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those Twilight vampires.”
    “At least I’m in the right city for it—vampire lore and all.”
    “Bunch of hooey if you ask me. So are you going to hire her?”
    “I already did. I didn’t have time to tell her everything, but I emailed her some information on David on my break. She wants to start by looking into his background.”
    “Something you should have done before you married him.”
    “Yeah, well, hindsight’s twenty-twenty. Anyway, I left her a retainer and she’s going to start right away.”
    “Good. I think you made a wise decision in hiring her.”
    “I have to admit, I was a bit taken aback when I first saw her. She looks far younger than she must be, but then we’ve both seen the advantages of great genetics.”
    “We have, but she is young. Twenty-four, give or take a year.”
    Emma stared. “Twenty-four? Okay, now you’ve got my curiosity in overdrive. How do you know her?”
    Clara looked over Emma’s shoulder and stared at the wall for several seconds. “I was working the emergency room nine years ago on the night the police brought her in. One of the old guard, Detective Beaumont, had found her wandering in the middle of the street, weaving like a drunk. She was clothed but only barely, the material hanging on her like rags. She was dirty and smelled of human excrement. Her hair was matted in big knots all over. She had long cuts in her hands and on her wrists, and was covered in blood that turned out to be her own.”
    “Had she been in an accident?”
    “The police couldn’t find a car anywhere nearby, and she wasn’t talking, so we didn’t know. The rookie cop decided she was drunk or a junkie, but Detective Beaumont said something wasn’t right about the whole thing and insisted on staying while the staff checked her out.”
    “I take it Detective Beaumont was right?”
    “And then some. Tests for narcotics and alcohol were negative. She was staggering because of blood loss. Once we got her onto a gurney, she all but collapsed, eyes wide open and vitals strong, but she was nonresponsive.”
    “Shock?”
    “I’m sure. Dr. Thompson was working the ER that night, so we were lucky.”
    Emma nodded. Dr. Thompson was one of the hospital’s oldest doctors and took his time with patients. He was the nursing staff’s favorite.
      “He sent her straight off for X-rays and that’s when all hell broke loose,” Clara said. “That poor girl…it was unlike anything I’d ever seen before and something I hope to never see again.” Clara looked directly at Emma, her big brown eyes misting up. “So many broken bones, some of them old injuries and some more recent, and none had ever been set right. My guess is, she’d never even seen a doctor.”
    Emma’s stomach rolled. “Oh my God.”  
    “Then Dr. Thompson started his physical exam.” A single tear rolled down Clara’s cheek and she swiped it away. “That girl had been violated in every way possible. There were cuts all over her body and a brand in the middle of her back in the shape of a pentagram. I had to leave the room for a few minutes. It’s the only time I’ve ever gotten sick on the job, but I’m not ashamed of it. An hour after he finished the exam, I found Dr. Thompson in his office crying.”
    Emma’s chest constricted and she struggled to keep her own tears at bay. What Clara described was unfathomable, that someone could abuse a child to the point that even veteran medical staff struggled to handle it. What kind of monster could do that?
    “We cleaned her up as best as possible and treated the wounds on her hands and wrists. She didn’t stir, not even for a minute. Not until the next night when she woke up screaming. Me and one of the new nurses ran in and tried to calm her down, but it took some convincing before she stopped looking ready to bolt.”
    “Did she tell you who did that to her?”
    Clara shook her head. “She didn’t remember. Didn’t remember a single thing before waking up in the