A Woman with a Mystery

by B. J Daniels

  The doctor’s office was large but filled. The huge desk had long disappeared beneath an avalanche of papers and books. He had begun to stack books on the floor around his desk like a wall.

  Slade watched him close the door behind them, then rush to uncover two chairs for them. “I usually don’t use my office for therapy sessions, as Holly knows,” he said by way of explanation to Slade.

  “I have been concerned about you,” he said to Holly when they were all seated. “I heard about your recent loss. I’m so sorry.”

  Slade found himself listening to the doctor’s words and watching Holly’s reaction. If she’d been hypnotized, hadn’t Charley said that a catchword or phrase could be used to control her? But to his relief Holly seemed to have no reaction to Dr. Parris or his words other than gratitude.

  “Thank you,” she said and looked over at Slade.

  “That’s partly why we’re here,” Slade said, introducing himself as a private investigator. The doctor seemed a little surprised but not overly. “Holly has been experiencing some memory loss. I’m looking into the missing parts for her.”

  Dr. Parris swung his gaze to her. “You mentioned that before when you were here.”

  “That’s just it,” Holly said. “When Inez told me about the sessions she sat in on with you and me where—”

  “Inez?” Dr. Parris interrupted, frowning. “She never sat in on any sessions with the two of us.”

  Holly stared at the doctor. “Are you sure?”

  “Holly,” he said, concern in his voice, in his expression. “You and I never had any sessions with Inez in attendance.”

  Slade watched her let out a long breath before she looked over at him, relief in her gaze and something more. Anger and an even stronger determination.

  Not wanting Parris to know just how important that information was, Slade jumped in, “Did you ever hypnotize Holly during any of her sessions with you?”

  Parris frowned. “No.”

  “Or prescribe Xanax?”

  The doctor shook his head, his frown deepening.

  “How about Halcion?”

  “Halcion?” Parris said, sounding shocked. “Of course not. That’s a hypnotic. Very dangerous.”

  “So no doctor you know here at the Institute uses Halcion in conjunction with hypnosis?”

  The doctor looked horrified. “Perhaps you should tell me what this is about.”

  Slade looked at Holly, unsure how much they wanted to confide in Dr. Parris. “Were you aware Holly was taking Halcion?”

  The doctor shook his head. “Not while she was an inpatient here.”

  “How can you be so sure?” Holly asked.

  “Because it would have shown up in your blood work,” Parris said.

  Slade rubbed his eyes. “What about a nurse named Carolyn Gray? I understand she just started to work here?”

  Parris shook his head. “We have made no new hires.”

  Another dead end. But why did someone want Carolyn Gray’s check to come here? “When was Holly released from the Institute?” he asked, remembering the commitment papers.

  “I’m afraid she wasn’t,” Parris said. “It was a most unfortunate incident. We aren’t used to losing patients around here.”

  Slade glanced at Holly. She looked as confused as he did. “What incident was that?”

  “Holly leaving the way she did,” the doctor said. He glanced at each of them and frowned. “She just took off one afternoon during a huge snowstorm.”

  “Christmas Eve,” Holly said.

  “Yes, that’s right, Christmas Eve,” Dr. Parris agreed and shook his head. “Fortunately, your sister-in-law called to say you were safe, and we didn’t need to continue looking for you.”

  Slade felt his heart drop like a stone.

  “Inez called you?” Holly said, her voice cracking. “When was that?”

  “That afternoon just before we were going to start a full-scale search,” the doctor said.

  Inez had stopped the search. Because she didn’t want Holly found in the state she was in? Or because Inez knew that Holly was with Slade—as per plan?

  Slade raked a hand through his hair, fighting every instinct in him that told him to get the hell out of this place as fast as possible. When Holly had run in front of his pickup on Christmas Eve a year ago, convinced someone was trying to kill her, she’d been running from this place, it seemed. And at the same time, Inez Wellington was calling Evergreen Institute to say that Holly was safe.

  “What exactly is it the Institute does?” Slade asked, surprised that his voice sounded calm, in control, when he was more convinced than ever that something had happened to Holly here, something that had frightened her and made her leave on Christmas Eve in a blizzard, something that had her believing that someone was trying to kill her. And Slade no longer believed it was all in her mind.

  “What goes on here?” Dr. Parris parroted as if he thought everyone knew. “Well, originally Dr. Wellington opened it to continue his research in infertility. After his death, it became more of a medical retreat. We now specialize in the needs of today’s clients.”

  Clients, not patients. People with money, Slade thought. It would take a lot of money to run a place like this.

  “Our clients often need a quiet, out-of-the-way sanctuary where they can relax and work on health-related issues such as weight loss, better nutrition, stress management, smoking cessation, insomnia, drug and alcohol addiction. These are stressful times wrought with social problems. Sometimes, as in Holly’s case,” the doctor smiled over at her, “our clients just need a place to rest.”

  It sounded so benign. “Kind of like a health club where you can decide if you want to work on your abs or your fear of heights.”

  Dr. Parris smiled as if relieved. “Exactly.” No mind control here, his smile said.

  “What about Inez Wellington?”

  Parris looked confused.

  “How is she involved with the Institute?”

  “She isn’t.”

  “Even when her brother ran the place?” Slade asked, not believing it.

  “Not even then, that I was aware of,” Parris said, seeming actually to believe it.

  Slade didn’t, not for a moment. Inez had some power either over the place or at least over one of the doctors—in particular Dr. O’Brien, the impatient man who’d been at her gate yesterday afternoon.

  “Well, thank you for your help,” Slade said, getting to his feet, relieved to be leaving.

  “I’m not sure what help I’ve been, Mr. Rawlins,” the doctor said as he got up to see them out. “Rawlins?” he said thoughtfully as he shook Slade’s hand. “Marcella Rawlins?”

  Slade felt himself tense. “She was my mother.”

  Dr. Parris nodded. “I thought so. A fine woman. I was so sorry to hear about…what happened. A terrible tragedy for everyone involved. I had wished there was something I could have done.”

  Slade stared at him. “Done?”

  “For Lorraine. Obviously, there wasn’t anything I could have done for your mother or Lorraine’s son Roy at that point. But Lorraine…”

  Lorraine Vogel. The mother of the young man who’d allegedly killed Slade’s mother.

  The doctor must have seen Slade’s confusion. “I was afraid Lorraine wouldn’t complete her training after everything that happened. She was training to be a nurse here at the Institute. But she did finish. Now she works part-time here—and part-time at the hospital.”

  It took Slade a moment to find his voice. Lorraine worked at the Institute? And Slade’s mother— “You knew my mother?”

  Dr. Parris seemed surprised by the question. “Only to say hello in the hall really.”

  “Here at the Institute?” Slade asked.

  Parris realized he’d made a mistake, but it was clear he didn’t know how. “Yes.”

  “She was a patient here,” Slade said.

  Dr. Parris smiled and looked relieved. “Yes.”

  His mother was a p
atient here? How was it possible that he and his sister and his father hadn’t known that? He couldn’t remember even one day his mother hadn’t been at the stove on his return from school or from playing in the neighborhood with friends.

  “Back when Evergreen was a fertility clinic,” Slade said, trying to put it together. “Back when Dr. Allan Wellington was running the place.” He felt something like a flash go off in his head and wondered if it was like this for Holly. A thought. A memory? A piece of knowledge just appearing in a bolt of crystal-clear bright thought. “I was pretty young then, but, that’s right, she came up here every Tuesday and Thursday.”

  Dr. Parris beamed. “That’s right. She always had a kind word and a smile.”

  Stunned, Slade was still trying to make sense of it. His mother had come up here every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon. No affair? But what had she come up here for? It couldn’t have had to do with infertility—and his mother didn’t drive. She’d been in a near-fatal car accident and had a deathly fear of driving. Norma always drove her wherever she wanted to go. Or Slade’s father, Joe.

  Who had driven her to Evergreen twice a week? Not Joe, the person she’d said in her letter she didn’t want to know about her afternoons away from home. So who had driven her? Not Norma. Dr. Wellington? Was he also the man who’d had Marcella Rawlins in his arms the day Norma had seen the two of them at the house?

  Slade felt sick, all of it coming too close to home. “You have a very good memory, Dr. Parris. You probably remember that my mother didn’t drive,” Slade said as they moved out of the office and into the empty hall.

  “Why, that’s right,” Parris exclaimed. “I think that’s why she came up on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so she could ride with Lorraine on Tuesdays and Dr. Delaney on Thursdays. My, but that has been years ago. My memory serves me well.”

  Slade fought to breathe. Dr. Delaney?

  “Give yourself some time,” Parris was saying to Holly. “You’re a strong young woman. You’re going to be just fine.”

  “Thank you, doctor,” she said.

  “I didn’t realize that Dr. Delaney worked here,” Slade said, interrupting Holly.

  “Only on special projects anymore. A fine man and a wonderfully compassionate doctor,” Parris said. “Let me know if there is anything else you need. It is always nice to see you, Holly, and nice meeting you,” he said again to Slade, then turned and disappeared back into his office.

  Slade took Holly’s arm as they started down the hall toward the exit. “Are you all right?”

  “Yes. No. Inez lied about the sessions.”

  He nodded, wondering why Inez had done that. Unless it had been a test. A test to see if Holly was remembering.

  “And she lied about where I was last Christmas Eve,” Holly said, sounding angry and scared. “Unless she knew I was with you.”

  “Yes,” Slade said. “I thought of that. Or maybe she just didn’t want the staff up here looking for you. Any idea why you left here in such a hurry? You didn’t even have a coat on when I found you.”

  She shook her head. “You said I thought someone was trying to kill me. Do you think it was just the pills?”

  “Dr. Parris swears you weren’t taking them while you were here,” he pointed out. “Nor were you taking them when you were with me.”

  A door opened off to the right ahead of them. A woman in a business suit and heels came out carrying a large cinnamon bun and a mug of something hot. She headed down the hallway in front of them without looking back, her high heels clicking on the hardwood floor, turning off one of the many hallways.

  Through the glass window in the office door, Slade spotted a desk and computer. Seeing no one else around, he quickly pushed the door open before it could shut completely. He pulled Holly into the office and closed the door behind them.

  “What are you doing?” she whispered in obvious horror as he grabbed a straight-back chair from in front of the desk and stuck it under the door so it couldn’t be opened from the outside.

  “Buying time.” He hurried around to sit down at the computer. “I want to see your file. And my mother’s.”

  “Here, let me do that,” she said after a moment of watching him try to call up files.

  He moved to let her sit down and, standing behind her with his hands on the back of her chair, watched in awe as she quickly maneuvered her way through the system. “I didn’t know you knew anything about computers.”

  She let out a quiet chuckle. “So, there is at least a little something about me that’s still a mystery.”

  Her joking tone stirred old memories deep within him of the way it had been between them. “You will always be a mystery to me,” he said softly.

  She leaned back, waiting for the computer to respond, her scent filling him. Her hair brushed the tops of his hands, reminding him only too well of the feel of it against his bare skin.

  He could see her reflection in the computer screen as her eyes came up to meet his. For the first time, he didn’t see fear, but something just as familiar. A look that made him ache inside.

  His hands slipped from the chair back to her shoulders. She pressed against the pressure of his fingers and closed her eyes. Slowly he moved his hands down her arms to her elbows as he bent over her, breathing her in, wanting to envelop her. She felt warm and solid, strong.

  Her eyes opened and her gaze met his in the screen. Her lips parted, her look softening, deepening. He would have kissed her. The chance of getting caught be damned.

  But just then the computer screen flashed. No Holly Barrows found.

  He straightened, releasing her.

  She typed in Holly Wellington. “Look at this,” she said. Under Medications, it read, None. “And this.” She pointed to a notation at the top of the file: Genesis Project. When she clicked on it, the screen flashed: Enter Security Code. She tried several. None of them worked.

  He heard the sound of high heels tapping down the hallway. They grew louder as they approached. “See if you can get Marcella Rawlins’s file.”

  Holly typed in the name. “I can’t find her. How long ago was it?”

  “More than twenty years ago,” he whispered, watching over her shoulder.

  “Let me try something else.” She hurriedly clicked at the keys. “Wait, I’ve got it.” He watched her type in Keyword: Inez. What came up on the screen was a list of patients under Genesis Project. She scrolled down to Wellington, Holly. File: Current.

  “What is the Genesis Project?” Slade asked.

  “I have no idea.” She moved the cursor through the list. Norma Curtis. Genesis Project. File: In storage.

  He spotted another name. Patty Dunn. Genesis Project. File: Current.

  Pharmacist Jerry Dunn’s wife.

  He wasn’t surprised when Holly stopped the cursor on Marcella Rawlins. Genesis Project. File: In storage.

  “What do we all have in common?” Holly whispered, turning to look at him.

  “I wish I knew. My first guess would be infertility if I didn’t know better.”

  Outside in the hall, the footsteps grew closer.

  Slade put his hand over Holly’s on the mouse and scrolled on down to the end of the list, stopping just once. On the name Lorraine Vogel. Genesis Project. File: In storage.

  “Clear the screen,” he said next to her ear, then quietly stepped to the door to remove the chair blocking it, hoping the woman he’d seen leaving the office hadn’t forgotten something. But the sound of the footfalls went on past the door as Holly joined him.

  He waited for a few moments to make sure the hallway was clear, then opened the door.

  “You looked as if you’d seen a ghost when Dr. Parris mentioned your mother,” she whispered as they headed for the exit again. “What happened to her?”

  He kept his voice down even though it appeared everyone had gone to lunch—even the woman who’d been at the front reception desk earlier.

  “She was murdered twenty years ago by the son of the woman who supposedl
y drove her up here on Tuesdays. Lorraine Vogel.”

  “The woman who was also in the Genesis Project file,” Holly said.

  He nodded at Holly’s thoughtful expression. “The thing is, my mother kept all of this a secret. Why is that? And why would she be coming to a fertility clinic in the first place? She had two twelve-year-olds.”

  “Twenty years ago. And she was a Genesis Project patient,” Holly noted. “Like me.”

  “Yeah,” he said. “That’s what has me worried.” What was the Genesis Project? And what did any of this have to do with their baby? Probably nothing. They were just wasting time here. All he wanted was to get out of this place. It felt even more dangerous than he’d first suspected—and he had no idea what there was to fear here.

  They were almost to the exit, crossing the great expanse of marble that made up the massive foyer, when an older man in a white lab coat over an expensive gray suit stepped from a doorway, almost colliding with them. Behind him was Inez Wellington.

  “Holly,” the man said, a reprimand in his voice.

  “Holly, you remember Dr. O’Brien,” Inez said, not seeming that happy to see them, or at least not Slade.

  “Inez.” Holly sounded scared, and when she looked at Dr. O’Brien it was clear to Slade that she had never seen him before—that she could remember anyway.

  A tall man with thick dark hair, a square face and small, dark eyes behind wire-rimmed glasses, the doctor ignored Slade and turned all of his attention on Holly.

  “I thought you were checking in?” O’Brien said, his voice low and rough as sandpaper and about as warm.

  Holly shook her head. “I’ve changed my mind.”

  “Let’s discuss this in my office. Alone,” he said pointedly.

  “There is nothing to discuss,” Holly insisted.

  “From what Inez has told me, I’m not sure you’re capable of a reasonable decision at this point.”

  “I disagree,” Slade said stepping between O’Brien and Holly. “I think she is more than capable of making a reasonable decision, and that decision is that she doesn’t need your…help.”