Page 165 of Hidden Nature

She dug a little more and found an article with a statement from a neighbor.

“What the hell, get it off your brain.”

She ran a search, found the neighbor’s number.

Got a cheery hello when she called.

“Ms. Foster?”

“That’s me!”

“Ms. Foster, I’m Sergeant Cooper with the Natural Resources Police.”

“Don’t that beat all! My nephew Mikey’s with the NRP up inWashington State. He just loves it. We went up for his wedding two years ago in June, and it’s easy to see why. Beautiful country.”

Sloan smiled to herself. This made it easy.

“I’m in Western Maryland, and I love it, too. Ms. Foster, I’m investigating some missing persons cases, and your neighbor Celia Russell’s name came up. I wonder if I could ask you a few questions.”

“Oh, Celia. I just don’t know what to think. I swear I don’t. We were friendly. Out here in the country, it’s smart to be friendly with neighbors. Her husband up and left her some years back, so me and mine checked in on her now and then.

“I told the police right off there’s no way Celia would’ve walked off like that. I think, I swear I think, somebody must’ve run her down when she was walking Misty—her dog? Somebody driving too fast killed her, then buried her body somewhere. I worried about her walking that sweet little dog, but Celia, she did love her walks.”

“She took them every day.”

“Sure did. Got herself a treadmill to use if the weather was just too bad, but she didn’t care for it. ‘Who wants to walk nowhere?’ she’d say to me. And she wanted the fresh air, even in the dead of winter.”

Sloan knew just how Celia Russell felt.

“I know y’all are calling it an abduction, but what sense is that? She wasn’t rich, nobody had a thing against her.”

“Could you tell me if Ms. Russell had any medical issues?”

“Like maybe she had a heart attack or stroke or something and stumbled off into the woods? No sense there either, as they searched all over and I expect that little dog would’ve run right back home.”

“Yes, I’m sure you’re right. But—”

“But since you asked, she had that heart surgery back… when was that? I think back last February. Yes, that’s right. We kept Misty with us while she was in the hospital. Her daughter—she’s a good girl—came and stayed with her at the house for a week or so after.”

“She had heart surgery?”

“Had a bad valve in there, it turns out. She was looking poorly before, but they fixed her right up. To think she went through all that only to get run over by some speed demon!”

Sloan made notes, circledsurgery, circledFebruary.

“Were there any complications?”

“She was right as rain. Not that it was all easy-peasy. Took hours to fix her up, and she told me that her heart stopped while they were fixing her so they had to jolt her back.”

Even as she spoke, Sloan took the photo of Celia Russell she’d printed out and tacked it to the wall. “Her heart stopped during the surgery?”

“For a minute or two. It’s a miracle of God and man what doctors can do, isn’t it? I take some comfort she had those good months between.”

“I wonder what hospital she was in.”

“WVU, in Morgantown. She said it’s the best there is, and they sure took care of her. I don’t suppose they’ll ever find who ran her down that way.”

“I know the investigators continue to look. I appreciate your time, Ms. Foster.”

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