Page 29 of In Her Dreams
“I guess.According to Bruce Autrey, Winters was seeing Walsh for insomnia and having nightmares before his death.”
“Insomnia and having nightmares.Just like what Alice said about Anita,” Jenna said, her voice tight with focus.“Where are you now?”
“Just leaving the bank.Heading back to the station.”
“I’m about twenty minutes out.Meet me there, and we’ll pay Dr.Walsh a visit.”
“Roger that,” Jake said, then hesitated.“Jenna...this case is—”
“I know,” she cut in.“We’ll figure it out.See you soon.”
Driving back toward the station, Jake found himself accepting possibilities that would have seemed absurd to the Kansas City cop he’d once been.People dying of supernatural terror.Dreams that connected the living and the dead.A Sheriff with an uncanny ability to see beyond the veil.
Life in Trentville had changed him.Or maybe it had just opened his eyes to what had been there all along, hidden beneath the surface of the world he thought he understood.
And then there was Jenna—complicated, brilliant, haunted Jenna.The woman who’d become not just his boss but his partner in the truest sense.The line he’d crossed with that impulsive kiss was one he couldn’t uncross, nor did he want to.
But where did they go from here?How could he confess to her that somewhere between crime scenes and late-night stakeouts, he’d fallen for her?How could he convey that this wasn’t just a fleeting crush?That she had awakened something profound and unfamiliar within him?
Jake pulled into the station parking lot and cut the engine.For now, those questions would have to wait.They had a case to solve and the name of a doctor who needed to answer some questions.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
After Jenna parked her cruiser at the police station, she rested her forehead against the steering wheel for just a moment, allowing herself the brief luxury of exhaustion.The deaths of Richard Winters and Anita Palmer throbbed in her mind, their similarities too precise to be coincidental, their personal differences too jarring to make sense of.
And then there were those dreamcatchers—so alike in their construction, in their presence at both scenes, in their suggestion of something unnatural.She thought again of the unattractive patterns in the webs, the rough decorations.The one with beaks was an obvious menace to a woman terrified of birds.The one with teeth posed a more ambiguous threat, but it would undoubtedly be a nightmare for someone with claustrophobia to be trapped with something like that.
She straightened, forcing her shoulders back.The doctor Jake had mentioned was the first connection they’d turned up between the two victims, and they would check it out right away.There was just one more call she wanted to make first.
Jenna fished her phone from her pocket and dialed Trentville Memorial Hospital.Three transfers later, she finally reached someone in the ICU.
“This is Sheriff Graves.I’m calling for an update on a patient—she’s only identified as ‘Jill’ at this point.”
The nurse’s voice was crisp, professional.“Just a moment, Sheriff.Let me pull up her chart.”
Jenna drummed her fingers on the steering wheel, watching as the station’s exterior lights flickered on automatically against the darkening sky.
“Sheriff?I’m afraid there’s no significant change.She remains in a coma, vitals stable but weak.The neurologist doesn’t seem optimistic about immediate recovery.”
The news settled like a stone in Jenna’s stomach.“And the other woman found with her?Ginger Lomax?”
“Ms.Lomax was transferred to Kansas City General this afternoon for specialized treatment.”
Jenna remembered that Ginger Lomax was from Kansas City.It made sense that she would be taken there to be treated by her own physician.
“I see.Thank you.”Jenna ended the call, letting her phone drop into her lap.
Another dead end on that case.Jenna didn’t mind so much that the FBI would be following the Harvester investigation into other locations.But Jill—the woman who might have answers about Piper—lay unreachable in a coma even though she remained in a nearby hospital bed.
The station’s front door opened, and Jake’s silhouette appeared, his broad shoulders outlined against the brightness behind him.When he spotted her car, he approached quickly, opened the passenger door and slid in beside her.
“You okay?”he asked, studying her face.
“Fine,” Jenna replied automatically, then caught herself.“Actually, no.I’m not.”She gestured vaguely toward her phone.“Jill’s still in a coma.And Ginger’s been transferred to Kansas City.”
Jake’s expression tightened.“So we’ve lost our only two witnesses to that … situation.”
“For now, at least.”Jenna turned the key, bringing the engine back to life.“Ready to pay Dr.Walsh a visit?Does he keep evening hours?”
