One by one, she opened the desk drawers and pawed through their contents. Common sense told her she was wasting her time. Burke would never have stowed a vital contract in the center drawer with its clutter of pens, pencils, sticky notes, string, tape, and paper clips. Nor would he have put it in the drawer that contained nothing but household bills, receipts, and unused checkbooks, or the drawer that held the instruction books and spare cables for his computer. But at least, if she failed to find it, she’d be able to tell Garrett she’d gone through the desk.

The large file drawer was next. Allison riffled through the folders, knowing that the missing envelope wouldn’t be there. Why would Burke file away the documents he’d planned to take back to work? Maybe he’d left the envelope in the foyer, the kitchen, or even the garage on his way out of the house. She should have checked there first.

Only one drawer—the small lower right one—remained. Sliding it partway open, Allison saw a box of powder-blue linen stationery with matching envelopes, an assortment of flowery all-occasion note cards, several pens, and a roll of unused 33-cent postage stamps. Kate’s things, most likely. They looked as if they hadn’t been touched in years.

Pushing on the drawer to close it, she felt a slight but stubborn resistance. Something in the rear had caught on the inner frame of the desk. Not wanting to do any damage, she worked the drawer the rest of the way open. There in the very back, crumpled at one corner, lay a large, plain manila envelope.

As soon as she lifted it out of the drawer, Allison knew it wasn’t the envelope she was looking for. The contents, whatever they were, felt too thick and lumpy to be flat legal documents. She was debating whether to return the envelope, unopened, to the drawer when the phone jangled. She answered on the second ring.

“Allison? Garrett again.”

Her pulse slammed. “What is it? Burke—?”

“Relax. That’s not why I’m calling. I’m at work, and I just found the contracts under some papers in Burke’s office.”

“So I can stop looking.”

“Right. Sorry, I hope you didn’t spend too much time.”

“Only a little. I’m glad you found them.”

“Are you holding up OK?”

“Fine,” she lied.

“You’ll call me if there’s any change in Burke’s condition?”

“Of course.” Allison hung up the phone without saying goodbye and sank back into the worn leather chair, feeling as if every ounce of energy had been sucked from her body. With the contracts in Garrett’s hands, there was nothing to keep her from returning to the hospital. But she lacked the strength to face the war of wills that would erupt as soon as she stepped into Burke’s room.