Sidney climbed the steps to the porch of Hope House, the women’s shelter where she worked, and wondered why she suddenly felt so tired. Why did sitting in a hospital doing nothing more than waiting on word that a loved one would be okay always zap the energy from your body?
She entered the shelter and headed straight back to the office.
“Sidney, what happened at the hospital? How’s your friend?”
Zoe sounded genuinely concerned, and Sidney appreciated her boss’ high sense of compassion.
“He’s going to be okay.” She flopped down in her desk chair. “The bullet went right through him and didn’t hit anything vital. The doctor called it a small miracle.”
“Oh, that’s wonderful news! And Isaac is safe?”
“Yes. He wasn’t hurt.”
“Thank goodness. I’m so relieved.”
“Me too. Although, I am a little worried about Jada though. She and Pete are getting married next weekend and I think this shooting has really rattled her. Maybe to the point of backing out of the marriage.”
“Oh, no. Why?”
“Well, she lost her first husband to a dangerous job. He was an Army Ranger.”
“That’s like the equivalent of a Navy Seal, isn’t it?”
Sidney nodded, but she could feel the frown at her brow. “Some type of Special Forces, yes.”
“Oh, the poor thing. And now her police detective fiancé has been shot. That’s enough to rattle any woman.”
Sidney thought about that. “I suppose it is.”
“Well, I hope they work it out.”
“Yeah, me too.” She thought about Jada and wondered if maybe she should call her later to see if she wanted to talk about things.
“Listen, I hate to change the subject, but we really need to talk about how we’re going to proceed now that we can’t obtain false papers from your contact anymore.”
Sidney set aside worries for her friend and looked at Zoe. Her boss was right.
Their side hustle of helping women get away from their abusive partners in extreme cases was currently on hold. It had been since a few of Isaac’s detective colleagues let him know that they were aware of Hope House’s illegal activity. Something that they couldn’t let slide, even if they quietly agreed with the good cause behind the actions.
“We’ve been lucky that we haven’t had any requests lately,” Zoe continued. “But we need to have a system in place before one presents itself.”
Sidney let go of a long sigh. “I know. And I’ve been trying to come up with something, but I’m out of ideas. What we need is a way to obtain false papers without the possibility of implicating ourselves or Hope House in the process.”
They were both silent for a moment, thinking.
“Well, what about your forger friend? What was his name?” Zoe asked.
“Ronan O’Dwyer.”
“Maybe he might have some clever suggestions. I mean, this is his business.”
Sidney shook her head. “I don’t know, Zoe. I mean, I like the idea of asking for Ronan’s input, but I absolutely won’t do anything illegal again. I promised Ike.”
Isaac had been great about it. Mainly because he felt partially responsible since he was the one who had given her Ronan’s information in the first place.
“I understand that,” Zoe said. “And you could tell this Ronan person that too.”
“Well, he’s not going to help us for nothing, Zoe. I mean, why would he give us any suggestions if we’re not paying him?”
Zoe shrugged her shoulders. “So let’s pay him.”
Sidney stared at her. “What?”
“Let’s pay him for his time and his ideas. Like a consultant. We need solutions, and he’s an expert.”
Sidney studied the woman who’d become her friend as well as her boss. “You’re serious?”
“Why not?” Zoe sounded excited by the prospect. “Museums sometimes hire former art thieves as consultants to help them beef up their security. Why can’t we hire a document forger to help us come up with a way to do this through legal channels?”
Sidney said nothing for a moment. Then she smiled. “That’s ingenious.”