Then he mentioned something else.
Richard had listed himself as Sophia’s available family contact and told hospital staff I was overseas and unreachable.
That was a lie.
My phone had worked throughout the deployment.
Sophia knew how to reach me.
So did Richard.
I had spoken to Sophia less than two days before she was supposedly attacked.
Someone had deliberately kept me out.
I stepped into the hallway to call the detective assigned to the case.
That was when I noticed a man sitting near the far wall.
Gray beard.
Old jacket.
Worn shoes.
A battered backpack between his feet.
He looked like someone who had slept outside recently.
But he wasn’t watching the nurses.
He was watching me.
Finally, he stood.
“You Ethan?”
I faced him.
“Who are you?”
“Samuel Price.”
“How do you know my name?”
“I know Sophia.”
My body tensed.
“How?”
He glanced toward the ICU doors.
Then lowered his voice.
“What Richard told you isn’t true.”
“What part?”
“The alley.”
I stared at him.
Samuel looked around before continuing.
“I was there that night.”
My heart started pounding.
“You saw the attack?”
“Yes.”
“Then tell me who did it.”
He shook his head.
“Not here.”
“My wife has thirty-one fractures.”
“I know.”
“Then talk.”
Samuel looked directly at me.
“Your wife was never in that alley.”
I thought I had misunderstood.
“What?”
“She got hurt at your house.”
The hallway seemed to narrow around me.
I remembered the bleach.
The chair.
The stains.
“How would you know?”
Samuel reached carefully into his backpack.
He removed a plastic bag.
Inside was a silver bracelet.
