Brass returned to work that evening. The quick response of the woman and the paramedics with the anti-serum, coupled with the good fortune that defensive snakebites often carry less than a quarter of the venom that is injected into prey, drastically reduced the severity of the injury. The doctor had discharged him from the hospital around mid afternoon and advised him to take it easy for a week or two, and he decided that meant he could confine himself to desk duty. Ironically, it was the woman who had acted so quickly to save his life who would be in the hospital a few days. Grissom was still at the hospital checking on their mystery woman and gave the detective a lift back to his car.
"She fainted from dehydration, it seems," he told Brass as he pulled out onto the highway.
"Yeah, I gathered that from what I could understand the paramedics saying," the captain concurred. "They gave her an IV drip in the ambulance — saline solution. They also said her blood sugar was low — probably hadn't eaten recently."
"She had a concussion, too. Cracked the back of her skull, probably affecting her memory — should return in time. I wonder how she got there — out in the middle of nowhere?" Grissom mused.
"After they put the IV drip into her, she woke up briefly in the ambulance. Told me she was a writer, which is why she thought she was in Four Corners. Didn't make much sense, but she was very groggy. She told me her name was Lenny Moreland, or something like that. Doesn't sound like a woman's name — Lenny."
"If she's a writer, maybe it's a nom de plume. Lots of women take on male pseudonyms, to help boost sales of their books to male audiences. The chauvinistic crowd won't buy books written by women, regardless of the contents." Grissom shrugged.
"I'll check it out this evening," Brass replied, eager to get back to work. "Also, what were the other names she mentioned? Jim...Chee (as in Kim Chee)," he wrinkled his nose at the thought of the stinky pickled Korean food one of his friends adored, "and Joe...?"
"Leap Horn, I think."
"Yeah, Sergeant Jim Chee and Lieutenant Joe Leap Horn of the Navajo Police. Four Corners, where Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado meet. There's an Indian reservation up there — Navajo, I think. Other side of the Grand Canyon." Grissom could tell that Brass was hot on the scent of a case. Every time his team came up with evidence for the detectives to pursue, Brass got that same gleam in his eye.
Dayshift was finishing packing up the sparse evidence into their own vehicles when Grissom pulled alongside Brass' sedan. They exchanged professional information about the scene and Brass volunteered to keep tabs on the witness, who happened to have saved his life. Before leaving, Grissom gave Brass the fingerprint card he'd taken on the witness at the hospital, knowing that the detective would get to it immediately. Grissom had neglected to fill out the information completely, but Brass would finish it for his friend.