Page 16 of The Lost Bones
TEN
Mackenzie carried a bag of fries and Diet Coke into the hospital. She checked her watch. There was only an hour until visiting hours were over. She slowed down, seeing Austin speaking to the doctor. When the doctor spotted her, he smiled. “Ah, Detective Price.”
Austin looked over his shoulder, casting a curt glance at her.
“How’s our patient doing?” Mackenzie asked.
Before the doctor could reply, his pager beeped and he excused himself, leaving Austin and Mackenzie facing each other in the middle of the hallway. The air between them was thick, cinched with palpable tension. The friendship they had built in the last months was now fragile. Mackenzie felt like she had gone back in time to when Austin had first arrived, when they’d treated each other like enemies, not realizing they were both hurting from a loss.
“So, you’re on this case?” She tried breaching the cold silence. He nodded. “Has she spoken to you?”
He shook his head. “No one’s reported her missing. She’s consented to have her DNA tested and prints taken for us to check if she’s on the system. She’s Jane Doe for now.”
“That’s a start.” Mackenzie tapped her foot. She wasn’t the best at making small talk. It was always Nick compensating for her lack of social skills. “Where’s Nick? I’ve been trying to get in touch with him.”
“Port Angeles,” Austin replied with an edge to his voice. “Chasing up some old leads.”
Mackenzie opened her mouth to say something, even though she didn’t know what exactly, but he was already walking away. The back of his coat swished in the air.
She tapped lightly on the door and pushed it open, peeking her head in. Jane Doe was lying on the bed, watching television dully. When she saw Mackenzie, she jerked upright, her chest heaving in deep breaths and eyes blinking.
“Am I disturbing you?” Mackenzie asked.
Jane Doe shook her head meekly.
Mackenzie smiled brightly and sat on the chair next to her, offering her fries and Coke. “The nurse told me you can have some. I can imagine hospital food is bland.”
At first, the woman stared at the fries like she was waiting for them to attack her. Mackenzie picked up a fry and popped it in her mouth. Only then did Jane Doe follow suit. Initially she chewed hesitantly, but within a few minutes, she was eating like a starved animal. Mackenzie noticed that she looked better than yesterday, with some color returning to her pale skin. But she was still skinny like a whippet, with sinewy arms.
“What do I call you?” Mackenzie asked. The woman stopped chewing and stared at her. “Right now, we just call you Jane Doe. You must have a name.” She shrugged and went back to drinking Coke.
“Jane Doe it is,” Mackenzie muttered. “The detective on your case is very good. Austin Kennedy. I work with him.” Jane Doe frowned, so she continued. “You can trust him.”
Jane Doe looked away, watching the television.
“The nurse said you’re getting discharged tonight. Do you know where you’ll go?”
No response.
Mackenzie fiddled with her fingers, teeming with helplessness. She kept checking her phone, waiting for Nick to get back to her. She wanted to discuss the muskrat hair with him. She hadn’t seen any forensic reports on the Sophie Fields case. But Nick was probably driving back from Port Angeles right now. She hoped that this coincidence would be reason enough to treat Courtney’s disappearance more seriously.
In a few minutes, light rain began tapping against the window. Jane Doe muted the television and turned her head to look out into the bottomless darkness beyond the water-stained glass. The room filled with the soothing sound of pitter-patter. It massaged Mackenzie’s brain. In the window, she saw Jane Doe’s reflection. She had a soft smile on her face. Like she was listening to the rain after a very long time.
Later that night, Mackenzie was in her kitchen baking cookies, following one of her grandmother’s recipes. She turned up the classical music and basked in the mouth-watering smell that filled the kitchen. A cool wind wafted inside from the open window, making the curtains billow. Outside, the squad car was visible. Whenever Mackenzie saw it, she was filled with annoyance and embarrassment. The poor guys on patrol were new and on the most unnecessary task. No one was going to hurt her. After everything that had transpired last year, she had become more cautious. But why was she unable to shake off that feeling? That one second of dread before a vase crashes to the floor. Except that one second was stretched into a perpetual state of being. She was always on edge, waiting for something to go very wrong.
When her phone rang, she jumped. “Shit. Hello?”
“Sorry, I just saw your missed calls,” Nick said, sounding beat. “Traffic was a bitch.”
“Remember you found muskrat fur on the rug?”
He sighed. “Mack, I’m tired. It was a long drive.”
“No, I have something.”
“I’m listening.”
“Tech picked up muskrat fur from the place where Courtney was last seen. Few feet away from her car, just at the edge of a wooded area.”
