Page 3 of Justice for Aleta

“Well, we’ve got some news,” Matt whispered as Jack looked up, surprised to see him in the surgical waiting room. “That little red car?”

“Yeah?”

“Rented by a dead man. Literally. The guy whose name is on the rental has been dead for eleven years. Word has it there’s a chemist from the PikeCounty area who was hired to cook for a connection in Texas, and McIntosh was hired to take him to Texas.”

“Where’s McIntosh from?”

“Versailles.”

“And where is the meth master?”

“That’s a good question. Forensics will be going over the car to see if there’s any evidence of him being there, although we have no DNA from him. We also don’t have a name.”

“So we’ve got a dead courier of a human and no sign of the man he was transporting. And we don’t know who the transportee was. Am I getting this right?”

Matt sighed. “Looks like we’ve got our work cut out for us.”

A nurse in scrubs appeared in the doorway. “Culp?”

Jack stood. There was no one else there, and someone needed to know what was going on. “I’m the officer who found her.”

The woman crossed the room and stood in front of Jack, closely enough that people around the room couldn’t hear her. “She’s out of surgery. Pins in her arm and leg. Some scalp lacerations and facial lacerations, and a lot of bruising, but nothing more.”

“So she’s going to be okay?”

“It appears so.”

“Husband and child?”

“DOA. Traumatic head injury for the child. Head injury that caused cranial bleeding that couldn’t be stopped in the husband.”

“Has she talked to anybody?” Jack asked.

The nurse shook her head. “Just to ask where her husband and child were. Really sad. She’s breastfeeding, so her milk will come in and there’s no infant to nurse. She’s going to be miserable. I’ll let you know when she’s going to a room.”

“Thanks.” Jack turned to Matt, whose face had gone pale. “You don’t have to stay.”

“I do. If you’re going to talk to her, I’ll wait with you.”

“Then I guess we wait.”

* * *

“You can only stayfor a minute. That’s it. If she gets tired, you’ll have to come out. She may not make a lot of sense, but until she’s had a few days, it’s the best we can expect.” The doctor pointed to the intensive care cubicle and Jack followed the NelsonCounty sheriff in. He’d decided to let Danny take the lead unless he thought of something he needed to ask, plus he’d known Danny forever, and he knew the man to be exceedingly compassionate. As soon as Danny had shown up, Matt had headed out, so it was just the sheriff and the state trooper.

“Mrs.Culp, I’m SheriffFoley from the NelsonCounty Sheriff’s Department. I’d like to ask you a couple of questions, if that’s okay.”

The woman’s head turned slowly and her eyes opened, but she looked right past Danny and straight at Jack. “You’re an angel. I saw you out there. You’re the angel who saved me.”

“Ma’am, I’m a Kentucky State Trooper. I was the first to arrive at the scene of the accident.”

“You’re an angel, that’s what you are,” she repeated. When Danny gave him a look and tossed his head toward the woman, Jack stepped up.

“Ma’am, can you help us understand what happened out there? Because there are things that don’t make sense.”

“We stopped. To help. The man’s car, it was stalled out. Joshua wanted to help him. I was afraid. It was so foggy out,” she said, slurring her words slightly. “So foggy,” she repeated, her eyes rolling slightly before they came to rest on Jack again. “We stopped. We hit him.”

“With the front corner of your van?”

---