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“Of course. There’s no reason why you can’t have a little something to eat.”
“Great. Thanks.”
The nurse entered. “Here you are, Doctor.” She handed me an apple juice box, the straw already inserted.
I took it quickly and sucked down some of the cool juice.
“Betsy, can we find Dr. Carmichael something to eat?” Dr. Hernandez said.
She turned, looking at him with stars in her eyes. “Of course. Right away.” She giggled and left the room.
Crushing on the doctor. I was too tired even to smile.
Dr. Hernandez was busy writing some notes in my chart. “Is there anyone we should contact? Are you married? Live with someone?”
He didn’t ask if I was in love with someone. Of course he wouldn’t. But I was. I was in love with Jonah Steel, and I might have lost him forever because I’d sneaked out of his home.
I shook my head. “No. And I’ve taken a leave of absence from my practice, so no one will be missing me.”
Had Jonah missed me? He hadn’t answered my call when I’d tried desperately to contact him while the intruder was in my loft. I had no idea if he even cared. And because I hadn’t memorized his phone number, I couldn’t get in touch with him.
“Things are looking good here.” Dr. Hernandez put down my chart and turned. “Oh, and here’s the police officer to speak to you.” He looked at the woman in blue. “Not too long, okay? Dr. Carmichael needs her rest.”
“For sure,” the officer said.
My memory was fuzzy, but this definitely wasn’t the officer who’d stopped me on the highway, since she was a woman. She was uniformed, her black hair pulled back in a severe bun from a pretty, although non-made-up, face.
She sat down in the chair next to my bed. “Dr. Carmichael, I’m Officer Ruby Lee. I just need to ask some questions about what happened to you.”
“All right. I’ll do the best I can.”
“That’s all I ask. If you start to get too tired, just let me know, and we’ll continue another time.”
I nodded.
“All right, just start from the beginning.”
“I was in my loft, in the shower, on Tuesday, when I heard some scuffling. I got out of the shower, but left it running, and grabbed my purse on my dresser and ran to my closet. I tried to dial 9-1-1, but I got a busy signal. Twice. Why did that happen? Someone is supposed to be there to help in emergencies.”
Officer Lee nodded. “I sympathize. It does happen sometimes, however.”
“I have no way of knowing whether help would have gotten to me in time anyway, but it would’ve been nice to know someone was trying to help. No one knew what was going on.”
“Someone did. Your call was logged, and the police went to your apartment. They recovered your purse and your phone, and there was evidence of forced entry.”
I heaved a sigh of relief. “So you know I’m telling the truth.”
She smiled. “Of course we know you’re telling the truth. The officer who stopped you was being a little bit of a vigilante, and trust me, he’ll hear from his superiors.”
I closed my eyes and breathed in.
“The car you were driving was reported stolen by a Dr. Rodney Cates.”
“That doesn’t surprise me. But don’t let that fool you. I’m pretty sure Dr. Cates was behind this attack.”
“Why would you say that?”
God, I didn’t want to go through the awful facts again, but I had to tell the truth to the police. “His daughter was a patient of mine. She ended up committing suicide, and Dr. Cates blames me for it, even though a practicing psychotherapist and an attorney reviewed my file and concluded that there was nothing in my notes to indicate she was suicidal.”
