Chapter Forty-One

ASHLEIGH MATTHEWS SAT in a waiting room at Duke University Medical Center idly flipping through the pages of a dog-eared copy of Cosmopolitan. The only other person in the room—a man—surfed the channels on a TV mounted high on a wall.

Her brother David had been in surgery for five hours and she’d heard nothing from the doctor. She dropped the magazine on the seat next to her and walked to the nurse’s station. “Have you heard anything about how things are going with David’s operation? How much longer it might be?”

“The doctor will come and speak with you just as soon as he’s out of surgery.”

“Does it usually take this long?”

“What they’re doing with David? Yes.”

“Thank you.”

Ashleigh paced to a window, stopped, and scanned the view. The TV paused on each channel just long enough to hear six or seven words before jumping to another. She addres