The memory sickened me.

“What happened to her?” I asked.

Vanessa swallowed. “She developed sepsis after the surgery. There were delays and missed warning signs. The attending documented that Nathan was notified twice as her condition deteriorated.”

Nathan stepped down a stair. “Enough.”

I stepped backward, away from him. That movement reached him more deeply than anything I could have said.

“Claire,” he said — now performing hurt, because anger had failed. “You know me.”