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“Who were you working with on the other two nights?” she asked. “Do you stick with the same crew, usually?”
“Sometimes,” Paul shrugged. He looked between the sheets of paper which held information about Marchall and Rowse, as if he was looking into his memory at the same time. “I don’t think… no, these two nights were different crews. Holly was there for both Lincoln and Stephanie, I think, but she wasn’t there when we responded to the car crash for Veronica. It all depends on who’s on shift, you know?”
Laura nodded. She made a note of it, anyway, in case it turned out to be relevant. She could always track this Holly down and interview her next, if she got desperate. It looked like a dead end, but you never really knew.
She was about to ask another question when the door opened, letting in a couple of EMTs who were loudly laughing and talking among themselves. They stopped when they noticed Laura, their expressions dropping from the over-exuberant to simply cheerful.
“Oh, sorry,” one of them said. “Didn’t realize you had a guest in today, Paul!”
“Oh, I don’t,” Paul said, though he was smiling back at them. “This is Agent – Frost, wasn’t it? She’s with the FBI.”
“Hope you’re not looking into Paul,” one of the newcomers, an older guy who was rail-thin and had tightly muscled arms under his shirt, joked. “He’s one of our best. We need him on the team!”
Paul laughed and shook his head. “Don’t listen to him,” he said. “He’s just trying to get me to cover his weekend shift.”
“You know it,” the older EMT laughed. “No, I’m not kidding. He’s got a better record than most of us out here.”
“Is that so?” Laura asked, looking back at Paul.
He had a faint blush on his cheeks, which was kind of funny to see on a man who was so handsome, self-possessed, and obviously confident in his work. “I don’t really pay attention to the records,” he said modestly.
“Well, those of us that do know he’s got a hell of a lot of saved lives ahead of most of us,” the older man said. “What are you chatting about, anyway?”
“It’s a case,” Paul said, sliding the pieces of paper back across the table to Laura. “I… guess I’m not supposed to talk about it?”
“If you could keep it to yourself for now,” Laura replied, tucking the sheets back away into the folder. “Thanks for your time, anyway. I think that about covers it. But if you do think of anything relevant…”
Paul took the card she was offering him with a nod and a smile, immediately slipping it into his breast pocket. “I’ll call you right away,” he said.
“Thanks again,” Laura told him, getting up. “Enjoy the rest of your break.”
“Thank you,” Paul said. “And, good luck. I hope you catch whoever did this. It’s… well, it’s a tragedy.”
Laura nodded, skirting the three other EMTs who now made the small break room feel crowded on her way to the door. She found her own way out of the hospital, back the way she’d come in, until she was standing outside in the cold air of the morning again. It was still early. Early enough that, if the killer was planning on starting a timer today, it wouldn’t have been set up yet.
But not early enough that she had any confidence she was going to get this done.
It was almost starting to seem impossible. Paul Payne had been her best lead yet, and she had even started to feel excited that she might be getting somewhere in this case. But now that she had met him in person, she had no qualms about ruling him out of the investigation. Not only was he charming and obviously cared a lot about his patients, but he had no connection to the third victim. Lincoln Ware had been revived when Paul wasn't even on duty, and his coworkers seem to think highly of him as well. From what Lauren knew of the Angel of Mercy-type killers, usually there was a lot of suspicion among their colleagues. People noticed when deaths happened around a certain person. It was just that the system often allowed them to get away with it for longer than they should.
Which left her back exactly where she had been yesterday, and the day before that, and even really where she'd been before she'd even heard of the case. Yes, she knew now that it must have something to do with the fact that all three victims had once been clinically dead, only to survive. But where did that get her? She had no way to link it to any particular person, and there must be so many hundreds or even thousands of people living in Atlanta who had once almost died.
Nate wasn't talking to her again; or if he was, it made no difference because she had no idea where he was now. Lacey's visit was still coming up, and Laura felt another day slipping out of her grasp slowly as they failed to get anywhere with the case. Another day closer to having to forfeit her first weekend with her daughter, and maybe something even more serious than that if she couldn't get back in time. And there was Amy, who needed support and help. If Laura had been back home, she would have gone round there, to help Chris out as quickly as she was able to. But she couldn't. Everything had to be on pause until this case was done.
Add on top of that the fact that her visions were playing up, and she had no idea why, and Laura was starting to feel like the weight of the world was on her shoulders with this case. She had no idea how to push through it. Or what she was going to do now.
All she knew was she couldn't give up.
Laura walked back to the rental car in the parking lot, shut herself inside, and leaned over the steering wheel, trying hard to think. There must be something she could do to either trigger a vision that actually told her something or move this case forward.
She just had to think.
CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE
Jenny sighed, looking out of her window at the car. She wished she didn’t have to go, but she was going to have to.
This was how it had been, lately. Staring out at that car, trying to work up the courage to go and get into it. Knowing she had to.
Jenny pushed her hair back from her face, the scars on her right arm catching her eye as she did so. She felt like she couldn't go anywhere without seeing a reminder of what had happened only a few months ago, even if only on her own body. The bandages had been off for a while now, and the cuts had healed to red lines, but that didn't mean she didn't remember what it felt like when they were fresh.
