Mr. Burton asked, "Where did you get this ointment?”


    Ste Cameron hesitated for a moment before answering, "Keen gave it to me."


    Mr. Burton nodded. “I think Keen meant well. He must have been misled by someone."


    Ste looked at him, puzzled. "Why do you say that?"


    He exined, “This ointment is very carefully formted. The ingredients are the sort that only a highly skilled doctor could put together. There''s no way a mistake with the recipe would just happen by ident."


    Ste understood what he was implying.


    The extra ingredient in the ointment—it was probably added on purpose. And the reason? To make sure she''d be left with a scar.


    Keen O''Brien would never do something like this. The most likely person behind it... was Rachel Pearce. Mr. Burton continued, “Luckily, you haven''t been using it for too long. If you had, once the scar formed, it would be almost impossible to get rid of—except maybe with surgeryter.”


    "Thank you, Mr. Burton. I understand," Ste replied quietly.


    He said, “Don''t use this ointment anymore. I''ll make a proper one for you when I get back."


    He checked Ste''s hand again, then added, “I heard from young Abby Murphy that you''repeting next week. I promise you''ll be able to participate without a problem."


    A gentle warmth filled Ste''s chest.


    She personally walked Mr. Burton out to the hospital entrance. Watching his figure retreat into the evening, she hesitated, then called out, “Mr. Burton, whatever happened with Karl... it has nothing to do with me."


    She was actually a little afraid that Mr. Burton might misunderstand. Even though she and the Burtons didn''t always get along, Mr. Burton had never treated her unfairly—on the contrary, he''d helped her whenever he could.


    He just waved her worries off. “I know it wasn''t you. That''s not who you are—you''d never do something like that. As for Karl..."


    His expression was calm, almost indifferent. "I''ve been a doctor for a long time. I''ve seen enough life and death to know not to dwell on these things."


    Seeing that he truly wasn''t bothered, Ste finally rxed.


    She didn''t return to her room right away, but instead found a quiet corner in the hallway and called Keen. "Mom!" Keen''s voice was bright and surprised on the other end.


    "Did you have dinner yet?" she asked.


    "I already ate. Did you eat, Mom?"


    "I did.” She paused before continuing, “Keen, I called because I wanted to ask-where did you get that ointment you gave me?"


    "It wasn''t from a store," Keen replied. "Someone gave it to me."


    "Who gave it to you?"


    There was a moment of hesitation in his voice. "It was... it was Dad who gave it to me."


    He had already promised Mr.


    Richards not to say anything about the ointmenting from him Since Dad and Mr. Richards were good friends, maybe it was okay to just say it was Dad.


    Ste was silent for a long moment. Keen grew anxious.


    "Mom, does the ointment not work?"


    Ste didn''t want to drag her child into the adults'' mess. “No, it works very well.”


    It was true—the ointment was effective, not exactly poison. But Haynes O''Brien''s intentions were another matter entirely.


    After hanging up, Ste returned to her hospital room and told Abby what had happened.


    Abby''s first reaction was, "Was he trying to help Rachel?"


    Ste frowned. "Even if I end up with


    swel.ne


    a scar, it''s not that big a deal. It. doesn''t affect my ability. I just can''t figure out why he''d do this


    Abby thought for a moment. "Maybe Haynes wanted you to have a scar to mess up your looks-so other guys wouldn''t be interested in you?"