“Come get your worthless daughter and take her back,” my mother-in-law shouted my father as I lay broken at the bottom of the stairs after my husband shoved me down. “Your family will answer for it if she has even a scratch,” was the sole warning Dad offered her. They had no notion who my father really was, so they made fun of him.

“My name is Laura Croft,” she introduced herself, voice strained.

Dad stood up from his chair at once, and there he was, commanding absolutely.

“How did you get into this limited medical bay?

“Dad said firmly.

“Hospital security cleared her,” the police officer said.

“She presented official state identification and stated she had critical evidence in the Rachel Callahan custody case.”

Laura looked at me squarely with a look of deep guilt and remorse.

“I worked for six years as a senior forensic accountant for the Sutter Construction Group,” Laura told the room.