Chapter 3 - Whispers and Wounds
At Saint Jude’s Hospital, the emergency room was bathed in stark fluorescent light. Dr. Evelyn Thorne worked with razor-sharp focus over Ashley’s small body. The little girl was suffering from acute ketoacidosis and severe starvation. Her body had begun consuming its own reserves to survive the long four days without her daily insulin and pediatric nourishment.
"Intravenous fluids at fifty CCs per hour, start the low-dose insulin drip immediately," Dr. Thorne commanded her team. "Get a warming blanket in here now."
Outside the glass doors, Natalie stood watch, holding Ashley’s worn stuffed puppy, Buddy. She had carefully washed the mud from the toy in the sink while waiting for the doctors to finish the initial stabilization.
An hour later, Dr. Thorne stepped out into the hallway, pulling off her surgical mask.
"How is she?" Natalie asked immediately.
"She’s a fighter," Dr. Thorne breathed a tired smile. "If you had arrived thirty minutes later, her kidneys would have failed completely. But her vitals are steadying. She’s sleeping now. She kept murmuring a name..."
"Andrew?"
"No," Dr. Thorne said softly. "She kept saying, 'Daddy promised. Daddy doesn't break promises.'"
Natalie felt a lump form in her throat. She looked through the glass window at Ashley, whose pale face was finally returning to a faint rosy color under the warmth of the hospital blankets.
Suddenly, Natalie's radio chirped. It was Sergeant Miller back at Blackwood Ridge.
"Natalie, you need to hear this," Miller's voice crackled through static. "We brought the K-9 unit out to the drag marks near the creek. Bloodhound picked up Andrew’s scent. It heads three miles uphill into the old logging sector. But there’s a problem."
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"What kind of problem?"
"We found another set of footprints overlapping his," Miller said, his tone turning dark. "Boot prints. Heavy work boots with a steel toe pattern. Someone else was out there on Thursday night when Andrew’s truck went into the creek. And whoever it was, they didn't call 911."
