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I nodded. That filled in some blanks.

“So, your son-of-a-bitch father took you?”

I nodded.

“He hurt you?” The doctor gave me a piercing look.

“Nothing I couldn’t handle.”

I heard Marlowe gasp. “The bastard hurt you.” The doctor made it a statement. A statement I couldn’t dispute. “He was worse than a son-of-a-bitch. He was evil. Left town before he could be arrested after what he did to your brother. I assume because you’re calling yourself Kai Davies that you didn’t know about that.”

I shook my head. “Only reason I’m here is that I found a photo of Beau and me when we were maybe three years old in the front yard of our house. The one with the red porch swing. On the back of the photo, it said Brady and Grady, Jasper Creek.”

“If he was calling you Kai Davies, what was he calling himself?”

“Ronald Davies,” I answered.

“Hmmm. I expect the statute of limitations is done for kidnapping you, then again, maybe not.” Again, he rubbed the top of his head. “We’ll have to call Nash.”

Now I wanted to scrub the top of my head. The last thing I wanted to do was file charges against Ronald/Arthur. I wanted him in my rearview mirror, and I wanted to stay here long enough to meet my brother, which might take more than a minute.

“Eh-hum, you both have forgotten what’s important. Sam is who we were talking about.” Lettie looked over at me. “When can you start working with Sam? He gets off at seven o’clock.”

“I’m thinking since I’m a stranger, somebody better talk to him about me first, don’t ya think?” I worked hard to keep the sarcasm out of my voice, but from the way Lettie rolled her eyes and Doc laughed, apparently I didn’t succeed.

“He’s got you there, Lettie,” the Doc laughed.

“All right. Leave your number at the checkout stand when you leave. I’ll call you tomorrow on how to get to Sam’s house.”

I just nodded. She was a steamroller, and I knew I was hired. Not that I was going to get any money, and not that I cared. Uncle Sam was giving me disability pay, and I’d never been a big spender so I had a nice nest egg that I still needed to figure out what to do with.

“Now the rest of you lot, get to your seats, your food is getting cold.”

“So, does that mean Missy and I can take some food over to Sam’s?”

Lettie slammed her fists on her hips and looked up at Harvey. “No. Weren’t you listening, you big lug? He needs to be feeling better about himself before he can take anybody knowing that anything went wrong. Let Kai here do his magic. Get back to your seat.”

I watched as Harvey and Doc went back to their seats then turned my attention to Lettie.

“I’m not sure what I’m actually going to be able to do,” I objected.

Lettie glanced over at me. “I know your type. Always hiding your light under a bushel. If you said you know something about physical therapy, that means you could probably hang out a shingle.”

Marlowe laughed.

“See, even Marlowe agrees with me, and it’s only your first date.”

“How do you know everything?”

“It’s the way it is around here. Get used to it.” She turned to Marlowe and smiled. “So, do you want the fried chicken and waffles?”

Marlowe had the widest smile on her face that I’d ever seen. Man, she was pretty.

“Lettie, you sold me. I’d love that.”

“What about you, Kai?”

“Surprise me.”