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of this two-bit organization?”
    “Now, Josephine—“
    “Ms. Ferrell.”
    Hines plopped into his own chair, seemingly unprepared to handle this sort of dilemma. “Ms. Ferrell, the practice was first trying to ascertain the full scope of the situation. We wanted to first make sure that Michelle wasn’t somewhere else on the fifteenth floor before we informed you that she was indeed missing.”
    “So you thought that you simply misplaced her?”
    A flash of annoyance flickered across his features. “We didn’t misplace her.”
    “As far as you know,” she countered, without missing a beat.
    He paused as if needing to do a mental count to ten before continuing. “Ms. Ferrell, I understand that you’re angry...” He caught her daggered stare. “Pissed,” he corrected. “But there is a certain protocol that we must adhere to—”
    “Meaning that this has happened before?”
    He hesitated again, and Josephine waited patiently for his answer.
    “Years ago, we had a patient who wandered from the facility.”
    One delicate eyebrow arched as she measured the nervous man before her. “Wandered off?” She suffered through another bout of his clearing his throat before he got around to clarifying his statement.
    “It was a good ten years ago. Since then we’ve implemented security measures to prevent something like that from ever happening again.”
    “And yet my sister is missing.”
    “But she didn’t wander off,” he countered.
    “And how did you come to that conclusion?”
    “You need an ID badge to scan in and out of the fifteenth floor. Period. So, whoever took your sister knew exactly what they were doing.”
    “Took her?” Josephine blinked, then leaned forward in her chair. “Why would anyone want to take my sister?”
    Hines patiently braided his fingers on his desk. “I don’t have an answer to that.”
    Fire lit her eyes. “It doesn’t seem like you know much of anything, if you asked me.”
    “The likely answer might have something to do with Michelle’s personal life,” he boldly added. “The unfortunate thing is that it may have cost the life of one of our doctors as well.”
    “That’s crazy,” she retorted indignantly. “Maybe Michelle stole a badge and left on her own. Did you ever think of that?”
    “Given her condition, I doubt that.”
    “But you don’t know for sure, do you?” she asked evenly.
    “No.” Hines held her heated gaze as he continued. “But I suspect otherwise. The police have here several times and wanted to question Michelle about an ex-boyfriend. A drug dealer, if I remember correctly. Given her current medical condition, we were able to decline the request until a court order of some kind was obtained.
    “When in the hell did all of this happen?”
    The room sweltered from the woman’s intensity and Hines adjusted his tie in a vain attempt to get comfortable. “The early part of last week.”
    She straightened her shoulders. “And why wasn’t I informed?”
    “With all due respect, Ms. Ferrell, but until you present a power of attorney naming you executor of medical decision for Michelle, this facility has no legal obligation to inform you of anything. Given her propensity to violence whenever you visit, it’s clear to me that there is some bad blood between the two of you.”
    “How dare you,” Josephine snapped, smashing her hand on his desk.
    Hines jumped in his seat. “Ms. Ferrell, I’m going to have to ask you to contain yourself.”
    She stood. “Go screw yourself.”
    Her venom struck him hard, but he maintained his professionalism. “Please sit down, Ms. Ferrell. While I understand your position—”
    “I highly doubt that.” Josephine headed toward the door. “I’ll be back with my lawyers and your damn power of attorney.” She jerked opened the office door and promptly collided with a tall Asian woman.
    “Excuse you,” Josephine snapped.
    “Ms. Andrews?” Ming asked astounded, and then cut a questioning look across