“It’s all right, Reece,” Addison said as she shifted her viewpoint to the dumpy men straining the construction of their chairs. “I don’t know what’s going on, but I know you wouldn’t do this today unless it were important. So let’s get it over with. Shall we?”

Before Reece could reply, Addison walked to the chair at the end of the table, and slipping into it, she looked up at the men watching her with keen, beady eyes. “Now, what’s this all about?”

Raised to be a gentleman, Reece did not take his seat until Fran settled in a chair in the corner of the room, and then sinking into his own, he opened the folder in front of him and pulled out a piece of paper. Letting out a sigh, he raised his eyes and looked at Addison as he motioned to the man on his right to pass the paper to her. As soon as it was in her hands, he said, “That was sent to us by a Miss Prudence Craddick a few weeks ago. She states that she was one of the nurses caring for Robert Sheppard. Is that true?”

Intent on trying to decipher the sloppy handwriting on the paper, it took a moment before Addison looked up. “Sorry, but that name doesn’t ring a bell.”

Reece looked at his notes. “She states here that you fired her.”

A few seconds had passed before Addison nodded. “Yes, I remember her now. She was sleeping on the job.”

“Well, she says that when she left your home, she inadvertently took some items that didn’t belong to her, one of which is that paper you have in your hands.”

“Inadvertently?”

Reece knew where Addison was going, and his sadness showed on his face. “Yes,” he said quietly. “That’s what she says.”

Addison looked at the scribble again, but this time she gave it her full attention, and before she was halfway down the page, she knew who the author was. She continued to read his words, and when she reached the end, she handed the paper to Fran and then turned her attention to Reece.

It took Fran only a few minutes to read the note, and before she read the last word, the color had drained from her face. Resting back in the chair, she closed her eyes and tried desperately to think of a way out...for them both.

Intent on protecting themselves from Maxwell Firth, Addison and Fran had both forgotten that enemies can come in all shapes and sizes, and an angry nurse with vengeance in her heart had been one of them.