Hope started to shake her head. “I-I didn’t want to go down. Mr. Lewis said I should find the puppy and maybe my mommy would let me keep it.”
“Did Mr. Lewis go down the hill?”
“No, he said he was too big.”
Wyatt felt Melanie start to tremble under his hand. His feet itched to move. Find Mr. Lewis and beat him within an inch of his life.
Instead, Wyatt did his best to keep all emotion from his face and listen while Agent Burton and Jo asked questions.
“So you went down the hill?”
Hope shook her head faster. “I didn’t. I guess I tripped or something. I don’t remember falling.”
“Did you see the puppy?”
“No. Mr. Lewis saw the puppy,” Hope told them.
“Do you remember anything else, Hope? Anything about Mr. Lewis that didn’t feel right?”
Hope sat in silence for a several seconds, then opened her eyes wide. “He had a tattoo on his arm.”
Jo leaned forward. “And that didn’t feel right?”
“Well, Mr. Lewis is always so nice, but the picture on his arm was like a scary Halloween.”
“Mel, have you seen this tattoo?”
“No. He was always in a full dress shirt when I saw him.”
Agent Burton lifted both of her arms to Hope. “Can you point on me where you saw Mr. Lewis’s tattoo?”
She pointed to the agent’s left forearm, right below her elbow. Wyatt tried to remember if he’d seen the man with short sleeves. Like Mel, he only remembered a suit.
“Was it his left arm?”
Hope shrugged. “I don’t remember.”
“What does a scary Halloween mean?”
“Dark and squiggly. And kinda like the picture the doctor put on that thing.” Hope pointed to a light box on the wall of the room.
“Like an X-ray?”
Hope nodded.
“An X-ray of your arm?” Jo asked.
Hope pointed to her head. “An X-ray of my head.”
Jo glanced at Agent Burton. “A skull.”
“Yeah,” Hope added. “I saw a few of them. They were mean and ugly.”
Jo patted Hope’s leg. “You’ve been really helpful, honey. I’m going to talk to your mom outside for a few minutes.”
“M’kay.”
Melanie kept it together until the four of them walked out the double doors of the ICU. Then she lost it.
“He hurt my baby!” She turned toward Jo, grabbed both her friend’s shoulders, and shook them. “He did this!”
The River Bend posse jumped to their feet and moved by Mel’s side, all asking questions.
“What happened?”
“This is about Mr. Lewis, isn’t it?” Miss Gina asked.
“Okay, okay . . . everyone needs to settle down,” Agent Burton attempted to calm the room.
“The man lured my daughter into the woods and left her there to die. I’ll kill him. I swear—”
“Mel, stop, please. You need to stay focused again. Okay?”
Luke slid next to Wyatt. “Is this for real?”
“Hope said he told her he saw a puppy running in the woods and they went to find it.”
“That bastard!” Miss Gina muttered. “If I get my hands around his neck—”
“Get in line,” Zoe added.
“Guys, enough with the death threats. Jeez, I am a cop and Burton here is a Fed.”
Agent Burton offered a little shake of her head. “Emotions are high. But Jo is right. If this bastard ends up dead, I don’t want to have to stand witness. Keep that among yourselves. I’m going to check in with my partner.” She looked around the faces. “Then I’m going to have to interview each of you . . . see if we can gather any more information about our Mr. Lewis.”
“His address and credit card are all at the inn,” Miss Gina told them.
Agent Burton released a drawn-out sigh. “All of which are bogus. Along with his name.”
“But I saw his ID,” Miss Gina said.
“When was the last time you saw a fake ID?” Jo asked.
“The sixties.”
Jo patted her arm.
Wyatt realized that Melanie had gone silent.
“You all right?” He placed his arm over her shoulders.
She shook her head. “Do you think he pushed her?”
“I don’t know.”
“The doctor said Hope might not ever remember falling. You saw her, she knew she didn’t go down the hill willingly. Why would he want to hurt my baby?”
Everyone stopped talking and focused on Melanie.
“Why would a grown man want to kill my child?” She started to tear up. “Hope wouldn’t step on a spider.”
“We’re going to find out, Mel.”
When she started to shake again, Zoe stepped forward and wrapped her arms around her. Wyatt moved away and watched.
“C’mon, Mel. You heard Jo, hold it together. We’ll find the bastard.”
“He hurt my baby, Zoe.”
“I know. C’mon . . . let’s find a ladies’ room and clean you up a little. Splash some water on your face so you don’t scare Hope when you go back in.”
Wyatt watched as Zoe grabbed her bag and led Melanie away.
“Why would he toss her down a hill?” Luke asked the moment Mel was out of the lobby.
“God only knows. Sociopath? Child molester?”
“Oh, hell no!” Miss Gina cussed.
Jo lifted both hands. “Hold up, Hope isn’t giving any indication that anything like that happened.”
“Could be an offender trying to avoid the crime. We don’t know yet,” Agent Burton said.