“What do we know?” I bark at the gathering crowd.
Beatrice shakes her head. “Not much. A young woman and her kids stumbled upon her down at the day area off the river. She thought she was dead at first until Natalie groaned. Lady immediately called 911. It sounds like this could be our guy, though. According to the woman who called, Natalie had been stabbed.”
A spark of hope flares through me. If Natalie survives, she may be able to help us solve this case.
“Garrett, Ian, I want you two to go to the scene. Cade and I will head to the hospital.”
“You got it.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Beatrice, call Ms. Tizzy,” I order.
“Yes, Sheriff.”
Everyone disperses and gets to work. Lavender Falls Hospital is only a short distance away, so we make it there in under ten minutes.
I run up to the front desk, pulling out my badge.
“Natalie Abbot.”
The nurse looks at my credentials and checks her chart. “She was just rushed into surgery. Down the hall, second left.”
I nod my head in thanks, and Cade and I take off for the surgery wing. Repeating the same process of showing credentials, we are taken to a private area to wait where a nurse fills us in on what she knows. By the time the medics arrived, Natalie was unconscious but still had a faint pulse. Four stabwounds to the abdomen and a gash to the side of her head. It was touch and go due to hemorrhaging, and the doctors are trying everything they can to stabilize it. All we can do is wait.
Ms. Tizzy arrives and is given the same information. It’s been half an hour and we still don’t know much.
“Is there anything I can do for you, Ms. Tizzy?” I crouch down in front of her, handing her another tissue.
“Just find the monster who did this.” She sniffs, and I reach out to squeeze her knee.
“I promise I won’t stop until he is behind bars.”
An hour goes past. And then another. Ms. Tizzy is a mess, and Cade and I pace back and forth.
Finally the doors swing open and a man in a white jacket steps out.
“Family of Natalie Abbot?”
Ms. Tizzy raises her hand and pushes up from the waiting room chair. Cade and I both display our badges as we follow her to the doctor.
“How is she?” Ms. Tizzy asks with hope.
“She’s stable.” He nods. “It was pretty touch and go. We lost her for about five minutes at one point, but we have an amazing team and were able to bring her back. We had to do two blood transfusions due to the amount she lost. Lacerations were deep, one missed her kidney by about an inch, but there were no extreme internal damages. She’s very lucky. Right now, we have her in an induced coma until her body heals some. If you are ready, I’ll walk you down to her.”
“Oh, thank you, Doctor,” Ms. Tizzy wails, throwing herself into his arms.
“Anything I can do for you, officers?” he asks while comforting Ms. Tizzy.
I shake my head and hand him my card. “Not yet. Can you call when Natalie wakes up? We would like to speak with her.”
“Absolutely.”
The doctor leads Ms. Tizzy down a corridor, and I finally let out a sigh of relief. On our way to the parking lot, my phone rings.
I hit answer, bringing it to my ear. “Donovan.”
“Hey, Donovan. It’s Rossi. I got something for you.”
