Page 51 of The Hanging Dolls (Zoe Storm #1)

FIFTY

Sam Buster already had a criminal record but nothing in his rap sheet was as disturbing as his current crime. The brute of a man was pumped full of steroids and fury because deep down he knew he was scum.

He’d been charged in the past with battery, assault with a deadly weapon, and resisting arrest. His violent outbursts had landed him in prison more than once—three years for aggravated assault, two years for illegal firearms possession, and a few shorter stints for parole violations.

The charges stacked up over the years: domestic violence, disturbing the peace, even one count of witness intimidation that had mysteriously been dropped.

Zoe pressed an ice pack to her jaw. Luckily she hadn’t broken it.

“He’s a ticking time bomb.” Aiden appeared by her side, looking at him in the interrogation room.

“Did we get anything from the computers?”

“Terri is still looking into it but Sam Buster is John Doe. We found evidence of that. Travis is working on the other guy you captured, but it seems like Buster was the leader. Need me in there?”

“Nah. He’s a punk. I got this.”

As Zoe barged into the interrogation room, she caught a reflection of her face in the two-way mirror. It wasn’t the bruise on the right side of her jaw that startled her—it was her expression. Hard eyes, stone-faced and so done .

“How’s that jaw doing?” Sam sneered, revealing his chipped tooth.

She sat back, nonchalant. “Do you know what people do to people like you in prison?”

He locked his jaw. “I don’t hurt children if that’s what you’re insinuating.”

“We know you are John Doe offering to sell pictures of the victims to people. Your associate is with the chief of Harborwood PD right now giving his statement.”

Sam stroked his jaw. “Like I said, I don’t hurt children.”

“Then what exclusive, unseen pictures are you selling?”

“It’s not that!” He sat back in his chair, appalled.

There was a sharp knock on the door. Terri strolled in and handed Zoe a file, whispering in her ear, “We just started retrieving some of the images from their computers.”

When she left, Zoe braced herself and cleaved out whatever emotions were stirring inside her. It was better to rip off the Band-Aid and get this over with. She flipped through the file until she came to the collection of pictures.

“What’s this?” she said.

“See?” Sam said. “I told you, you got this all wrong!”

The pictures were of Lily, Tara, and Lucy. Their bodies arranged in different poses in different locations. One picture had zombies in it and one was in a submarine with sharks. “The hell is this?”

Sam brooded and crossed his arms. Zoe could sense he didn’t like being bossed around, but she didn’t have time for this.

“Pictures don’t have to be sexual for their distribution to be illegal. Violent pictures such as these violate many laws include obscenity laws.” She forced him to look at them. “And since your subject matter are underage girls, I can guarantee you’ll be going to jail for a long time.”

He wiped his nose. “There’s a market for people on the dark web who are fascinated by people, especially kids who are either dead or gone missing, and enjoy violence. For them, it’s art. Since they’re dead it’s not harassment or defamation?—”

“It still is, you asshole,” she hissed. “They have families.”

He took a strained breath, controlling his anger. “Like I said, no one was harmed. We just create pictures using AI that will sell.”

“You’re going away for a long time.” She closed the file and pushed the chair back.

“Wait.”

“What?”

“I know something.” He licked his lips. “About Carly and Lucy that can help your case.”

She drummed her fingers on the table, pretending to consider what he was saying. Was he lying to get out of this? But he was close to Carly. “What is it?”

“First promise me leniency.” He pointed a finger at her.

She suppressed a grin. “Sure, I promise.”

He assessed her but she kept a straight face before he gave in with a sigh.

“Now Carly doesn’t want to be a mom, okay?

Whenever I was over, Carly would make sure Lucy wasn’t in the house.

But there were a lot of times she couldn’t.

And Lucy… is a chatty, active, and nosy kid.

Always asking questions. Always running around.

Never sitting still in a room. You can’t just place her in front of a television and hope she’ll be busy for the hour.

Carly used to complain to me that her… business was suffering. ”

“Her prostitution business.”

“That’s right. She couldn’t always go to her client’s place because who would she leave Lucy with?

She can’t afford babysitters and she doesn’t have any family.

So she would always have clients over at her house.

It was easier that way too. But most clients aren’t comfortable with a loud and curious child when they’re there to bang her mother.

Also Lucy was at that stage where she’s needy and full of energy and Carly just didn’t have the bandwidth to handle her.

One time Lucy was sick. She had the flu so she was in bed for a few days.

Carly told me those days were the best days of her life. ”

A hollowness opened inside Zoe’s chest. She knew what Carly had been doing. But the confirmation still made her ears want to bleed.

“She said it would be great if… Lucy stayed sick most of the time. She told me she was giving her this tea that kept Lucy at low energy most of the time.”

“Did she say anything else about this tea? What was in it?”

He puckered his lips and shrugged. “No. But I remember her taking her to the hospital because Lucy was getting really sick. She told me it was because she was giving her too much of that tea… Now can I leave? This information has to be worth something, right? She was poisoning her own kid!”

It was something else that Zoe had latched on to. Carly had taken Lucy to the hospital.

“You can’t leave. You’re under arrest.”

“We had a deal!” he screeched in protest, his bulky body shaking in ragged breaths.

“I lied and you’re an idiot.” She left the room, still buzzing with the revelation.

What if Lily and Tara had been taken to the hospital too? That could be the connection they had been searching for. Someone at the hospital would know—someone who decided to take matters into their own hands and dispense his twisted sense of justice.

The automatic doors whooshed closed behind her as Zoe approached the front desk, where a tired-looking receptionist tapped away at her computer.

“I’m looking for three patients who might have been brought in recently. Lily Baker, Tara Bennett, and Lucy Robinson,” Zoe said.

The receptionist looked up, her fingers still hovering over the keyboard. “I’m sorry, ma’am, but I can’t give out patient information unless you’re family.”

Zoe flattened her mouth. She didn’t have time for court orders. She leaned in slightly, lowering her voice. “I’m with the FBI. I need to know if they were brought in and when.”

The receptionist hesitated, her eyes flicking to Zoe’s badge, which she held out just long enough to confirm her credentials.

Reluctantly, the woman began typing again, her eyes scanning the screen.

After a moment, she nodded. “The names… it’s those girls, isn’t it?

” Her eyes turned glassy. “The dead ones in the woods.”

“Yes, that’s why this is important. Please help us.”

She nodded, understanding. “There is no record of Tara Bennett checking in, at least in the last six months, but Lily Baker came in about three months ago and Lucy Robinson a month ago. They were both assigned to the same doctor—Dr. Parsons.”

Zoe’s heart skipped a beat. She remembered Dr. Parsons from when Scott was admitted after being attacked outside the police station. He was well into his seventies, with a raspy smoker’s voice that somehow didn’t match his kind, grandfatherly demeanor.

“Where can I find Dr. Parsons?” she asked, a slight edge to her voice.

The receptionist pointed down the hall. “He should be making his rounds in the east wing.”

Zoe didn’t waste a second. She turned on her heel and marched down the corridor, her eyes scanning the sea of white coats. Finally, she spotted him—a stooped man with thinning white hair, talking softly to a nurse. His hands moved gently, guiding the nurse’s attention to a chart.

“Dr. Parsons,” Zoe called out.

He looked up, and a warm smile spread across his weathered face. “Oh, I remember you. The girl who likes hospitals. How’s your friend doing? Scott, that was his name, wasn’t it?”

Zoe forced a polite smile. “He’s doing great even though someone injured his face again . But I need to talk to you about Lily and Lucy. The names are familiar to you?”

Dr. Parsons’s smile faded slightly, and he glanced around as if to ensure no one else was listening. “Yes… those girls were in the news. Lily was killed, right?”

“Do you remember why they were brought in?”

He scratched his head, digging through his memory. “Lucy was more recent. She had presented with nausea and diarrhea. Her mother said she had bad takeout so we just put her on electrolytes and sent her away. But Lily…” He blinked vehemently, his mouth moving even though no words came out.

“What about Lily?”

“She had an electrolyte imbalance. We treated her but we found diuretic in her system. Her mother said Lily had accidentally consumed them but…” His voice trailed off.

“But what?”

“Something felt wrong. I don’t know what. Call it an instinct but it just felt off.”

“How?”

His hand clasped the railing of the staircase to balance himself. “It just reminded me of something that happened a long time ago, kid. I’m seventy-four years old. I’ve seen a lot of things in this hospital.”

“What was it?” she pressed, softening her voice.

Horror crossed his face. “It was over forty years ago. I was in residency. But there was a case that I was on. Two kids presented on different occasions with symptoms ranging from hallucinations and mood swings to diarrhea and respiratory distress. Although of varying ages, they were all under ten years old. It raised a red flag because they were siblings. It made me suspect that something was happening in their home.”

“Munchausen by proxy.”

He nodded grimly. “I talked to the doctor in charge and she agreed. There was enough evidence for us to call the authorities.”

“And did you?”

“We did.” His voice cracked and he coughed like a broken engine until Zoe had to pat his back to soothe him. “We shouldn’t have.”

“Why?”

“Because they were found dead, hanging from the ceiling. The parents killed them as soon as they realized that they were being investigated.”

Zoe was stunned. The image tried to force itself into her head but she pushed it away, erecting a giant wall around her sanity. “They killed them.”

“Maybe that’s why somewhere along the line I stopped questioning as much. Maybe subconsciously I look away when I shouldn’t.” Parsons’s lips quivered. “Did I fail Lily? Should I have reported that? Would she still be alive if I had?”

She touched his arm lightly and lied. “No, there’s nothing you could have done.”

He seemed to believe it, perhaps it was easier that way. He took out a handkerchief from his pocket and dabbed his forehead as pink spots dotted all over his skin.

“Who knows about that story?” Zoe asked.

“A lot of people. Almost everyone in the hospital at the time. People talk. I probably told some of my friends and family about it over the years.”

“Is there anyone who has been asking about this or Munchausen syndrome lately?”

He shrugged helplessly. “Not that I know of. It’s been a while since I recounted this story. Not an easy thing to talk about.”

When his pager started beeping, he excused himself, almost bumping into a bonsai tree on his way. Zoe watched his aged, frail frame disappear around the corner, taking away the hope that was barely flickering inside her.

Her mind raced. Lily’s and Lucy’s paths intersected at this very hospital.

She scanned the workers around her—not just doctors and nurses but also janitors and administrative staff.

These were the people who saw death every day, watched families get ripped apart, heard soul-shredding tears.

Zoe knew the discipline it took to keep the ugliness of the world at bay.

How it spread like a nasty infection, killing morals first and empathy next.

Or maybe it was another patient. Someone who had come into the hospital to get treated for hereditary hemochromatosis.

Zoe got a call from Aiden. “Any news?”

“Terri tracked down the buyer of that toy from the seller on eBay. It’s Connor, Regina’s campaign manager.”