“And you didn’t think that was important enough to tell me, Ted? How could you do that? I could have been praying for him all this time. That’s just cruel of you. Plain old cruel,” Maggie said tearfully. “How is Lizzie holding up? Why aren’t the girls there with her?”

“She doesn’t want anyone, Maggie. Just like you didn’t want anyone. We were already here, so she has to put up with us. There’s no point in getting upset, since there’s nothing you could do even if you knew or even if you were here. We’re all just more or less trying to find our way ourselves. No one seems to have the skinny on how or even why Cosmo was shot. Lizzie is totally clueless.”

“You need me there,” Maggie said. “More to the point, I want to be there.”

“Yes, we do,” Ted responded smartly. “Do you want me to ask Dennis if he can get his Gulfstream fired up to bring you here?”

“What kind of idiotic question is that? I can be ready in ten minutes.”

“You sure you’re up to it?”

Maggie clenched her teeth. “I’m up to it. Call me when the plane is ready, and I’m out the door.”

Maggie popped up off the couch like her legs were spring-loaded. She had a bag packed in ten minutes, her backpack replenished, and notified her cat sitter that she was going out of town and to take over Hero’s care. “Suddenly, I feel like a million bucks,” she mumbled to herself as she made her way to the family room.

While she wasn’t a bona fide sister or a bona fide member of the guy team, she fit in right down the middle, which meant she helped out both sides whenever her help was needed. They all jokingly called her Miz Switzerland, meaning she was neutral and didn’t favor the sisters over the boys or vice versa. The only thing any of them cared about was that Maggie could be trusted.

Maggie chewed her nails down to the nub while she waited for the call to leave for the airport. She hated waiting for anything. Patience was simply not in her DNA.

Eight hours later, Maggie ran across the tarmac at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas, straight into Ted Robinson’s waiting arms. He hugged her fiercely, and she hugged him back just as fiercely.

“I’m glad you’re here, Maggie,” Ted whispered in her ear. “You sure you feel okay and are up to whatever is going to go down here?” he continued to whisper.

“I slept the whole trip. I’m hydrated, and I finished the last of my medicine. I’m good to go, Ted. This is just what I need. One more day cooped up in the house and they would be locking me up somewhere.”