“What?”
“She was admitted several weeks ago. She was confused when she arrived and couldn’t tell anyone her name. She was later transferred to neurological care.”
My heart began pounding.
“Does she look like this?”
The receptionist studied Mom’s picture.
“I can’t confirm that from here.”
Then she softened.
“But the age and general description are similar.”
“That’s her.”
I knew it.
I don’t know how.
I just knew.
Then the receptionist said something that made the situation even more urgent.
“The patient suffered a seizure yesterday. She’s stable now, but she isn’t really supposed to have visitors.”
“I’m her daughter.”
She hesitated.
“She already has two people with her.”
The couple.
My mind filled with every nightmare I had been trying not to imagine.
They had my mother’s ring.
They knew where she was.
And now they were sitting beside her hospital bed.
“You don’t understand,” I said. “Those people may have done something to her.”
The receptionist looked toward security.
I lowered my voice.
“Please. Let me see her. If I’m wrong, I’ll leave immediately. But if that woman is my mother…”
I couldn’t finish.
After a moment, she picked up the phone.
She spoke quietly to someone upstairs.
Then she printed a visitor badge.
“Third floor. Room 318. A nurse will meet you.”
I grabbed it.
“And miss?”
I turned.
“Prepare yourself. She may not recognize you.”
The elevator took forever.
A nurse met me on the third floor and led me down a quiet corridor.
Then we stopped outside room 318.
Through the narrow window, I saw them.
The couple from Bellamy’s.
The woman was still wearing the same green dress, although now it was wrinkled.
Her husband’s silver hair was messy.
They no longer looked polished or wealthy.
They looked exhausted.
I pushed the door open.
The woman turned around.
