"The serial number VG235 was assigned to Elaine Bush." Jackie, the nurse behind the emergency room desk, looked over the glasses perched on her nose.

"We're going to need her address," Madison said, just as a page went out over the intercom. It was in hospital code, but Madison understood every word. A patient was missing from the psychiatric ward.

Jackie listened to the announcement and then asked, "Do you have a warrant?"

Madison was aware of the blood heating in her veins. She swore she could sense every cell as it moved through her. Her earlobes warmed, too. She didn't have the patience for a nurse on a power trip. Terry stood beside Madison, quietly letting her take the lead.

The nurse accompanying Jackie kept glancing over. She had registered several patients in the time they had asked a few questions. The scowl on her face indicated she wasn't too impressed having to handle the workload by herself. The waiting room was full to capacity with people of all ages, sporting all sorts of injuries.

Jackie must have sensed her coworker's attitude. She quickly glanced over at her and shrugged. She looked back at Madison. "I don't understand why you need—"

"Elaine Bush's body was found outside of your hospital an hour ago," Madison said.

"Help me! He's going to die." A woman in her thirties ran to the counter, dragging a man behind her. Blood poured out of a head wound.

Madison averted her eyes but not before she noticed the rebar projecting from his skull. And...all that blood.

The bile rose in her throat, and her legs became unsteady. She set her hands on the counter for balance. Her head was spinning slightly.

"Here." A nurse ran over, placed the man in a wheelchair, and carted him off. This left behind the hysterical woman, tears streaming down her face, her arms flailing in wild arcs. A second nurse at the desk calmed the woman down enough to obtain her insurance information.

When Madison looked back at Jackie, she tilted her head to the right. She wasn't fazed by what had just transpired. Of course, for an ER nurse, she had probably seen similar, or even worse, before.

Jackie's eyes drifted to Madison's hands. "You don't like blood, do you?"

Madison lifted them from the counter.

"You're a cop and you don't like blood?" Jackie chuckled. "How do you—"

"Never mind me. The woman in the wheelchair didn't die of natural causes." It might have been a push on the facts, but it was justifiable. The woman had bruising on her wrists. There had clearly been a struggle. The circumstances were strange, at best.

The grin on Jackie's face melted. She touched her neck, which had turned blotchy from nerves, a telltale sign for some people. "You're telling me she was murdered?"

"It hasn't been ruled out." Madison held eye contact. The pause allowed the smells of the hospital to permeate her sinuses—antiseptic cleaner and the fragrance of flowers, the smell of sickness and death. To think life was also brought into the world in this place...

"All right. One minute." Jackie pushed her glasses up her nose and put her attention back to the computer monitor. "Miss Bush lives at— That's odd."

"What?" Madison asked.

"There's a note on her file. The wheelchair, VG235, must have been reassigned. She ended up with another one."

"What do you mean? I don't understand."

Jackie drew her eyes from the monitor to meet Madison's. "According to Elaine's record, when they went to get her chair upon checkout, it wasn't there."

"It wasn't there? You're telling me it disappeared? It seems a lot goes missing around here," Madison said, remembering the announcement over the speakers.

Jackie's eyes glazed over in brief confusion, and then she pointed to the ceiling. "You understood the code."

Madison nodded.

"I don't know what else to tell you about the chair. It's missing as far as we're concerned."

"Well, we found it along with a dead woman."

Jackie's blotchy skin was now a bright red. "From my end, there's no way to know who she was if the chair had been missing." Her words came out low, in an almost apologetic tone.

"We're going to need Elaine Bush's number," Madison said. They needed to confirm, without a doubt, that Elaine wasn't the one in the chair.

"Certainly."

The other nurse glared over at Jackie. "Watch what you're doing," she said.

"Keri, a woman is dead."

"Still." The other nurse shook her head and went back to another patient.

"Here you go." Jackie handed Madison a piece of paper with Bush's phone number scribbled on it.

Madison dialed it immediately. After three rings, a woman answered, identifying herself as Elaine Bush. After confirming some information with the woman, Madison hung up the phone.

She stepped away from the counter, gesturing for Terry to come with her. "The woman in that chair was not Elaine Bush."

"So we find out who she was."

She nodded. "Unfortunately, it's not going to be quite that simple. I'd wager she didn't die where she was found, all things considered."

"You want to make a bet?" There was a spark in Terry's eyes. It wouldn't be the first time they made bets during an investigation. The regular was twenty dollars. While she'd like to claim she won the majority of the time, it wasn't necessarily an honest assessment. But she wasn't in the mood.

"No, I don't want to make a bet. I want to find a killer."

"Come on, I could use the extra money with the baby coming."

She sighed. "Fine."

"The regular amount?"

"Sure, why not?"

"You say the lady died elsewhere, and I say she died where she was found." He extended his hand to seal the wager with a shake. She complied, and he was all business when he pulled his hand back. "Let's go to the abortion clinic, see if they recognize the woman. You didn't actually think it would be as easy as providing them a chair number and getting an ID, did you?"

"I had hoped."

"Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay. My, oh my..." A man in a white hospital gown was skipping down the hall, a few orderlies chasing after him.

"It seems they found their missing psych patient." Apparently, Terry had understood the code, as well.

Madison rolled her eyes at his obvious statement. "Nothing escapes your grasp, does it?" She headed toward the elevator, hiding her smirk.

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