Page 120 of Forever Dark
“Hi… Yes.I’m looking for Donna Murphy?”
The woman’s expression changed only slightly, but enough.“She’s not taking visitors.”
“I need to speak with her.”
“She’s detoxing.”
Selena let that settle a moment.
“I understand.But this is important.”
The receptionist gave her a measured look that suggested she had heard that line before from husbands, parents, ex-boyfriends, and perhaps God Himself.
“Important usually still waits during recovery.”
Selena reached into her jacket and showed her badge.
The woman read it, looked back up, and sat a little straighter.
“I’m Agent Raven with the FBI.I really need to see her,” Selena said.
Another pause.
Then the receptionist picked up the phone on her desk, pressed a button, and said quietly, “Can someone come to the front, please?”
A minute later a woman in her fifties with iron-gray hair and a face worn into steadiness came through a side door.She wore no uniform beyond a cardigan and practical shoes.Counselor maybe.Administrator.Somebody used to deciding how much truth a stranger needed.
“This is Agent Raven with the FBI,” the receptionist said.“She needs Donna Murphy.”
The older woman looked at Selena.“I’m Carol Sutter.Donnas in a rough place today.”
“I won’t be long.”
Carol’s eyes stayed on her face a beat, judging tone more than words.
“We’ve had enough police here to last a while, chasing people up when they just want to get better.”
“I’m not here for a drug case.”
That seemed to matter.
“It’s a triple homicide investigation.”
Carol nodded once.“All right.But if I think she’s shutting down, I’ll end it.”
Selena followed her through a secured door and down a narrow corridor painted in soft neutral colors somebody had chosen to feel calming.The effect lasted until the sound reached her.A cough from one room.Someone retching in another.A woman crying in short angry bursts behind a closed door.
Carol kept walking.
“She’s been coming off heroin for four days,” she said quietly.“Today’s bad.”
Selena swallowed.“Jessie Chase knows her.She told me about her.”
That got Carol’s attention.“Jessie’s been good to her.”
The corridor ended in a small room with a single bed, a chair, and a narrow window looking out over the side yard.Carol knocked first, then opened the door without waiting.
Donna Murphy sat propped against the wall on the bed, wrapped in a blanket despite the heat of the building.She looked younger than Selena had expected and older than her years at the same time.Hollow-cheeked.Sweat clinging at the hairline.Arms thin under the sleeves of a rehab T-shirt.Her skin had the drawn, feverish look of someone fighting her own body minute by minute.
