone else was in Vancouver. Even still, it wasn’t like she had a lot of contacts in her phone in the first place. She could call Kenna, but the woman was technically her boss. Outside of Kenna and her mother, there was only Raleigh. She pressed Raleigh’s name before she could talk herself out of it and waited.

“Hey,” Raleigh said on the third ring.

“Raleigh.”

“What’s wrong?” Raleigh asked immediately, knowing from Hollis’s tone that something wasn’t right.

“My mom.”

“No,” Raleigh let out.

“Not that. Well, I don’t know. Maybe that. They’re not talking to me.”

“Where are you? Who’s the they?”

“The hospital. She fell, I think.”

“County General or St. Sebastian’s?”

Hollis had to look around to answer that because she hadn’t been paying attention.

“County General.”

“I can be there in fifteen minutes,” Raleigh replied.

“I don’t know why I called you. I’m sorry. I just didn’t have anyone else.”

“Hollis, I’m leaving now, okay?”

“You don’t have to.”

“I’ll see you in fifteen minutes. Are you in the ER?”

“Yes,” she said.

“Okay. I’m on my way.”

◆◆◆

Hollis didn’t track the time because Raleigh was on her way; she tracked it because it had been another fifteen minutes of her sitting there, not knowing if her mother was alive or dead. Then, she felt a hand on her own, and that snapped her out of staring at the hospital clock. She turned to see Raleigh sitting next to her.

“Hi,” Raleigh said softly.

“Hi.”

“Can I get you anything?”

“No, I don’t think so.”

“How long have you been here?”

Hollis checked the clock and replied, “Almost two hours.”

“Have they told you anything?”

“No.”

“Okay. Can you stay here? I’ll be right back.”

Hollis wasn’t planning on moving anytime soon anyway. Raleigh stood up, and Hollis watched as she walked to the desk. Hollis couldn’t hear what she was saying, but a minute later, Raleigh came back and sat next to her.

“They’ve been running some tests, and they’re bringing her back to the room now. The doctor will be out to get you soon, okay?”

“How did you do that?” Hollis asked.

“That nurse is an old friend of mine,” Raleigh shared. “We’re lucky they brought her here, to County General. I don’t know anyone at St. Sebastian’s.”

“But she’s not…”

“No, she’s not, Hollis,” Raleigh said, taking her hand again.

Hollis’s eyes welled with tears, but she didn’t know if they were happy or sad yet.

“I was making dinner. She didn’t call for me. I would have heard. I don’t know what she was doing. Bathroom, maybe. I would’ve helped her. Why–”

“Hey, it’s okay. Come here.” Raleigh pulled Hollis into her side and let her rest her head on her shoulder. “You didn’t do anything wrong. Let’s just see what the doctor says, okay?”

“What if this means we have less time?”

“No what ifs , Hollis.” Raleigh ran a hand into Hollis’s hair, which was certainly a mess, and started massaging her scalp. “Let me get you something to eat, at least. Maybe a coffee, too? It’s probably better here than at the diner.”

Hollis let out a little laugh.

“Olivia Richardson?” A doctor walked out of a room with a chart on a clipboard.

Hollis quickly snapped to attention at the sound of her mother’s name.

“She’s my mom,” she replied.

The doctor walked over to them, and Hollis pulled away from Raleigh to stand.

“We’re still waiting on a few test results, but she’s awake and responsive, which is a good sign. She’s got three stitches in the gash on her forehead, and she lost some blood but didn’t require a transfusion.”

“She’s okay?” Hollis asked.

Raleigh stood then, and without even thinking about it, Hollis reached out her hand for Raleigh to take.

“Like I said, we still have some tests we’re waiting on,” the doctor explained. “And due to her condition and age, I’d like to keep her overnight, at least, to make sure we’re not dealing with any latent issues.”

“Okay,” Hollis said. “Can I see her?”

“I’ll have a nurse take you back. Are you family, too?” he asked Raleigh.

“Yes,” Hollis answered before Raleigh could.

“She’s going to be groggy. We gave her something for the pain and to help her sleep, so you don’t have too much time before she’ll be out for the night.”

“Thank you,” Hollis replied.

He walked off to get the nurse.

“That’s great news,” Raleigh noted, squeezing Hollis’s hand.

“Will you come back with me?”

“I can. Or, I can get you something to eat from the cafeteria, so you can have some time with her first, if you want. ”

“Actually, that would be amazing. I’m starving,” Hollis said, finally able to feel something other than worry.

“Sandwich?”

“Whatever they have is fine. I’m not picky.”

“I’ll be five minutes, okay?” Raleigh told her.

“I’ll text you the room number once I know it.”

Raleigh walked to the elevator just as a nurse came to take Hollis back to see her mother.