Dying to Tell (9 page)

Footsteps made Sadie jerk her head toward the doorway.

A smile of relief warmed Ms. Lettie’s eyes as she rushed toward her. “I’m so glad you came, hon.”

She pulled Sadie into a bear hug, her bony frame trembling against Sadie, then leaned back to study her as if she thought the younger woman’s presence was an illusion.

Satisfied that Sadie wouldn’t disappear, Ms. Lettie clacked her teeth. “How’s your sister, sugar?”

“She’s settled into a room now, and sedated.”

“Did she say anything else about the shooting?”

Sadie shook her head. “I’m afraid not.”

“The doctor suggested you all get some rest and let Amelia do the same tonight,” Jake cut in. “You can talk to her tomorrow.”

Ms. Lettie bristled. “I’m gonna stay right here with our Amelia. I don’t intend to leave her side for a second.”

Sadie stroked the older woman’s arm. “That’s not necessary.”

Ms. Lettie threw her shoulders back, adding an inch to her height. Still, the little woman was only five feet tall and couldn’t weigh more than ninety pounds soaking wet.

“Maybe not. But I can’t stand leaving the poor child alone.”

Sadie squeezed her arm, her voice hoarse with emotion. “You’re so good to her. I don’t know how to thank you.”

“You know she’s like my own. Besides, I’d feel better being here with her in case she wakes up and is scared.” Ms. Lettie dabbed at a tear in the corner of her eye. “Especially seeing as this is all my fault. If I’d caught Amelia dumpin’ her pills sooner and known she was off her meds, maybe she wouldn’t have gone off the deep end, and your Papaw would still be with us.”

Sadie swallowed hard. “Please don’t blame yourself. You’ve been a godsend taking care of Amelia all these years.”

Jake cleared his throat. “Ms. Lettie, did Amelia mention being upset with her grandfather recently?”

“No, not that I can think of.”

“Amelia lived in the guesthouse while Walt stayed in the main house—is that correct?” Jake asked.

“Yes. She liked her privacy. Said staying in the studio made her feel independent, not like she was a burden.” Ms. Lettie
choked on the last word, then covered her mouth with her hand to stem the tears. “I kept tellin’ her she weren’t no burden. God gives us all kinds, and we just gots to love ’em however they are.”

“How about Walt?” Jack pressed. “Did he mention that he and Amelia had any issues? Had something happened between them? Had they argued lately?”

“Not that I remember.” She pursed her lips. “Although two nights ago, I saw Walt with some moonshine. Hadn’t seen him like that in a while.”

Sadie frowned. Her grandfather had a habit of drinking when he was upset. What had driven him to the bottle that night?

Dr. Tynsdale appeared from the hallway, his hand twitching at his lab-coat pocket.

“Is Amelia okay?” Sadie asked.

“Yes. She became agitated when she heard about Grace’s death, but the medication kicked in, and she’s sound asleep. Maybe she’ll talk to us tomorrow.”

“What did you tell her about Grace?” Sadie asked.

“Grace has been ill for some time now. Frankly, it’s probably a blessing for her family to finally see her rest in peace.”

“What caused her death?” Jake asked.

“The head injury caused swelling in her brain. The coma was supposed to give her time to heal, but there was too much damage,” Dr. Tynsdale said.

Jake crossed his arms. “Is the coroner going to do an autopsy?”

The doctor frowned. “I doubt it. We know she took a fall a couple of months ago. One of the orderlies found her on a stairwell landing. Apparently she was trying to escape.”

“Were you working here when she was admitted?” Jake asked.

“No. I believe she was first diagnosed a couple of years before Amelia by a Dr. Sanderson.”

“What was her diagnosis?” Sadie asked.

“Schizophrenia,” Dr. Tynsdale answered.

Mrs. Granger appeared from around the hallway, dabbing at her tears with a tissue. Grief lined her face, but she also looked angry as she strode toward them.

“Sheriff,” Mrs. Granger said as she stopped in front of them. “I want an autopsy done on Grace.”

Dr. Tynsdale lifted a hand to stroke her back. “Elma, I don’t think that’s necessary.”

The woman stepped away from his comforting hand. “Well, I do, Doctor. Yesterday my daughter was coming out of that coma, and I had hoped to finally take her home with me. I want to know why she suddenly died.”

Dr. Tynsdale looked surprised. “I told you—”

“I don’t care what you said,” Mrs. Granger cried. “I trusted you and all the other doctors that treated Grace for years, and none of you did a damned thing to help her. Then my daughter took a fall in here, you put her in a coma, and she suddenly dies?” She angled her head toward Jake. “That just doesn’t sound right to me.”

Sadie touched the woman’s hand. “I’m so sorry to hear about Grace. She and my sister were friends.”

Elma squeezed her hand. “I don’t understand what happened to them, but it’s time we found out.” She gave Jake a pointed look. “You will request that autopsy for me, won’t you, Sheriff?”

Jake nodded. “Yes, ma’am, I will.”

Sadie considered the accusations Amelia had made. Could some of them have been true?

Jake hated to put the Granger family through the ordeal of an autopsy, but if Elma wanted it, he’d do as she asked. The poor woman had lived with the torment of watching her daughter withering away for years.

He understood the need for answers, for closure, and he would give her that.

Sadie turned to Dr. Tynsdale. “I’ll be back in the morning. Thanks for everything.”

He nodded, his eyes grave. “I’m sorry, Sadie. I really thought your sister had made progress. That she was stable.”

Ms. Lettie sniffled. “I thought so too. But Amelia seems to have a mind of her own—one we may never understand.”

That was true, Jake thought. He felt for Sadie. He’d contemplated releasing Amelia into Sadie’s custody, but he couldn’t do that—not knowing she was dangerous. “At least Amelia can’t hurt herself or anyone else while she’s in here.”

Sadie’s pained look made him wish he’d kept his mouth shut.

Ms. Lettie patted Sadie’s back. “I went by Papaw’s and cleaned up the blood, hon, if you want to stay there. But I have to warn you; his hoarding’s been out of control.”

“I guess I’ll need to clean out some of his things,” Sadie said with another flicker of anguish in her eyes. “And tomorrow I want to go over to the studio.”

“What you lookin’ for, child?”

“I don’t know exactly, but maybe I’ll find a clue as to what made Amelia snap.”

Sadie turned to Dr. Tynsdale. “Did Amelia keep a journal?”

He jammed his hands in his pockets. “I encouraged her to, but I’m not sure you’ll find one. Sometimes the alters ripped out pages or added others. Skid also hid it from your sister, and he burned at least two of them that I know of.”

Sadie massaged her temple, where a headache pulsed.

“Where was she in her treatment before now, Dr. Tynsdale? I thought she was stable.”

“She was better,” he said. “She had reached the point where she had met the other personalities. Our next step was to get her to face the trauma in her past.”

Sadie knew the event he was referring to, and was grateful he’d kept the family’s secret. But he’d had to know the truth so he could treat Amelia.

“After that, I had high hopes she was going to be strong enough to start the unification process.”

So she was making progress. “But she stopped taking her meds?”

Dr. Tynsdale frowned. “That’s what Ms. Lettie said. Amelia said they stunted her creativity, but they did keep her calm.”

“Obviously she needed them.” Sadie rubbed her forehead. “Maybe I’ll find something at the house to help me understand this mess.”

Jake cleared his throat. “If you’re ready to go, Sadie, I’ll follow you home.”

Sadie tensed. “You don’t have to do that.”

He gave her a flat look.
No personal involvement. By the book
.
Don’t think about her staying in that house alone, not where the bloodbath took place.

“Your grandfather’s house was a crime scene. I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t confirm that it’s clear before you spend the night.”

Emotions flickered in Sadie’s eyes, and for a moment, Jake thought he read disappointment. But the moment disappeared so quickly, he was sure he’d imagined it.

“But first, let me speak to the orderly who found Grace,” Jake said. “With Mrs. Granger asking questions, I need to find out exactly what happened to Grace.”

Sadie stayed with Dr. Tynsdale while Jake crossed the waiting room to the nurse’s station. He tapped on the glass. “Hi, Mazie. Can you tell me who found Grace Granger the night she took the fall?”

Mazie tapped a few keys on the computer, then glanced back up. “It was a temp named Herbert Foley.”

“Is he on duty now?”

She shook her head, her short curls frozen in place with hair spray. “No, as a matter of fact, he only worked here a couple of weeks.”

Jake shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans. “Do you have an address or phone number where I can reach him?”

She jotted down the number and address on a sticky note and handed it to him. “Never met an orderly like him,” she said in a low voice.

“What do you mean?”

“Something funny about him,” she said. “He...was punctual, almost rigid in the way he handled patients, but he kept to himself. And he signed out that night right after Grace’s fall and didn’t show up for work the next day.”

Jake frowned. “Thanks, I want to talk to him myself.” He called the man’s number, but the number was no longer in service.

“His number has been disconnected, Mazie.” He gestured toward the security cameras. “How about surveillance cameras in the hall where she took the fall?”

Mazie shrugged. “Got cameras in the hallway but not the stairwell.”

“Can I see the ones in the hall?”

She nodded, then pressed a button and spoke into it. A second later, a security guard appeared and escorted him to the central security center of the hospital. Jake explained what he wanted to see, and the man pulled up the feed for the specified day and time.

Jake’s pulse hammered as he watched Grace Granger, clad in her hospital gown, running down the hall. She looked dizzy, disoriented, swaying back and forth, holding on to the wall. Twice she glanced over her shoulder as if she was looking for someone. Her choppy breathing echoed in the silence. She looked terrified, but he didn’t see anyone following her.

She finally reached the end of the hall and threw open the door. A well of darkness bathed the interior of the stairwell, and then the camera lost sight of her.

A second later, a scream sounded.

Had one of the guards or staff been trying to catch her because she was trying to escape?

Was
she trying to escape? Or was she running from someone who wanted to hurt her?

Mazie’s comment about the man echoed in his head. Foley had seemed off, had left work the night Grace had fallen, and hadn’t returned.

Had Grace, in her drug-induced state, simply fallen?

Or had he pushed her down the steps?

But why would Foley hurt her?

Jake requested a copy of the tape, waited while the guard copied it for him, then tucked it inside his jacket.

When he made it back to the waiting room, Sadie was pacing.

He gestured toward the elevator. “Let’s go. I’ll follow you home.”

She started to argue, but his warning look must have caused her to change her mind.

The questions were still ticking in his head. Foley had supposedly found Grace at the bottom of a stairwell, where she was injured and unconscious; then the next day he stopped working at the hospital, without an explanation.

Jake checked the address in his pocket.

He’d stop by Foley’s after he left Sadie. For Elma’s sake, he’d make sure Grace’s fall had been an accident and nothing more. Then he’d request that autopsy on Grace, to placate her mother.

And when Sadie accepted that her sister was a killer, she could leave.

Then his town could return to normal, and he could forget Sadie once again.