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“And you know some of his aliases?”
“There are several, and I’m sure I don’t know them all. John Smith. Nicholas Castle. Milo Sanchez. I can’t think of any more right now. I know I’m forgetting some of them.”
My blood ran cold. “You get a piece of paper, and you write all those names down. Got it?”
He stood, brushing off his scholarly tweed jacket. He walked into the kitchen, and I followed at his heels. He took a pad of paper and a pen out of a drawer and wrote.
“Do you know his birth date?”
“I don’t. Erica might know it. She’s his younger sister. Her full name is Erica Helene Mathias Cates.”
“Jonah”—Melanie touched my arm—“I really don’t want to bother her. She’s in a fragile mental state at the moment.”
I turned to her. What a wonderful woman. Even now, she was thinking of others, always helping people. After all she’d been through, she was still Melanie. A good soul.
“You’re lucky that Dr. Carmichael is so forgiving,” I said. “I, however, am not.” I took the piece of paper he handed me and handed it right back to him. “You forgot the name and number of Gina’s friend. The one who said she was in love with someone.”
“Oh.” He hurriedly wrote down another name and handed the paper back to me. “Marie Cooke, with an e.”
I took my wallet out of my back pocket. I folded the paper and placed it in my wallet, and then threw a couple thousand dollars in Franklins on the floor. “That should cover the damage to the door, and then some.” I turned to Melanie. “We don’t have any more use for this guy. Let’s go.”
Chapter Thirty–Two
Melanie
I wasn’t sure what to say to Jonah as we drove back to the ranch. He had arranged for us to have dinner with Jade and Talon at the main house. He wanted me to tell Talon what had happened to me. And he was right. It was time. None of it had been my fault, and I needed to talk about it. I knew as well as Jonah that sweeping something under the rug didn’t help at all.
Brooke’s nurse had taken her into Grand Junction overnight for physical and occupational therapy, so she wouldn’t be around. Marjorie was there though, which I didn’t mind.
Talon had given Felicia a few weeks off, with pay, to deal with the new developments. So Marjorie was the resident cook. She made a delicious dinner of shrimp scampi.
Ryan was noticeably absent. I was fine with that because he and I hardly knew each other.
“He’d like to be here,” Jade said, “but he’s got so much work at the vineyards.”
“It’s okay.”
After I told them my sob story, Talon went rigid.
“Besides Jade and Marj here, you’re the most important woman in my life, Doc. I’d like to strangle anyone who tries to harm you.”
“You have to get in line behind me, bro,” Jonah said.
“I’m fine. My ankle is almost all the way healed. I only had to wear the boot for a few days. And my hands.” I held them up. “I suppose there will be some scarring, but otherwise, they still work. I guess it’s a good thing I went into psychotherapy and not surgery.”
“This isn’t any time for joking, Doc,” Talon said.
“Honestly, I’m fine. I…don’t even know how to explain it, but after this experience, I’m looking at things through a different lens. I’m kind of stepping out of the box, you know?”
“Do you have any idea who could have done this to you?”
“We have a few ideas.” This was the part I was truly dreading—telling them all about Gina. I had already told Talon during one of our sessions that I had lost a patient to suicide, and I’d also told him I had made my peace with it, which had been a bold-faced lie.
But I was beginning to make my peace with it now. Before I did, though, I had to find out if she had actually committed suicide.
I teared
up a bit as I told them the story of Gina…including the letter.
