Wavy hair a dark, golden shade that could probably still just be called blond; angular, chiseled features; a perfect mouth with lips that looked like they had been made for kissing... She pulled herself back from the edge of that highly dangerous thought only to get lost in his eyes. They were mesmerizing, drawing her in and holding her in their depths.
Focus. He had asked a serious question. “As you know, we aren’t equipped for major surgery—”
“As I know? Why would I know anything about what you do?”
Nature, as well as giving him so many gifts in the looks department, had also endowed Leon with an incredible voice. Warm, deep and rich. It was like warm honey poured over cream. Although it was the perfect doctor’s voice—soothing and reassuring—the things it was doing to Flora’s heart rate were definitely not medicinal.
She realized an answer was required, but she was bewildered by the question. “Because of the partnership the Ryerson Center trustees suggested to Dr. Grayson. I know it was a disappointment to them that he didn’t think a merger between the two clinics was a good idea...” Leon was staring at her as if she had two heads. “You don’t know what I’m talking about.”
“No. This is the first I’ve heard of it.”
“Ah.” On the contrary, Alan Grayson had said he talked about the merger with his colleagues and staff, but they were against the idea. “Then it’s probably not something I should discuss further now.”
There was an uncomfortable silence as Flora tried to gauge the impact of her words on Leon. It was impossible. His expression was closed, those dark eyes shuttered. The only giveaway was the deepened crease at the corner of his mouth.
After a moment or two, he nodded at her untouched ice cream. “You should eat that. It may not contain any scotch, but it’s really quite good.”
So she did. Ice cream for lunch, the company of a handsome man and her twins’ laughter. For a brief half hour, she allowed herself to enjoy those things and put thoughts of a stabbing, mysterious calls and the strange behavior of Leon’s boss to the back of her mind.
When they left the ice-cream parlor, Leon needed to go back to the daycare center for his car. When Flora headed the same way, Stevie clung to her, shaking his head.
“Stay with Mommy.”
Deciding he had been more troubled by his accident than she had realized, she decided to take the boys with her.
“I’m working from home on paperwork today. I’m sure he’d be fine going back to daycare, but I’ll keep them with me for the afternoon.”
“These incidents can be more of a shock for the parent than the child,” Leon said. “Try not to worry. Stevie will soon forget all about it.”
Since the twins had started chasing each other in and out of the decorative hedge bordering the Ice Creamery, it seemed likely Leon would be proved right.
They went their separate ways and Flora walked the short distance down Main Street toward the intersection with Lake Drive. She followed the road along the edge of Stillwater Lake, keeping her attention on the twins. A sense of pride gripped her as she approached the pretty, cream-and-blue painted house with its small porch and huge, protective trees lining the lot. Our place. The street was quiet, and she had a good view of it as she walked along the sidewalk with a child at each side. Even so, it wasn’t until she got up close that she could tell something was wrong.
She slowed her stride, but it was too late to shield the boys from the sight of the destruction awaiting them.
Frankie noticed it first. “My garden...broken?”
He was right. When they first moved in, Flora had bought two large wooden planters, placing one to each side of the front step. Under her supervision, the boys had taken responsibility for their own garden, planting herbs and tending to them each day. Now, the contents of the wooden boxes were scattered across the white-painted boards of the porch. Each of the plants they had taken such pleasure in caring for now lay twisted and crushed as though a heel had ground it underfoot.
As she sank down onto the top step, clutching her sobbing twins to her, the scents of ruined herbs and disturbed earth filled Flora’s nostrils. But it wasn’t the physical scene that was strongest. Whoever had caused the damage had left something more behind, something sour and malignant.
This emotion had come her way once before. It had been present in the courtroom on the day they sentenced Danny’s killer. It was at its most overpowering when the drug dealer’s girlfriend had screamed threats of revenge at Flora as they took her lover away to the cells.
It was hatred.
“Why would a doctor go uninvited to a patient’s house?” Tegan Jackson cast a furtive look over her shoulder as she spoke into her cell phone. “Joy didn’t show for an appointment. Next thing, she’s lying dead on her kitchen floor. It’s all over town...”
Leon cleared his throat as he approached the desk and the receptionist gave a little start before hurriedly ending her call.
“That conversation had better not be what I think it was.” He nodded in the direction of Tegan’s cell. “Whilst you work for this clinic, you will not repeat malicious gossip about another medical professional, do you understand, particularly when the implication of what you’re saying is that Dr. Monroe is a murderer?”
Tegan hung her head, her expression miserable. “But it must be true. Even Dr. Grayson was talking about how Dr. Monroe out at the Ryerson Center—”
Stifling the curse that rose to his lips, Leon made his way along the corridor to the
