Healing Sands by Stephen Arterburn, Nancy Rue

are influential in the social justice circle here in Las Cruces,” she said.
    â€œSo—what is it he wants?”
    â€œFrom what I can tell, he just wants a case he can use to prove that the mental health care of Hispanics is inadequate for their special needs.”
    Sully refolded his legs and took another swig. Martha waited.
    â€œWell,” he said. “We could post a comment on his blog, explaining that at Healing Choice we show our clients that God loves them and can lead them to healing whether they are white, black, brown, or blue. Or we can refuse to dignify it with a response, and he’ll find somebody else to pick on. What say you?”
    She cleared her throat. “I suppose we should go for the latter.”
    â€œI like the way you think. Ignore Bobby,” he said into the recorder, then turned to Martha. “Anything else?”
    Martha glanced needlessly at her list again. “Carla Korman.”
    â€œI’m still not sure I understand what gives with that. I’ve read the file, but it doesn’t fit together somehow. You want to try to unmuddle it for me?”
    â€œI don’t even know if I understand it,” she said.
    â€œGive it your best shot.”
    â€œShe had been working here as a therapist for two years when I came on board, and as far as I could tell, her clients thought highly of her.”
    â€œExcept for Bobby Benitez’s neice.”
    â€œBut he never filed a complaint. There were none until that flurry about two months ago. All of a sudden, four different people came out of nowhere saying she gave them counsel that led to this or that disaster. All of them complained to the Healing Choice head office— they’re the ones who removed her.”
    â€œThat happened while I was out of the loop,” Sully said. “Rusty Huff was handling things then—and I don’t think he would have let her go without the juice to back it up.” He tilted his head at Martha. “What’s your take on it?”
    â€œShe was completely devastated, and I can’t say I blame her. It just seemed to happen so suddenly.”
    Sully nodded and muttered, “Talk to Rusty about Carla Korman,” into the recorder. “So what’s the situation at this point?”
    â€œThe PCMFT board is trying to decide whether to completely revoke her license. They want us to fill out some paperwork. You’re familiar with them, of course.”
    Sully nodded. He knew the Professional Counselors and Marriage and Family Therapists all too well. Part of his reason for being in Las Cruces, besides getting this particular clinic off of its ear, was to investigate the possibility of getting someone else’s license revoked by that same board. Until he’d found out she didn’t have one. He drained the Frap bottle. Just thinking about it made him want to bite the top off of it.
    Martha was still giving him the curious version of her smile. “How would you like for me to proceed, Dr. Crisp?”
    â€œWhy don’t you follow up on the complainants if you will, see if you can get to the bottom of this. If Carla was struggling with something herself, I’d rather see her get help than the boot.”
    â€œI’ll get on it.”
    â€œHave Olivia help you. You already have a double client load until we can hire someone to replace Carla.”
    â€œThat’s okay. Olivia is . . . I can handle it.”
    Sully felt a grin spread across his face. “Issues with our Olivia?” Martha glanced at the open French door. Sully nudged it closed with his foot.
    â€œDish,” he said.
    â€œI don’t mind the chitchat and the burned popcorn in the microwave,” Martha said.
    She did, of course, but Sully just nodded her on.
    â€œBut I caught her in a lie, and I don’t think we can have that.”
    â€œSeriously.”
    â€œI waited a half hour for a client yesterday, and when I went out to check