Something had happened to her in those moments when she’d taken her first faltering steps. Something mature and confident had come over his daughter. She’d been a scared little girl, but a woman sat in that chair now, one who would fight for herself.

He leaned over and kissed her forehead. “I agree. I think any kids who get you as a sister will have a hell of a role model. I’ll bring her back. I promise.”

He nodded to Tanya as he strode out of the building.

It was time to bring his wife home.

chapter eighteen

“I think you boys should get on out of here.” Mabel’s voice was clear, but there was a shaky quality to it.

Lila started to back away. She didn’t recognize the voices, but she was worried she might know who they were. If she was right, they were absolutely not here for medical care. The computer had been coated with gasoline, and so had the filing cabinets from the looks of it. Someone wanted to get rid of all her patient records, and there was only one person she could think of who might want to do that.

Bobby Petrie’s trial was going to come up in the next few months, and the DA would want those records soon. They would want to depose her and get all the medical information she had. If she didn’t have the X-rays and notes, the tests that had been run, all she could offer was her testimony, and it might not be enough.

“Yeah, because you’ll pretend like this never happened, right?”

There was a hitch to Mabel’s voice. “I don’t have to tell anyone.”

Her sweet friend was so scared. It was right there in that tremor she heard.

Armie. She needed to get to the therapy gym and get Armie. She wasn’t sure how many people were in the back. She would bet both of the Petrie brothers were there, but she was sure they had cousins somewhere. Everyone who lived in the bayou seemed to have labyrinthine family trees, and they backed each other up.

She started to turn, but she was too late. Mabel stumbled through the hallway, her lip bloody and a gun at her back. It was held by Bobby Petrie. Bobby’s brother was with him, and he immediately pointed his pistol at her.

“Don’t you fucking move.”

For a moment she was back in that room, the door barricaded and blood on the floor. She could smell the coppery scent, taste the blood in her mouth because she’d bitten her lip to stop from screaming, could hear the choked sound of her friend trying to breathe despite the fact that her lungs didn’t work anymore.