“Or she could be terrified,” Anne said, upset. “Imagine being four years old and waking up in this place, hooked to machines, surrounded by strangers. Poor little thing!”

“Yeah,” Mendez agreed. “There’s that. Thanks for coming, Anne.”

“Of course I would come,” she said, cutting Vince a look. “I’m happy to help. Can I go in the room?”

“I’ll introduce you to the doctor and Mrs. Bordain,” Mendez said, taking her gently by the elbow.

“Mrs. Bordain, Marissa Fordham’s sponsor?” Vince asked, separating his protégé from his wife.

“Yes,” Mendez said, rolling his eyes as he raised his hands clear of Anne. “Bill and I went to talk to her and tell her the news. She demanded we bring her here to see Haley. She’s the girl’s scary godmother or something. The kid woke up and started screaming, but Mrs. Bordain is the closest thing we’ve got to a relative so far.”

“She’s not exactly having a calming effect,” Vince said dryly. Milo Bordain, early- to mid-fifties, tall, blond, dressed to the nines, stood well back from the bed, horrified, one hand pressed to her chest as if to hold her heart in.

Mendez shrugged. “The woman doesn’t know what to do. Like I said: The doc thinks the screaming could be a sign of brain damage. We know the girl was strangled unconscious. Who knows how long her brain was deprived of oxygen.”

“Did you call Child Services?”

“Yeah,” Mendez said, carefully avoiding Vince’s stare. “No sign of them.”

“Maybe you should call again,” he said pointedly.

“Oh, for God’s sake,” Anne muttered. She pushed past them both and went into the room.

Vince poked Mendez in the chest with a finger, pissed off. “I don’t want her involved in this.”

Mendez shrugged, feigning innocence. “Then why did you bring her?”

“I ought to kick your ass, Junior.”

“Yeah, maybe Bill will hold your walker for you while you try that, Old Man.”

“Ha-ha. You’re a laugh riot,” Vince said sarcastically. He glanced into the room to see his wife reaching out a hand to Haley Fordham. “You’re not the one holding her after the nightmares,” he said quietly.

Mendez had the grace to look contrite. “Jeez, I’m sorry. I didn’t think of that. She seems okay.”

“She’s not.”

“I’ll call Child Services.”

“You do that.”

Mendez went in search of a phone.

Vince stared into the little girl’s room, thinking it was already too late.

Anne stood close to the bed, her arms around the sobbing child clinging to her for dear life.

Chapter 21

21

Anne walked into the hospital room, Haley Fordham’s screams piercing her eardrums. She went straight to the doctor standing at the foot of the bed, a small dark-haired man with a close-cropped beard. He was making notes in the chart, strangely calm, considering the state the child was in.