“It’s none of my business, Sam, and you certainly know what you’re doing, but I’d hate to see you get screwed over this. You’ve worked really hard to get where you are, and there’re people who’d love to see you taken down a peg.”

“Believe me, I know, and I appreciate your concern. But I can’t be disengaged. It’s just not who I am.” She grasped the door handle. “I’ll see you at ten?”

“I’ll be there.”

“Thanks for today, Avery. I mean it. I owe you one.”

“No, you don’t,” he said in a tone filled with resignation.

“Just the same... Thanks.” With Norman the bear tucked under her arm, Sam got out of the car and walked through the automatic doors, anxious to see how Brooke was doing. She took the elevator to the ICU and was surprised to see Nick sitting in the waiting room.

“What’re you doing here?”

“Same as you, I suppose. Checking on Brooke as well as her parents.”

“How is she?”

“The same. They’re going to wean her off the sedation tomorrow, and that’s when the fun really begins.”

Sam winced when she considered what Brooke would have to be told about what’d happened to her. But she was extremely anxious to hear what her niece recalled about the night in question. It only took one little tidbit to blow an investigation wide open.

“Where’s Scotty?”

“Home with Skip and Celia. I stayed with all the kids so they could come over earlier, and then we traded places. I’ve been keeping Mike company. He just went to get coffee.”

Before she could tell him it was good of him to be here, and before she could ask him how he was feeling, her cell phone rang. Sam took the call but only because she saw it was the chief calling.

“Holland.”

“Lieutenant, we have a situation.”

“As I see it, we have a number of situations at the moment.”

“Then let’s call this a new one. Bill Springer is making a big stink out of the fact that you’re not running the investigation.”

For the first time in hours, Sam had reason to smile. “Is he now?”

“I can hear your ‘I told you so’ coming, so stifle it.”

Sam laughed at the irritation she heard in his voice. “I wasn’t the one who thought it was a good idea to take me off the investigation.”

“You know it was the right thing to do.”

“I can prove Brooke didn’t kill anyone.”

“And how can you do that?”

Sam explained about the video that showed Brooke out of it while being sexually assaulted by three of the murder victims. “Her tox screen and BAC prove she was stoned and drunk.”