Joanna felt a sudden chill. “So she was raped then?”

“Your name isn’t on the approved notification list.” Dr. Waller’s reply was crisp. “Privacy rules preclude me from giving you any information concerning her condition. Once I realized that we were dealing with an impostor, I would have thrown the woman out altogether, but it happened that Jeannine had regained consciousness enough by then to make her wishes known. So the fake mother is now on the official visitors and notification list. As for the real mother? She bitched me out three ways to Sunday. I finally had to have security escort her out of the building.”

Dr. Waller was pissed, and he was calling to do his own bitching-out. If he expected Joanna to repent her actions, his words failed to have their intended effect. Jeannine Phillips had been raped by her assailants. Knowing that left Joanna sick at heart, but at least Millicent Ross was now cleared to be there with Jeannine rather than the parents who had betrayed her time and again. In the face of Jeannine’s otherwise dire circumstances, at least that one small thing had gone right, but Joanna could hardly blame Dr. Waller for his entirely righteous anger.

“I’m sorry for all the confusion,” Joanna said. It was all the apology she could muster.

“No, you’re not,” Waller returned and slammed the phone down in her ear. Joanna didn’t blame him for needing to have the last word. She deserved it.

Frank had been standing there hanging on every word of the conversation. “She was raped?” he asked when Joanna flipped her cell phone shut.

Joanna nodded grimly.

“If they did a rape kit, we’ll have DNA evidence,” Frank said.

Joanna didn’t respond to that. She didn’t want to acknowledge that evidence from the rape kit might not be admissible, but it would still give them information they could use in the investigation to verify possible evidence they might collect in some other fashion.

“But is she going to make it?” Frank continued.

“No word on that,” Joanna returned. “At least not from the doctor.”

In the course of the next hour or so, she tried to reach Millicent Ross several times but never got through. Joanna finally left the crime scene and dragged her weary butt into the house at 10 p.m. Everyone else seemed to be in bed. Two pieces of somewhat bedraggled pepperoni pizza had been left out for her on the kitchen counter. She downed them gratefully. If indigestion visited her again tonight, so be it.

In the bedroom, Butch was asleep with the light on and with a book plastered to his nose. Once she was undressed, she removed the book, put it on the nightstand, and doused the light. When she got into bed, Butch stirred.

“You’re home,” he said. “Are things okay?”

“Not really,” she said. “We still don’t know if Jeannine’s going to make it, and it turns out she was raped.”

“I’m sorry,” Butch mumbled sleepily. “What about you? Are you all right?”

“I’m fine,” she said, although she didn’t feel fine. “All I need is a decent night’s sleep.”

But a good night’s sleep wasn’t in the cards. She had to get up three different times overnight, and each time she came back to bed she lay awake for an hour or so agonizing over what was going on at work. When she finally awoke the next morning, she could tell it was late by the way the sun was shining into the bedroom. When she looked at the clock, she was astonished to see it was already after eight.

After showering and dressing, she went looking for Butch and found him in the kitchen at his computer. “Why did you let me oversleep?” she demanded.

“Because you obviously needed it,” he returned. “You were snoring up a storm when I got out of bed. I called Frank and told him you’d be late. He said not to rush, so sit down and have your tea. I can have your breakfast ready in five.”

Glad for the temporary respite, Joanna did as she was told. “Where are your parents?” she asked.

“I asked Jenny for some help, and she sweet-talked them into taking her to school,” Butch answered. “That way I have a few minutes to work, and you can make it through the morning without any of my mother’s dogcatcher comments.”

Joanna tasted her apricot-flavored tea. It was heavenly. Butch pushed his computer aside and then went over to the stove. “What would you like?”

The question made Joanna smile. “You still sound like a short-order cook,” she said.

“I am a short-order cook,” he returned. “Eggs, bacon, toast?”

“Sounds wonderful,” Joanna said, and took another sip of tea. “So your mother was still off on her dogcatcher tangent this morning?”

“In spades,” Butch said. “Especially after Jim Bob called.”

“What did he have to say?”

“He wanted me to tell you that he and Eva Lou would be back at the pound today and for as long as you need them. He also said you shouldn’t worry, that Eva Lou and the python are getting along just fine.” Butch paused long enough to crack a pair of eggs into a skillet. “Which causes me to ask,” he added, “what python? I don’t remember anyone mentioning that Animal Control had picked up a stray python. I thought they mostly did dogs and cats.”

“They mostly do,” Joanna answered. “Jeannine picked the snake up out in Sierra Vista the other day. Some guy left town and abandoned his pet python in his old apartment. The landlady was evidently quite upset.”

“Well,” said Butch, “apparently the python is trying to become the next Houdini. He had made it out of his kennel or cage or whatever you call it and was on his way to find himself a tasty morsel of kitty-cat when Jim Bob and Eva Lou showed up. According to him, the clerk was a complete basket case, and Eva Lou spent most of the day taking care of her.”

“I so do not need a python right now,” Joanna said.

Butch grinned. “But you should have seen the effect hearing about it had on my mother. Gave a whole new meaning to her idea of what a ‘dogcatcher’s life’ is all about. Of course, if you like, we could always trade. I’ll go into the office for you or go help out around the pound, and you can stay here with my parents.”

“No deal,” Joanna returned. “I didn’t think so.”

Joanna arrived at the office at nine-thirty. She hadn’t come in all day yesterday, so her desk was buried under one day’s worth of paperwork, and Kristin was already hard at work sorting out the latest batch. Instead of starting to play catch-up, Joanna picked up her phone and dialed University Medical Center. When she asked to be put through to Jeannine Phillips’s room, Millicent Ross answered.

“How’s she doing?” Joanna asked.

“It was a rough night,” Millicent replied. “But they finally upped her pain meds. She’s sleeping now. The phone didn’t even wake her.”

“And how are you?” Joanna asked.

“Tired but okay,” Millicent said, although she didn’t sound okay.

“I know about the rape,” Joanna said.

“The lousy bastards!” Millicent breathed. “I always thought Jeannine was strong as an ox. How did they…?”

“The guy who chased them away said there were at least six of them. She didn’t stand a chance.”

“Did the O’Dwyers do it?” Millicent asked. “Are they the ones responsible?”

“We don’t know one way or the other,” Joanna said. “We’re investigating, of course. And that’s going to take time. How is she? The doctor wouldn’t give me any information.”

“I’m not surprised. I thought Waller was going to have a heart attack when he realized I wasn’t Jeannine’s mother. Thank you for that, by the way,” Millicent added. “It meant a lot to both of us. At least I’m able to be here for her. As for her long-term prospects? They’re not very good. The broken bones will mend. A decent plastic surgeon may be able to do something with her face, but her internal injuries are still life-threatening. As for her right eye? It’s gone.”

“Gone?” Joanna repeated.

“She’ll be totally blind in that eye.”