She didn’t even have the facts of this situation. She couldn’t be totally sure why Nicole was so nervous or where the bruises had come from. Curtis Wigney might be a bully, a man who enjoyed controlling people through fear, but Paula had no way of knowing how dangerous he was. And whatever was going on here, she must never cross that boundary again and act outside the law. Anita was right. She was totally right when she railed against the arrogance of Paula’s actions, the danger of it. Choosing to kill a person meant shredding every thread of the fabric holding the world in civilised place.

She applied antiseptic ointment to the stitched wound and covered it with a sterile bandage. Glancing up, she saw Ruby was watching her. Paula smiled and hoped—absurdly, impossibly—that her smile could convey I hope you’re all okay. Call me if you’re scared. Don’t let this man hurt you or your family. Who knows how Ruby interpreted Paula’s intense look, but at least the girl didn’t scowl or turn away.

Paula then realised that Wigney had twisted his head and caught the doctor and his stepdaughter exchanging looks. His expression darkened in a second and his voice came out hard and sinewy. ‘Yeah, I reckon it’s time you pissed off, doc. Don’t reckon I need a tetanus injection.’

‘Oh. Okay. Up to you.’

For a brief moment, Paula indulged the fantasy of this man dying of tetanus—first hit by stomach cramps, then his body contorted by muscle spasms so intense they could break bones during the agonising hours before his death. In her mind, Paula could hear the crack of his femur.

She turned away so the sight of him wouldn’t make her do something foolish, then she said, ‘Let me write a prescription for another course of antibiotics for Jye, just in case.’

She scribbled on a prescription pad and on the bottom, in clear block letters, she wrote her name and mobile number. She walked over to the couch to touch Jye’s cheek gently.

‘Hope you feel better soon, Jye.’

She handed the prescription to Nicole and, out of Wigney’s eye line, she pointed out the phone number. ‘Call if you’re worried.’

Meanwhile Curtis Wigney stood up, huffing breaths through his nostrils, pugnacious, making it clear he wanted Paula out the door quick smart.

At the last minute, he bunged on a polite tone to say, ‘Anyway, thanks for coming out here, doc. Thanks for sorting out the boy and stitching me up.’

‘No problem. Please make sure Jye comes in for a check-up in the next couple of days.’

‘I’ll do that.’