At age 51, Dr. Doretha Vaughn decides to advertise for a husband through Love on AOL. "Be careful," her daughter warns. "Don’t worry," Doretha responds, "I’m a pretty good judge of people." Soon she finds the love of her life. For eight years, Sam Cawley, a warm and kind man, treats her like a queen - filling her days and nights with laughter and affection while providing a caring refuge from the daily suffering and death she battles as an emergency physician. But on May 14, 2007, at Boston’s Logan Airport, a phone call from the Broward County Sheriff in Florida pulls the plug on Doretha’s life of happiness and security. She learns that Sam Cawley is really William Wallace, an escaped felon who has been on the lam for seventeen years and is now wanted in Florida on charges of identity theft and credit card fraud. "You may not want me in your life after this," Sam/William tells her. "I certainly wouldn’t blame you." What should an intelligent, accomplished, self-respecting woman do? The Fugitive’s Doctor, a novel by Deirdre-Elizabeth Parker, reveals a surprising, provocative, and ultimately poignant answer. Instead of racing home, dumping all her husband’s belongings on the driveway, and running over them in her Mountaineer, she declares her unwavering commitment to the man who has been living a lie. Far from withdrawing in anger and bitterness as the "victim" the authorities label her, she becomes her husband’s most powerful ally in navigating a tangled web of legal nightmare