Page 43 of Wyoming Homecoming


Font Size:  

“Deborah, sure, but that’s not the last name she gave me. It was Stern. The other doctor was Craig Stern.” Beside him, Cody’s whole body tensed. That had been the doctor at Debby’s funeral. “She wore a wedding band, so I assumed they were married,” he continued as they walked, unaware of the shock on the other man’s face. “Good tenants, too. Always paid on time, never messed up the apartment. She died of some virus or other. Her husband went stark-staring mad, they had to take him to the hospital and sedate him. He moved out about a week later. Never saw anybody take a death that hard. Poor guy.”

Cody was feeling sick to his stomach. His life, his memories, were crashing around his head.

The manager unlocked the door. “It’s fully furnished,” he said, leading Cody inside. “Just the way it was left when the doctor died. The other doctor didn’t want anything here, and left it for the next tenant. Well, he did take his dog when he left, a furry little dog named Muttsy. Cute dog. He loved it. The other doctor just tolerated it.” He chuckled. “Isn’t that the way of things? I guess maybe she was jealous of the attention the doctor gave the dog.”

“I guess so,” Cody said in a haunted tone, because he remembered what Debby had said as she was dying, tell Honeybear to take care of Muttsy.

“Well, look around all you like,” the manager said. “Come get me when you’re done and I’ll lock up again.” He paused. “You knew the doctors?”

“Not really,” Cody said dully, and it was true. “The woman doctor lived in my town in Wyoming briefly. I’m here on an unrelated case.”

“Oh. I see. Well, I’ll be around.”

He went out and closed the door. Cody wandered through the rooms. The furniture was modern and the only picture in the room was a big still life over the mantel place. He walked through the kitchen, which looked as if it had never been used. Then he looked into the bedrooms. One was big, very big, and one was small. They looked like guest rooms in the motel he was staying in. He didn’t linger.

He’d grieved for his late wife for years. Now, he was told that she was living with another man and pretending to be married to him. Why not divorce Cody and marry the other doctor for real? He had no answer to that.

Perhaps there was a reason the other doctor couldn’t marry Debby. His lips thinned as he considered it. What if the other doctor was married, too, and Debby’s long-distance marriage to Cody gave their relationship at work respectability, and freedom from any suspicion that they were running around with each other.

Cody remembered painfully what the manager had just told him, that the couple was apparently married, but only the woman stayed there full-time. The other doctor, apparently her husband, was only around rarely. It made sense. Cody was furious. He hated Craig Stern with a passion. He wanted to hunt the man down and do him an injury. Two years Cody had spent in Carne County, Wyoming, married to a woman who was an absentee wife, who didn’t want him to visit her in Denver, who rarely ever came home. He’d spent those years passionately in love, so infatuated that he’d have done anything to keep her. And for years she’d lived a lie, in the arms of another man, pretending to be his legal wife.

He didn’t plan to go to the hospital, but his feet led him there. He went to the information desk and asked for Dr. Craig Stern. The receptionist smiled and asked if he was an acquaintance. Yes, Cody replied, the man was a good friend of his late wife. He was in town and wanted to pay his respects.

The doctor was in his office, just across from the hospital in a smaller building. She gave Cody the room number.

Cody went to the office, spoke to the receptionist. And a minute later, Cody was taken back to see Dr. Stern.

It was a shock. The doctor actually went pale. They recognized each other from Debby’s funeral.

Cody was enraged and had to control it. “My wife called you Honeybear, I believe?” Cody asked coldly, taking the fight into the enemy camp at once.

Dr. Stern took a long breath and sat down behind his desk. “Yes,” he said heavily. He looked at Cody with sad eyes. “I’m married. She drinks like a fish and hates my work and most of the time, she’s off traveling with a few of her friends. I tried to divorce her and she pitched a fit and threatened to accuse me of perversion so that she could make sure I never saw my daughter again.” He looked up, his face a study in torment. “I wanted Debby to ask you for a divorce, but she said her marriage made it look as if we were both tied to other people, so we wouldn’t be gossiped about. I loved her more than my life. She loved me as well. I’m so sorry,” he added finally. “It wasn’t the way I wanted things to happen. But we were both tied, in our own ways, and you were collateral damage.”

“She never loved me,” Cody said, finally realizing the truth.

“She was fond of you, and she hated deceiving you,” Stern replied quietly. “I was her mentor in neurology. She was absolutely brilliant. She had a great future ahead of her.” He leaned back in his chair. “My life ended when she died. I love my job. It’s the only thing that keeps me from jumping off the roof of some tall building.”

“I didn’t know any of this,” Cody said, ice in his tone. “I never dreamed that she was unfaithful, that she was leading a double life. I loved her more than anything in this world. She left me a puppy...”

“Yes, the husky,” the doctor said, his eyes dull with memory. “She was meant for me, a last gift, but the nurse got the message wrong and gave her to you instead. She was to be company for Muttsy.” He glanced at Cody’s taut face. “I love dogs. She didn’t like animals, but she tolerated the dog when I went to see her.” He grimaced. “My wife hates dogs. She hates me, too.”

Cody was too unsettled to feel sorry for the other man. He was still reeling with what he’d learned about his perfect marriage.

The doctor saw that. “Are you staying for a couple of days?”

“Yes,” Cody bit off. “I’m investigating a murder that may tie in to a criminal case I’m working in Wyoming.”

The doctor nodded. “Go back to your motel room, have a stiff drink, and go to bed for a few hours. You’ve had a shock. I’m very sorry for my part in it, but I couldn’t have helped what happened. I loved Debby, too, you see. I loved her more than my own life.” He choked up and looked away.

Cody was fighting through betrayal, shock, anger and half a dozen less traumatic emotions. He remembered the doctor almost collapsing at Debby’s funeral. He remembered what he’d been told, that they’d had to sedate the doctor and hospitalize him when Debby died because he was so devastated.

“I guess we were both victims,” Cody said aloud after a minute.

The doctor nodded.

Cody took a deep breath, nodded, and left the office. He walked and walked, until he was too tired to do anything else. He went back to the restaurant near his motel, ordered a stiff drink at the bar and drank it. He went back to his motel room and collapsed on the bed.

WHENHEWOKEUP, there were two messages on his cell phone. One was from Miss Henry, asking him to phone her when he had time. The other was a text message from Abby. It simply said,Are you okay? We’re all worried about you. Take care of yourself.

Source: www.allfreenovel.com
Articles you may like