her mind told her it was a dream, a nightmare, but she still remembered the feel of that knife in her hand and how her life had almost ended because she trusted the wrong man in spite of her father’s warnings, Antonia’s pleadings. In spite of her own troubled intuition.
Never again. Better to go it alone. A quick stop at the clinic. See if by chance Cora had left anything there that might be of help. In and out. Something wheeled along by her feet, and she gasped. Just a leaf, torn loose by the storm.
She bit back a wave of self-disgust at finding herself scuttling along, cringing at every leaf. She was an office clerk at the Spanish Canyon Clinic after all, and Cora was, had been, a volunteer. All perfectly aboveboard. But why had Cora originally insisted they wait until long after closing time to meet?
Her throat ached when she thought of her friend. Had she suffered? Had she known her house was burning around her?
Quickening her pace she sought shelter from the spring rain under the awning, keys ready in her hand, heart beating a little too hard, too erratically. Cora’s nightmarish death came on a date that already held terrible memories, her wedding anniversary.
An annual reminder of the worst mistake of her life. But Hector had been so gentle when they’d first met, even professing to be a Christian, until he’d begun to worship another kind of God, the god of money, power and excitement, when he’d gotten involved in the drug trade. It was long over. Hector was jailed on new charges, the divorce finalized two years before, but Hector did not want to accept his losses, so she lived as anonymous a life as she could manage.
With teeth gritted, she wondered—Had Hector found her again?
His reach hadn’t extended to Spanish Canyon, Colorado. Not this time.
Wind carried a cold spray of rain onto her face that trickled down the back of her neck. She wished there was someone else around, the janitor, a late working nurse, anyone. They might be parked in the underground garage, she thought hopefully. With a surge of relief she saw the lights on in the back of the building where she and Cora shared a desk.
Jamming her key in the lock, she left the rain behind and headed down the silent corridor to the rear of the building. She did not know what she hoped to accomplish. Maybe it was all just a way to keep busy.
Cora’s desk was bare, save for a paperweight rock engraved with the words Be Still. An impossible task, it seemed, for the nearly eighty-year-old woman who had recently decided to learn Italian and tour Europe. Her eyes were drawn to her own desk. Shadows must be deceiving. Silhouetted in the lamplight was a vase full of long-stemmed roses. Trancelike, she moved closer and turned on her own work light. Yellow roses, which had once been her favorite. A gilt-edged card.
I’m sorry. I love you and we can be a family again. Hector.
Sweat beaded on her forehead. It was as if he was there, right there, standing in the shadows. Fear turned into hatred for the man who had stripped away her belief in herself.
Hector didn’t strip it away. You handed it over, wrapped in a bow.
The floor creaked, and she spun around with a scream.
“I’m sorry,” Dr. Elias said with an apologetic smile. “I didn’t mean to scare you. I was working late and noticed the florist had been here. Nice roses. Curiosity won out, and I checked the card.” He raised an apologetic eyebrow, the fiftysomething face calm and serene. “My wife says I’m incurably nosey, and I hate to admit that she’s got me pegged.”
Mia forced out a calming breath. “I’m surprised to see you here so late.”
“Insomnia. It usually sends me to the computer to play solitaire, but I get tired of beating myself, so I come here sometimes.”
“Did you...did you hear about Cora?”
He nodded, mournfully. “Tragic. Cora was an excellent lady and a noble spirit.” He shook his head. “Why do the good die before their time?”
It was a question she’d asked many times to a God who’d never given her a straight answer.
Dr. Elias cleared his throat. “Anyway, I’m glad you came so you could get your flowers, but why so late? Insomnia trouble for you also?”
She was about to tell him about the prearranged meeting with Cora, but something stopped her. “I just wanted to clean up Cora’s desk.”
“Looks clean already.” Something in his inflection made her wonder if he’d been looking through Cora’s belongings. Ridiculous. Crazy suspicion.
He surveyed the ceiling for a long moment. “It’s good, actually, that we have a private moment so we can talk. I feel as though I have treated you well, hired you on in spite of your criminal record.”
She winced. “Yes, you have. I appreciate that.”
“It was Cora who went to bat for you, you know. She felt passionately that you would be an asset to this clinic. I was reluctant, I’ll admit.”
Mia started. She hadn’t even known Cora when she moved to Spanish Canyon. She’d been following a lead on a job that her sister had dug up. Close to nursing school. Quiet town where nobody knew her.
“So I’m loathe to ask it, Mia, but when were you going to mention the truth about your criminal husband?”
She kept her chin high, even though at five three she barely reached his shoulder. Her phone vibrated in her pocket. “Ex-husband.”
He blinked, his smooth complexion bordered by a distinguished head of gray hair that went well with his stature as head of the town’s largest general medicine clinic. “I knew he was abusive, you were arrested for stabbing him I realize, but you didn’t quite tell me the whole story. The flowers got me curious and I did a little checking. Nosey, just like my wife says. He wasn’t just an abusive spouse. He’s a Miami drug kingpin with powerful friends.” His pale gray eyes locked on hers. “You didn’t feel like you should mention that?”
Mention it? She was too busy trying to forget it.
“Is that why you don’t use your married name? Sandoval?”
“It’s not my name because I’m not married anymore. I haven’t been for years. Simple as that.”
He looked at the ceiling again while he talked. “Not really so simple. I’ve tried to support you here, to give you the hours you need to get you through nursing school and help you earn some money to keep food on the table for Gracie.”
She didn’t like it when he said Gracie’s name, for some reason that she could not articulate. Did she feel the swell of distrust when she looked at him because he had the same self-assured manner as Hector? The doctor had been nothing but gracious.
“I would do anything for my own kids, as you know. It hasn’t always been easy to afford everything times two, but that’s the price of having twins. Jake and Renee are both in private high school now, so I understand wanting the best for your kids. But why lie? Especially to me.”
“I never lied. You asked about my ex-husband, and I told you the reason I was sent to jail.”
“You neglected to mention
