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Maybe that’s why they’d never asked questions about it.
    â€œTry to get a good night’s sleep, Mom.”
    After saying good-bye, she ended the call.
    Grant was eyeing her speculatively. “Not that I meant to listen in, but it sounds as if a lot’s going on.”
    That was the understatement of the night.

    The following morning, Caprice parked in the multilevel parking garage at York Hospital. Then she made her way to the main entrance. She already had the information she needed—Louise was in one of the rooms on the cardiac floor. Since she was still here, Caprice guessed they were watching her carefully. All she could get from the nurses’ desk was her room number. HIPAA laws, and all that. Doctors and hospitals were becoming more paranoid about privacy, yet there were multiple systems of computer networks within the healthcare system, and none of those seemed to talk to each other. You could go for a lab test at one facility that would be hooked into the specialist’s computer. But if you went to your family doctor, she might not be able to even access those records. Caprice had the feeling that a good hacker could get anybody’s medical records if he wanted and no one would even know.
    She realized she was distracting herself with those thoughts because she was concerned about Louise. Nikki had assured her she’d take Lady for a walk even in this cold weather, give her lots of praise when she succeeded at a doggie task, and she wouldn’t forget to give Sophia half a dropperful of omega-3 fatty acids with wild anchovy and sardine oil in her lunch. As long as Sophia didn’t know she was eating something good for her, she was fine with it. Again, not so different from humans.
    Caprice passed the gift shop where she’d often found unique presents for friends and members of her family. Then she wended her way to the elevator.
    It didn’t take her long to find Louise’s room. She peeked in the door and saw that Louise had company. Jamie Bergman was there. Caprice noted the plant on the windowsill, greenery mixed with mums. It stood beside a bouquet of tulips and daisies that was probably from Chet.
    Louise caught sight of Caprice right away. She was looking pale and weak, but she was wearing a smile. “Come here, my dear. Chet will be back in a minute. He just went to check with the nurse about something.”
    Caprice hugged Louise and saw that the monitor above her bed was recording her heart rhythms and pulse rate. As Chet had said, she was still being monitored carefully.
    After she leaned away from Louise, she nodded at Jamie. “It’s good to see you again, only not under these circumstances.”
    â€œI’ll say not,” Jamie agreed.
    Jamie Bergman might be in her fifties, with no gray showing in her hair. But that didn’t mean much these days. A good hairdresser could take care of that. A brunette, Jamie had dark brows, a long nose, and dark rimmed glasses that she often wore on top of her head. Caprice was about ten pounds overweight, and she guessed Jamie was probably twenty pounds overweight. She was wearing jeans that were more snug than Caprice would wear them, and a short striped sweater, with the stripes going the wrong way for a person who might be trying to look thinner. But that was really none of Caprice’s concern. Jamie knew her plants, and over the past year had been a big help when Caprice needed greenery to enhance a home-staging.
    â€œDo the doctors know yet what caused this?” Caprice asked Louise.
    Chet answered her from the doorway. “The doctors don’t know. But this stomach flu, or whatever it was, disrupted her heart’s rhythm. Even her usual medication couldn’t control it. The cardiologist adjusted it and now she seems to be more stable. But I think we should cancel the open house on Saturday.”
    â€œSaturday is five days away,” Louise protested. “I don’t want