“Really?” Vivian snorted in disbelief. “Because it seems like your father was hoping I’d end up dead. He almost shot me. I assume that was your father? And that he was the same helpful cop who snatched the brandy bottle from Bellevue?” She shook her head. “Can’t believe I told you about that, too.”
“He wasn’t supposed to shoot at you.” Dr. Harris sighed, but that made him wince too, and he prodded himself in the side carefully. “I think your bruiser there broke one of my ribs.”
“Happy to break more of them,” Leo said with icy cheerfulness.
“Charming company you girls keep,” the doctor said. “My father’s job was just to watch out and make sure no one tried to follow me. Bash them over the head or something.” To Vivian’s surprise, he smiled at them. “Look, girls, and you, whoever you are. I may have done a questionable thing or two, but I did it for family. And I honestly tried to warn you away. I didn’t want anyone else to get hurt.”
“Hurt,” Bea said coldly. “Is that what you call what you did to my uncle?”
“Beatrice, your uncle was robbing his coworkers and neighbors,” Dr.Harris said, shaking his head as though he were deeply disappointed. “He was hardly a saint.”
“Maybe not,” Bea said. “But at least he wasn’t a murderer.”
Dr. Harris flinched, as if the wordmurdererwas one step too far. His confidence wavered for a moment, and he glanced nervously at the gun that Vivian still held. But then he pulled himself together, his smile returning.
“You’ve got no proof,” he pointed out. “Not with your bottle of brandy missing. You’d need the police to dig up some evidence, wouldn’t you?”
“You think they won’t?” Leo demanded.
“We can’t do anything to him and he knows it,” Vivian said through clenched teeth. “His dad’s a cop. There’s no way we can convince any of them to look into it. Unless… Leo?”
He knew she was asking about his uncle, and she could hear the grimace in his voice as he spoke, though she didn’t take her eyes off the doctor. “I don’t think he would. Not just on my say-so, not for something like this.” His voice grew colder. “But I could probably get you off if you just shot him right now.”
The revolver trembled in Vivian’s hand. Dr. Harris saw, and he shook his head, still smiling. “Would you shoot me, Vivian? Do you think you could live with yourself if you did that?”
She couldn’t, not like this, and she knew it. But she didn’t lower the gun. “Tell me why I shouldn’t.”
“Well, because I would prefer not to die.” Dr. Harris chuckled, but the sound faded quickly as he took in their stony expressions. “And because I’m a doctor. Helping people is what I do. Do you want to take that away from your neighbors, from all the people I help around here?” Dr. Harris’s voice was pleading. But there was a note of confidence in it, as though he had her all figured out. She hated that he was probably right.
“Didn’t do much to help Pearlie,” Bea said coldly.
“I am sorry about your uncle, Beatrice, truly,” Dr. Harris said softly. “But I was desperate, and it was the only thing I could think of. I didn’t have the money I needed to bail out my father, and I wasn’t going to come by it any other way. Most of the people I see can’t even afford to pay me. Pearlie’s death…” He shook his head. “It was awful, it was wrong, I know that. But because of it, I can keep doing the work I need to do. How many lives do you think I’ve saved, Beatrice? How many babies do you think I can save next?”
“Is that the story you told yourself to pretend you were the hero?” Bea asked, and her voice was shaking. “Vivian, just shoot him.”
“She won’t do that,” Dr. Harris said firmly.
“No, she won’t,” another voice said from behind them.
Out of the corner of her eye, Vivian saw Leo spin around, Bea wobbling in his arms at the sudden movement, but she didn’t take her eyes off Dr. Harris. She didn’t need to. She recognized the voice.
“Hello, Dad,” Dr. Harris said with a lopsided smile. “Not to worry, these folks are just leaving. We’re all just going to pretend this whole thing never happened.”
“And I just forget about Pearlie?” Vivian demanded. “Forget that you’re a criminal and a murderer?”
“You hang out with plenty of criminals, girl,” Arthur Harris said from behind her. “You even are one yourself now. Don’t think we don’t know how you got that dress. We’ve got as much dirt on you as you have on us. So yeah, you forget all about it.”
“There’s no need for that, Dad,” Dr. Harris said. Absurdly, he looked embarrassed, as if his father had said something crude in the middle of a fancy restaurant. “Look, my father is retiring and leaving the city, so I won’t need that kind of money again. That means no more letters. I’m not dumb enough to try this again when you’d know it was me, anyway.”
“Better decide quick,” Arthur Harris snapped. “I got a whole messof buddies on their way from the station. I’d hate to see what happens if you’re still hanging around when they get here.”
He might have been lying. But they still had to give in, Vivian realized, her heart pounding. They couldn’t risk messing with a crooked cop. Not like this. Leo had a free pass out of trouble, and he might be able to bring her along with him. But Bea…
Bea would end up in prison or worse. She couldn’t risk that.
“If you ever come after my sister again, I will kill you.” Vivian didn’t stop to think if the threat was wise before she made it.
But Dr. Harris didn’t seem offended. If anything, he looked disappointed, even a little hurt. “The letter was a threat to you, Vivian, not to Florence. I thought you understood that. I would never do anything to hurt your sister, she’s a delightful girl. Before all this messiness, I was even thinking of asking her to the pictures.”
