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“She’s stable,” the front desk nurse said. “But fragile.”
“I need to tell her about her son,” Ellie said.
“I’d wait until morning,” she advised. “She’s still fairly weak right now.”
“I understand.” Ellie dreaded that conversation anyway. Maybe by morning she could tell the woman whether her son had survived the night. Her phone buzzed, and she checked the number.
Dr.Myers, Nolan’s psychologist. “Detective Reeves?” the doctor asked when Ellie answered.
“Yes, I hate to disturb you this late, but it’s about Nolan Grueler. I’m at the hospital with him now.”
The woman made a low sound in her throat. “What happened?”
“He’s a person of interest in the missing child case I’m working. A little while ago, he attempted suicide.”
“My word,” Dr.Myers said. “Is he going to be all right?”
“I don’t know,” Ellie said. “Doctors are with him now. I did talk to him before he shot himself and he denied abducting Ava. But it makes me wonder why he would kill himself if he’s innocent.”
Ellie heard papers being shuffled at the other end of the line. “You know I can’t divulge his medical information.”
“We are talking about a child abduction,” Ellie said bluntly. “Ava has been missing since this morning, and Nolan Grueler lived on the street behind her house.” She paused, and when the woman still didn’t reply, prompted her. “Tell me what you can.”
Another heartbeat dragged by. “Nolan was deeply troubled and tormented about his condition,” Dr.Myers said. “He claimed he didn’t want to be the way he was and did talk about taking his life once but I thought he was stable.”
“Do you think he could have given into his needs and abducted Ava?”
Her breathing sounded shaky. “If he did, I don’t think he’d hurt her,” she said. “His fantasies were never violent. In fact, quite the opposite.”
Everyone kept saying he wasn’t violent, but shooting himself had been an act of violence against himself. Maybe that spoke to the depth of self-hatred he possessed. “His parole officer believes that if he’d kidnapped her, he would have come clean,” Ellie said.
“I would have to agree,” Dr.Myers said. “He talked about wanting help, stopping himself and was open to more intensive therapy than what we’ve engaged in so far.” She paused. “What hospital is he in?”
“Bluff County,” Ellie answered. “I asked the nurse to inform me if or when he regains consciousness.
“Call me when he does, and I’ll stop by and talk to him myself.”
“Thank you,” Ellie said. “He might open up to you before he would me.”
Dr.Myers agreed and Ellie ended the call, then settled in the waiting room. Hopefully if Nolan came to, the psychologist could persuade Nolan to talk.
Although her instincts told her he was telling the truth. Which left them back at square one.
Thirty-Five
Saturday, December 21
The next morning, Ellie jerked awake, stiff from falling asleep in the hard chair in the hospital waiting room. During the night, her boss had texted that the sheriff would either be by or send someone first thing to guard Grueler so she could keep exploring other leads.
She stood and stretched her aching muscles, then went to the nurse’s station. “Any news on Nolan Grueler?”
“I’m sorry. He’s stabilized, but in a coma,” the nurse said. “Time will tell.”
Frustration tightened every inch of Ellie’s body. “Call me when he wakes up.”
A heavy feeling weighed on her as she glanced at the wall clock again.
It was 8 a.m. Ava had officially been missing for twenty-four hours.
