The McRae Series 01 - Twelve Days Sam and Rachel

started a project together to give to Sam for his birthday. But Will left before the birthday, before the project was ever finished. It was still probably right there in her workshop in the basement where she'd left it.
    Looking at her watch, Rachel frowned and wondered what kind of shape it was in and how much she could get done today with the children here.
    "Will you help me with something?" she asked Emma.
    "Yes."
    "Okay. We just might make it." And it would keep them busy, keep them from wondering where Sam had gone and how the children would manage tomorrow if their mother didn't show up.
    * * *
    Sam drove into Shepherdsville around seven-thirty, spotting a diner a block off main that had a cluster of cars around it. He took a seat at the crowded counter and ordered coffee, thinking he'd make his way to the newspaper office, hoping it was open on a Sunday. On his second cup of coffee, he struck up a conversation with an older man sitting next to him about what a nice little town this seemed to be. The man had lived there his whole life and was more than happy to talk about it.
    Sam tossed out a casual, anything-interesting-happening-here remark, and the man told him a woman was found nearly beaten to death in a ditch on the outskirts of town almost two weeks ago. She was in a hospital on the outskirts of Indianapolis, and so far no one had figured out who she was or who had hurt her so badly. Last the man heard, she hadn't regained consciousness.
    Sam felt sick inside. Literally sick.
    He went across the street to the newspaper office and bought a copy of last week's paper from the rack outside, and there was the story, right on the front page. An unidentified woman, believed to be in her forties, average height, average build, no distinguishing marks on her. Nearly beaten to death on the outskirts of town. The sheriff speculated that she must be a transient and hoped the person who hurt her was, too. He'd even suggested someone might have gotten off the highway, dumped her body here, and taken off.
    Sam didn't think so. He was afraid her husband had done it and wondered how he could find out without leading anyone to the kids. He didn't have a great amount of trust in the law enforcement profession, and he couldn't tell Miriam. She'd be obligated to follow certain procedures here.
    He ended up driving to the hospital, forty minutes away, and saying he thought he knew the woman. The nurse in ICU eyed him suspiciously when he asked more questions than he answered about how he might know her. But she'd remained unconscious for two weeks and they let Sam see her.
    "I don't know what you're going to be able to tell us from looking at her right now. Her face is still a mess, and she's got tubes coming out of just about everywhere," the nurse said. "But at this point, anything would help."
    Sam nodded as he stood outside the cubicle. He didn't know what he expected to see. Something of Emma maybe. What he saw nearly made him sick. She was so pale, except for the bruising still evident and the reddish abrasions. Her face was still swollen, and he couldn't imagine what she'd been through. He also couldn't imagine bringing Emma here to try to identify her.
    The woman was so still, save for the motion caused by air being forced into her lungs by the machines, that if he hadn't been looking at the monitors that proved her heart was indeed beating, he wouldn't have believed she was alive.
    Why in the world had she come here knowing there was a man in town capable of doing this to her? Sam had to find out. Fast.
    "Do you know her?" the nurse asked.
    "I'm not sure," he said. "Is she going to make it?"
    The nurse frowned and offered a noncommittal, "She's been unconscious for a long time."
    Sam nodded, thinking of Emma and Zach, imagining the look on their faces if he had to tell them they'd lost their mother for good.
    "What's the name of the deputy in charge of her case?" he asked.
    She gave it to him, and Sam headed back toward Shepherdsville. He had to do something. He had to protect the children; he'd promised Emma he would, but he couldn't do this alone.
    He needed someone who understood the legal aspects involved, because Sam certainly didn't. And he needed someone to deal with the sheriff in Shepherdsville, who wouldn't know Sam from Adam. He supposed the logical choice would be an attorney or another person in law enforcement. Sam had an attorney who handled the few business matters that required legal expertise, but