Page 188 of Buried Too Deep

It was her signal to go. She was exceptionally well trained.

When his good girl was finished, they joined Cora and Val, who were waiting at the SUV. Val gave him the keys. “In case you need a break.”

He hated that he might actually need to take her up on it, but he took the keys nonetheless and together they entered the hospital’s front doors.

Phin hated hospitals, but he was calmer than he’d expected to be. Cora had one of his hands and SodaPop was pressed to his leg on the opposite side.

Thank you, Delores. Her gift had given him a freedom he’d only dreamed of.

A woman in scrubs looked up when they approached the front desk. “Can I help you?”

“We’d like to visit Jennifer Beauchamp,” Cora said with a smile. “I hope we’re still in time for visiting hours.”

“You are,” the woman said. “Are you family?”

“No, ma’am, but we are friends of her family.”

Not a lie, Phin thought. Ashley was Jennifer’s family, whether Jennifer wished it to be so or not. He hoped that surrendering her child for a private adoption had been her idea. Or at least that she’d agreed.

“You have good timing. She’s pretty lucid today. But if you upset her, you’ll have to leave.”

“We understand,” Cora said. “We just want to drop in and say hey.”

Hey and a lot of other things. But again, Cora hadn’t lied.

They were given directions to Jennifer’s room, where they found a gray-haired woman sitting on a sofa, watching television with a nurse’s aide. The woman looked far older than the thirty-eight years old that Jennifer would be by now.

The aide, a young woman of about twenty, looked up in stunned surprise.

“Visitors?” she said. “We don’t get visitors.”

Jennifer stared at them for a long moment before returning her attention back to the television.

Cora smiled at them. “Just not often or ever?”

“Ever,” the aide said. “Or at least since I’ve been Jenny’s aide. That’s been two years. The aide before me said the same thing.”

So this really was Jennifer. She looked like she was sixty years old.

Phin really hated Alan Beauchamp. Not only had the man lied to distract them into investigating a fake lead, he’d ignored his daughter for years.

Like you ignored your family for years?

Phin inwardly winced. It was a different situation, true. But, yeah, he’d ignored his family, too. When this was over, he was going straight home. He was going to make this right if it was the last thing he did.

Maybe Cora would come with him. Her hand in his was a comfort.

And his mother would love her.

Cora squeezed his hand before releasing him and sitting next to Jennifer on the sofa. “Hi, Jenny. I’m Cora.”

Jennifer didn’t look away from the television. “You have a dog.”

“We do. Her name’s SodaPop. She’s my friend Phin’s service dog.”

“Why?” Jennifer asked.

Cora tilted her head. “What do you mean, why?”

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