Distortion (Moonlighters Series) by Terri Blackstock

dragged her thoughts back and turned from the window. “No, I need to hear it for myself. And they’re more likely to tell me things than you. They know me.”
    “Can you do it now?” Holly asked. “Because the sooner we figure all this out, the sooner we can track down the people making these threats.”
    Juliet stood there for a moment, her head swimming. She couldn’t breathe, and she thought she might faint. She bent over, hands on her knees, and tried to draw in a long breath. Then she forced herself to straighten. “Okay. Yes, you’re right. The sooner the better.”
    She sat back down on the bed and grabbed her phone. Did she still have the numbers of Bob’s employees? She had entered them years ago when she’d planned a surprise birthday party for him and had to contact them at home. Her underarms felt wet as she found the name of his nurse, Tracy. Perspiration beaded on her lip.
    The phone rang once, then someone picked up. “Hello?” Tracy sounded out of breath.
    “Tracy? This is Juliet Cole.”
    Tracy let out a hard breath. “It said Bob Cole on the caller ID. Freaked me out.”
    Juliet glanced up at her sisters. “Yeah, our phones are under his name. I’m sorry.”
    “No, I’m sorry. Juliet, how are you?”
    Juliet put it on speaker so Cathy and Holly could hear. “I’m doing okay. Thanks for asking. How about you and the rest of the staff?”
    “We’re all so upset. We don’t know what to do. We realizewe can’t go to work. But if you need us to wrap things up, box up the files, refer the patients to someone else, we’re all happy to do that. We weren’t expecting to have our jobs end so suddenly.”
    Juliet hadn’t even considered that. “I . . . I don’t really know how to handle that. But if I can, I’ll try to make sure you get paychecks at least through the rest of the month. But I need to ask you some things about the office.”
    “Sure.”
    “I know Bob did surgery on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. He saw patients the rest of the time, right?”
    “Yes.”
    “Were they referrals from other doctors?”
    “Sometimes, but not always. We kept Wednesdays for Medicaid patients, and a lot of them didn’t have referrals.”
    “So how did he know they weren’t drug seekers?”
    “They brought their records. Why do you ask?”
    “I’m just wondering if he . . . if he ever did things that didn’t seem right . . . like prescribing drugs to people who didn’t really have back problems?”
    Tracy hesitated. “Do you think that had something to do with his murder?”
    Juliet looked at her sisters. “We’re just trying to consider everything.”
    “But I thought they arrested the guy.”
    “They did. We just aren’t sure he was acting alone.”
    Tracy seemed to be processing that. Her voice wobbled as she answered. “Juliet, we were a very busy office. But Bob was a good doctor. I don’t think he’d ever do anything illegal.”
    Juliet touched her chest, and tears rimmed her eyes. “Thank you, Tracy. I needed to hear that.”
    When Juliet hung up, she stared at her sisters, her mouth trembling. “It’s something. ”
    Cathy came across the bed and pulled her into a hug. Holly joined them, and they sat in the middle of the bed. Juliet clung to them, unable to stand what she knew was coming.
    Finally, Juliet said, “We should go look through his office.”
    “Won’t the police do that?” Holly asked.
    “Probably, but I don’t want to wait until they do. I need to go now. They haven’t told me it’s off limits.”
    “I’ll call Michael and ask him to meet us there,” Cathy said.

CHAPTER 18
    J uliet’s hands trembled as she tried to use Bob’s key to open the door of his medical clinic. Michael, who had met them there, took the keys from her hand. “Here, let me.” He turned the key easily and the door opened.
    Juliet stepped into the waiting room. It was clean, chairs lined up neatly, magazines stacked. She had helped decorate the room in a soft, pale