I had to leave. I couldn't stay here and drive myself crazy. The answers weren't coming from my mother. I needed to go out and find them.

I let go of her hand and backed away from her bed. Then I left the room, walking quickly down the hall, sickened by the smells, the fear, and the uncertainty. It was too much.

The elevator took me down to the lobby. I felt immensely relieved when I got outside, and the air hit my face. I walked across the semi-circle drive in front of the building, heading to the parking lot. As I turned the corner and moved across the ramp to get to my car, I heard a sudden squeal of tires. I froze, as a vehicle sped straight toward me.

He wasn't going to stop.

That shocking realization jolted me into action, but I wasn't fast enough. The fender of the car caught me and threw me several feet in the air. I hit the ground hard as a woman screamed and the car raced away.

A man and a woman ran toward me.

"Are you all right?" the woman asked, dropping to her knees beside me.

I was shaking so badly I couldn't answer. I heard the man on the phone with 911. And then others were racing toward me.

They all had the same question: What happened?

I heard it asked more than once as I was taken into the hospital. The man and the woman said someone had hit me, that they were speeding, and they didn't stop.

I knew why they hadn't stopped. Because it hadn't been an accident.

The truth hit me harder than the ground I'd landed on. Someone had tried to kill me. They weren't just after my mother. Now, they were after me.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

After getting checked out in the ER, it turned out that while I'd scraped both knees and jammed a few fingers when I'd hit the ground, I hadn't broken anything, which was a blessing, considering the alternative. The nurse told me she would have the doctor sign my release and be right back. I was waiting for her when Inspector Greenman came in.

"Ms. Landry. How are you doing?" he asked, concern in his gaze.

"I'll be all right. I just got banged up."

"From what I hear, you were lucky."

"I know."

"We found the car," he said. "It was stolen a few hours ago and abandoned a mile away. Did you see the driver?"

"I think he was wearing a baseball cap, but I didn't have a good look."

"It was definitely a man then?"

I stared back at him, my mind replaying that moment when the car sped toward me. I thought it had been a man, but all I'd really seen was the ball cap. "I don't know," I murmured. "I assumed it was a man."

"Okay."