Husband Missing: A completely unputdownable and heart-pounding mystery and suspense thriller (Detective Josie Quinn Book 22) by Lisa Regan

Author:Lisa Regan [Regan, Lisa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bookouture
Published: 2025-03-19T00:00:00+00:00

THIRTY-EIGHT

Josie could feel the excitement rolling off her sister’s body. “You are able to communicate with her?” said Trinity.

“Yes,” Eva answered. “But you must understand, it’s extremely limited, given her deficits. She can nod or shake her head to yes or no questions. She can make certain gestures. I lobbied for the use of assistive devices once that technology became available, but Roe gets frustrated very easily and when that happens, even with all the medication the doctors have her on, she becomes violent.”

Josie thought of the conflicting medical reports in Roe’s file. “She knows what’s going on around her? Her mind is fully intact?”

Eva gave another pained smile. “She is most definitely aware of everything happening around her. She understands a lot of things though it’s impossible to know just how much.”

Trinity said, “What kind of assistive devices has she tried?”

A small laugh bubbled up from Eva’s chest. “Oh my. Almost all of them. Well, an alphabet board was out of the question as was anything that depended on her being able to read. She did okay with rating scales—to communicate her preferences and pain. We tried a number of different apps when those became available, all of them reliant on images rather than words. For example, with one app, she could scroll through a whole host of drawings or pictures and if she pressed on one, it would say the name of the object pictured. Table, chair, bowl, tree… basic things. One of the speech pathologists told me that there were similar image-based apps that would allow her to express more complex thoughts as she grew more skilled with them, but we never got that far.”

“Because she got frustrated,” Josie said.

Eva nodded. “I really think she has it in her to make good use of many of those assistive apps. I’m not sure why she loses her temper so easily. The new technology, maybe? Who knows.”

“What exactly happened when she tried them?” Josie asked even though none of this was going to lead to some trail of obscure clues that would result in finding Noah.

“It always starts out well. She scrolls through the pictures, pushing some of them, trying things out. Then, at some point, she just… it’s like she’s looking for a particular picture and can’t find it. She becomes frantic, scrolling faster, aggressively, and she starts screaming her own name over and over. The next thing we know, she’s smashing the tablet to pieces against the table or the nearest wall. I suggested using a booklet instead, but the same thing happened, and she just started tearing the pages out and throwing them everywhere.”

“Is her name the only thing she can say?” asked Trinity.

“She can make other sounds but nothing coherent. It often seems like she’s trying to say words, but they never come.”

“What is it exactly about her case that you think was brushed under the carpet?” Josie asked, bringing the conversation back to where Eva started.

“Roe Hoyt exists without context. We know virtually nothing about what kind of home life she had before she was on that mountain.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.