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of the things that doesn’t add up. The APB was out there. Plus, you were right next to a sheriff’s office. If it’d been Ted in that alley, he would have just walked inside and asked me for assistance.” He paused. “And I would have given it to him.”
    “So, who do you think it was in the alley?” she demanded.
    A hallucination caused by the fever and the drugs already in her system. Except Jack had seen that carwith the mud-smeared plates. Still, a strange car didn’t mean this Ted had tried to grab her.
    “If Ted had come to apprehend you, why would he have run?” Jack asked. “He had a court order to keep you confined. The law was on his side, not yours.”
    Another punch of frustration rushed through her eyes. “Maybe that court order isn’t worth the paper it’s being faxed on.”
    “Maybe. That’s one of the things I might be able to determine when I see the document.”
    And when he questioned Ted and Margaret. Whenever that would be. The woman hadn’t exactly volunteered to come to Willow Ridge, which meant Jack would have to make a trip to the Sauder Mental Health Facility about an hour’s drive away. Margaret hadn’t been chatty about the exact location, claiming that the place was private to prevent the media from finding it and the occasional famous patients who entered the facility for drug rehab.
    Margaret’s explanation had made him even more uneasy. But he couldn’t go until he had things stabilized with Alana. Fortunately, he’d already gotten Ted and Margaret’s photos from the online database of drivers’ licenses, and he’d run computer checks. Neither had criminal records, but Jack had asked his deputy to do a little digging to see if anything flagged.
    “When the fax arrives,” Alana continued, “I want you to read that court order word for word. I’ll do the same. But first, I’ll have to battle my brother.” She lifted her head from the pillow again, and this time she pushed his hand away when he tried to stop her. “I need some clothes. I don’t want Sean to see me like this. I’m sureI look frail and weak. It’ll only give him more ammunition to try to have me recommitted.”
    Jack couldn’t argue with that, but Alana wasn’t ready to be up and moving around. Still, he didn’t stop her. “I can’t guarantee the doctor will let you leave the hospital, but I’ll see what I can do about getting you something else to wear.”
    She’d gathered up the blanket to drape around her. Her gaze met his. “Thank you.”
    He didn’t want her thanks. He didn’t want empathy. He didn’t want to feel that she was getting railroaded.
    But he did.
    Damn it. He did.
    Jack stepped outside the room, and welcomed the moment he had to himself. He didn’t usually have trouble being objective, especially since Alana was officially part of an investigation now. But she was also a huge threat to his happiness. That was coloring his objectivity.
    When he spotted Sara Murphy, a nurse and a woman he’d known his entire life, he walked up the hall to her. “Could you possibly scrounge up some street clothes for the patient?” Jack hitched his thumb toward Alana’s door.
    Sara nodded and shifted a pink wad of sugary-scented gum in her mouth so she could answer him. “Sure will.” She volleyed her doe-brown eyes between Jack and the door. “I heard what’s going on, and I’m sorry. She’s here to try to take little Joey, isn’t she?”
    Jack settled for saying, “It’s complicated.”
    “Not so complicated. You love that boy. Everybody around here knows that.” Sara patted his arm. “Haveyou learned anything more about the night she wandered out of the hospital?”
    “No.”
    Sara glanced around as if to make sure no one was listening, and stepped closer. “Look, I’m on your side. I don’t want that woman back here. But you know I’ve had my worries about her from the start.”
    Yeah. He did. He’d interviewed Sara several times. “You don’t think Alana left