The Murderers (Badge of Honor 6)

There was a tone of command in her voice. She was a nurse, an R.N. who had gone back to school to get a degree, and was, she had once confided in Amy, thinking about going for an M.D.

McFadden immediately stood up.

Matt needs somebody like that, Amy thought. A strong-willed young woman as smart as he is. He didn’t need Penny.

God, what a terrible thing to even think!

“We’re going too,” Martha Peebles announced. She already had her David—whom she usually called, to his intense embarrassment, “Precious”—in tow.

One by one, the men filed into the kitchen and shook Matt’s hand.

“Circumstances aside, it was good to see you, Amy,” Peter Wohl said, and offered her his hand.

“Thank you,” she said.

He was almost at the top of the stairs when she went quickly after him.

“Peter, wait a moment,”

she called, and he stopped. “I’d like to talk to you,” Amy said.

“Sure. When? Will it wait until morning?”

“I won’t be with Matt more than a minute,” she said.

“OK,” he said with what she interpreted as reluctance, and then went down the stairs.

Her father touched her shoulder.

“You’re the doctor. Is there anything I should be doing for Matt?”

“Just what you are doing,” she said.

“Should I go out to Chestnut Hill in the morning, or is it better…”

“He’s your friend, Dad,” Amy said. “You’ll have to decide.”

“Yes, of course.”

Finally, after a final hug from Denny Coughlin, Amy was alone with Matt.

He met her eyes, waiting for whatever she had to say.

“This was not your fault, Matt. She had a chemical addiction—”

“She was a junkie.”

“—which she was unable to manage.”

“And I wasn’t a hell of a lot of help, was I?”

“What happened is not your fault, Matt.”

“So everyone keeps telling me.”

“The best thing you can do—an emotional trauma like this is exhausting—is to get a good night’s sleep.”

“And things will seem better in the morning, right?”