“Kill the kid so you won’t touch them? Damn, that’s sick.” Luke turned away and started to pace.

Wyatt had heard stories from his dad over the years of just how twisted and vile the human condition could get. Although his blood boiled that this had touched Hope, he wasn’t surprised at anything Agent Burton and Jo were concluding.

“Right now it’s all speculation. Once we find Mr. Lewis, we’ll have our answers.”

“I’m sure he’s long gone.”

Agent Burton offered a sly smile. “We’ll find him. Every perp leaves a path. It’s our job to find it.”

“He left a witness,” Wyatt muttered.

The small group went silent.

It felt as if everyone had ducked into their own heads after Hope had revealed the series of events leading up to her “fall” down the hill.

Jo had handed Melanie a notebook before returning to River Bend with Agent Burton, Miss Gina, and Luke. Any time Melanie remembered even the slightest detail of the bastard that hurt her daughter, she wrote it down.

Zoe had found a physician’s shower that Melanie could use, and after three days in the same clothes, she finally had on something clean. Eventually, she knew she was going to drop. But as the afternoon started to slide into the evening, she had another shot of adrenaline forced on her.

An unavoidable shot of adrenaline.

Doctor Bellingham walked through on his evening rounds. The pediatric neurologist sat somewhere between fifty and sixty with a receding hairline and a thick waist.

“Good news,” he said with a smile as he walked over to the light box and flipped on a switch.

Hope was awake but groggy after her full day of tests and visitors.

Zoe and Wyatt had sweet-talked their way into the room with a plate of cookies for the staff, so Melanie had the distraction of friends while she sat by her daughter’s bedside.

“Looks like Hope’s second CAT scan is showing improvement.”

Melanie stood beside the doctor as he showed her a series of images side by side. “This is last night’s, and this is today’s.” He ran a pen alongside the spot on the film the doctors had told her was the bleeding inside Hope’s head. “It’s tiny, but it’s going in the right direction.” He pointed to a few other things on the film they were watching, but he didn’t anticipate any problems with a full recovery.

When he was done going over the images, he approached Hope with a smile. “It’s good news, kiddo. Looks like you have a pretty hard head.”

She lifted her purple cast. “My arm is soft.”

He laughed.

Melanie watched as he checked Hope’s eyes, her reflexes, and a few things that Melanie didn’t understand the need for. He asked Hope a few random questions that she was enthusiastic to answer. Hope told him she still had a headache and her arm pulsed.

“I will see you in the morning, Hope.”

“M’kay.”

“Mom.” He looked at Melanie. “Let’s have a chat.”

“Be right back, baby.”

“Want us to go with you?” Zoe asked.

Melanie shook her head. “I’m good.”

Doctor Bellingham walked her into a conference room, where she was met with two other people, one man, one woman . . . both in business attire and not hospital scrubs.

“What’s going on?”

“This is Ms. Gomez, head of risk management here at the hospital, and Mr. Coban, one of our attorneys.”

“Risk management and attorneys?”

“Miss Bartlett, Hope’s father is creating quite a fuss about being denied access to his daughter,” Ms. Gomez told her. “The scene he caused last night and the report from the nursing staff in the ER have given us what we needed to keep him away temporarily.”

“Hope doesn’t know her dad.”

“We understand that.” Mr. Coban leaned forward. “When your daughter was in less stable condition, the doctors had no problem suggesting his presence could hinder her recovery.”

Melanie picked up on one key word. “Had . . .”

“Right.” Doctor Bellingham sat in the chair beside hers and placed a hand on her forearm. “I can keep Hope in the ICU tonight, but tomorrow I’m going to downgrade her to the pediatric floor. Chances are she won’t be there very long before I discharge her home. While I’m sure meeting her father will be a shock, my medical opinion about it harming her recovery at this point is that it won’t.”

Melanie squeezed her eyes shut.

“Without a restraining order, there isn’t much we can do about keeping a father from seeing his child in the hospital,” Ms. Gomez said.

“I’ve spoken with Mr. Stone’s attorney and they’ve agreed to wait until Hope is out of the ICU before forcing the issue.”

So Nathan had hired one of his own to push his way in.

“There’s nothing I can do to stop him?”

“If he causes a scene, becomes a threat, we have full rights to make him leave.”

She knew when Nathan had shown up in River Bend it wouldn’t be the last she’d see of him.

“If it’s any help, I’ll request child services to be present when Hope’s father arrives tomorrow.”

“That’s not a bad idea,” she whispered.

Mr. Coban and Ms. Gomez stood to leave. “Thank you for your cooperation.”

They didn’t bother trying to shake her hand as they left the room.

Doctor Bellingham held back. “There’s something I wanted to tell you about without Hope listening.”