“Walk us through that night,” Mona says.

Luke looks to the doctor. She just stares back at him.

“Marcia’s consulting,” Mona says.

Unsure what this means, Luke nods.

He walks them through everything that happened that night after Lacey stumbled into the station. As he repeats the details, his vague sense of alarm coalesces into something else—suspicion. Of himself. He’s hearing the story for the first time now that he’s repeating it. He’s hearing how little information Lacey gave them. How unjustified his arrest of Jordy actually was.

“Did I do something wrong?” Luke asks.

“That’s not the reason for this meeting.”

And that’s not an answer to my question, he wants to say.

Dr. Brewerton finally breaks her silence with, “Nobody hit her.”

“Excuse me?” Luke asks.

“Nobody hit her. She sustained her injuries in a fall.”

“You’ve examined her? Where is she?”

“No, I studied the tape, and it’s pretty clear.”

“There’s still no sign of her anywhere in town,” Mona says.

“Wait, seriously. You’re saying she fell down the stairs? That’s like a joke people—”

“Easy, Luke,” Mona warns.

“No,” the doctor says, “I’m saying her injuries are consistent with someone who fell from a great height and landed on her face.”

“She’s got defensive wounds on her hands.”

“She’s got abrasions on her hands that are consistent with someone who threw her arms out to brace herself during a fall.”

“Jesus Christ,” Luke mutters.

“Excuse me?” Dr. Brewerton asks.

“Don’t you volunteer at women’s shelters? I mean, you’re really coming in here to let Jordy off the hook for—”

“I’m not letting Jordy Clements off the hook for anything. For all we know, he’s responsible for her fall. But what I can tell you is that Lacey Shannon did not sustain her injuries in an assault to her face by anyone’s fists. Most of what she has are abrasions, and her black eyes don’t have a knuckle pattern. So if you’re going to investigate what Jordy did or didn’t do, you should probably know what actually happened to her.”

The doctor’s voice doesn’t rise above the level of calm during this entire speech, but Luke still feels like he’s been disrobed and probed. It might not be her intention, but there’s an implication in her diagnosis that cuts to the heart of his efficacy as a law enforcement officer.

He reacted too fast to the sight of Lacey, misdiagnosed her injuries out of ignorance. Went off to get Jordy before he had enough specifics about Lacey’s claim. No doubt that’s why Mona asked him to repeat everything that’s on the tape. If he realizes these things just from reciting his own actions, she won’t have to drop the hammer on him quite as hard.

“I apologize,” Luke says.

“No need,” the doctor says bluntly.

“Marcia, thanks for coming in.” Mona extends her hand to the doctor, and she shakes it.

Luke does the same and is relieved when Marcia accepts his outstretched hand without hesitation. “How’s Charley doing?”

“Good.”

“You know, she’s been back awhile now, and I haven’t seen her once. Might be good for her to visit a doctor now and then. I’m the only full-time physician in town, right now anyway. At the rate we’re going, we might have a hospital in a few months.”

“I’ll let her know,” Luke says.

He doesn’t tell her that on the outskirts of town, just north of Lake Patrick, there’s an old ranch house that’s been converted into a state-of-the-art trauma center. Cole’s ordered Charley to report there immediately if she suffers so much as a sneezing fit.

Now, he’s alone with Mona and his thudding heart and the frozen image of Lacey’s battered face on the computer screen.

“She wants to be our medical examiner so bad she’s practically itching for a homicide,” Mona says.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if we have one soon.”

Mona doesn’t disagree.

“I fucked up,” he finally says.

“You moved a little fast, that’s all. And that’s not why I brought you in. Not the only reason anyway.”

“So you do think I fucked up.”

“Well, you did kinda let her blackmail you. You weren’t under any obligation to cave to her demand that you throw Jordy in a cell before she talked. But you didn’t have to tell her that. You could have fudged the truth a bit. Made it sound like somebody was on their way to get him. Suggest she start talking in the meantime just to get things rolling. That kind of thing.”

Nobody says anything for a bit.

“What time did you head to the Gold Mine?” Mona asks.

“About nine forty-five.”

“Someone used manual override on the camera system for the interview room just after ten.”

“He threatened her, but he cut the cameras before he did it.”

“I’m reasonably sure.”

“How can we be one hundred percent sure?”

“I don’t know.”