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“ I have one more stop to make. It won’t take long,” Reese hastened to assure him when he gave her a swift glance. “We’ll be home in time for lunch.” She’d already learned that Hayes was abnormally concerned about regular meals. “Then I can order those groceries you mentioned this morning.”

He pulled out of the parking garage and turned onto the street. “Why do I feel like I’m the one getting played now?”

“Because you have a suspicious mind?”

A corner of his mouth lifted. “With good reason, after seeing you in action. Okay. Where to?”

“Tranquility Lakes Mental Health Institute.” She already had the address pulled up on her cell and sat it on the center console.

“Where your brother lives?”

Just hearing the words aloud elicited a jitter in her pulse. “Yes. I want a look at it.”

“To what end?”

The question just added to the nerves that wanted to rise.

“Eventually, I want to speak to Ben’s doctor.

” Want was overstating things. She would have put off the meeting forever if she were able.

A pool of dread formed in her stomach just thinking of talking to the provider who had treated her brother for years.

Who would have a complete family history of the incidents leading up to Ben’s complete mental health break.

Dampness flooded her palms. It was unfair to equate the doctor with Reese’s response to anything related to her brother. The woman knew Ben better than anyone alive. And she’d be very aware of the circumstances that landed him in the residential facility.

After he’d left, Reese had lived in constant terror of Ben’s return.

Her parents had wrapped her in a cocoon of isolation, rarely talking about him in her presence.

From the rare occasions Julia had mentioned him, she’d learned that they’d never given up being reunited with their son.

But their deaths had sent her brother into a downward spiral that he obviously hadn’t yet overcome with medications and therapy.

But Julia’s notes had included queries about the expenses associated with his stay at Tranquility Lakes. Ben’s doctor would be the best source for the answers. She just wasn’t sure she was ready for them.

“Where am I heading?”

“It’s about thirty miles. Just south of Escondido.”

He drove in silence for several minutes before saying, “I take it you’ve never visited him there.”

She turned her face to the window. “I haven’t seen my brother since I was seven. The only ones who visited him were my parents. I believe Julia tried a couple of times, but Ben refused.”

“Do you know what his diagnosis is?”

“I really haven’t gotten into the medical reports yet.” In her way, Julia had been just as protective of Reese as her parents had when it came to shielding her from any talk of her brother.

“Okay. The offer still stands.”

Puzzled, she looked at him questioningly.

“To read through them for you,” he elucidated.

“I’ll consider it.” Reese wasn’t even sure herself what she’d accomplish with this trip, but she hoped that being able to picture where her brother lived might provide her a foundation for the questions she was formulating for Dr. Sedgewick.

But she hadn’t imagined the physical toll it’d take.

With each mile, her tension grew greater, until it felt like an anvil lodged on her chest. The therapist she’d seen after Thorne had observed that she had some unresolved issues from her childhood.

No shit . But that wasn’t a topic she’d been willing to discuss with the woman.

She’d just been intent on healing enough to get through the days without flashbacks and nightmares.

“Charming area,” Hayes noted. His observation woke Reese from her reverie.

The city was notched into a valley, surrounded with foothills covered in coastal sage scrub, chaparral vegetation, pines, and oak trees.

He turned off at the GPS app’s urging and drove a few more minutes before pulling through the opened gates onto a long private driveway.

A discreet sign said Tranquility Lakes Mental Health Institute.

The facility sat well back from the road, a sprawling one-story structure painted gleaming white with a red clay tile roof.

The landscaping featured large colored boulders and small decorative trees that probably cost a hefty price tag to keep alive in summer droughts.

She could see three smaller detached buildings on one side of the structure.

There was a split in the drive, the right leading to visitor parking and the left to a staff lot. When Hayes would have taken a right, she stopped him.

“Enter the staff parking.”

“Why?”

“Just do it.”

When he obeyed, she squinted at the person lingering in the area. As they drew closer she realized it was a man clad in white scrubs, vaping. He watched them pull into a spot. Hayes’s cell sounded, and he parked before looking at the screen. “I’m going to talk to that gentleman.”

Reese collected her purse and opened her door.

“Wait.” He got out and put a hand on her arm to stop her after she rounded the hood. “Do you know him?”

“I’m about to.”

He took his hand away. “More fishing?”

“He might take different bait than Greenley did.”

Hayes hung back as she approached the hospital employee. “Good morning.”

The stranger studied them silently. He had dark hair and eyes, a face that narrowed to an angular jaw, and tats on his forearms. He raised the vape pen to his mouth, drew deeply, and held the vapor for long moments before exhaling it.

“You’re in the wrong place. Visitor parking is over there.

” He indicated the other side of the drive.

He wore an employee badge around his neck with his picture.

The text read Kervin Langrath. Certified Nursing Assistant.

“Oh.” Reese feigned surprise. “There were probably obvious signs that we completely missed.”

The man didn’t return her smile. “There are.”

“This is my first time here. Maybe you can tell me what the visiting requirements are.”

“Pretty standard for a place like this. You have to be on a patient’s approved visitor list, which means you have to get permission from his or her assigned doctor.

Once you are, you just go up to the front entrance.

It’ll be locked. There’s a camera outside it.

Someone at the front desk will ask for your name and ID, then look you up to see if you’re approved.

If you are, an attendant will let you in and guide you to the patient’s room, or more likely to one of the common areas. ”

He brought up the pen and inhaled again, seeming in no hurry to continue, his gaze going past her to study Hayes.

“I guess I was hoping I could pop in and see my brother’s doctor.”

The stranger shook his head. “Waste of time to try. I can tell you right now, you’ll have to call for an appointment and there won’t be any visits until the doc approves you. What’s your brother’s name?”

“Ben Decody.”

Kervin’s hand stilled midmovement in the act of lowering the pen. He recovered quickly, but she’d caught the minuscule reaction. “Do you know him?”

“I’ve worked here ten years. I know most of the patients, at least by sight.”

“He’s been here much longer than that.”

He pulled a narrow case from his back pocket and slipped the pen inside it. “I gotta get back.”

“Let me give you my card.” Reese reached into her purse, palming a business card with two folded one-hundred-dollar bills beneath it, and handed them to the man with a smile.

“Sounds like I won’t get a visit for a while, but I’d be interested in whatever you can tell me about Ben and the workings of the facility. ”

He shoved the items with the pen in its case into his rear pocket and walked off without saying more. Reese turned and headed for the car. Hayes fell into step next to her. “Nice handoff. Smooth. Wouldn’t have caught it if I wasn’t watching closely. How much did you slip him?”

She should have known he’d pick up on the action. Reese was learning that not much slipped by Hayes Moreland. “Couple hundred. Either I wasted the cash, or he’ll go inside and start thinking about how to earn more. We’ll see.”

They reached the car and got in. Hayes drove out of the lot and down the drive before turning back toward the city.

Reese could feel tension seep out of her muscles as they left the property.

“If he does call, you’ll have to weigh the veracity of any information he gives you.

You probably know that from your journalistic work. ”

Insulted, she swiveled her head to face him. “There is literally nothing as offensive as suggesting to a journalist that they pay their sources. I wouldn’t. I never have.”

He held up a hand to stem her protest. “Okay. I didn’t mean to impugn your professional integrity. I’m just saying if he does agree to talk, greed could shade what he tells you. What are you after, anyway?”

She lifted a shoulder. “I’ll call Dr. Sedgewicks’s office today and see about scheduling an appointment.

” And while she was at it, she’d set up one with Greenley.

“At this point, I’m just gathering background information.

Kervin could provide it.” At Hayes’s questioning look, she explained, “That’s the name of the guy I spoke to.

Any details I can get to build a picture of what my brother’s needs are, what his life is like inside helps determine my conversation with the doctor. ”

“Forewarned is forearmed.”

Reese leaned against the headrest. “Exactly.” Strangers knew far more about Ben than she did.

His doctor. The woman Ben did Bible study with, Lorna Eckworth.

And maybe the CNA, Kervin. If she hoped to be awarded conservatorship, it’d help to have more of an understanding of her brother’s life here. Of his mental health needs.

She pulled her sunglasses out of her purse and slipped them on. After a lifetime of dodging thinking about Ben at all, Reese needed to cover a lot of ground.

And she recognized that every detail she learned would come with an emotional price.