“Did you like Seattle?”I asked.I made it as light as I knew how.“I’m not sure I could handle that much rain.”
“No,” he said.“I didn’t like it.”
He looked at his watch.“Let me know how it goes at the clinic.”
I resisted the urge to sigh and roll my eyes.But I’d remember this bit of information and file it with the other bits I’d managed to gather over the last weeks.
“Come on, Chowder,” I said, and he hopped off the chair and stretched and made some very ungentlemanly sounds.
Dash walked me to the door, and at the threshold he caught my wrist, light, his thumb against my pulse for one short second.
“Be careful out there today.”
“We’re always careful.”
Chowder barked and looked at me accusingly, and then he trotted down the hall without me.
“Smart dog,” he said.
“Don’t call him a dog,” I whispered.“He has no idea.”
CHAPTERFIVE
Henry’sold practice on Broad Street had been updated over the past twenty-five years.It was a coastal blue with white shutters and trim.A wide front porch filled with white rocking chairs gave patients who didn’t want to sit in a waiting room with the contagious a chance to get fresh air.A discreet sign by the front door readDR.ELIAS WHARTON, FAMILY MEDICINE.
I parked across the street but left the engine running and the air on full blast.Chowder had his face pressed to the window leaving a fog of hot breath.
The place looked well tended.The lawn was cut.I tried to picture Henry coming up the walkway, briefcase in one hand, coffee in the other, ducking the low branch of the live oak by the gate.
I pulled out my phone and dialed.
Walt picked up on the second ring.
“Mabel,” he said.“I’ve just finished making copies at the library.Everyone will have the intel shortly, and I’ll leave the originals behind the landscaping rock in your back garden.There are spies everywhere.”
“I appreciate it,” I told him.“I need to see if you remember a name.”
“I never forget a name.”
“Do you remember Dr.Wainwright’s nurse?The one who worked for him at the time of his death.”
“Of course I remember her.Jackie Henshaw was her name then.I’m not sure if she ever married.The clinic only lasted about a year after Henry died.If that long.I’m not sure if she stayed on the island.She was a pretty young thing right out of school.Very friendly.You looking her up?”
“That’s the plan,” I said.“I want to get to know Henry and figured she’d be a good place to start.Nurses know things, don’t they?”
“In my experiences, nurses know most things,” he confirmed.“Tell her hello if you find her.She was a sweet girl.”
“Thanks, Walt.”
“My pleasure.”
I hung up smiling, and then called Dash.
“Miss me already?”he asked when he answered.
“Of course.”
There was a few seconds’ silence and then he laughed.“And I can assume you’re calling for another reason too?”
