And then she took the call from Nick about what Scotty had witnessed, and things got impossibly worse. She worked hard to hide her reaction from Farnsworth until she knew more about what Scotty had seen and took a look at the pictures that had shown up online. If she tipped her hand to the chief before she knew more, that part of the investigation would no longer belong to her either.

A surge of nausea caught her by surprise when she imagined her naked, violated teenage niece on display for the world to see. Not to mention the fact that her son could be dragged into the middle of a homicide investigation, which was her worst nightmare come true.

The chief parked at the curb outside her house. “I’m going over to see your dad while I’m here. What does he know about Brooke?”

Drawn out of her own upsetting thoughts, Sam said, “I’m not sure. I haven’t seen him yet.”

“I’ll let him tell me then.” He looked over at Sam. “If there’s anything I can do for you or your family over the next couple of weeks, you know where I am.”

He was speaking to her now as her beloved Uncle Joe. “Yes, I know. Thank you.”

“It’ll be okay, Sam. It always is.”

While she wanted to believe he knew best, she wondered if or when anything would be okay again for her niece or her sister’s family.

The chief headed for her dad’s house while she dashed up the ramp to home. She found a subdued father and son on the sofa in the family room watching Sports Center.

Nick muted the TV when she came in.

Sam sat next to Scotty.

“I guess you want to know what I saw last night,” he said as she hugged him.

“First, I want to know if you’re okay.”

“I’m worried about Brooke, but I’m okay.”

“The good news is she’s going to survive.”

“That is good news.”

“Do you feel like telling me what you saw?”

Scotty nodded, and Sam met Nick’s concerned gaze over the boy’s head. All the anger she had felt toward him since their argument dissolved the second her gaze met his and saw nothing but love and concern coming from him.

“I was wondering if you guys were back from the hospital, so I looked out a couple of times, checking to see if Nick’s car was there. I wished I’d gone with you so I’d know what was going on.”

Nick laid his hand on the boy’s shoulder. “I’m sorry you were worried. I promise I’ll always tell you if there’s something to really worry about, okay?”

“You’re not the one who’s usually hurt,” he said with a roll of his eyes in Sam’s direction.