So the bullet didnt enter her brain? Laneys question made her mother visibly flinch.
The titanium plate deflected the path of the bullet. It made a bit of a mess in the soft tissue at the base of her skull, but it missed anything vital. We did have to shave a long patch of her hair. She wasnt very happy to hear that, Dr. Bedford added with a rueful smile, making Laney and her mother smile, as well.
Doyle couldnt keep silent any longer. Does she remember what happened to her?
The doctor looked startled by his question. You are?
Doyle Massey. Bitterwood chief of police. The attack on Ms. Hanvey took place in my jurisdiction.
The doctor gave him a thoughtful look. She remembers hiking, but beyond that, everythings pretty fuzzy. He turned back to Laney and her mother. She keeps asking about her two friends, but all we could tell her is that they werent with her when she was brought in. Just be warned, shes in the repetitive stage of a concussion, so she may ask you that question or another several times without remembering youve already answered her.
Were you able to retrieve a bullet? Doyle asked.
Actually, yes, Dr. Bedford answered. The TBI has already put in a request for it. Theyre sending a courier.
How soon do you think she can go home? Mrs. Hanvey asked.
Because of her medical history and the trauma of being shot, Id really like to keep her here at least a couple of days. Even beyond her concussion, the path of the bullet wound is pretty extensive and were going to work hard to prevent infection. Well see how her injuries respond to treatment and make a decision from there.
Can we see her?
Shes probably on her way up to her room. Ask the nurse at the deskshell tell you where you can find her.
Doyle followed Laney and her mother out of the waiting room behind the doctor, trying to stay back enough to avoid Laneys attention.
He should have known better.
Laney whipped around to face him as her mother walked on to the nurses station. Youre not seriously following us into her room?
I need to talk to her about what happened on the mountain.
You heard the doctor. She doesnt remember.
Yet.
Laneys lips thinned with anger. I know its important to talk to her. But cant you give us a few minutes alone with her? When we came here this morning, we werent sure we were ever going to see her alive again.
Old pain nudged at Doyles conscience. I know. Im sorry and Im very happy and relieved that the news is good.
Laneys eyes softened. Thank you.
But theres still a girl unaccounted for. And anything your sister can remember may be important. Including what happened before they were attacked.
Laney glanced back at her mother, who was still talking to the desk nurse. She lowered her voice. I dont think well find Joy Adderly alive. Do you?
He didnt. But he hadnt expected to find Janelle alive, either. Not after seeing Missy Adderlys body in the leaves off the mountain trail.
I think we have to proceed as if shes still alive and needs our help, he said finally. Dont you?
She looked at him, guilt in her clear blue eyes. Yes. Of course.
He immediately felt bad for pushing her. Her priority had to be her sister, not his case. Look, I need to make some calls. Ill give you and your mother some time alone with your sister if youll promise youll come get me in an hour to ask her a few questions. Just do me a favor, okay?
Whats that?
Try not to talk about what happened up on the mountain. Just talk about anything else. I dont want to contaminate her memories before I get a chance to talk to her.
Okay. She reached across the space between them, closing her hand over his forearm. Thank you.
He watched her walk to the elevator with her arm around her mothers waist. As they entered and turned to face the doors, she graced him with a slight smile that made his chest tighten.
The doors closed, and he felt palpably alone.
Shaking it off, he walked back to the waiting room and called the police station first. His executive assistant was a tall reed of a woman with steel-gray hair and sharp blue eyes named Ellen Flatley. Apparently shed been assistant to two chiefs of police before him and would probably outlast him, as well. She saw the police station as her own personal territory and had a tendency to guard it like a high-strung German shepherd.
There are two teams of eight searchers each on the mountains, but its a lot of territory and slow going. She answered his query in a tone of voice that suggested he should have known these facts already. Plus, the sun will be going down soon, and theyll have to stop the search. The coroners picked up poor Missy Adderlys body, God rest her soul. He said hes going to call in the state lab to handle the postmortem, like you asked.
She didnt sound as if she approved of that decision, either, but he couldnt help that. Bitterwood had hired him to make those kinds of decisions. Theyd hired Ellen to help him execute those decisions, not make them for him.
Thank you, Ellen.
Her frosty silence on the other end of the phone told him hed apparently made another breach of police-department etiquette.
Can you give me the cell numbers for Detectives Hawkins and Parsons? he asked.
She rattled off the numbers quickly, and he punched them into the phones memory. Will there be anything else, Chief Massey?
Yes, one more thing. Do you know if Bolens been able to reach the Adderly family with the news about Missy?
He hasnt called in, but he headed over there about fifteen minutes ago, so I imagine hes told them by now. Her voice softened with her next question. Chief, is there anything new on the other girl, Joy?
No, not yet. Youll probably hear as soon as I do, if not sooner. If you do hear anything, please let me know at once.
Certainly, sir.
Thank you, Mrs. Flatley, for your help.
There was a hint of a smile in her voice when she answered. Just doing my job. Do you want me to forward your calls to your cell?
No, just take messages, unless its urgent.
He ended the call, then dialed Ivy Hawkinss number.
She answered on the second ring, the connection spotty. Hawkins.
This is Massey. Catch me up.
TBI crime-scene unit finally arrived. I sent some of them over to the trail shelter to get what they could find there, too. Parsons is with that crew. Im sticking with the original scene, helping out with the grid search. But were running out of daylight. Her voice tightened. Whats the news on Janelle Hanvey?
Better than we had a right to hope for. He outlined what the doctor had told them, keeping it vague in deference to the girls privacy rights. Shes awake and the familys with her.
I can be in Knoxville in about thirty minutes if youd like me to question the girl.
I can handle it.
There was a thick pause on the other end of the line, reminding him of the frosty reception hed gotten from Ellen Flatley earlier. Okay.
Is there a problem, Hawkins?
Permission to speak freely, sir?
Permission to speak freely, sir?
He grinned at the phone. Please.
The job of chief of police is primarily a political position. You supervise, schmooze, shake hands with the town bigwigs and basically present a nice, trustworthy face for the public. Witness interviews, though
Were not a big city. We all have to wear different hats. The town council made that clear when they hired me. And how often do you get two violent-crime victims in one day?
Recently? More often than I like, she answered drily. But, understood, sir. Were spread thin by this case already.
Call me at this number if you need me. Ending the call, he looked at the round-faced clock on the waiting-room wall. After five already. But still thirty minutes before he could go to Janelle Hanveys hospital room and ask the questions drumming a restless rhythm in his brain.
Patience, he feared, was not one of his virtues.
* * *
WHATABOUT MISSYand Joy? Where are they?
Laney squeezed her sisters hand gently. I dont know, sweetie. She kept herself from exchanging looks with her mother, knowing that Janelle was bright enough to see the tension between them, even in her concussed state. How about you? Head still hurting?
Janelle smiled a loopy smile. Not so much. The doctor said they stuck me with a local anesthetic, so the wound wont be bothering me for a while.
Good.
Janelle drifted off for a few minutes, just long enough for Laney to give her mother a look of relief. Then she stirred again and asked, for the third time since Laney had entered the room, Laney, where are Missy and Joy?
She squeezed Janelles hand again and repeated, I dont know, sweetie.
There was a knock on the hospital-room door. Laneys mother went to answer it. She came back and touched Laneys shoulder. Chief Massey would like to talk to you outside.
She traded places with her mother and opened the hospital-room door to find Doyle Massey leaning against the corridor wall. He didnt change position when he saw her, just turned his head and flashed her a toothy smile. Hows your sister doin?
Damn, but he could turn on the charm when he wanted to. As well as can be expected, I think. Shes still repeating herself a lot, but the doctor said that should pass soon.
Has she said anything about what happened up there?
Laney shook her head. But she keeps asking about her friends. All weve told her so far is that we dont know where they are.
Doyle pushed away from the wall, turning to face her. He touched her arm lightly. The coroners picked up Missy Adderlys body and called in the state lab to conduct the postmortem.
Has the family been contacted?
My assistant said Craig Bolen left to meet with them about forty-five minutes ago. So Im sure they know by now.
She shook her head, feeling sick. Those poor people.
His gaze slid toward the door of her sisters hospital room. She has a plate in her head?
Car accident when she was ten. It was bad. Laney tugged her sweater more tightly around her, as if she could ward off the memories as easily as she could thwart a chill. But she couldnt, of course. The memories of those terrible days would never go away. The accident killed our brother. She released a long sigh.
Im sorry.
She looked up at him, seeing real sympathy in his eyes, not just the perfunctory kind. I was a sophomore in college. I skipped a couple of semesters so I could come back home and help my mom deal with everything. Our dad had passed away from cancer only a year earlier. And then, so suddenly, Bradley was dead and Jannie was just hanging on by a thread
Bradley was your brother?
She nodded. He was seventeen. Jannie had a softball game and Mama was working, so Bradley said hed take her. He was a good driver. The police say there wasnt anything he could have done. The other driver was wasted, slammed right through an intersection and T-boned Bradleys truck. He was killed instantly, and Jannie had a depressed skull fracture. She had to relearn everything. Put her behind in school.
How far behind?
Three years. Jannies twenty. But shes only seventeen in terms of her maturity and mental age. There were a few years when we didnt think shed ever get that far, but the doctors say she should develop normally enough from here on. She glanced back at the closed door. Unless this sets her back even more.
How does she seem?
Like herself, Laney admitted. A little disoriented, but normal enough.
Doyle touched her arm again. It seemed to be a habit with him, a way to connect to the person he was talking to. Unfortunately, it seemed to be having a completely disarming effect on her. Shed just told him more about her family than shed told anyone in ages, including the people shed worked with now for almost five years.
Maybe he was a better cop than she had realized.
You think its okay for me to go in there and talk to your sister now? His hand made one more light sweep down her arm before dropping to his side.
I think so. Theyre not giving her anything like a sedativethey dont want her to sleep much while theyre observing her for the concussion.
He looked toward the door. Did the doctors tell you whether or not it would be okay to tell her the truth about Missy Adderly?
Laney recoiled at the thought. They didnt say, but
I know you want to protect her, especially now. And if we didnt have a missing girl out there somewhere
I know. Shed experienced only an hours worth of sick worry about her sisters whereabouts. The Adderlys were still in that hell, made worse by knowing that one of their girls was dead. Okay. But I want to be in there with you when you talk to her. Im pretty sure my mother will want to be there, too.
Fine. But you have to let me ask her the hard questions. You know were working with a ticking clock.
She knew. If there was any chance Joy Adderly was still alive, time was critical.
Her sister was awake when they entered the hospital room. Laney introduced Doyle to Janelle, explaining he was there to ask her some questions. Her mother looked worried, but Janelle looked almost relieved. Do you know where Joy and Missy are?
Doyle pulled up the chair Laney had vacated, getting down to Janelles eye level. I know where Missy is, but its bad news.
Janelles eyes struggled to focus on his face. Shes dead, isnt she?
Im sorry. We found Missy this morning, shortly before we found you.
Her eyes filled with tears. Was she shot like I was?
He nodded, his expression gentle with compassion and something else, some dark, private sadness hovering behind his green eyes.
Only the sound of Janelles soft sniffles dragged Laneys gaze away from the sudden mystery the new chief posed. Laney grabbed a couple of tissues from the box the hospital supplied and handed them to her sister. Janelle wiped her eyes and cleared her throat. What about Joy?
We havent found Joy yet.
You think shes alive? Hope trembled in Janelles soft voice.
We hope she is, he answered. Were looking for her. We have searchers up on the mountain right now.