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His questions only made the men laugh harder. One of them wiped tears from his eyes, he was laughing so hard.
Dr. Fein fought pain and confusion to make sense of the insane situation. They must have followed Lila. How else would they have found him?
“You have your money,” Dr. Fein said. “What more do you want? And where’s Lila?”
The men stopped laughing and merely looked at him. The short, stout one frowned. In fact, he started to look angry. The taller man just stared at him with faint disgust, as one might at a maggot.
No one spoke. Dr. Fein’s chest heaved with the effort of breathing. He tried to scramble to his feet, but it was difficult facing uphill and with his hands tied. Dr. Fein braced himself against the boulder and tried to inch his way up, only to have the tall man saunter over and, with a sideways kick, sweep his feet out from under him, letting him land on his ass with a jarring thump.
Dr. Fein could feel his face redden with rage and frustration. His breathing was labored now, his head felt ready to explode. He sat gasping in the dirt, the tall man towering over him. Looking up, Dr. Fein wailed in anguish, “What is it? What the hell do you want?”
A moment of nothing but Dr. Fein’s breathing followed. Then the shorter man said, “It’s not what we want.”
More footsteps. Dr. Fein’s guts twisted with anxiety. The briefcase hit the ground a few feet from him. He turned to see who had thrown it and couldn’t believe his eyes.
It was Jenny Mahoney.
Dr. Fein shook his head, as if to clear his vision. He was hallucinating. That crack on the head must have done it. Or maybe the men had drugged him. But he looked again, and there was no denying it. She looked a little thinner, but the wavy, blonde hair, the green eyes, even a peasant blouse he recognized. Jenny Mahoney was standing right there, her arms crossed, her lips curved in a sli
ght, triumphant smile.
“Jenny?” Dr. Fein croaked. “I thought you were dead.”
In response she walked up and kicked him squarely in the groin.
The pain was so intense, it took Dr. Fein’s breath away. He doubled over choking, then threw up the remains of his lunch.
As he tried to recover his wind, Jenny crouched beside him, placing her lips to his ear so they brushed against it as she whispered, “You goddamned bastard. You killed me. You made me feel worthless. You killed me.”
Dr. Fein spat bile from his mouth. “What are you talking about?” He stared at Jenny. “Where’s Lila?”
Jenny rose and looked down at him with scorn. “Don’t worry. We’ve taken care of her.”
“What do you mean? Where is she? What do you want?”
“An apology,” she said.
“Huh?”
“I want to hear you apologize for killing me.”
This is insane, he thought. “How can I apologize for killing you when you’re clearly not dead?”
“Would you believe that I’ve come back from the dead to haunt you?” Jenny threw her head back and laughed.
“How stupid can you be, old man?” The tall fellow spoke. “Obviously she’s not Jenny.”
“Ohhhhh.” Jenny—or the woman who claimed to be Jenny—shot him a look to match her protracted moan. “And I was having so much fun, fucking with his head.” She put a hand on her hip and looked at Dr. Fein. “No, I’m not Jenny. I’m her sister. And I was in the SUV that night you were peeping into your own patient’s bedroom.”
“We followed you there that night,” the shorter man said. “We’d been following you for a while. And our girl here was in the SUV, telling us what you were up to, lurking outside the window like a perv. Naughty, naughty, doctor.”
My God, Dr. Fein thought. Jenny had mentioned a sister, close to her age. He could see now that, though similar in appearance, the girl was definitely thinner, her features slightly different. The eyebrows a bit darker—she must have highlighted her hair to match Jenny’s. In any case, he finally had a rational explanation. And an enraged relative to placate.
“Is this blackmail?” he said, thinking of how photos of his escapades outside Lila’s house could ruin him. “You have my money. What more do you want?”
“I told you, doctor.” The woman fixed a cool gaze on him. “I want an apology for what you did to my sister.”
“Okay, I’m sorry,” he blurted. “I’m really, really sorry. I should have paid more attention to Jenny. I should have been more responsive to her needs.”
