Page 93 of The Doctor

I think it was Cosimo.

“And now”—the old man said, turning his gun on me—“you’ve gone missing too.”

That was the last thing I heard before the lights went out.

32

Clara

I hated this. I hated every single moment of this. Being locked away in Jet’s apartment, unable to get out there to help bring down the man who tried to kill Paulo, was eating at me from the inside out.

It was almost as bad as knowing no one believed me.

Not a single person there in that hospital waiting room believed a damn word I’d said.

Cosimo did it. I was sure of it. Just as I was sure he was behind Benito’s murder thirty-some years ago.

All the notes I’d written on the back of my chart were ruined, covered in Paulo’s blood and torn to shreds. And my mind would never allow me to focus long enough to put it all back together.

Not like this.

“Stop it!” I pulled at my hair and tears pooled at the corners of my eyes. The tears weren’t for the pain, though. They weren’t for the heartache of not being believed.

The tears were because I couldn’t get my mind to shut off. To shut up. To shut down.

“Stop it, stop it, stop it!”

“Clara? Are you alright?”

It felt like a million different bouncy balls were buzzing around my head, each one telling me something different, each one telling me what to do. I couldn’t focus, I couldn’t concentrate, I couldn’t…

I just couldn’t.

“Clara?”

I jerked away from the hand that landed on my arm, spinning in a circle, ready to fight off whoever it was in a way I couldn’t fight off the monster in my brain. Even at the sight of my friend’s face, I couldn’t turn it off.

Turn it off.

“Mic? What are you doing here?”

He smiled, but it wasn’t the handsome, wide smile I was used to. I was used to this smile, too, just not from him.

Tight at the corners, lips thinned as they pursed together, this smile was one in a long line of smiles that screamed I don’t believe you.

Quit telling lies, Clara.

Quit being so difficult.

Quit interrupting. Quit spacing out. Quit—

“Clara? Are you okay?”

“When did you get here?” My heart thudded hard in my chest, and I felt the need to tear my skin from my body.

“Mario dropped me off a half hour ago.” Mic looked at me like I’d gone insane, and quite frankly, I wasn’t sure he was wrong.

“Mario’s here?”