‘Agent Trent,’ the doctor said. ‘You can talk to the patient now, but keep it brief and try not to excite her any more than she already is.’

Faith asked, ‘What’s she excited about?’

The doctor shrugged. ‘Free food, clean sheets, nurses to wait on her, cable TV. We replaced all of her blood, so this is probably the first time in decades she’s been clean. She’s been on the streets for twenty years. We’re like the Ritz here.’

‘Thanks.’ Faith asked Will, ‘Ready?’

Will wanted to stand, but he felt like he was weighted down with lead. Yesterday’s numbness had returned. Every lost minute of sleep slammed into him like a pile driver. ‘We can’t do anything, can we? About Anthony. His father hasn’t reported him missing. We can’t demand to see him because we don’t really have any proof that something’s wrong. Reuben’s got a wall of lawyers telling him his rights, and if he’s as much of a control freak as you say, he’s going to insist on handling all of this on his own.’

Faith said, ‘Amanda’s working on a warrant to tap his phones. She’s got four cars outside his house. If anyone leaves, they’ll be followed. But you’re right, you and I can’t do anything right now except work our end of the case.’

Will felt the elephant from last night take a tentative step onto his chest. He shook it off. He wasn’t going to humiliate himself again the way he had at the funeral home. ‘Angie said that Jo was my daughter. Sara says my blood type doesn’t rule me out.’

‘Do you believe Angie?’

He told Faith the only truth he knew. ‘All I can think about is punching her in the throat until her windpipe collapses so that I can see the panic in her eyes while she suffocates to death.’

‘That’s disturbingly specific.’ Faith got that expression on her face that told him she was going to try to mother him. ‘Why don’t you go home and get some rest? It’s been a tough couple of days. I can interview Jane Doe. Amanda should be here any minute. You probably shouldn’t be talking to a potential witness anyway.’

‘It’s already tainted. I’m the one who found her.’ Will stood up. He straightened his tie. He had to take a cue from Angie and keep moving forward. If he let the stress get to him, if he had another stupid panic attack, he’d never be able to hold up his head again. ‘Let’s do this.’

He let Faith lead the way. Jane Doe 2 was one of three Jane Does on the ward. Jane Doe 1 was in a quiet room at the end of the hall. Jane Doe 3 had a cop outside her door. Grady was Atlanta’s only publicly funded hospital. There were a lot of Does here.

Their particular Jane Doe was in a tiny room sectioned off by a glass window and a heavy wooden door that wouldn’t close all the way. Machines pumped and hissed. A heart monitor tracked beats. The lights had been left on. Both of Jane Doe’s eyes were blackened, because that’s what happened when your nose collapsed into your face. Heavy bandages were wrapped around the top two-thirds of her head, leaving her mouth and chin exposed. Greasy brown hair puffed out between the gauze. Two surgical drains, basically clear bags that caught excess fluid and blood from the wound, were dangling down either side of her face. She reminded Will of the colo claw fish from the bad Star Wars.

Jane stopped eating her Jell-O mid-bite when Faith and Will walked in. ‘Leave that door open. I don’t wanna end up being another black woman who dies mysteriously in police custody.’

Faith said, ‘First, you’re not in police custody, and second, you’re not black.’

‘Shit.’ Jane rubbed at her white arms. ‘How’d I manage to fuck up my life so bad, then?’

‘I’m assuming personal choice had something to do with it.’

Jane put down the empty cup. She sat back in bed. Her voice was raspy. She was older than Will had first thought, closer to fifty. He had no idea why he’d ever thought she might be Angie.

Jane said, ‘Whaddaya want? I gotta sponge bath in a few minutes, then Judge Mathis is on.’

‘We want to talk to you about Sunday night.’

‘What’s today?’

‘Tuesday.’

‘Holy shit, that was some blow.’ The drain bags flopped against her cheeks as she laughed. ‘God damm, bitch. Sunday, I was on the moon.’

Faith gave Will the look that said she didn’t have the patience for this.

He told Jane, ‘I feel like we got off on the wrong foot. I’m Special Agent Trent with the GBI. This is my colleague, Faith Mitchell.’

‘Call me Dr Doe, on account’a I’m in a hospital.’

Will doubted the woman was carrying an ID and he couldn’t fingerprint her without arresting her, which brought its own problems. He said, ‘All right, Dr Doe. Someone was murdered Sunday night in the building across the street from where we found you Monday morning.’

She asked, ‘Shot?’

‘We’re not sure. Did you hear a gunshot?’

Jane leveled him with a gaze. ‘Do you know that at least once a year, a dog shoots somebody?’ She seemed to think this was useful information. ‘You ask me, people should be real careful about keeping dogs in their homes. Aha.’ She looked past Will. Amanda was in the doorway. Jane said, ‘The captain always commands from the back of the ship.’

Amanda accepted the compliment with a nod of her head. ‘Agent Mitchell, why hasn’t this suspect been transferred to the prison ward downstairs?’

Faith said, ‘You mean the one with no TV or sponge baths?’

‘Damn, bitches, you don’t gotta go DEFCON so fast.’ Jane struggled to sit up in the bed. ‘All right, I got information. What’s in it for me?’

Amanda said, ‘You’ve got one more day in the ICU, then you’ll be transferred downstairs to the regular patient wards. I can get you a couple of extra days on the ward. After that, you’ll be enrolled in a treatment program.’

‘Nah, I don’t need no program. I’m back on the coke as soon as I get outta here. I’ll take the extra two days, though. And you’ll give it to me because I was in the building when it happened.’

‘The office building?’ Will asked.

‘No, the whatsit, the one with the balcony.’ Her brown teeth showed in a smile beneath the bandages. ‘Now I got your attention.’

Faith crossed her arms. ‘What time did you get there?’

‘Aw, shit. They stole my Rolex.’ She patted her wrist. ‘What time? How do I know what time it is, bitch? It was dark outside. There was a full moon. It was Sunday. That’s what I know.’

Faith stepped back so that Amanda could take over. She knew when a witness had turned against her.

Amanda said, ‘Start with the gunshot.’

‘I was across the street in the office building, bedding down for the night, right? Then I hear this gunshot and I’m like, “What the fuck?” Like, could it be a backfire from a car? Could it be a gangbanger, which, holy shit, that ain’t my jam.’ She coughed to clear some phlegm from her throat. ‘Anyway, so I’m lying there thinking about what can I do. Then I decide I need to check it out in case there’s some kind of gang thing going down, get my ass outta there, ya know?’

Tags: Karin Slaughter Will Trent Mystery
Source: readsnovelonline.net