Lila looked back at him and for once she didn’t look annoyed. “You did a good job. Often wounds like this can get bad if you don’t stay on top of them. This is healing nicely. And I’ll look forward to seeing you tomorrow, Noelle. You’ll probably be my only patient.”

She managed to get to her feet with the grace of a woman who was used to standing in those heels all day. She looked like she had far more to say to him, but she merely nodded Noelle’s way and strode out the front doors of the station house.

Noelle whistled. “Damn, Dad. She was pissed and not at me. Did she find out how much that ticket cost?”

“Language.” He stared out the glass doors as Lila walked down Main Street. She strode right past Dixie’s, not even turning to look inside. It was probably a good thing since everyone in the diner had been looking at her. “She wasn’t mad at me about the ticket. She was upset about something else. Hey, have you heard anything about Carrie Petrie?”

Noelle was plugged into the town’s gossip center. She ate most of her meals at Dixie’s, which ran on grease and gossip. “Besides the fact that Gene is fairly certain they’re actually running drugs out of that shack they live in, no. Why?”

He didn’t want to spark more gossip. “Just let me know if you hear anything. I need to go talk to some folks.”

“You’re not going to tell me what she’s mad about?”

It appeared that Lila didn’t want everyone in Papillon to know about what had happened to her. He was going to have to have a discussion with Zep about talking about Lila’s past to anyone who asked. If she didn’t want people to know, then that should be her right. “It’s between me and her.”

“It’s going to be the only thing between you and her if you’re not careful.” Noelle wheeled around to the desk she used.

Wasn’t that the truth. Contrary to what Gene thought, it wasn’t the town or Doc in danger from Lila Daley, but he was starting to worry the town might be a danger to her.

She might have some big-city ways, but it was obvious she cared about her patients. If the tender way she’d dealt with Noelle was any indication, she could be good for Papillon.

She could be good for him.

He wanted a shot at figuring out if he might be good for her, too. “So how do we save our nurse from the town?”

Noelle’s face lit up. “I was thinking about that very thing.”

He leaned against the desk and let Noelle talk.

chapter four