Nobody moved.
“I took this job because I wanted to be nobody. I was quiet because I was tired. I was never weak.”
Josie crept out from behind the warmer and wrapped both arms around Lauren’s waist.
“You came,” she said into the scrubs. “Mommy said you would.”
Lauren knelt and held her.
For a moment, all the armor fell away.
“Josie, tell me about the bridge. What did you see?”
“A big red light on a crane. It was blinking. We slid down the hill. Mommy’s head was bleeding.”
Lauren closed her eyes.
She knew that bridge.
Harlan Street, the old drawbridge, the crane on the east side, a steep embankment, a drainage creek at the bottom.
The phone rang.
She snatched it up.
“Section Nine. Unit inbound. Supervising agent is Rowan Hale.”
“Medics are rolling to Harlan Bridge. East side, below the crane light, in the creek. She’s alive until someone proves otherwise.”
