"I'm done here, your vitals are good." The EMT put the thermometer and cuff back in its basket, then stowed the dressing kit and flashed Jill a thumbs-up.

"Thanks," Jill said, as the EMT climbed up to the pa.s.senger's seat, and her phone call connected.

"Pembey Family, may I help you?" It was Donna, and Jill warmed to the friendly voice.

"Hi, it's Jill, and I'm calling because I was just in a car accident, in New Jersey. Is Padma still there with Rahul?"

"Oh no! Are you okay, honey? We tried to reach you."

"I'm fine, but I'm going to the Shood Memorial ER, in Parkertowne. Is Padma still there, with Rahul? Can I talk to her?"

Donna hesitated. "She left, but don't think about work now. Take care of yourself."

"No." Jill felt awful. "What time did she go?"

"You missed them by five minutes, but, well, Padma asked for Rahul's file, and I had to release it. She's leaving us. She said her family wasn't very happy after we lost the baby's bloodwork. But, Jill, but don't think about that now. Just get better."

"Oh no." Jill felt like kicking herself. She hated losing Padma and the boys, and she wouldn't rest until she checked Rahul's results. "Did Rahul's bloodwork come in? I need to see it."

"Yes, the hospital emailed it to us. I printed it out and put it in the file."

"Would you forward me the email?"

"Sure, right away."

"Thanks. I'll call Padma when I get the results. Can you email me her cell number, too?"

"No problem."

"See you tomorrow."

"Jill, you can't come in after a car accident. I'll start calling your patients."

"No, don't, please. It's nothing. I'll be in."

Donna lowered her voice. "Okay, but just a heads-up, Sheryl wants to talk to you when you get in. I think it's about Padma leaving."

Jill figured as much. "I'm so looking forward to that conversation."

Donna laughed. "Take care, Jill."

"You, too. Bye." Jill hung up, navigated to email on her BlackBerry, and scanned the senders, who were all patients. Donna's forwarded email about Rahul's bloodwork wasn't there yet. She felt a pang, thinking she wouldn't see Padma or the boys again.

But she wasn't worried about Padma.

She was worried about Rahul.

Chapter Fifty-six.

Jill waited for the police in the examining room and eyed her reflection in a wall mirror. There was a new gauze bandage taped to her forehead, and tiny red cuts on her cheeks glistened under Neosporin. Another bandage covered her left palm, wrapped around the back of her hand. She smoothed her hair back into its ponytail and felt almost normal, except for the dried blood spattering her sweater.

Jill checked her BlackBerry for the third time, and the email with Rahul's results had finally come in, so she pressed OPEN ATTACHMENT. The attachment downloaded, but when she opened it, the numbers were too small to read. She pressed the b.u.t.ton to magnify them, but it was still impossible to see.

"Dr. Farrow, here we go." The nurse slipped past the privacy curtain, returning with an Advil packet and a paper cup of water in hand. She looked young, with an easy smile and a long brown braid. "Your discharge papers will take a bit, though. We just got super busy. You slipped in right in time."

"Thanks." Jill took the Advil and cup, swallowed the pill, and tossed the cup. "Can I ask you a big favor? I need to get some bloodwork results printed out. May I email them to you and you print them out for me? It's important."

"Sure thing. Want my email?"

"Thanks. Go ahead, tell me." Jill typed in the email address while the nurse told it to her, then she forwarded Donna's email. "Thanks again, so much. Also, how's the other driver, with the head injury?"

"I probably shouldn't say. You know, it's confidential under HIPA."

"Please, just give me the headline. I want to prepare his friend, and she'll be here any minute. She's my stepdaughter."

"Oh." The nurse blinked. "Well, I can tell you that he's in the OR, and they called in the best docs."

"When will the police come for me, do you know? The cop at the scene said to expect them."

"I heard they're on the way, and I'll bring them in when they get here. I guess I can open this now." The nurse swept the privacy curtain to the side, revealing a modern ER unit ringed with examining rooms around an octagonal station. Doctors, physician's a.s.sistants, nurses, and orderlies scurried this way and that, bearing meds and paperwork. Jill used to dream about working in a place like this but dedicated to children's emergencies.

"Don't mind me, I'm having ER envy."

The nurse smiled. "I'll be back with the printout and your discharge papers."

"Can I make a call?" Jill gestured at the NO CELL PHONES sign. "I have to arrange for my daughter to be picked up."

"Okay, but you didn't hear it from me." The nurse winked, then left the room.

Jill sat down, and the movement made her realize how much her neck and back ached. Megan would be in school, then practice, so she texted Katie. Can u pick up Megan at the pool at 5:45 and take her to your house? Fill u in later. It only took a second for Katie to answer: OK. Love you. Making funfetti cupcakes. Shoot me now.

Jill smiled, then thought of Sam, feeling a sudden urge to talk to him, whether it was mutual or not. She pressed S and waited for the call to connect, eyeing the bustling ER. "Honey?" she said, when she heard a clicking sound.

"Hi, how are you?" Sam asked coolly, and Jill felt her throat thicken. She hadn't realized how upset she was until she heard his voice. She almost felt like crying, the stress and the fear hitting her all at once, but she kept it together.

"I'm okay, but something bad just happened. I was run off the road by two cars. One got away, but the other was driven by Brian, Victoria's friend."

"What? Where are you?"

"An ER in New Jersey. The cops are on the way."

"How are you?" Sam sounded like himself again, full of concern. "My G.o.d, honey!"

"I'm really fine." Jill stifled a sniffle. "The car's totaled."

"I don't care about the car. You could have been killed."

"I think that was the general idea."

"What the h.e.l.l? Why does Brian want to kill you? This is insanity!"

"G.o.d knows."

"And so does Victoria."

"What do you mean?" Jill asked, surprised. Just then she noticed Victoria, entering the ER area, standing out in a fashionable cropped jacket, skinny jeans, and fancy boots, with her hair in its sophisticated blonde twist. She was looking around for a nurse, but there was only one, talking on the phone at the station, behind her monitor.

"Jill, think about it," Sam was saying. "Victoria must be the one who wants you dead, not Brian. He doesn't even know you. He must be acting at her behest."

"What are you saying?" Jill recoiled at the very notion, even on the phone. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Victoria is my daughter, or, at least, she's like my daughter. We may not be getting along that great now, but she still-"

"Babe, follow the money. William had a huge insurance policy, and maybe Victoria killed him for it, or had her friend Brian kill him for it."

"Victoria kill William? That's absurd." Jill watched as Victoria waited for the nurse to get off the phone, drumming her fingers. "She would never, ever do such a thing."

"No, it isn't. Think about it. Abby got you involved in solving William's murder, and you wouldn't let it drop. Victoria and Brian could have been worried that you were going to find them out, so they wanted you dead."

"That's impossible."

"Jill, you don't know Victoria anymore, not the real her. You thought Abby didn't drink, remember?" Sam's tone grew more urgent. "Babe, you have to see these girls for what they are today. You said two cars ran you off the road. Who was driving the other car? Could it have been Victoria?"

"Sam, no, that's crazy. We drove a hundred miles an hour." Jill motioned to Victoria, to catch her eye at the nurses' station. "It wasn't her car anyway. She drives a white BMW."

"We know she has anger issues, from the scene she made at the memorial service. What if she got angry enough to kill him? I don't know how she got those drugs in his blood, but she has keys to the house. I'm getting on the next plane. This ends now."

"Thanks, so much." Jill felt a rush of grat.i.tude and love for him. "But nothing in the world will make me believe anything that awful about Victoria."

"Jill, think without emotion." Sam's voice rose, alarmed. "You sound like those news reports where they interview the mother of the murderer, and she says her son was a good boy."

"I know what I know, Sam, and I know that child." Jill spotted Victoria waving back, her pretty face frowning with anxiety. "I can't talk anymore. Victoria will be here any minute."

"No. Stay away from her, honey."

"I hear you, but I'll be fine. Don't worry." Jill watched Victoria hurrying toward her exam room, bypa.s.sing the nurse.

"Please, stay away from her, honey. Don't be alone with her."

"I'll be careful. I have to go. Love you. Thanks, bye." Jill hung up the phone just as Victoria entered the examining room, distraught.

"Jill!" she cried, throwing open her arms. "Are you okay?"

Chapter Fifty-seven.

"What's going on? Are you sure you're okay?" Victoria released her, and up close, Jill could see that her eyes were bloodshot, and her mascara had been reapplied, so she'd been crying. "You look okay, kind of."

"I am, I'm fine." Jill managed a smile, warmed by her concern. "But I can't figure why Brian did that. It's appalling, I'm shocked."

"I know." Victoria swallowed, hard. "And they won't tell me anything about him. I called his parents but they're in Europe."

"The nurse said he's in surgery, and they have the best docs working on him."

"Oh G.o.d, please." Victoria sank into the chair. "Would he really do this? Is he going to be arrested?"

Suddenly Jill and Victoria turned as the nurse came into the examining room, leading two middle-aged men in dark suits. The taller man stepped forward, seeming to take the lead, and he was well-built, with a lined, craggy face and dark hair in a short brush cut.

The nurse gestured to him. "Dr. Farrow, this is Special Agent Donator and his partner, Special Agent Cohz, of the FBI."

"Thanks for coming," Jill said, surprised. "I was expecting the local police." She extended her good hand, and Special Agent Donator shook it, firmly.

"Dr. Farrow, nice to meet you." Special Agent Donator glanced at the nurse. "Nurse, would you excuse us for a few minutes, please?"

"Of course. I have one last thing." The nurse handed Jill her paperwork. "Here's the bloodwork you requested and your discharge papers, to be signed."

"Thanks, I know the drill. Any headaches, go to my local ER." Jill accepted the envelope, scribbled a signature on the discharge papers, and handed them back.

The nurse turned to go. "Please don't stay long, folks. We need the bed."

"Understood, thank you." Special Agent Donator nodded as the nurse left, closing the privacy curtain, then he turned to Jill, with a stiff smile. "You've had quite a day, Dr. Farrow. Do you feel well enough to be standing up?"

"Yes, thanks." Jill gestured to Victoria. "This is Victoria Skyler, my stepdaughter, uh, my former stepdaughter."

"h.e.l.lo." Victoria shook each agent's hand, but her manner gave off a chill. "I'm a friend of Brian Pendle's, and I have already called him a lawyer from Creed & Whitstone. So don't even think about questioning him when he gets out of surgery."

Jill felt taken aback, and Special Agent Donator stopped smiling.

"Ms. Skyler, excuse me, but you don't have all the facts-"

"I have all the facts I need," Victoria interrupted. "I'm not a lawyer yet, but I know that attempted murder is a state law crime, not federal. The FBI is federal. So what do you have to do with this?"

Special Agent Donator pursed his lips. "Ms. Skyler, the attempt on Dr. Farrow's life was part of a dangerous, active criminal enterprise, involving the breach of federal securities laws and other illegalities. We explained to the local police that we have jurisdiction, and they agreed after some discussion, hence the delay." He turned to Jill. "You have some idea of what I'm talking about, don't you?"

"Yes," Jill answered, finally validated.

"But you were wrong about one thing, Dr. Farrow." Special Agent Donator seemed to soften, his face falling briefly into sharp lines. "Brian wasn't trying to kill you. He was trying to protect you. He's one of us."