Page 27 of Graveyard Dog

“Yes.”

She nodded and took down all the info she could. “I’ll need a name and a last known address. I’m worried about the reaction, though, considering how careful Ms. Walsh is. I’ll send a team to her apartment.”

“We’ll meet you there.”

Carson tilted her head in question. “Shouldn’t you take the kid back to the hospital?”

“I’ll see what Iz wants to do.” He looked over as Izzy spoke to the woman who took Emma into her arms and brought her to the ambulance on standby. She was shorter than Izzy, rounder, with a bevy of dark curls and enough eyeliner to paint the Astrodome. Izzy threw her arms around the woman, and Michael could see the gratitude on her face as they hugged each other for a very long time.

He eased closer.

“I’m just glad she’s okay,” the woman said as they returned to the ambulance. “I can’t believe she was… I mean, I can’t imagine what you were going through. I saw her fall out of that SUV, and then the man just sped away. I thought he’d abandoned her.”

“I can’t thank you enough for looking after her,” Izzy said.

“Me, too,” Emma chimed in. “Thanks for looking after me, Mrs. Duarte. Your dad says hi.”

The woman chuckled and spoke softly to Izzy. “She must be confusing me with someone else. My dad died over twenty years ago.”

“Oh,” Emma continued, “and he said to lookunderthe box in the closet. Notinit.”

The woman laughed and turned to go pick up her kids from school. “Early release day,” she said as she waved. Then, realization dawned. She stopped and turned back to Emma. “Under the box?”

Emma nodded, a bright smile plastered on her face.

The woman pressed her lips together in thought and walked away.

The other agent ran after her to get her contact info as Emma giggled. “She’s going to be so excited when she finds her grandmother’s squash blossom. She’s been looking for it for months. But wouldn’t it be gross now? All squished and rotting under a box in a closet?”

“That’s what’s under the box?” Izzy asked.

“Yeah. Her dad saw it there.” She squinted at the woman’s departing back. “She must really like vegetables.”

Michael shook his head. Just how gifted was she? He knew several people who could communicate with the departed. Was she one of them? “Emma, can you talk to ghosts?”

She shook her head, the motion sending her curls bouncing around her face. “No, but Celie can. She told me Mrs. Duarte’s dad is really nice for an American.”

Izzy laughed, the sound breathy like her voice, and climbed into the van again to pull Emma into her arms. “I was so scared, Pumpkin.”

“Pickle,” Emma corrected.

“I’m so sorry, Precious. I should have been with you.”

“It’s okay. I’m sorry, too.”

Izzy put her at arm’s length. “For what?”

“I didn’t know what to do when that man took me. Celie told me to be very still and do what he said because he’d hurt that nurse, and there was no telling what he would do to me if I made a fuss. Is she okay? The nurse?”

“She’ll be fine,” Michael said, reaching inside to smooth a curl over her ear.

Emma stood and jumped from the ambulance into his arms.

“Emma!” Izzy climbed down and offered him an apologetic look.

Suddenly, the floodgates gave way. The fear Emma had been keeping in check came bursting out of her, and she sobbed into the crook of Michael’s neck.

“I knew you’d come,” Emma said between sorrowful hiccups.

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