“Thank God,” I said. “Get here as fast as you can. Use the service entrance if you have to.”

“We’re on our way,” Laura said.

I hung up the phone and set it on the thin hospital mattress.

My hands were shaking so hard I could barely grip the plastic casing.

Thomas looked at me, his eyes dark with a mixture of anger and regret.

“She’s doing it again,” he said.

He untied the red string around the bundle of papers.

The paper was yellowed at the edges, smelling of old dust and damp basement storage.

“What is all of this, Thomas?” I asked, my voice barely a whisper.

He pulled out a photocopied document with a official state seal.

“This is a police report from October fourteenth, nineteen ninety-four,” he said.

He pointed a thick, calloused finger at the signature line.

“Margaret filed a complaint claiming I had threatened her life with a weapon,” he said.

My breath caught in my throat.

“Did you?” I asked quietly.

“No,” Thomas said, his voice steady. “I was on a twelve-hour shift at the fire station in Aurora. I had five witnesses who signed affidavits.”