‘Of that? You accept men getting stiff in your company? Does that happen with him when you’re alone? Or with others?’
‘Just because a man gets an erection doesn’t mean that he’ll use it and not all erections are sexual in nature. Men can’t necessarily control a physiological reaction.’
‘Are you kidding me? You think that doctor shit will work with me?’
Now toe-to-toe, Lyssa’s rage built when she realised just how angry he was. All of her training with regards to anger management abandoned her. All she wanted to do was shout and beat him about the head.
‘Please leave,’ she said.
Faltering, his brow hardened. ‘You’re kicking me out? We have one fight and you break up with me? Where are all those conflict resolution skills you must have studied?’
‘This is them in action – get out!’
‘Nice, Miss. Lys,’ he snapped and stormed out of the office door. ‘Very nice!’
The front door slammed and unlike when Bobby slammed it, this time she jumped. A well of moisture rushed to her tear ducts, but she wouldn’t let it out. She distracted herself by buttoning her shirt as best she could to make herself semi-decent. Stalking to the desk, her impulse was to pick up the phone to Suzette, except she wasn’t sure of the status of their relationship.
Colt had paid for Suzette’s cab home after the police had excused them last night and she didn’t know what had happened with Pete when Suzette got home. If he suspected that his fiancée had lied, Lyssa’s name had come up, or the truth had come out then the last thing Pete wanted to hear was Lyssa’s voice on the phone asking for Suzette’s assistance or advice.
Deciding that she was too riled up to update Bobby’s notes, or to sit still upstairs, she grabbed her purse, shoved the strap up her arm and slammed out of the house – everyone else had done it, now it was her turn.
When her and Archie had argued it had never been like that. Her blood felt scalding in her veins and the anger in her now came from a primal core. The blast of wind pushing back on her as she strode down the sidewalk offered a welcome cleansing to the built up adrenaline, but if she waited for it all to clear out she’d be walking for miles.
Right now she had no destination in mind, but she had to straighten out her thoughts. Her friendship with Suzette was on the rocks, and her new lover had declared that she’d ended things with him when all she had wanted was a timeout. Those were the priorities in her thoughts, although she had to worry about Bobby too, her admirer, and her research at Risqué. The last thing she wanted was more drama, so she’d march on, putting herself on a timeout, and hope it would all come right in the end.
By the time she got home it was late and dark. Despite being tired she went through her ritual of checking every room before she checked her phone for messages, but there weren’t any. Stripping down, she climbed into bed and when she inhaled the scent of Colt, here where she’d left him sleeping just that morning, the tears tried to creep out again.
Tomorrow new patients were due into her practice and so she had to face the reality that life went on, despite her own personal drama. She had no excuse to see or speak to Colt until Thursday night when she was next due at Risqué.
But she wasn’t a woman to play games in matters of the heart. She felt better after deciding that if she hadn’t heard from Colt by the end of her day of patients, then she would call him and they would talk things out. This resolve helped her to fall asleep with a greater sense of optimism.
The optimism didn’t last very long because just before her penultimate patient arrived, two unknown men walked into her office. Her panic was short-lived, they identified themselves as detectives and then they said the word “homicide”.
‘Why are homicide detectives talking to me?’ she asked, descending into her doctor chair while they sat on the patient couch. ‘Is this about the shooting?’
‘You’ve flashed on the police radar quite regularly of late, Doctor Cutler,’ Detective Hoburn said.
‘I suppose so,’ she said. ‘Will you tell me why you’re here?’
‘There was a homicide last night and we have reason to believe you have information about the victim and that you may have been one of the last people to see him alive.’
‘The last one to see him alive?’ she asked. A sickness overcame her when she thought of Colt, because he was the last person she’d seen yesterday. ‘Who…? Who are you talking about?’
‘A man named, Mr Robert Julius.’
‘Bobby,’ she sighed out with a rush of relief that instantly made her feel guilty. Reorienting herself, she took in what had been said and all the positive feelings left her. ‘He’s dead? How?’
‘At this time we’re trying to establish his final movements,’ Detective Hoburn said, his colleague remained stoically silent, observing her and paying too much heed to the details of the room.
‘His final movements?’
‘He had an appointment with you yesterday evening, is that correct?’
‘Yes, he had an appointment at five o’clock,’ she said. Her fingertips were losing feeling and the ice continued up to her knuckles. She couldn’t quite bring herself to look at the police, she was too busy considering the possibilities.
‘It was in his calendar,’ Hoburn said, bringing a small notebook out of his pocket to take notes. ‘Can you tell us the nature of your work with him?’
‘I won’t discuss the specifics of his condition or treatment, but I can certainly answer any specific questions that you have relating to your enquiries.’
‘Did he tell you what his plans were after he left his appointment with you?’
‘He had a date,’ she said. ‘The woman’s first name was Deshana, but I don’t know her last name.’
‘We have her details and we’re trying to track her down now. They met through work?’
‘Yes,’ Lyssa said, meeting his eye now that the shock was subsiding and she mentally crept back inside her doctor’s cloak. ‘He’s a data entry clerk.’
‘Do you have any reason to believe that relationship was acrimonious?’
‘They had only been out a couple of times. He did stand her up on their last date, but he called her to apologise and reschedule. As far as I know everything was fine between them.’
‘Did he have any enemies?’
‘No,’ she said. ‘Not that he mentioned to me. He had a very difficult childhood, but he was an only child and his mother died several years ago. He has no other family.’ Talking of him in the present tense was incorrect and that reminder brought the numbness back to her extremities. ‘As far as I know he got along with everyone he needed to. He wasn’t very social because he had been isolated as a child. He lacked the social skills that many of us take for granted.’
‘So it’s possible he pissed someone off,’ Hoburn said. ‘That he was rude or disrespected someone?’
‘I don’t believe so,’ she said. ‘He tended to withdraw if he felt threatened. The only anger he exhibited was towards himself. If someone tried to start an altercation with him I would surmise that Bobby would choose retreat rather than attack.’
‘Did he discuss neighbours with you? Or friends?’
‘He didn’t really have friends,’ she said. ‘I’m sorry, but can you tell me what actually happened.’
‘We’re not giving out any details at this stage,’ Hoburn said and flipped his notebook shut. ‘Thank you, doctor, you’ve been helpful.’ He handed her a card as he and his partner stood up, she fumbled the card and mirrored their action. ‘If you think of anything specific, anything at all that may be helpful, please be in touch.’
‘Of course,’ she said.
The detective filtered out and held the door for her next patient to enter. The patient perked up after scrutinising them, then paused to frown at her. ‘Were they cops?’
‘I’m sorry, Lee,’ she said. ‘I have to reschedule, something has come up.’
‘Is everything ok?’
‘I lost a patient.’
‘That can’t be common in your line of work,’ he said. ‘What was wrong with him?’
‘It was unrelated to his treatment here, don’t worry about that. Do you mind if we reschedule?’
‘No,’ he shrugged.
Letting down a patient was the last thing that she wanted to do, but if she took him into her office then her mind would be elsewhere and she wouldn’t be doing him any favours by not really paying attention to what he was saying. They went about rescheduling the appointment and when that was done she cancelled her proceeding patient, and those due in the following morning because she had a feeling that she would need a drink tonight.
Calling Suzette still wasn’t an option and after her fight with Colt she wasn’t sure that he’d want to hear from her, except she had promised herself to call him after work if he hadn’t been in touch with her, which he hadn’t. At least now she had news, terrible as it was, and she could use his comfort right now.
But when she rang his cell phone there was no answer, so she tried Ruger’s, but there was no answer there either. Talking to Blaser wasn’t possible because he still didn’t know the truth about her profession. Instead, she went upstairs to change her clothes and then left the house to get a cab over to Colt’s place. Showing up might seem heavy handed and she hoped that she didn’t scare him off, but she needed a mission to distract her, and tracking him down was it.
Except he wasn’t at home either, no one answered his door, or Ruger’s, who lived next door. Blaser’s place was directly underneath Colt’s, so she went down there to knock, to no avail. Considering that Blaser might be at the garage Colt had mentioned, or even at Risqué, she was about to hunt further when a man poked his head out of the door at the unit next to Blaser.
‘Can I help you?’ he asked.
‘No,’ she said, wondering why he was trying to interfere. ‘You can’t help, Random Creepy Man Who I Don’t Know.’
‘That’s my name, how did you guess?’
He came outside and she backed away a step, Blaser’s door was under the external stairs and so she was kind of backed into a shadowy corner. ‘I know Colt,’ she said, hoping that if she made him aware of her association he’d be less likely to think of doing anything sinister.
He didn’t look like a particularly scary guy, his hair was too long, his body was stretched and lean, but his sense of propriety unsettled her. ‘That’s not Colt’s door.’
‘No, it’s not,’ she said. ‘But no one answered upstairs.’
‘I heard you knocking on Ruger’s door as well,’ he said, coming so close that he propped a shoulder on Blaser’s doorjamb. She shuffled back further until she was in front of Blaser’s kitchen window.
‘Is that a crime?’
‘No, but none of them are here.’
She could have told him that, usually unanswered doors meant no one was home. ‘Yes, I guessed that.’
‘Maybe they’re all avoiding you.’
‘Why would they do that?’
‘I don’t know. I’m guessing that you tried their phones and got no answer either. You’re in a pickle.’
Now he was playing with her and she didn’t appreciate it, or have the time for games. ‘Look, Strange Man, either you know where they are or you don’t. If you don’t, then I have to be moving along.’
Striding forward, she was going to pass him, except he spoke again. ‘Their mom hates cell phones, especially at the dinner table.’
‘Their mother?’ He nodded. ‘They’re at their mother’s?’ She didn’t know where that was.
‘You wouldn’t be Cherry by any chance, would you?’
That startled her. ‘How do you know my name?’ Though it wasn’t really her name.
‘Sexy girl, knows the brothers but hasn’t been in their lives for long… Plus, Colt talks about you, and Ruger likes to rib him about it. I haven’t heard Colt talk about a woman in a long time. Carrie fucking about with his partner really fucked his head.’
His wife had cheated on him with his partner, Lyssa speculated as to whether that could be the reason for him giving up his professional law enforcement career. ‘I don’t suppose you know where their mother lives.’
‘Auntie Pru lives in the same house she has done for all their lives.’
‘Auntie,’ she said. ‘You’re Gus Warner, their cousin. Your brother owns this building.’
‘He does,’ Gus said. ‘Never done a day’s work in his life though.’
If he owned a building then he must have done something to earn money in order to buy it, but she wasn’t going to question him about that. ‘Can you give me her address?’
The nonchalant expression that had been fixed on his face loosened, and slowly he began to smile. ‘You’re going to show up at their mother’s house?’
She wasn’t sure that she got the joke, or that she appreciated the sentiment of it. ‘I have something to tell Colt.’
‘Oh, please tell me that you’re pregnant.’
Still, the joke was lost on her. ‘What business is that of yours?’
‘Damn, Aunt Pru asked me over there tonight, I wish I’d said yes now. Hang on, I’ll get a pen and write it down for you.’
Gus went back into his apartment and she stayed out here on the stoop, waiting for him to return. Turning up at Colt’s mother’s house probably wasn’t a good idea, she felt a bit like Gus had goaded her into it. She couldn’t change her mind now or he might think she’d cowered in fear, and the last thing that Lyssa was, was chicken.
Chapter Thirteen
‘I have to go,’ Blaser said for maybe the fifth time since his mother had filled his coffee cup, but the Warner mother was no pushover.
‘Dinner isn’t finished,’ she said, filling his coffee cup again then seating herself at her husband’s side.
Colt wanted out of here too, the sooner he got out of here the sooner he could get to Lyssa’s, and that was where he wanted to be. He needed to apologise and he hoped she would understand from where his reaction had originated. Maybe she wouldn’t. But he wouldn’t walk away from their relationship because of one stupid fight. They’d barely had a chance to see if they could work together and he would give this relationship a fair hearing, Lyssa was worth it.
‘He has to go to work,’ Ruger said, but happily took another slice of cake from the centre of the table.
Prudence Warner wouldn’t let anyone leave the dinner table until everyone had eaten their fill. So as long as someone was eating, Blaser was stuck at this table, and Ruger knew it.
‘He works too much,’ Pru said. ‘He’ll never find a woman who will put up with that.’
A groan went around the table. ‘Jesus, mom, don’t start,’ Blaser said.
Taking her hand from her cup she held it up in surrender, but shook her head. ‘I just don’t see why three strapping, handsome men, in their thirties are all single. You should be married.’
‘Some of us have been,’ Blaser said, Colt didn’t look back when his twin pinned him in his sights.
‘Carrie wasn’t a keeper,’ Ruger said. ‘But it’s funny you should bring up women because Colt is actually seeing one, a pretty fine one too.’
‘Oh?’ Pru perked up.
Colt slammed daggers from his eyes into Ruger. His younger brother was the only one at the table who knew what had happened between him and Lys last night and yet he was bringing Lyssa up, a woman with whom he might not have any future at all.
‘I don’t think that now is the time to talk about that,’ Colt said.
‘I think now is probably the best time,’ Ruger responded.
‘Oh, yeah, why’s that? Want a laugh at my expense?’ Colt asked.
‘No, because she’s walking across the front lawn right now.’
Everyone at the table stood up to peer out of the front window which had a view of the long front yard and the street beyond. Their collective movement must have been visible from outside because Lyssa stopped, like a rabbit pinned by headlights, then lif
ted her open palm in a tentative wave.
‘She’s beautiful,’ Pru said. ‘I’ll make her coffee and we’ll—‘
‘No,’ Colt said, already shoving his way past his brothers. ‘I’m going to talk to her. You lot stay here.’
He didn’t know how she had found him, but the fact that she had worried him. Showing up at his mother’s was a bold action, and she’d shown no bunny boiler tendencies so far.
When he got out of his parents’ front door she was still on the lawn where she had been, but when she noticed him she began to move in his direction. He picked up the pace until they met.
‘Something happened,’ she panted out as though she was out of breath even although she hadn’t been moving that fast.
‘What? The stalker?’
She was already shaking her head. ‘No, not that, no… I… I lost a patient.’
‘Suicide?’
‘Murder,’ she croaked and he took hold of her shoulders, fearful she might keel over. As strong as he knew she was, he could tell this one had knocked her sideways.
‘Murder,’ he said. ‘What happened?’
‘The police wouldn’t tell me. They showed up at my office tonight asking questions.’
‘Which patient was it?’
‘Bobby,’ she said. ‘Bobby, who we saw last night… I didn’t tell them about what happened. I didn’t think and… they didn’t ask and…’
It seemed like she was trying to get out a mishmash of random thoughts that she hadn’t had time to process yet. ‘You’re shaken up.’
‘We saw him last night, he was my patient, and you shouted at him, you scared him.’
‘I didn’t scare him to death,’ he said, taking his hands away from her. ‘Is that why you came here? To ask if I did this? If I hurt him?’ A spasm in his gut took his body further away from hers.
‘No, what? No, that hadn’t even occurred to me… I came here because… because I didn’t know what to do. I was distressed and I thought I might feel better if… you would hold me.’
That was the truth. She didn’t come here to question him, she came here for support, she chose him above all others and she took a risk in pursuing him to this personal location, especially after their fight last night.
Take a Risk (Risk #1) Page 15
