Page 28 of The Girl from Widow Hills
Looking at her, I thought briefly that she might still be drunk. How many hours had it been since she’d left the bar? She’d had at least two drinks before I went home, and she hadn’t seemed in a rush to leave. “Just lying there.”
“And you found him? In the middle of the night?”
The darkness and the ringing and then the shadow—“I heard a phone.” Trying the story on for size. Getting used to the way it felt, until I could see it myself, what had happened during the gap of my memories.
“I heard it was a box cutter,” she said, voice lowered.
The air kicked in through the vents, a sudden icy blast. I cracked my knuckles on the side of my leg. Hadn’t thought much about the logistics of what had caused the blood.
“Sorry, I’m doing it again,” she said. “Talking too much.”
“No, it’s okay.” I cleared my throat. “Where’d you hear that?”
“The nurses. Some of us have a group chat. You know, for . . .
keeping the next shift in the loop on things.”
She had stopped herself before she confessed to violating HIPAA privacy rules, for saying that the nurses might share patient information or stories via texts. A fine line, with or without names. The gray area between legality and morality.
But I knew my name must’ve been mentioned. That someone told her a cop had brought me in to the hospital. I guessed it wasn’t technically confidential, as long as my medical history wasn’t shared.
And now, on another floor, a man had likely been brought to the morgue. Another examination happening elsewhere, trying to unspool the story from a different angle.
I knew Central Valley didn’t get a lot of murders. I’d checked what I was getting into before I moved here. Not as quiet as Widow Hills, but the deaths we documented and tallied were mostly illness, or accidental, or expected. It was worse in the winter, with the icy, winding roads and the mountainous terrain. Even then, there weren’t typically police investigations surrounding them.
“What else did you hear?” I asked as she turned onto my street. “Do you know who it is?”
She eased her foot off the gas, seeing the police cars still parked on the side of the road. “No. Not that anyone’s saying. Just that. A man brought to the morgue. And that you were there, too.” Her eyes cut to the side again. “This is scary, Liv.”
One more honest thing, then: “I know.”
TRANSCRIPT OF LIVE REPORT—WPBC CHANNEL 9
OCTOBER 19, 2000, 9:00 A.M.
ALANA COX:We’re going live to Tiffany Lu, who’s joining us from the volunteer headquarters in Widow Hills, Kentucky. Tiffany, can you tell us what it’s like there right now?
TIFFANY LU:Good morning, Alana. The search for six-yearold Arden Maynor is now entering the third day in Widow Hills, Kentucky. What had first been driven by a majority-volunteer outpouring of resources and support has now turned into a massive undertaking on a national level.
At the most recent press conference last night, Captain Morgan Howard was pressed for his thoughts on the status of the search. He said that, quote, “We will find her. That’s what we’re here to do, and we’re going to do it.”
He was then pressed on what the chances were of finding her alive. Captain Howard’s answer was evasive yet firm. He responded, quote, “A child is not a statistic.”
Alana, we’ve been interviewing various residents in the area over the last few days who have told us that locals themselves have organized searches through the easier terrain. But there’s now an experienced rescue operation combing the treacherous terrain in the valley. Helicopters are scanning the area from above with infrared, looking for heat signatures that could match a child’s. And there are teams preparing to explore the system of drainage tunnels wherever they are accessible.
It’s a race against time, and they’re using every hour and every person at their disposal. It may be three days since there’s been any clue or hint to her whereabouts, but the people surrounding the search are undeterred.
For all of us at the volunteer headquarters, it’s becoming easier to believe Captain Howard’s promise. The general feeling on the ground is that they will not stop until the child is found.
ALANA COX:Thank you, Tiffany. And thank you to everyone on the scene for all you’re doing to find her. For the rest of us, we can only watch—and hope.
