“I could rest here for a while.”
“It’s not that comfortable.”
“Maybe not, but I’m that tired.” He closed his eyes for a second, then shook his head quickly and jerked to a straighter position. “We’re still trying to track down the accident youremembered. So far Caleb hasn’t located it. And Ben Rice, a friend who works in hospital security, reviewed the video for me. We identified the man who went into Eliza’s bay last night and then left, but we lost him on the floor above.”
“Why would he go up?”
“It’s a great question. My thought is that he knew he could get lost if he did that. Then we wouldn’t know where he went, which car was his, etc., etc. It worked.” He pulled his phone out and brought up a picture on the screen. “Here’s a halfway decent image of the guy.”
She squinted at it, then looked at Todd. “This is the best one you have?”
“We don’t all have CSI’s toys.”
“It could be him.” She wished she could say with certainty, but the image was so grainy and pixelated, it was hard to know.
“Great. Acouldis really easy to use in court. I’ll get a warrant, no problem, on that kind of certainty.” She pulled back, and he sighed as if hearing his words. “Sorry. My filter’s gone, but that’s no excuse.”
“I understand.” And she did. They were both tired and strung out after the last twenty-four hours. “We both need to take a step back and extend some grace.” She leaned against the couch and suddenly understood why he’d jolted upright. The couch felt more like a hug ready to welcome her into its embrace. She couldn’t let herself sink into it. “What do we know?”
“Not much. It’s easier to list what we think we know.”
“Then do that.” She forced her eyes back open. She could not fall asleep.
“We think our Jane Doe’s name is Eliza Brandenberg.”
“But you aren’t certain?”
“No.” He rubbed his jaw as he yawned. “We could have the principal come down from Wayne and ID her. We may need toask her to do that to obtain positive identification since we can’t find the parents.” He typed a text. “Caleb can take care of that.”
“Or you could take a photo to send to her.” She realized he must be tired if he hadn’t thought of that. “That would save her the four-hour round-trip drive.”
“Good point.” He sent a second text. “We’ll do that after she’s back. It might not be conclusive if she’s changed a lot in the last six months, but I think it’ll work.” He shifted against the seat. “Then I want to talk to the busboy. Figure out if he’s the kid who got my attention last night. Why was he in the alley?”
“Throwing out the trash.”
“Sure, but why not call the police?”
“He knew you were the police?”
“Maybe, but I don’t think so. I’m not a uniformed officer. And I hadn’t made it into Rosie’s to get my food. He grabbed me before I went in.”
Bridget couldn’t explain why that would happen. “You’ve got me. It's a mystery.” She thought a moment. “We think we know who her parents are and that they died recently. But that also means we don’t know where she’s been since.” She really didn’t like the idea that this young girl had been on her own somewhere for a week or two.
“That’s the key. Where has she been? If her family moved to Waverly, we should be able to find her house.”
“It’s not a big town.”
“Exactly.”
He hadto get some rest or a high-octane caffeine fix. He made a few notes on his phone. The list of questions kept growing, but he knew that at some point, the direction would shift, and theanswers would begin to overtake the questions. It was a matter of when that realignment happened. His job right now was to make sure he had a handle on the questions and where they were taking him.
The spiderweb of growing questions could spin out of control if he didn’t carefully contain them.
The challenge came from controlling his fatigue, so he didn’t lose a thread.
Footsteps sounded down the hall, but he didn’t turn to look since the halls were constantly filled with activity in the hospital.
“What can’t you find?” Dani Jamison’s voice cut through Todd’s brain fog.
