“Sure. I get that.” The nurses had said the same to Jordan, but she had hated the quiet and the calm. She wanted her family and friends around her.

“Let me guide you to the chair by her bed. Don’t want you tripping.”

“That would be appreciated.”

Sandra guided her across the room to a chair. “Casey, Detective Poe is here.”

Casey drew in a deep breath as if she had just woken up.

“She’s had a sedative,” Sandra said.

It would take time to peel back the layers of Casey’s ordeal. Jordan stretched her fingers forward, brushing the smooth cotton of the bedsheets. “Casey.”

“Detective. I’ve been asking for you,” Casey said.

“I know you’ve had a lot of people in and out of here today. I won’t stay long.”

“It’s okay.” Tubes shifted, and the mattress creaked as Casey adjusted her body. “Can you press the button to raise me up?”

Jordan felt for the control panel she had never mastered when she had been here. “You’ll have to press the up button. I can’t see it.”

“It’s dim in here,” Casey said. “I can turn up a light.”

“I’m afraid that won’t help.” Jordan held out the control.

Casey took the device, and soon the bed was rising. “Why can’t you see it?”

“My vision is messed up.” The descriptor still did not fit.

“How can you . . .” Casey shifted her body against the mattress, and Jordan could feel her scrutiny intensify.

She did not flinch or look away. “You saw him hit me on the back of the head.”

“Yes.”

“Long story short, the blood supply was cut to my ocular nerve. It caused damage.”

“Will it get better?”

“I don’t know.” She smoothed her palms over her legs. “Tell me what you saw that night.”

“I saw you rushing into the room, then your face and the knife. I just wanted air. And then I saw him racing toward you. I tried to scream, but my throat was so dry. And then it was too late. You were on the floor.”

“And then?”

“He grabbed me by the arms. Said he’d kill me if I made a sound. He dragged me out of the room and threw me in the bed of his truck, covered me with a tarp. We drove around for hours.”

“He’s been operating in a ten-mile radius,” she said.

“In the darkness it’s impossible to tell,” Casey said.

“It’s very disorienting.”

“He came back more times than I can remember.” A sigh shuddered over her lips. “Each time he had a bag and told me to put it on my head.”

“The nurses told me you were sexually assaulted.”

“I lost track of how many times.” She began to cry.

Jordan sat silent, waiting. Fear and shame were powerful demons that could make life damn near impossible.