The Girl With No Name

Chapter Fifteen

TUESDAY

Carrieann Creighton stood on Josie’s doorstep, towering over her, a pained look on her face. Josie took a moment to shake off her fatigue and opened her arms to her. “Carrieann. I’m so glad you’re here.”

Carrieann’s embrace was hard and long.

“Come on in,” Josie told her, ushering her into the kitchen.

“I went to Luke’s first,” Carrieann said, plopping into a chair at the kitchen table.

Josie set up her coffeemaker and turned it on. “I’m sorry. I can send someone back to clean up the mess.”

Carrieann shook her head. “No, no. I can take care of it. I just didn’t know if… if I was disturbing evidence.”

“It’s all been processed. You won’t be disturbing anything. Although you’re quite welcome to stay with me. You know that.”

Carrieann smiled tightly at her. “I might. I don’t know if I can stay in that house alone now. Has there been any word?”

“None,” Josie replied. “My team is working on processing what evidence was there, but to be honest there aren’t many leads.”

“None at all?”

Josie thought of Jane Doe, her stomach churning. “Well, there was a woman there.”

She gave Carrieann a rundown of her encounter with the girl with no memory as well as a description of her. Slowly, Carrieann shook her head. “Doesn’t sound like anyone I know.”

“You knew Luke’s ex-girlfriends, didn’t you?”

“Well, sure, the serious ones. It’s not a long list.”

“Maybe you could come down to the station today and have a look at her, see if you recognize her,” Josie suggested. “That is, if we don’t release her photo to the press.”

“You think she’s an old girlfriend?”

Josie sighed. “I don’t know what to think, Carrieann. The woman had clearly been sleeping in his bed and… and was wearing his clothes.”

Frowning, Carrieann’s gaze dropped to the table. She pulled her flannel shirt more tightly around her. “It’s just so unlike him. Luke’s not the cheating type. I mean that. I’m not just saying that ’cause I’m his sister.”

A pounding started in Josie’s head. “What other explanation could there be?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know, but I don’t think either one of us is going to like it.”

Three ibuprofen, two coffees, and one shower later, Josie’s head didn’t feel much better, but her phone had a charge on it and her mind was slightly clearer. Carrieann had retired to Josie’s spare bedroom—the one she normally kept for when her grandmother Lisette slept over—and could be heard snoring all the way downstairs. In the kitchen, Josie called Noah’s cell phone. “Where are you?” she asked.

“Where do you think? They just brought our girl over from the hospital.”

“What did they say?”

“Neurologist says all her scans are clean. She’s got some old, healed orbital fractures, but other than that she’s healthy as can be.”

“Orbital fractures?” Josie said. “Like the kind you get from being punched in the face?”

“Yeah, I guess. Doc said it looks like someone broke her eye sockets at some point.”

“Sounds like we’re dealing with some domestic violence in her history, then. What did the doctor say about her amnesia?”

“He said it’s a dissociative fugue state.”

“You mean she experienced something traumatic and lost her memory?” Josie asked, thinking of Gretchen’s words from the night before.

She heard Noah sigh. “Basically. I talked to the doctor over the phone at length. From what he said, it fits. People in fugue states usually appear quite normal, they just can’t remember their past or their identity.”

“Oh, is that all?” Josie snapped. “Luke is missing, and this woman may have valuable information. Either she is purposely withholding it, or whatever she saw put her into this… fugue state. Have you printed her?”

“It was the first thing we did,” Noah said. “The state police got the results back to us almost immediately. She doesn’t come up in AFIS.”

AFIS was the Automated Fingerprint Identification System, a national database available to law enforcement that allowed them to match fingerprints found at crime scenes with anyone whose prints were in the system.

“Did the neurologist say how to snap her out of it?”

“There’s not really any way to bring her out of it. He recommended having her seen by a psychologist or a hypnotist if we’re really in a hurry.”

“Jesus,” Josie said. “We don’t have time for this. What about Misty?”

“She’s still unconscious. Brain swelling. The doctors are going to operate on her today to try to relieve the pressure. We’ll have to wait till after that to question her.”

“Keep checking on her progress,” Josie said. “I’m coming in. Keep Jane Doe in the interview room until I get there. Carrieann’s here; she’s going to come in later to see if she recognizes her. Send Gretchen back out to Luke’s and have her search the property in the daylight. I know the team checked the barn, but I want it rechecked. I want the whole perimeter looked over one more time. There’s got to be something there that can tell us either who this woman is, or who came for Luke.”

“You got it,” Noah said.