A sudden dread fills me, almost paralyzing me. What if he’s hurt her already? Or what if she’s not there?
The elevator doors open onto the lobby as Nate hangs up the phone. He darts out, and I follow him, determined to go with him.
‘Ava, go back,’ he says, spinning around to confront me. ‘You can’t come with me.’ He points back towards the elevator. ‘Let me do my job.’
I shake my head vehemently. I’ve already almost lost one daughter, I’m not going to stand around and do nothing when my other daughter is in danger. ‘Either you let me come with you or I’m telling everyone who will listen that you tried to initiate a sexual relationship with me – a witness – the wife of your prime suspect.’
His mouth falls open and he stares at me in shock.
‘You want to stay on this case and salvage what’s left of your career?’ I ask him.
He glares at me in disbelief, and I hold his gaze, refusing to budge. ‘OK, fine,’ he finally snaps, still glaring furiously.
We start jogging towards the front doors. ‘You set it up,’ he says, shooting a look my way. ‘The interview with that journalist. You lied about June waking up, didn’t you? You did it on purpose?’
I shrug. ‘It worked, didn’t it?’ I want to yell at him that I wouldn’t have had to do anything if he’d known his own junior officer was the one involved, if he’d done his damn job. I solved the case on my own.
‘Where’s June?’ Nate asks as we reach the door.
‘Somewhere safe,’ I say.
‘It was stupid,’ Nate mutters angrily as we weave past patients on our way to the door. ‘You could have been killed. You put yourself in danger.’
I shake my head. ‘Hannah’s in danger. We need to find her. Let’s go!’
Reluctantly Nate nods and we hurry outside towards his car, passing a stream of SWAT and police officers, who rush by, storming inside the hospital. They probably think it’s an active-shooter situation and I duck my head and clutch my bag containing the gun closer to my side.
‘Mrs Walker?’
I think about not turning around but I recognize the voice. It’s Dr Warier, running after me. The look on his face is one of shock. June. That’s all I can think. Something must have happened to her.
‘You need to come with me,’ Dr Warier says urgently and swivels on his heel to head back inside.
‘Why?’ I stammer.
‘There’s been an accident.’
An accident? Is he talking about Jonathan?
‘She’s in the ER.’
She? June! Something’s happened to her. Goddamn Gene. He had one job. I told him not to leave her.
‘Come quick!’ Dr Warier says, beckoning me over his shoulder.
I look back to see Nate frowning at me and I’m torn for one indescribably awful moment between June and Hannah. It’s like Sophie’s Choice. But my feet make up my mind for me and I rush after Dr Warier. I need to know what’s happened.
‘What’s going on?’ Nate asks, racing by my side.
I shake my head. I can’t speak, focused only on Dr Warier up ahead, running back inside the building, heading for the ER.
He leads us through the maze of cubicles before stopping outside one and pulling back a curtain to reveal a bloodied, bandaged patient lying on a bed. A nurse is inserting an IV line into the back of the patient’s hand while another is drawing blood.
June? I think, in shock. Because it isn’t her. I’m confused and it takes me a moment to realize that I’m looking at Laurie, who is almost unrecognizable, her face lacerated and swollen and her neck in a brace.
‘Jesus,’ I whisper, rushing towards her side. ‘What happened?’
‘She was in a car accident,’ Dr Warier tells me.
‘What? When?’
‘Earlier today. They only just found the car. On the 33, out towards Rose Valley.’
The 33 is notorious for accidents. It’s a winding mountain road and people always take it too fast. But what was Laurie doing all the way out there?
‘Someone called it in,’ Dr Warier explains, ‘but the cops did a drive-by and couldn’t see the car at first – it was covered over by trees. They had to airlift her here.’
‘Oh my God,’ I say, swaying as I take in the damage done to Laurie’s face and body. ‘Is she going to be OK?’
‘We’re just getting her ready for surgery. She has multiple fractures, including her hip and thigh. We’ve notified her next of kin but as soon as I saw her ID I recognized her from the ICU and thought you’d want to know.’
I take Laurie’s hand in mine. ‘Laurie?’ I say, squeezing her palm. There’s no answer. ‘Is she conscious?’ I ask the nurse drawing blood.
‘In and out,’ she answers, focused on the needle.
‘Laurie?’ I try again, louder this time. ‘It’s me. Ava.’
She moans and her eyes flicker open. She stares at me dully, then registers it’s me and her mouth twists at the edge. ‘Ava,’ she whispers through cracked lips, clutching for my hand.
‘What happened?’ I ask her.
She closes her eyes and murmurs something but I don’t hear it, as another doctor has arrived, syringe in hand, and is trying to get between us.
‘I’m sorry,’ Dr Warier says, trying to move me out of the way. ‘We need to get her to the OR. They’re waiting. I just thought you would want to see her.’
The woman inserts the syringe into Laurie’s cannula. Laurie mumbles something. I reach for the doctor’s arm and stop her. ‘Wait.’
‘What?’ I ask Laurie, leaning closer, so my ear is close to her lips.
‘Hannah,’ she croaks.
‘Hannah what?’ I ask.
Laurie opens her eyes, forcing out the words. ‘I saw her.’
‘Where?’ It’s Nate. He’s moved closer too.
‘Here, at the hospital.’ She licks her cracked lips.
‘What did you see?’ I ask, my nose almost pressed to hers. I want to shake the answers out of her.
‘She was arguing with a man . . . that deputy . . .’
‘Jonathan,’ Nate mutters, glancing
