Page 140 of A Forgotten Mistake

“I’m sobored.”

“It’s been like fifteen minutes.”

“So Abby seemed to have created this group of hers when we were young, but that doesn’t mean the final member joined then. They could have joined at any point. Because they were able to transport a dead man themselves with seemingly no help, I have to assume they’re larger bodied and muscular. And Jesse said the tattoo looked like it belonged to a man.”

“I heard that they got ahold of Anthony’s brother Jack, but he’s down in Florida and hadn’t spoken to him in years. Guess they had a falling out when Anthony got into some shit Jack didn’t approve of,” Gabriel says.

“Were Anthony’s parents alerted?”

“From what I heard, his parents aren’t in the picture. It seems like Jack and Anthony were a bit like Sadie and Christa, practically raising themselves.”

“Interesting, interesting.”

I decide this desk is rather boring and step outside of the room to see where I can hover and annoy people. Maybe Jesse could be of interest. I’m sure he’s bored and alone and eager for some attention.

“Abby is missing,” Michaels says, and my attentionsnapsover.

“Oh?” I mutter before I realize I should keep my mouth shut so he doesn’t notice me.

“What do you mean Abby is missing?” Donna asks. “Wasn’t there going to be a police transport this morning?”

“There was. The officer on duty watching her is missing, as well as Abby.”

“Who was on duty?”

“Officer Dally.”

“You think she took her hostage?” Matthew asks.

“It should never have been able to happen. There should never have been an incident where she could have even gotten out of the bed since she was handcuffed.”

“Give me a list of nurses and doctors who were involved with Abby,” I say.

“Paige—” Michaels begins, but I shake my head to stop him before he starts in on something new.

“If there’s a name I recognize, we will know it’s them. It almost had to have been someone who could have beeninteracting with her. Custodians as well. Anyone who has access to her room, I want the name of.”

“Alright. Paige, head to the hospital and get that information. If you recognize any of the names, let me know, and then you promptly come back here.”

“Understood,” I say as I hurry out the door with Gabriel on my heels.

When we reach the unit Abby was in, it’s a bit chaotic. After I finally track down someone in charge, she hurries off to retrieve what she can for me.

“We have to work quickly. They’re going to leave the area, but I guarantee you, she won’t leave without her tapes,” I mutter to Gabriel because I’m well aware I would risk far too much to keep my album of fingerprints in my possession.

“You don’t think she has them online somewhere?” Gabriel asks.

“I don’t think they’d hold the same meaning to her,” I admit. “She might have access to them digitally, but she’s going to want the original tapes in hand.”

The woman returns with a file. “Here are the names of the staff who had permission to be in her room. I’m also collecting the names of nurses and other personnel who commonly visited our unit from different areas of the hospital. All of us were aware of who would be allowed in her room. We never saw anyone who wasn’t permitted in this area.”

“Thank you,” I say as I start looking through the names. “Let’s look up men first. The rest of them have been men, and in addition to what Jesse said about the tattoo, the fact that they had to transport John Doe makes me believe they were male.Although nurses have to be able to pick up a good amount of weight and are used to helping move people.”

“Going through the men will be quicker. There are fewer men and the pattern seems to fit better,” Gabriel says.

As I go through the names, he types them into his laptop to check the images of the ones he can find. None of them look familiar, and just as we start to return to the top to check the names of the women, a nurse comes over and slides a paper in front of me.

“Here are some others who aren’t in this unit but frequently come over here for one thing or another,” she explains.

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