Page 48 of Deception

He wrapped his arms around her, and she leaned into him, resting her head on his chest, feeling the steady beat of his heart.

“I’m so sorry. You want to sit in the waiting room?”

“I’m not leaving.”

A nurse came out of the room, and Madison stepped out of his arms and faced her. “How is he?”

“We’re stabilizing him.”

“H-he’s going to be all right?”

“At least for now.” The nurse squeezed her arm. “And youmight as well return to the waiting room or even go home and rest—it’ll be a while before you can see him again.”

“Thank you.” Madison took a cleansing breath and turned to Clayton. “How is Lindsey Tremont?”

“It’s complicated.”

“What do you mean?”

“I tracked down Rebecca, and there are some developments.”

“What did she say?”

“One, that she’s quite a fighter. And if she knows about you, she’s not talking. When Rebecca asked about family, she clammed up. But the kicker is, she emphatically claims her name isn’t Lindsey Tremont.”

“I can see that if she’s in the witness security program. She might deny that’s who she is, but why tell you her name in the first place?”

“The anesthesia, maybe.”

That made sense. “Did she give another name?”

“Dani Parker.”

Madison’s head ached, and she massaged the back of her neck. This case kept getting stranger and stranger. “I want to go in to see her, but first I’d like to get Allyson to do a background check on Dani Parker.”

“I saw a coffeepot around the corner. You want a cup?”

Madison would about kill for one right now and nodded as she took out her phone and dialed Allyson and explained what she wanted.

“It won’t be a full report, but if you’ll stay on the line, I’ll run the name,” the analyst replied.

“I’ll hold.” A smile came to her lips when Clayton returned with a Styrofoam cup.

“You there?” Allyson said.

“Yep.”

“It’s weird. There’s a file on a Dani Parker, but it’s password protected. However, we received a missing person alert for someoneby that name just last night. She was supposed to arrive at Wings of Hope here in Jackson around nine with a young woman by the name of Briana Reed, but they never showed.”

“What’s Wings of Hope?”

“It’s an organization that rescues victims of human trafficking.”

“Thanks. Can you check around and see if either Lindsey Tremont or Dani Parker is in WITSEC?”

“I’ll try my connection at the US Marshals office.”

“Thanks, Allyson. I owe you one.” Madison was so thankful for the connections she’d made. “We have movement on the case,” she said, turning to Clayton. He handed her the cup of coffee, and she took a sip before she relayed what she’d learned.

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