Her brother finally walked in the door and dropped his keys on the foyer table. “I’ve got Brianne’s address. Or I guess I should give Annie the credit. Having the last name helped. She was able to find her, thanks to one of her contacts with the Army’s CID.”

Sarah blinked. “You’re kidding.”

“Nope.”

She sat up and let her feet drop to the floor. “So, where does she live?”

“Not too far from here, actually. About a thirty-minute drive.”

“Do you know anything else about her?”

“I spoke to her dad. He said she was wounded in Afghanistan about a week before you were kidnapped. Like you, she was shipped home for care here at the VA hospital.”

“So, she was there.”

“He said she was, but turns out that the hospital didn’t contact them. Brianne was there for three days before they actually learned she was back from Afghanistan. He said an anonymous caller phoned them, refused to give his name, but told them to get her out of the hospital because it wasn’t safe for her.”

“What?”

“Annie ran the number he said the call came from, and it was made from inside the hospital.”

“Then why would Dr. Kilgore and the nurse deny her presence when it’s very obvious her family knows she was there? And what did the caller mean she wasn’t safe?”

“Her father didn’t know but said they went to get her and had her admitted to the VA psychiatric ward because she was suicidal. I asked her father if he could think of a reason she wouldn’t be in the system and he had no idea. Said there must be a glitch or something.”

“Right. A glitch.” Sarah pressed her lips together. “Can they—or we—ask for an investigation into the hospital?”

“We could, but I’m not sure our argument would be taken seriously. I mean, there could be a very valid excuse why she’s not there. Or if there’s something more sinister behind it, the hospital would just come up with some plausible lie. I’m not saying I want to let them get away with it, should there be something they’re getting away with. I’m just saying I think we need more information to back up your belief that the hospital did something wrong.”

He was probably right. “So, where’s Brianne now?”

“Her father said she took a turn for the worse mentally, even as she was healing physically. She started hallucinating and having paranoia.”

“She was in restraints. She thought they were trying to kill her.”