Page 64 of A Colby Christmas Rescue

Jamie thanked him and joined the Case family at the island.

Mrs. Case set her fork aside and turned to Jamie.

Jamie braced for her fury. Not that she could blame the woman. Look what they had done to her family...to their holiday plans. The thought sickened her. She couldn’t tell the family that she’d only taken part in this because her brother’s life was at stake. They certainly didn’t need any added stress after all they’d been through. Besides, what kind of excuse was that? Who was to say whose family was the more important one?

No one...because that was not true any way you looked at it.

“Lillian told me about how you helped her escape that man. How you helped her run to safety and to hide.”

Jamie managed a smile that felt like an imitation at best. “It was a team effort.” She and Poe shared a look. She suspected he didn’t feel heroic any more than she did.

Lillian blushed. “You’re a superhero. Like in the movies.”

“You were pretty heroic yourself, Lillian. You were strong and brave. You should be very proud of what you did too. Like I said—a team effort.”

Mrs. Case smiled a weary expression as she turned back to her salad. Jamie felt sick at the idea of what she must be thinking. Though the woman was obviously grateful that Jamie had helped her daughter, she likely recognized as well that Jamie was part of the original kidnapping crew. That reality couldn’t be ignored.

Lillian picked at her salad, eating mostly the turkey, before skipping back into the great room to resume the movie she’d been streaming.

Poe took his salad and followed her.

Jamie forked the greens and took another bite. She generally liked salad, but it all tasted bland today. She suddenly wished she had gone with Lillian and Poe. Sitting here with Mrs. Case and feeling what was no doubt the weight of her mounting accusations was not exactly sparking her appetite.

After an entire minute of silence, the older woman said, “My husband is very upset. He feels this entire event is a travesty.”

It was actually, and Jamie wasn’t going to try to excuse her actions. She had done what she had to do to keep her brother safe. She wouldn’t do things any differently if she had to do it over and over again.

“He has,” Mrs. Case went on, “tried very hard not to think of all the patients he can’t save. He is only one man. But it has been very difficult. The burden of all those other lives has weighed heavily on him. Particularly in light of what his brother did for months before we realized what he was up to.”

She didn’t explain further, and Jamie didn’t ask. She was already aware of the twin brother’s deceit.

Mrs. Case went on, “The past few hours have driven that point home. It’s one thing to know what’s happening, but another altogether to be faced with the reality.”

Jamie could only imagine how horrifying the ordeal had been and the number of emotional levels that horror had hit. As Mrs. Case had already said, the weight of having to turn patients away was awful enough, but to be forced to look at a child who desperately needed that help, and whose father was willing to do anything to make it happen, was immeasurably painful.

Working hard to keep her voice steady, Jamie confessed, “I will tell you I am not proud of the part I played in this. But—”

“If you hadn’t,” Mrs. Case argued, “my daughter might be dead. My husband might even be as well. Or me. You and your people kept us safe.”

Jamie opted not to correct her. Yes, she, Poe and Abi may have provided a buffer between the Case family and the bad guys from the other team, but the truth was they weren’t that different. They’d all been here for the same goal ultimately—to get Dr. Case to do what they wanted.

“They wanted twenty million dollars,” Mrs. Case said. “For our daughter.”

“There was a ransom demand?” Jamie wasn’t aware that had happened, but she wasn’t entirely surprised.

“Oh yes. Once you and Lillian were taken away, another man informed us of what they expected. We had twelve hours to pull the money together—which was absolutely ludicrous—before they were going to kill Lillian.”

“Wow...that’s terrible.” Jamie replayed those minutes over in her head. The men had operated on a reasonably professional level. They had appeared prepared for what they had come to do...mostly. “They told me nothing. I had no idea.”

“Your people saved us—yousaved our daughter.”

As much as Jamie appreciated being called a hero, there were some things that didn’t add up for her. First, a twenty-million-dollar ransom demand should have come with a bigger team. What kidnapper who believed an asset was worth twenty million dollars only sent along one guard with that asset?

This was wrong somehow. Frankly, everything that had gone down felt wrong on some level.

There had been just three in the other crew in the first place. Three. With a twenty-mil ransom demand. Oh yeah, there was something very wrong with this situation.

Poe came to the door. “Jamie.” He hitched his head toward the great room.

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