Page 70 of Shielding Instinct

Here I go.

Herb and Jenny Johnson.

When culling through names, Petra had found that she could get to the right person the fastest by using both names of a couple.

When she pressed ENTER, Petra was not prepared for what she found.

Yes, there were lists of Jenny’s races and pictures of her and her family.

But there were also news articles reporting on how the FBI had caught Herb and Jenny with so much evidence of their white-collar crimes that the couple had pled guilty in the hope of a lenient sentence. Even with a clean record and small children, a light sentence would be seventeen years for Herb and fourteen years for Petra.

They were felons.

Sentencing was in two weeks.

Looking through this new lens, Petra thought about the couple and their behavior.

Did today make any sense at all?

Criminals.

That was so unexpected that Petra didn’t know what to do with it other than to let Avery know to warn Holly away from any interaction.

Criminals.

Was that the explanation for the necklaces and the daughter’s anger? Why did she yank it off and throw it? Was she mad at her parents for going to prison?

Those thoughts took up so much space in Petra’s mind that when the nurse said, “Miss Armstrong?” Petra jumped and gripped her chest.

“Oh! Hahaha.” Petra grinned. “You surprised me. I was in Lala land.”

“The doctor says to take the medication until it’s finished. If you have any red striations or unusual symptoms, seek furthermedical help.” She held out a slip of paper with an old-fashioned prescription on it.

It had been a while since Petra had seen one of these, and she had to look at it for a moment.

“Are you okay?” the nurse asked.

“Fine. Tired. Going home to get cleaned up now. This can’t happen very often, there would be more supports in place.”

“Not necessarily. Supports in place is a funding issue,” the nurse said. “But I can tell you what I’ve heard on the news playing in the different treatment rooms. They’re saying that seismic activity just south of Puerto Rico caused rip currents and rogue waves throughout the Caribbean. Usually, when one island gets in trouble, the other islands rally. In this case, they’re stretched thin everywhere. Teams are spooling up to come from the Florida and some other of the East Coast National Guards. But can they get here in time to be of any real help?” She shrugged as she pulled her gloves off and put them in a biohazard bag. “At least it wasn’t a tsunami. Here on the island, there’s really nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. I mean, what do you do? Go to the highest point and cling to a tree?”

“I hope the evening goes smoothly for you all. Thank you.” Petra waved the paper in the air.

And the nurse headed back into the fray.

Petra turned to the window and saw a doctor talking to the Cerberus huddle.

Pulling the necklace from her pocket, Petra held it up.

It just felt dangerous.

It just felt like something needed to be said.

Beside her, the bathroom door slapped open, and a kid came running out.

Petra caught the door and slid into the single-toilet room. She locked the door, turned on the water, and without sending a warning text, Petra pressed the button to dial Rowan.

This was a matter for the FBI.

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