Chitwood started walking away. Over his shoulder, he said, “Oh, you’ll know. See you in the ICU?”
“Yeah.”
When he was gone, Josie opened her hand and stared at the bracelet. The beads were green and polished and warm against her palm. It was quite beautiful. She squeezed it again and put it into the pocket of Dr. Feist’s scrubs. She had prayed to God so many times during her childhood to save her from so many horrific situations. It had almost never worked. Even Lisette, in spite of all her machinations, had not been able to save Josie from the worst of what happened to her. Josie had learned to rely on herself. Still, she appreciated whatever it was Chitwood was trying to do. Offer her comfort in his own bizarre way, from what she gathered.
Fingering her car keys, she took a walk through the parking lot until she found her vehicle. She always kept a change of clothes in a bag in the back. As she got closer to the SUV, she hit the unlock button on her key fob. She heard the metallic clink of the locks disengaging. She looked up, something on the driver’s side window catching her attention. For a second, she wasn’t sure exactly what she was seeing. Then a gasp escaped her lips. Her keys fell to the ground.
There, on the windshield, was a pinecone doll.
Twenty-Eight
A half hour later, Josie, Noah, Chitwood and Gretchen crowded inside the hospital’s security CCTV room and watched as the security manager on duty brought up black and white footage from the parking lot. The angle was from a light post that extended high above the ground and sat several yards away from where Chitwood had parked her vehicle. They had waited until Hummel arrived to take the doll into evidence before requesting the CCTV footage. Josie doubted they would get anything useful from either the doll or the footage, but Chitwood wanted everything documented nevertheless. Gretchen had arrived in the ICU when Josie went back there to get Noah and Chitwood. Her khakis and Denton PD polo shirt were wrinkled and covered in dirt. Her brown and gray spiked hair was unusually unkempt, and the dark circles under her eyes told Josie that she hadn’t slept in at least twenty-four hours. She was probably going off shift but had detoured to the hospital to check on Lisette. Josie felt relief at her presence, although now she was maybe looking at another seemingly endless shift on the Mitchell case.
“Here we go,” said the manager, pointing to the screen. “This is the Chief pulling in and parking.”
They watched the screen as Josie’s car pulled into the spot. Chitwood got out, clicked the key fob and walked off. The manager fast-forwarded the footage. About ten minutes later, a hooded figure appeared on the edge of the screen, walking down the row of cars. The hood was pulled too low to make out any of his features. His hands were jammed into his hoodie pockets. Josie noted that he wore jeans and a pair of boots. Not what she’d seen Rory wearing the day before when she’d encountered him. Unless he had gone back to his house and changed. But Josie didn’t remember seeing any clothing that looked like it belonged to him in the house.
“Here he goes,” said the security manager.
The figure stopped at Josie’s car and stared for a few seconds, as if trying to decide something. Maybe whether or not he had the right vehicle? Then he panned the area and quickly pulled the pinecone doll from his hoodie pocket and put it on the windshield. Checking all around once more, he ran out of the frame.
Chitwood said, “What in the hell is going on here?”
Noah said, “Why is this kid going to all this trouble to come here and leave the doll? Why Josie?”
“The doll means he’s sorry,” Gretchen said. “That’s what Emily told us. Rory leaves them for her when he’s sorry.”
Chitwood said, “Is he trying to say he’s sorry for shooting Mrs. Matson?”
Noah said, “A crazy-looking doll is not going to fix this. That kid needs to be in custody. Now.”
“That’s not Rory,” Josie said.
They all turned toward her.
“Rory’s only fifteen. He can’t drive yet. Even if he could, where would he get a vehicle? He didn’t even have a bicycle. Lorelei kept him on her property. He was her big secret, remember?”
“If that’s not Rory,” Gretchen said, “who is it?”
“Paxton Bryan,” Noah said. “It has to be. He’s got a driver’s license and access to his dad’s vans.”
Chitwood said, “What was Paxton Bryan doing out in the woods by Harper’s Peak last night? How did he know where to find Quinn today?”
“And if he’s protecting her, why is Emily leaving the buttons behind?” Gretchen added.
Josie said, “Emily went into the woods. We know that. We also know that Pax is frequently out there on his bike, and he also drives up and down the road from the produce market to Harper’s Peak often. He would have seen all the police vehicles. All he would have had to do is ask any of the searchers what was going on. Maybe he went out to look for her.”
“I’ll buy that,” Chitwood said. “But why is Pax leaving the pinecone doll? I thought that was Rory’s thing.”
Josie scrubbed her hands over her face, trying to rub away her exhaustion. Her mind felt foggy. “Emily never said Rory’s name. Jesus. We’ve been looking at the wrong person this entire time.”
“Shit,” Gretchen said. “The boss is right. Emily said ‘he.’ She never said a name. We just assumed it was Rory based on the fact that he had a history of violence.”
“And his blood type,” Josie pointed out.
“We don’t know Pax’s blood type,” Gretchen said. “It could also be O positive. Pax wears size ten shoes.”
Noah said, “Emily said Pax was her friend. Would she say that if he had
