Breathe (Colorado Mountain 4)

“I need a plug,” Silas said at this point. “Gotta charge this puppy up.”

Then he took off.

Chace watched as Silas moved away, his head down, his eyes obviously scanning for an outlet. Then Chace saw Sondra standing with an African American woman who was not a nurse, but Malachi’s doctor. She was wearing scrubs, her long, glossy black hair pulled back in a thick ponytail and both of them were looking at a pair of navy blue, flannel, little boys pajama bottoms with airplanes printed on them, smiling.

Chace looked back at Karena.

“I’ll fast-track it,” she mumbled, her lips twitching and she moved away, hand in her purse to pull out her phone.

It was Sunday and Karena Papadakis, a woman he’d worked with more than once, had taken his call and left her family to meet with him at the hospital.

Now she was making more calls to colleagues who also probably didn’t work on Sunday.

Chace grinned at her back as she walked away.

Then he moved toward Silas to help him find a plug.

* * * * *

“I’m sorry, Detective Keaton, this is awkward but I’ve asked you here because unfortunately we have to have this conversation,” the hospital administrator started. “Now that that boy is past urgent care, as he doesn’t have insurance, we need to discuss –”

“Don’t worry about the hospital bills,” Chace interrupted her. “I’ll be responsible for them. If there’s a specialist that can confer with Dr. Hughes who can assist in saving his hands and foot, please advise her that she has the go ahead to seek assistance with his case.”

The administrator blinked then rallied to inform him, “Dr. Hughes is an exceptional pediatric critical care doctor. We’re lucky to have her.”

Chace held her gaze, nodded and replied, “Glad to hear that. But if there’s more that can be done for him, I want it done. Even if he has to be transferred to another hospital.”

Quickly, she gave him information he didn’t give a f**k about, “We’re a fully-equipped Level II Trauma Center. The only one in the mountains outside Loveland and Grand Junction.”

“He’s beyond trauma care,” Chace reminded her.

“We’re an excellent facility,” she pressed.

“I believe you. I still want everything that can be done for Malachi done,” Chace returned.

“It’s my understanding the boy cleaned the wounds and treated them. Gangrene didn’t set in. He may lose some mobility but the threat of him losing them entirely is over.”

“Ma’am,” Chace leaned slightly toward her, “for an indeterminate amount of time, that boy has been livin’ in a shed in the woods by himself with no light, no heat and the toilet he used was a hole he dug himself in the corner. He does not need to endure that only to endure learnin’ to live without a limb or, possibly, losin’ some use of a limb. I get you got pride in your hospital. What you need to get is that I got the funds to see to it that boy gets the best care he can get. So I’m askin’ you to help me get him that. If you don’t, I’ll find a way to do it myself. Now, please, talk to Dr. Hughes and save that kid’s hands and foot.”

She held his gaze and whispered, “I’ll speak with Dr. Hughes.”

“Obliged,” Chace replied.

She got his point loud and clear and he knew this when she reached directly for her phone.

Chace gave her a nod, got out of the chair he was sitting in opposite her at her desk and walked out of her office. As he did, his phone rang.

He pulled it out, looked at the display and took the call.

“Keaton.”

“Blood’s a dead end, brother,” Deck said in his ear.

Deck had called earlier informing Chace he’d be with the officers who combed the woods that morning. Now, he sounded like he was in his truck.

“Nothing?” Chace asked.

“Few drops like they said, leadin’ northeast. Then they disappeared. Maybe he saw them and covered them. Don’t know. Just know there’s nothin’.”

“Tracks?”

“None of those either,” Deck replied. “Wind, snowmelt and settling, even efforts to cover them disappeared. The only thing we found is a trail leadin’ to the north side of town, goin’ in at the Carnal Hotel end and another leadin’ toward the library. Both sets, deep, back and forth, packed. But, you didn’t know he was out there, could be anyone’s since there were so many of them, packed in the snow with snowmelt wiping out individual prints so now it’s just a trough in the snow. But when he got close to the shed, he started to erase them. Smart kid. Didn’t know the trajectory, didn’t know the shed existed, which probably no one knew, by the time he made the effort to get rid of his trail, it could lead anywhere. No one would know where he was heading.”

Chace stopped at the elevator but stood to the side and didn’t tag a button.

“Your take?” he asked quietly and Deck answered immediately, knowing what Chace was asking.

“No f**kin’ clue. Cops say in those hills there are two housing developments, one upscale, one middle income and a bunch of older, individual residences not contained in a development. Beyond that, mountain’s too steep to build homes. Even so, cops say, and I could see for myself, it’d be near on impossible for him to climb up to any of those residences. Slope of the hill gives way to sheer rock face. I’m gonna grab some lunch then go back and look around more, see if there’s some opening where he could climb. If there is, see what it leads to and if he didn’t bother to cover those tracks. It was me, I was nine and someone was beatin’ the shit outta me, I’d be gone. I wouldn’t stay close. But for whatever reason, he went back for more. None of his prints, no one else’s either. No one found him at his shed and did that shit to him then left him there. So, I had to go with my gut, he was stickin’ close for a purpose. What that is, no f**kin’ clue.”

“Siblings,” Chace whispered.

“Say again?” Deck asked.

“Could see him getting beat because someone caught him stealing food or just plain stealing. That’d be jacked but the town is known to have a few mountain families who take care of their own business in an old world way. Those families live outside town, in the hills or up deep in the mountains. It’d be a surprise but I could see it happening. But Malachi is a smart kid, he’d learn not to get caught again and Faye says she’s seen him on numerous occasions with visible evidence of abuse. Personally, I’ve seen it twice. So that’s not it. Also could be he went back to someplace familiar to get food or clothes, got caught, got beat. Or it could be he went back to check on something he cared about, a brother, a sister, got caught, got beat. He wasn’t hiding that shed just from the general population of Carnal. He was hiding his tracks down from wherever he came. He was hiding from whoever’s at home. He’s hiding from everyone.”