When I return to Violet’s room, Officer Grady is in the doorway, waiting for me. I peek around his large frame, which fills the space. The nurse has finished collecting the blood samples, the wayward strands of hair, the bits of evidence that may have been left behind.

Beneath the warming blanket, lies Violet. She is on her side, facing the wall, curled up like a wooly caterpillar. The IV tube snakes out from beneath the blanket and up to the IV bag, where a clear liquid drips slowly into my daughter’s bloodstream. She looks so small, so fragile.

“I just don’t understand,” I say, coming up to Officer Grady. “Joseph Wither is the name of a person that the girls did a school project about. Why would Violet say that a make-believe man attacked them?”

“Boy,” Grady says. “Joseph Wither is a boy. Was a boy,” he adds, seeing the question on my face. “He hasn’t been seen by anyone in decades.”

“I don’t have time for this. I need to get back to my daughter.”

“Ms. Crow, please,” he says. “I have to talk to her. We need to find out what happened. Cora Landry isn’t in good shape.”

I think of Cora and how bad her face looked. Someone tried to kill her; there’s no other way to look at it. “Okay,” I finally say. “You can talk to her, but I want to be there.”

Officer Grady looks like he wants to argue with me on this point but quickly understands that there is no chance of changing my mind and nods in agreement.

“You can stay while I talk to her but I’m going to ask that you don’t interrupt. Some of the questions I ask may be upsetting but I have to ask them. Like I said, time is ticking. The longer that monster is out there, the more difficult it will be for us to catch him. As far as I know, Violet is the only witness who can tell us what happened.”

We step into Violet’s room together and I look to the nurse. “She seems more alert,” she says. “She had a drink of water and asked for you.” I feel a pang of regret for running out of the room when Violet needed me.

“Violet, honey,” I say and Violet shifts in the bed to look at me. Her eyes droop with exhaustion but the nurse is right: she seems more with it. “Can you talk to Officer Grady for a few minutes? He has some questions for you.”

Violet nods and makes room for me to sit next to her. “Are you feeling okay?” I ask. “Are you hurt at all?”

“No, I’m okay,” she says but her eyes dart from side to side as if looking for someone.