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“But that doesn’t matter now. What’s happened to Sam would lay any parent nearly flat. Miles is holding up well, but I’ll tell you, Katie, I’ve never seen anyone so scared as when he discovered that someone took Sam.”

“I can’t begin to imagine that fear,” Katie said. “Thank God, I’ve never had to face it.”

“I pray that I won’t have to either.” Sherlock peeled the wrapper off a Band-Aid and gently wrapped it around a cut on the pad of Katie’s foot. “It’s got to be a parent’s worst nightmare. You know something? I’m glad Clancy is out of the picture, dead or alive. Finally. I’m glad you just got it over with. Do you believe for even an instant that he would have stopped? I can see him breaking out of prison to come after Sam again, no matter what. My God, he came two times. What would make someone do that?”

Before Katie could say anything, Miles said, to no one in particular, his voice pitched low, “Clancy said he didn’t necessarily believe it.”

“Believe what?” Savich said.

Miles shrugged. “I asked him why he wanted Sam so badly and he said someday he just might tell me, and then he added that he ‘didn’t necessarily believe it.’ It sounded like someone else believed something about Sam, but Clancy didn’t agree with it, or wasn’t sure about it. I’d swear now that he looked baffled when he said that. Like it was something unbelievable, which makes no sense at all to me. I don’t know of anything weird or unusual about Sam at all.”

He looked over at Sam again, who was now holding Dr. Raines’s hand. She was closer to him, too, and he was leaning into her. It looked like she was getting through to him. He felt a jolt of helplessness that he couldn’t be the one with Sam, that he wasn’t the one Sam was leaning against, listening to.

He looked up when Sherlock came down on her knees in front of him. “No, you won’t do this yourself, Miles. You’ve done enough. You just sit there and let me clean up your feet. Don’t rock too much or you might kick me on my butt. Now, I’ve finished with Katie, if you want a recommendation.”

Miles said, without hesitation, “Katie, are your feet better?”

“She put iodine on all the cuts and they stung for a bit, but yes, now they’re better. Trust Sherlock.”

Miles smiled down at her. “She’s always been a rock, just like her old man. I’d trust her to make doubly sure I’m really croaked before she let anyone pull the plug.”

“That really makes me feel special, Miles,” Sherlock said, and patted his knee.

“Okay, that was a bit much,” he said to Katie. “I’d trust her enough to play net in tennis doubles. How’s that?”

“Not as dramatic,” Katie said. “How good are you, Sherlock?”

“She’s a killer,” Savich said, and smiled at his wife.

Sherlock just grinned. “Now, hold still, Miles. Goodness, you’ve got big feet. What, size twelve?”

“Just about.”

“Well, you’ve got a big body to support, so that’s okay.”

“What size does Savich wear?”

Sherlock patted his arch. “A twelve.”

Katie stretched out her long narrow bandaged feet in front of her. “Well, I’m nearly five-ten, not all that much shorter than you guys. Maybe someday I can wear a twelve, too. Just three sizes to go.”

Savich watched his wife putting Band-Aids on Miles’s feet when he wasn’t watching Sam and Dr. Raines. He wanted to move from the chair to that very comfortable sofa to relieve the pain in his back. He also wanted some tea. He took everyone’s order and went to the kitchen. He saw Katie start to follow him and held up his hand. “Nope, you just sit there and let those size nines recover. If you abuse them, they just might never grow. I’ll find everything, and I won’t make a mess.”

Dr. Sheila Raines, holding both of Sam’s hands, said quietly against his temple, “Your papa is so scared I think he’s going to start howling at the moon.”

Sam gave her a long look and said, “Clancy’s not going to come back anymore, is he?”

20

That stopped the show for about ten seconds. Then Sheila answered him. “No, he’s not, and that’s a very good thing. He was a criminal, Sam, and criminals shouldn’t be allowed to terrorize