“Maybe. It doesn’t matter because they’re correct.”
“Are they angry at anybody else in the world over this?”
“Yes. They are. It’s been a very tough year, and everyone blamed the other driver. Everyone blamed me. Everybody’s blamed life, God even, and I’m crying out.”
Then suddenly Simon heard another voice.
“Who are you talking to?” some man asked Pamela.
She immediately fell silent. “I’m sorry,” she murmured in a conciliatory tone. “I was just talking out loud.”
Simon stayed silent in the background. He heard the voice again, via her hearing.
“That is a symptom of going crazy,” the man snapped.
She mumbled an apology yet again, and finally there was silence. She whispered, “You need to go away before I get hurt.”
At that, his eyebrows raised. “So you’ve been hurt, and you are a prisoner?”
“No.” And then she whispered, “Well, yes.”
Simon asked, “Which is it?”
“It’s a yes, but you can’t help me.” And she slammed the door shut.
Chapter 19
Kate walked intothe office the next morning, her head full. As she sat down at her desk, she reached for her phone and immediately contacted Pamela’s mother. “I need your daughter’s contact information.”
“No, please, I already told you that it’s not a good idea.”
“I can get it, but this will be much easier.”
“No, no, no. You don’t understand. She’s too delicate for you to talk to.”
“Maybe, but I need to confirm a few things. Now is she living with you, with her husband, or someone else? Where is she?”
The woman hesitated.
“This has to come to an end,” Kate said sternly.
The woman gasped. “What do you know?” she asked. A fearful note was in her voice.
“I want Pamela’s contact information, and I want it now.”
“But you really shouldn’t have any contact with her.”
“That’s just too damn bad.”
The mother hung up.
Staring at the phone, Kate shook her head. “That won’t work with me.” She looked over at Rodney. “I don’t know what to do with this,” she announced.
Lilliana had just entered the bullpen with her cup of coffee in hand and asked, “What’s up?”
Kate explained what Simon had said and that the mother was acting suspicious and wouldn’t give Kate any contact information on Pamela.
“Are we really expecting her to be a prisoner?” Lilliana asked.