“I didn’t find anything about her having other children,” Jack said.
“Penny … she was a twin,” Morgan revealed. “But her sister died at birth.”
Reflexively, Grace touched her hand to her heart. “Oh … I didn’t know,” she said.
“There’s a little grave for her at the Pine Grove Cemetery,” Morgan said with a touch of melancholy. “Rachel had her faults for sure, but she was a good person, had a proper funeral for her baby and all.” Morgan sighed aloud while stuffing her hands into the pockets of her black jeans to warm them. “Look, I’ve got to get back,” she said. “You know how to reach me if you have other questions. I’m happy to help.”
Morgan was walking away when Grace called out to her. She turned.
“What was her name?” Grace asked. “The baby who died?”
“Chloe,” said Morgan. “Her name was Chloe.”
And with that, she disappeared back into the alley.
CHAPTER 37
AS ONE OF THE few doctors at Edgewater, Mitch didn’t have a moment to meet with Whitmore until that afternoon. He hoped her schedule would be free. After Darla’s attack, he knew that Penny needed much tighter security around her—and that CO Blackwood, for obvious reasons, could not be among those providing protection.
A check of Penny’s record at Edgewater revealed for Mitch her six stints in solitary for a few scuffles, some more violent than others. Most of her adversaries from those fights continued to reside here, but Mitch’s top candidate for sending that note to Darla remained the guard who had almost smashed in Penny’s head with his baton. He also recalled that Blackwood was one of the men who led Darla away after her tense standoff in the hallway with Grace.
In Mitch’s mind, it was not out of the question that Blackwood knew Darla’s triggers and had used them to cause Penny harm. The crayon and odd phrasing of the note made it look like it had been written by a patient, not a guard. The fact that Penny （or rather, Chloe） had used crayons to make a drawing was most likely what Navarro had said: a coincidence.
Mitch had finally sat down in his office and was getting ready to draft an e-mail to Whitmore when his cell phone rang. To his surprise, Dr. Dan Bouvier, who headed up the emergency room department at Edgewater, was on the other end of that call.
“It’s um … Penny Francone,” Dr. Bouvier said.
Hairs on the back of Mitch’s neck rose as he gripped his desk, bracing for bad news.
“What about her?” Mitch asked. “Is she all right?”
“I think so … it’s a bit out of my depth.”
Relief washed over Mitch like a wave.
“She’s in the PT room,” Dr. Bouvier went on, “taking that soak you’d arranged, and well … she started speaking in a British accent, and she’s been asking for you nonstop. Look, it’s packed in here right now and I can’t spare a body to look after her. Can you go straight to PT and check her out?”
Mitch was already on his feet. “I’ll be right there,” he said.
* * *
When Mitch arrived at the ER, he found it, as Dr. Bouvier said, bustling with frenetic energy bordering on mayhem. Doctors and nurses, outnumbered by patients, scuttled from one curtained bay to the other like a team of first responders triaging an accident. Powerful overhead lights vanquished all shadows, putting additional strain on Mitch’s already fatigued eyes. From one of the bays, he heard a howl worthy of a wolf, and a nurse informed him that Dr. Bouvier was in there.
Mitch thought: Nobody here has an easy time of it.
The PT room, located off the ER, did not take up much real estate, but it did feature modern equipment including exercise machines, weights, bosu balls, and other apparatuses for improving balance, stability, and mobility. Physical therapy facilities in hospitals, including those in a prison setting, helped improve balance and mobility so that when patients got out they were less likely to slip, fall, and go right back in.
Most importantly, there was the tub: about four-and-a-half feet long and two feet high, made of polished stainless steel, occupying a good portion of the emerald green floor.
The portable motor powering the whirlpool feature was shut off. Penny, without the fiery look or angry eyes of Eve, sat upright in the tub, dressed in a blue one-piece suit that was stamped PROPERTY OF EDGEWATER. Mitch dismissed a female guard who was keeping an eye on things while Penny enjoyed her soak.
“Dr. Mitch.”
The British accent was back, and so was Ruby.