Wednesday morning, Katie woke with the sense that something was wrong. Had she forgotten something? She’d stayed up late thinking about Ellen’s memorial and hoping Caleb would come up with some information quickly. She’d finally heard him go to bed around two. She was overtired and stressed. That was probably where the general anxiety came from.

The sunlight peeking through the blinds promised another beautiful fall day. Katie would be stuck inside for most of it, as Wednesday was her busiest clinic day. Both Nick and Emmett had half days, so she was the one who picked up all the urgent cases.

She sighed and threw off the comforter. She padded to the bathroom and looked in the mirror, sighing at the dark circles under her eyes. She opened her concealer and got to work.

After a quick breakfast and more coffee than was advisable, she grabbed her messenger bag and slipped out the side door.

She didn’t notice it right away. She was busy pawing through receipts, notes, a reflex hammer, and spare change that littered the bottom of her bag where her car keys could usually be found. She finally found them and looked up to put the key in the lock.

The driver’s window was smashed, and glass shards sparkled on the driver’s seat. There was a folded piece of paper on the dash.

Katie hesitated, wondering if she should call the police before touching anything, but her curiosity got the better of her.

She reached in through the shattered window and picked up the paper by the corner. She let it fall open.

In large block letters, the note read, “MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS.”

Katie looked around her neighborhood. The hair on the back of her neck prickled. Was someone watching her, right now? How had she slept through the window breaking? How had the neighbors slept through it?

She pulled her cell phone out of her jacket pocket and pressed John Carlson’s number. He’d given her his cell number after her “heroic” rescue of Bubba. She’d never had cause to use it before.

“Carlson.”

“Hi, John, it’s Katie LeClair.” She blinked back tears as the reality of the threat hit her. “Can you come to my house, please? There’s been an incident.”

“I’ll be right there.”

He didn’t even ask what the problem was.

Katie’s eyes were dry, but her hands still shook when John’s car pulled in the driveway ten minutes later.

Caleb stood on the porch with her, wearing sweat pants and the T-shirt he had slept in. His hair stood up in spikes, and he looked just as tired as she felt.

He’d told her to put the note back exactly as she’d found it, so the chief could see what the scene had looked like.

Carlson opened his door and looked up at them. The sun glinted off his aviators, and his mouth was set in a grim line.

“What happened, Doc?”

Katie and Caleb stepped off the porch, and Katie motioned for him to follow them farther down the driveway toward the back of the house.

“I was heading in to work, and I found this.” Katie held out her hand toward the driver’s side door.

Carlson stepped closer and leaned in to get a better look.

“Anything missing?”

Katie shook her head. “I don’t leave anything of value in there. And it doesn’t look like anything has been disturbed, other than the window, obviously.”

Carlson picked up the paper by the corner and let it fall open just as Katie had done. She saw his jaw tense as he read it. He put the note in a paper bag and shined a penlight around the inside of the car.

“I’ll call the station and have the guys come check for fingerprints, but I doubt we’ll find anything. It doesn’t look like anyone even went inside the car, just smashed the window and left the note.”

“Okay, what . . . what do I do now?”

Caleb put his arm across her shoulders. She leaned into him, grateful for his presence.

Carlson stood up from his examination of the car.

“You can come to the station and file a report.” He shrugged. “It’s not much, but it’s a place to start. Do you know who might have left this or what the note refers to?”

Caleb and Katie exchanged a guilty look.

“No, not really. I suppose it could be anyone who didn’t care for my medical advice. Sometimes I have to recommend quitting smoking, or losing weight, or any of a number of things that might get someone annoyed.”

Even Caleb looked at her in surprise.

Carlson said, “You think this is a disgruntled patient?”

“Not really.” Katie crossed her arms over her chest. “I don’t know who would have done this.”

“What other things have you been doing that might have upset someone?”

Katie sighed and looked up to the sky. She didn’t want to tell him about the computer because he’d likely take it away, and they wouldn’t ever find out what was on it. Plus, she didn’t want to get Caleb in trouble. She figured the less the chief knew about Caleb’s talents with a computer, the better.

She held her hands out, palms up. “The only thing I can think of is that Beth Wixom asked me to help her look into her mother’s death.”

Carlson stood taller and put his hands on his hips. Katie couldn’t see his eyes behind the sunglasses, but she felt his glare. “This again? I told Beth I was looking into it. If this note is from someone who wants you to stop investigating a death, one that at this point is being considered suspicious, I think you should listen. With that in mind, we need to treat this like a threat, not just malicious vandalism.”

Carlson looked at both of them and held their gazes. “I’m not kidding around now. You need to stop whatever you’re doing and let us handle this.”

Katie nodded agreement but wouldn’t meet his eyes. Caleb studied the ground and kept very still.

“Let’s see if anything shows up when they check for fingerprints, and we’ll go from there. In the meantime, go to work like normal and keep your head down.”

Katie nodded again. “Thanks for coming over so quickly.”

His tone softened. “Do you need a ride to the clinic?”

“I can take her,” Caleb said. Katie was grateful; she didn’t want to be stuck in a car with Carlson and his lectures.

“You can vacuum it and take it to be repaired as soon as the fingerprinting is done. If you want to call Rob Kendrick, he’ll do a good job for you. Just tell him I sent you.” He handed Katie a card with a phone number on it.

Katie thanked him, and she and Caleb watched him pull out of the driveway.

Caleb turned to her with a mixture of concern and excitement in his eyes. “What have we gotten into?”