There was a light knock on the door and then the potential murderer of Doc Hamet was standing in the doorway. Lila was still wearing the tailored slacks and green shirt she’d been wearing earlier in the day, though before she’d had a white lab coat on. She wore a pair of killer heels. He hadn’t been able to see those from his car. They were red and pointy and sexy as hell.

He shook it off, remembering he’d promised himself he would let her settle in before he tried to hit on her again.

“If I promise not to kill anyone, can I have a couple of minutes of your time?” She stepped inside his tiny office. “Sorry, no one was out at the desk so I let myself in. Mr. Boudreaux, that testing is necessary to ensure that the medications you’re on aren’t damaging your liver or kidneys. It’s why I would have done some blood work if you hadn’t run out of the clinic. This could all be over by now and you would have your prescription and you wouldn’t have to see me again for a year.”

Gene got to his feet. “Doc’s never done blood work. I don’t like needles. You never know where they’ve been.”

“They’ve been wrapped in sanitary plastic and then they get tossed out as medical waste. If you can’t let me do blood work, then I can’t give you the prescription,” she said flatly.

Gene turned a shade of red Armie was fairly certain no human ever should. “She’s trying to steal my DNA. We’ll see about that.”

Armie sat back with a long sigh as Gene fled the building. “I was going to try to convince him to give you a chance.”

“Yeah, that’s been a theme today.” She didn’t look back, merely took the seat Gene had previously occupied.

“Is he going to be okay without his medications?” It was clear he would have to do something about the situation at the clinic, and the easiest place to start was with the woman in front of him.

She shook her head, not an ounce of emotion on her face. “Not at all. He has high blood pressure that requires stabilization. He needs those meds, but I can’t prescribe them without ensuring that he’s okay.”

Maybe she wouldn’t be the easiest way to solve the problem. “So you’ll let him die because his liver might get damaged.”

“I’m not letting him die,” she replied. “I’m simply not going to prescribe a medication that might be hurting him without testing. I would be doing him a disservice. I get the feeling Dr. Hamet was very lax in his practice. I don’t intend to be.”