Chapter 1

1

“Damn it!” Balancing a box of folders her boss had given her, Meredith didn’t see the shoes she’d left just inside the door to her apartment and she tripped, stubbing her toe on the edge of the bookcase as she entered. She kicked the shoes out of the way with the foot that wasn’t throbbing, and as she flipped on a light, looked around the apartment for a place to set down the box. Every surface had something on it, even the chairs, so she just let it drop to the floor. She’d deal with it later.

That seemed to be her mantra lately. Deal with it later. And it showed. The jacket she’d worn two weekends ago was still draped over a kitchen chair. Unread mail littered the table. Her coffee cup from this morning sat next to the computer on the desk, a wet ring marring the wood surface beneath it. Picking it up and walking into the kitchen, she shook her head at the sink full of dirty dishes.

Tears stung her eyes. What a crappy day it had been! Meredith had never been called into the head nurse’s office before and talked to as though she were a naughty child. It’s not like somebody had died because of a mistake she’d made. So maybe her charting wasn’t as neat or thorough as it used to be. And she forgot to order some supplies last week and they’d had to borrow from another unit. Big deal. Others slacked off all the time. But was Meredith allowed to be human once in awhile? No, of course not. She was supposed to be perfect. Everyone depended on her.

God, she was sick of being the one who always agreed to extra shifts when they were shorthanded. After all, she didn’t have kids or anyone needing her at home. But even that wasn’t enough, was it? No, in order to get back in her boss’s good graces, she didn’t dare object when Stacie handed her those file folders to update. Why were employee records not kept online anyway? Was she supposed to be honored that she was trusted to ensure everyone’s competencies were current? Ha. Who was she kidding? She lived for any chance to feel important. Needed.

But at that moment, all Meredith wanted to do was sit and relax for two minutes. She made an iced coffee and plopped down in front of the computer.

“Now who’s trying to friend me?” She had only logged onto Facebook to see the silly video one of her coworkers posted from the birthday party at work yesterday—no matter that no one had remembered her own birthday just last week—when up popped the request. The name didn’t immediately ring a bell. It was probably just someone she’d said a random hello to. Unlike some people, Meredith didn’t care that her “friend” list was barely into double digits. Who had five hundred real friends, anyway? She’d be happy if the dozen or so on her list were actually people who were there for her.

The little hand icon hovered over the “delete” option. Okay, maybe if she weren’t so fussy she wouldhave more actual friends. But Meredith hardly ever went on Facebook anymore, what with visiting her dad every day. There was never enough time. It was a rare Saturday that she actually had a few hours free, but since her dad was going on a field trip in the morning with some of the other nursing home residents, she didn’t have to get up early and could stay up later than usual. She wasn’t certain he always knew she was there, but the nurses said he seemed agitated if she didn’t show up or was so much as five minutes later than usual.

Meredith stared at the name for a few more seconds. It was vaguely familiar, which shouldn’t be a surprise given she had known about ten Jennifers over the years.Maybe she should just click on the name out of curiosity. Surely no one was actually looking for her specifically. They were probably trying to find somebody else and thought she could help.

Sitting there aimlessly pondering was wasting valuable time, anyway. Her left rear tire kept losing air and she really should get it checked, but she was so tired and this was hardly the time to spend hundreds on new tires, no matter how old they were. Meredith had missed so much work since her dad was diagnosed with dementia. Neighbors had found him wandering the streets in his underwear and a baseball cap last summer. She’d really hoped things would progress more slowly, but unfortunately that wasn’t the case.

“Meredith Tanner? We have your dad here…” The Crystal City police department probably had her number on speed dial. She finally had been left with no choice but to relent and put him in a home where he would be supervised 24/7.