Chapter 11

The manse's front door stood open when they arrived, a doctor's car already parked at an angle in the small gravel drive that told Petra exactly how urgently this morning had already unfolded before their arrival. Stepping quickly inside behind the housekeeper's anxious greeting, she knew that whatever conversation remained possible with Reverend Ansell needed to happen, if it happened at all, faster than either she or Melissa had prepared for.