PART
ONE
CHAPTER
1
Dr. Bria Gaines
UNION SPRINGS, ALABAMA
Bria Gaines stood at the back door of the small brick office building she rented in Union Springs, Alabama, population 3,314. She pulled her phone from her pocket to check the time. Six minutes past midnight. They were late.
Maybe they weren’t coming.
Maybe she’d be spared.
It was dark out, mostly quiet except for frogs, the spring peepers, singing in the narrow creek that wove through trees leafing out for the season.
She heard the rattle of an approaching vehicle before the flash of its brights signaled the arrival of the old Toyota SUV.
Pulling up onto the gravel space that served as a parking lot, the driver cut the engine, killed the headlights.
Bria’s nerves were strung tight, heart pounding. She knew therisk when she’d agreed to do this thing. Nobody had forced her into it. Sometimes, she’d realized, a person has to take a stand.
Bria tried hard not to let fear overcome her certainty. But when she flipped on the back door light, panic sent her pulse racing. Something was wrong already. Only two people emerged from the car. Bria had expected three.
She recognized the driver. It was Cocheta Bass, the nurse practitioner who worked at Union Springs Middle School. The passenger was a female wearing a hoodie that left her face in shadow.
Bria watched Cocheta pat the girl’s shoulder as they climbed the back steps together. She pushed the door wide, to let them in, then immediately flipped off the outdoor light. Pulled the door shut and turned the dead bolt. They needed to be locked up tight.
Bria led them into her office waiting room, toward the table lamp that dimly lit the space around the reception desk. Checking to see that the blinds were shut, Bria flipped the overhead light on.
The school nurse spoke in a whisper, as if fearful of being overheard. “Dr. Gaines, this is Nova.”
The girl pulled the hood off her head and pushed her hair away from her face to reveal cheeks and a forehead glistening with sweat.
Nova Jones was tall, standing five feet, eight inches, and her body had already matured. Bria recognized the frightened girl as the attentive big sister who chased around town after a brood of younger siblings.
She smiled and said, “Hi, Nova. I’ve seen you at church, over at Victory Baptist. How old are you now?”
Nova looked down at the floor and whispered, “Thirteen.”
So. This was actually happening. A first for Bria Gaines, that was certain.
She’d never committed a felony before.
But a key person was missing. Bria couldn’t overlook that. Sheglanced from Nova to the school nurse. “So where’s Ms. Jones, Nova’s mom?”
Nova’s breath caught. She took a step backward, like she might bolt. “No! No, ma’am, Mama can’t know. Never!”
Bria spoke gently to the girl. “You need your mother’s support. She’ll need to care for you, help you through this.”
Nova’s voice shook as she said, “She’ll be so mad. She’ll think I’m a bad girl. That I was out there being fast.” The girl’s chest heaved, like her distress was combusting, getting ready to explode.
Bria had the uneasy feeling that she was walking straight into a predicament—a precarious situation even more out of control than she’d been led to believe.
Bria didn’t let her agitation show as she walked over to a supply cupboard. She pulled a clean hospital gown from a stack of linens and handed it to Nova. “The exam room is right over here,” she said, opening another door and flipping the interior light switch. “You can change in there. Take everything off, okay? Even your bra and panties. Let me know when you’re done.”
