"Staying. I can do that. " "You say that now lying in a hospital bed. " But something in her softened just slightly, a crack of warmth in the cold she had walled herself behind. Before he could answer, a knock came at the open door, two firm wraps of a knuckle against the frame. A man stood there in a rumpled jacket, a lanyard around his neck, a small notebook in his hand. He had the unhurried, watchful manner of someone who spent his days asking questions and waiting out the silences that followed.
"Mr. Reeves," the man said. "Glad to see you awake. I'm Detective Alvarez. I've been looking into your accident.
I was hoping you might be up for a few questions, though I understand if your memory's still patchy. " "It's more than patchy," Henry said. "There's a whole night gone. " "That's all right. I may have more for you than you have for me. " Alvarez stepped inside and glanced at Leia, then back at Henry. "I'd planned to speak with you separately, but since you're both here and you were both in the vehicle, it might save time. What I have to say concerns you both. " Leia sat up straighter.
Something in the detective's tone had put an edge into the room. "We finished going over your truck this morning," Alvarez said. "The damage pattern doesn't match what we'd expect from a vehicle that simply lost traction in the rain and left the road on its own. There's contact damage along the rear quarter panel and the driver's side. Paint transfer that isn't yours.
Black paint. He let that settle. Mr. Reeves, your truck didn't slide off that road. Something pushed it off.
Another vehicle made contact with you more than once deliberately and forced you toward the shoulder. The monitor beside Henry ticked faster. He looked at Lia and found that the color had drained entirely from her face. "What kind of vehicle? " Henry asked. "An SUV from the height of the contact points in the paint.
Dark, full-size. " Alvarez consulted his notebook. "We're working to trace it. The trouble is the plates on it appear to have been obscured. We pulled what footage we could from a gas station near the base of the mountain and the front plate was covered. That's not something that happens by accident.
Someone went up that road intending to do harm and intending not to be identified afterward. " Lia had gone utterly still in her chair. Her uninjured hand had risen to her throat. When she spoke, her voice came out barely above a whisper. "A black SUV. " She said it as though the words themselves were dangerous. "Full-size, dark. " Alvarez turned to her with new attention.