Chapter 38
I rode to the hospital in the back seat of a cop car with my mother, my head resting on her shoulder like I was a small child again.
It was more affectionate than either of us had been with each other in years.
It was unspoken, just natural. Her hand clasped mine.
Dad had gone with Hazel and Detective Newbury in the ambulance.
My mother and I sat in stunned silence. What could we say?
There weren’t any words. I wondered where Suzannah was now.
Poor Suzannah. How would she ever survive this? And the kids …
I wanted to ask my mother if this made any sense to her.
If she hated Tommy the way I did right now.
If she was sorry for condemning Will all this time.
If she had ever suspected that Tommy was capable of something like this.
But I didn’t. It felt like too much right now.
I wasn’t sure either of us could take it.
Upon arrival, we were escorted into the hospital through a side door. There was apparently a unit in Palms West for those who had experienced trauma. A closed floor where they could have privacy.
The nurse led us to a room where we found Newbury and my father sitting around Hazel’s bed.
She was wearing a flimsy paper gown, still with unbrushed hair and dirt on her face.
It was not surprising considering she had spent the last week in a shed.
I couldn’t believe she was here. But she was agitated.
“No!” she was shouting at both my father and Detective Newbury. “You don’t understand!”
“Hazel, please,” my father said, touching her arm. “Don’t yell at him, he’s just trying to help.”
“But you’re not listening to me,” Hazel said, wiping her face. She looked so young. She was so young. Her wrists were covered in beaded bracelets. Friendship bracelets. It yanked on my heart.
“It wasn’t Tommy who put me in that shed!” Hazel’s voice was rising with frustration.
“Then who did?” Detective Newbury asked her, looking wary.
Hazel looked between all of us, her expression desperate.
“It was Suzannah.”