She could feel the resentment building in her.

I didnt mean it that way, Jessie insisted. Id be hypervigilant no matter who was giving him the meds, myself included. It just happens to be you doing it right now.

Hannah knew that she should have some sympathy for her sisters situation, and yet she couldnt help going in for the kill. Jessie had been taking her for granted all day and she deserved to be put in her place.

And why is it that Im doing it right now? she asked rhetorically before answering her own question. Could it be because on the very day that your invalid boyfriend is released to your care from the hospital, youre running around the city on a Sunday afternoon, chasing down a case that cant possibly be as important as whats going on here?

The silence on the other end of the line told her that shed hit pay dirt with that. She felt a satisfaction only slightly moderated by the sense that maybe shed gone too far. She continued before her sister could try to reprimand her.

Ill give him his meds. Ill feed him his gruel. But maybe you can try to get back here in time to put him to bed, if thats not too much to ask.

She hung up without waiting for a reply, then sat on the couch, seething silently. The truth was, shed already given Ryan his meds even before Jessie had called her. Shed also helped him reposition himself on the bed and turned on a fan because he had grunted hot to her. When hed asked about his girlfriends whereabouts with the word Jessie, Hannah had soothingly assured him that shed be back soon, not having any idea if it was true.

Now she was stuck here in this house, on a sunny Sunday afternoon, while a barely functional human wheezed in a bedroom down the hall. It wasnt fair. She tried the deep breathing technique Dr. Lemmon had taught her in a recent therapy session, one the woman claimed was especially effective at what she called releasing the steam. It wasnt working.

So she decided to call Kat. Katherine Kat Gentry was Jessies best friend. Of late, shed also proven to be a good sounding board. Hannah had only recently started at a new high school and, considering it was her senior year and she didnt know anyone, she didnt have much in the way of confidantes.

But Kat was different. In addition to being a badass former Army Ranger with the scars to prove it, the woman had also run security at a penal facility holding mentally unstable killers. When that went awry, shed become a private investigator. In other words, she wasnt one to mess with.