“Do you think that?”
“I can’t be sure. But before we involve them, I’d like to hear what your friend finds out.”
Ryder took the picture back and then gave her a blank stare. “What are you leaving out? What’s going on with you? You’ve wanted to get out there and get at it, and now you’re holding back on me.”
“I told you, I don’t remember much,” she replied. “I feel it in my gut, though. I had to have come here looking for someone. I must be looking for a certain person. That couple could be my clients or they could be part of the problem.”
He sat up and nodded, but he didn’t push her on anything else. “I talked to a source who saw you in the Triple B. Said you were asking a lot of questions about underage teens. Does that ring a bell?”
Her heart skipped a beat. “Can you find my cell phone, please?”
“Emma?”
“I told you, I want to leave the hospital and I’ll do it, with or without you.”
“Don’t be foolish. How can you solve this thing when you can’t even remember much past your name and occupation?”
She bit her lip and hit her fists against the blanket in frustration. “Would you leave, please?”
“I’m trying to help you,” he said, his own aggravation darkening his golden eyes to burnished brown. “Let me work this thing out.”
“It might be too late,” she cried out. “And don’t ask me how I know that.”
Ryder got up and touched her hand. “Look, my partner and I are working on this. There are some bad elements at the Triple B and we’re trying to break up a dangerous ring of criminals. You don’t need to be in the middle of that.”
“I’d say I’m already in the middle of that,” she retorted.
“I’ll keep beating at the bushes and I’ll report back to you every day. How about that?”
Knowing he’d come here to see her made Emma feel better and also made her let go of some of her hesitations. But she had no intention of lying here like a sitting duck.
“They’ll find me,” she said. “I saw a brief report on the evening news late last night. About me.”
Anger shot over his features. “What?”
“They didn’t name me but they reported an unidentified woman being attacked behind the Triple B and that she was in a local hospital.” She swallowed, wishing she hadn’t told him that, but he’d find out soon enough. “The report indicated the Triple B is a very dangerous place. Especially for vulnerable young women. Then they talked to a local businessman named Bobby something who ranted about crime in that area.”
Ryder shook his head and groaned. “Bobby Doug Manchester. A lawyer and a real estate tycoon who’s always griping about the crime around that part of town. Speculators think he’s gearing up to run for office one day. Reporters listen to the police scanners. On slow nights, they go for any scrap of news even when they don’t have all the facts, and Bobby Doug listens in and rants on about crime in his district since he’d like to buy out the vacant buildings around there. He probably tipped off the reporters.”
Ryder figured that was what his early morning visit to the station earlier had been all about. The self-righteous Bobby Doug hounded the locals on a regular basis.
“Well, I’m that scrap of news and the man made it clear he wants the lowlifes off the streets of Dallas,” she replied, her tone calming now. “I’m a PI investigating some sort of case that somebody wants to keep me from investigating, and someone else is paying me to do that. I don’t need some ambitious businessman mentioning me by name so he can gain points. Another reason why I need to get out of here.”
Ryder stood over her, worry clouding his face. “Part of the report you heard in the news is correct, Emma. I’m doing my best to get rid of that bad element at the bar, so I don’t need the press or Bobby Doug snooping around. But then again, maybe someone wants the press involved enough to scare you away. Do you believe those two were going to kill you?”
“I’m pretty sure of it,” she said, nodding. “I must have asked too many questions about something they didn’t want me to know.”
Ryder lowered his head and gave her a direct stare. “Or you were close to finding someone they didn’t want you to find.”
“I need my cell phone,” she said, turning to get out of bed.
“We didn’t find a phone on you or near you. And if we had, it would have gone to the lab.”
“But it might help me remember something or find out why I came here. Are you sure?”
“We didn’t find anything like that near where you were attacked. No purse or phone, nothing except your wallet...and a weapon.”
“I carry a gun?”
“Yes, and you’ve got a permit for that. Already cleared. Your gun is safe back at headquarters in the evidence room. It hasn’t been fired recently. Clean as a whistle.”
Another strong memory of trying to get to the gun. “I rarely have to use the thing.”
He looked in the locker next to the bathroom. “Your wallet is right here in the bag with your clothes, but we cataloged and photographed what we found. The crime scene techs didn’t find much in the alley, but they did dust the Dumpster where you fell.”
She took in a gulp of air. “I was shoved against the Dumpster.”
“You remembered?”
“Yes, someone shoved me. They held me but I fought back until one of them found the sweet spot on that bat.” She held tight to the blanket and sheet. “Somebody shouted just as the bat came down. I managed to move my head, but obviously it still made contact.”
“Another odd memory.”
“Do you believe me, Detective Palladin?”
“Should I believe you, PI Emma Langston?”
“Why would I lie? I’m remembering bits and pieces. That’s all I’ve got for now. Why don’t you go Dumpster diving and see if Bounce and Ounce threw away my phone?”
Ryder settled in the nearby chair but never really answered any of her questions. She didn’t blame him for doubting her, but it stung either way. Frustration made her lash out. “What do you think?”
“Bounce and Ounce would have cleaned up the scene if Pierce hadn’t sent them scurrying. Those two have heavy records on petty crime and a nice history of several assaults, so they’d have no qualms about murdering anyone. But we can’t find them to get their side of things. There wouldn’t have been any trace of you ever being there if they’d succeeded.”
“You think they have my phone?”
He held up a finger. “I’m going to send Pierce back out there with the techs to check the Dumpster again. They would have checked it the other night—or should have. They might find something new with today’s trash dump, though.”
“I must have had a car. How else could I get there?”
“Do you remember a car?”
She closed her eyes, then hit her fists against the sheets. “No. Nothing. Maybe I took the DART.”
She watched as he texted someone. How could she remember the transit system and not the people in that photo? Who were they? Did they hire her?
Ryder didn’t notice her inner agitation. “My partner will know if they found your car, but we didn’t find it last night. Bounce could have hidden it and your phone.”
“I remember a dark