Page 55 of The Doctor

The security app on my phone chimed alerting me that someone was on the property. I checked the camera to see Nickwalking toward the front door. I opened just as he was about to knock.

“Evening Evans Family.”

“Unca Nick. You want bocolli?”

I sighed and glared at the three-year-old. He’d be four in a few weeks and Bex had a party planned. That was if he didn’t drive us to drink before then. “Landon. Eat your vegetables. Now.”

My son looked at his plate and popped another piece in his mouth and pulled a face. Yep, I would be getting silent treatment until bedtime.

Nick pulled a face like he was trying not to laugh. “Wow. You’ve got that Dad-voice down, don’t you.”

“If you had to have the kind of uncomfortable conversation that I just had, you’d see why it is necessary.”

“Tiffany Snow?”

“Yeah.”

“I’ve seen her at little league, her little sister plays with Mattie and Cooper. Only them and their older brother. I never see those parents.”

I wasn’t sure those parents were around all that often. They were never at parent-teacher nights and the one-time Tiffany was in the ER, her older brother was with her and her parents were nowhere to be seen.

“Anyway, I’m guessing discussing teenage gossip is not why you’re here.”

“Oh, yeah. I needed to talk to Bex, and neither of you were answering your phones.”

Bex stood with a sleepy Victoria. “Yeah, we had an issue with Dom’s phone at breakfast and dinner so we decided everyone leaves their phones on silent and in our pockets or another room. Only the alarm app is audible.”

“Makes sense.” He handed a folder over to Bex.

“What’s this?” Bex paged through the folder that looked to contain mostly photographs. She looked up at Nick. “Is this Sue in these photos?”

“This was from that attack a few weeks ago. The attempted robbery at the grocery store when the guys were apprehended before they could get in. There are more from a few places where something was reported but there was not supposed to be cameras. And yet, they managed to capture her.”

“Nick, that makes no sense.”

He stuck his hand in his pocket and handed Bex a flash drive. “This is the video footage.”

“Nick, are you sure this is real?”

“Jared checked. It's authentic.”

“Why would someone send us footage of her doing good? It makes no sense.”

“Because she’s supposed to be a fucking receptionist Bex. She’s not meant to have those skills.”

“So, automatically she must be bad?” I loved when my wife stood up to her brothers. The defiance was a beautiful thing to watch. “Why are you here?”

“Because you and the other women are not going to like the plan I’m putting into place tomorrow.”

Bex looked at Nick and handed Vicky over to me. Then she turned on her brother. “You’re going to use Jared to get info out of her, aren’t you?”

“I think she’s a plant, Bex. And I will not have that.”

The staring contest was one silent communication. Bex closed her eyes and shook her head “Fine.”

She wasn’t happy but she accepted as Nick laid out the plan for her. Once he was gone and I had gotten all the kids to bed, she fell into my embrace. “It never ends does it?”

I held her tight. “It's not supposed to, Becky. But I can assure you, I’ll be with you for the rest of it.”

---