Taured. Or was it? After all these years, she knew his tone, his style. This was not Taured. But what did he want? As she sat, trying to fight the fog in her brain, it occurred to her. A fragment of an idea began to form in her mind. Sara. She opened up a browser on her laptop.

Okay, she texted back. What do you want?

23

Then

She’d woken in a hospital room alone, not afraid, but relieved. O’Connor was in the room, sitting in a chair, and a man stood next to her, this one short, bespectacled and bald.

“May I have something to drink, please?” Her voice was a rasp. A nurse brought her water and sat her up in bed. Then O’Connor turned to her. “Summer, this is Dan Malari. He’s a social worker with the state and he’s been assigned your case.”

“What case? I have grandparents, I told you their names. I—”

“It’s just procedure to open a case file, Summer. When there are accusations and a removal of a minor from a home, we have to investigate for your well-being.” Dan Malari didn’t smile at her when he spoke, but Summer felt that he was an okay guy, anyway. There was something calm about him.

“But I don’t have to go back there?”

“No, you’ve been removed from that place and it is currently under investigation.”

Summer felt like she could breathe for the first time since...when? Forever. She could breathe so long as they never sent her back to that place. She touched her neck and felt bare skin. “Where’s my mother’s necklace?”

“I’m sure they’re keeping it safe for you. They might have taken it off while making sure you were okay.”

If it was gone... Her face bunched up and she dissolved into tears.

“What about my mother? Will they be investigated for what they did to her?”

“What did they do to her?”

“They locked her in a room and killed her.”

“How? With what?”

“She didn’t take drugs, no matter what anyone says. I know she didn’t. They injected her against her will.”

He looked embarrassed for her, but he nodded slowly. “We’ll let the coroner do their job, okay? My job is to find out where the safest place for you is.”

Summer closed her eyes; the safest place for her was with her mother.

“If there was foul play involved in her death, police will move forward with an investigation.”

Summer looked at O’Connor and the woman nodded; she didn’t feel good about that, but she didn’t feel bad, either. Things were still in the air, as her dad used to say.

“What if they can’t prove foul play?” she asked carefully.

“Then there is no case,” O’Connor said matter-of-factly. Summer nodded, settling back into her pillow.