Page 93 of Doctor Hot Mess

I start typing.Jefferson County armed robberies.Several headlines pop up:

February Grocery Store And Convenience Store Holdups

Birmingham String Of Robberies

Robbers Shot By Good Samaritan

Robbery Suspect Apprehended at UAB

I start clicking on news articles immediately. Most of them have a similar theme, outlining the string of armed robberies that happened last month. The dates are familiar—they match up with the chaos in the ER.

One headline catches my eye:“Suspect Apprehended After Grocery Store Robbery Turns Violent.”I click it, my pulse quickening as the page loads.

The article is filled with the usual details—a store clerk robbed, customers held at gunpoint, an armed private citizen shooting the perpetrator before the suspects flee. But then I see his name:Joey Blanchard,along with a mugshot.

Holy shit. It's the same Joey who was wheeled into my OR that night, who I saved with a bullet still lodged in his shoulder.

“Son of a bitch,” I mutter under my breath. My fingers tighten around the edge of the laptop as I keep reading. Joey was arrested at the hospital after his surgery, the police claiming he matched the description of one of the robbers. His brother, Mark, is still at large, wanted for multiple counts of armed robbery.

And now, apparently, my sister is somehow tangled up in all of it.

I search Lila’s name next, dreading what I’ll find. At first, there’s nothing—no arrests, no headlines.

But then I find it: a brief mention in a local news report about Joey’s case.

“Lila Bellinger, an alleged associate of the suspects, is under investigation for potential involvement in the robberies.”

Associate? My stomach churns. What the hell does that mean?

I dig deeper, clicking through articles, forums, anything I can find. Piece by piece, the puzzle starts to come together. Joey was her boyfriend—or at least, that’s what these articles are referring to him as.

It may be late, but I need to talk to her attorney. I hired him, for Christ's sake. I need to know what in the hell is going on.

I slam the laptop shut and pick up my phone. The realization hits like a punch to the gut. Lila might not have held a gun, but she knew. She let them put themselves—and everyone else—in danger to try to clean up her mess.

And even more than that, she put Harper in danger. That man held a gun to Harper.

My phone plays "I'm Sexy And I Know It" before I call the attorney. It’s him. I answer immediately, barely giving him a chance to say hello. “What the hell is going on?”

He sighs, his voice calm but tired. “Jonah, I was going to call you in the morning. They’re charging Lila with conspiracy to commit armed robbery and aiding and abetting. They have texts, phone calls—evidence that she knew what Joey and Mark were planning and didn’t report it.”

“Texts?” I echo, my voice rising. “She was texting these guys about robberies?”

“She claims she didn’t know they were serious,” he explains. “But the messages suggest otherwise. There’s one where Joey mentions ‘getting her the money,’ and she doesn’t question where it’s coming from.”

I pinch the bridge of my nose, a wave of anger and disbelief crashing over me. “And what about the meeting yesterday? Did they tell her this was coming?”

“They hinted at it,” he admits. “But Lila didn’t want to believe it. She thought she could convince them she didn’t know anything.”

I let out a bitter laugh. “Who the fuck is she?”

“Jonah,” the attorney says, his tone steady but firm. “This isn’t hopeless. She didn’t commit the robberies, and she’s agreed to cooperate. If we play this right, we can minimize the fallout.”

“Minimize the fallout,” I repeat, the words bitter on my tongue. “Tell that to her while she’s sitting in a jail cell.”

I hang up before he can respond. I drop my head into my hands, the events of the night spinning in my mind. Harper, Lila, the arrest—it’s too much. I don't know how much more I can take.

I sit at the kitchen table and stare at my phone, trying to decide what to do.

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