“You think somebody lured my daughter away?”
“It’s a possibility. It happens more often than you think. We need to compile a list of key people and then we’ll head to those locations, hang up posters, start asking questions. That’s how we get information. Once you get a few answers, it usually snowballs from there. Then we can figure out which way we need to go.”
“Or I get into her online accounts, browser history,” Bao said. “That might help, too. Unless you’ve found a diary, Ange.”
“No, I haven’t. I don’t think she kept one.”
“The police have to do this work,” Carolyn said with venom. “I can’t believe they’re not doing this for my daughter! She’s missing and they’re not doing anything to find her. She might be dead for all I know!” Carolyn sank to the floor, tears streaming, her body convulsing as she sobbed.
Angie went to her, knelt down, and brushed away some of the tears streaming down her client’s face. “I know this is hard, beyond hard, and it’s so frustrating. I know you want the police to do more, but unless we can prove there was a crime, they’re going to be limited in what they can do for us. That doesn’t mean they don’t care. They want to help and we’re going to help them. We’re going to keep them informed every step of the way.”
Angie’s phone rang. DAD the display read, so she let it go to voice mail. Carolyn needed and deserved her full attention right now.
“It’s just not right,” Carolyn said, no longer crying, but her hands still shaking. “God, I need a drink. Can I get you two something?”
Angie bit her tongue. It was not the time or place to confront Carolyn’s drinking.
Angie’s phone buzzed as a text came in. Sweetheart it’s Dad . . . call me ASAP 911. It’s Mom.
Angie’s breath caught and her hand went to her mouth.
“What is it? What’s wrong?” Carolyn asked, taking notice of Angie’s distress.
“Hang on, hang on.” Disoriented, Angie dialed her father, her hands shaking violently.
“Daddy? Daddy, what’s going on?” Angie said soon as her father answered.
“Baby, I’m so sorry. I’m so very sorry.” Her father’s breath came in spurts. He was crying, something Angie had never heard him do before.
“Daddy, where’s Mom? What’s happened?” The tremor in Angie’s voice made it hard to get the words out.
“She’s gone, sweetheart,” Gabriel said. “Your mother had a massive stroke this afternoon. She’s gone.”
CHAPTER 6
Kathleen DeRose wasn’t gone, not exactly. Angie was completely shocked at the sight of her mother motionless on her hospital bed, even though she knew that the brain damage from the stroke had been extensive and catastrophic. They had shaved the front of her head and made a hole to alleviate the pressure. A thin plastic tube drained blood from the brain while machines clinked and hummed and breathed for her. Kathleen did not have enough brain function left to breathe without mechanical help.
Her mother’s eyes were perhaps the most disturbing sight of all. They were milky gray, gazing at nothing, vacant. The eyelids fluttered in a reflexive way, as if dust had gotten stuck underneath.
The doctor on call explained the situation as best he could. Other doctors who’d treated Kathleen when she was first admitted would have to fill in details later. Still, a picture formed in Angie’s mind that was devastatingly easy to understand.
Kathleen had suffered a hemorrhagic stroke, the least common but most often fatal of the two types of strokes. An aneurysm had burst, causing blood to spill into places blood didn’t belong. The result was tremendous swelling and pressure that damaged most of the cells and tissue in the brain. The aneurysm could have been related to the lupus, but chances were they would never know.
Angie’s mother was alive, but dead. She had a heartbeat and lung respirations, but it was all because of the machines. The staff at Virginia Hospital Center had been incredibly solicitous, and answered every question Gabriel and Angie could think to ask.
Hours went by. Nothing major happened, because the major thing had already occurred. Angie had nothing to do but wait at her mother’s bedside.
Night turned to day and the doctor who first treated Kathleen finally interrupted the all-night vigil. Gabe and Angie were alone at Kathleen’s bedside. Because of a long-standing feud and an unconventional upbringing, Angie’s family was her father and her mother—no siblings, cousins, aunts, or uncles were in the picture. They’d never been a part of Angie’s life; instead, Walter and Louise Odette had served as honorary aunt and uncle.
The doctor, a thin, kind-eyed man with graying hair, led them to a room where the reality came into sharper, grimmer focus. Kathleen’s heart was failing. They would need to put in a PICC line to give her medicine that would prevent a fatal heart attack.