Unforgettable by P J Gilbers Read Free Book Online Page B

up at the same time. ‘Might have lost your foot.”
    A short muscular man came in,
introduced himself as Carlos, and re-casted Jack’s
ankle.
    “ Thanks for coming along,”
Jack told me. “How’s your brother?”
    I looked away, my feet itching to
run.
    Jack smiled. “What’s your brother’s
name?”
    “ Daniel.” Elton
John’s Daniel was
playing through my head.
    Jack nodded. He wanted to see how far
I’d go with this game. Fritz frowned at him.
    “ I take it Daniel is younger
than you are.”
    “ Yes. He’s eight years
younger.”
    “ So when your folks died he
was nine.”
    My chest hurt. I felt
like I was nine
getting caught stealing ice cream money.
    “ Right, right. It hit him
really hard…”
    “ Don’t ever play poker,” he
laughed. “Let’s try this again, shall we?”
    He was back to his dark, serious self
again.
    “ There is no Daniel. There
is no brother. There is, however, something big, bad, and scary.
You’re not sleeping, you’re not eating. You look like hell. If I
guess it you have to own up. You just found out you’re
pregnant.”
    “ No.”
    “ Let me ask you, sweetheart,
what’s going to happen if you don’t get it?”
    “ Get what?”
    “ What you want? What you’re
praying so hard for?” he whispered. “What’s going to happen to
you?”
    There was no more air in the room and
my lungs had glued shut.
    “’ Feeling a bit
claustrophobic, sorry, have to go…”
    I dashed out of the room, to the
parking lot. And that was as far as I had planned.
    I went back to Jack’s SUV. I had to get
out of there. I didn’t know where I was but I was certain it was
too far to walk.
    Carlos came out whistling.
    He smiled.
    “’ Must be exciting working
with a famous movie star.”
    “ Yeah.
It’s…interesting.”
    “’ You waiting on them? I
don’t think you ought to be hanging out down here. Kind of
dark…isolated. No place for a beautiful woman like you.”
    His eyes sparkled. I felt my lungs
start to work again.
    “ Actually I’m late for my
next patient. Any way you could give me a ride…”
    “ Absolutely, absolutely. You
direct and I drive…”
    I put a note on Jack’s
windshield.
    Got a ride with Carlos back
to get my car. Sam.
    I got home long before dark this time.
But I wished I hadn’t.
    A picture was sticking in my mail slot.
It was of me walking from the pool to my apartment.
    I stepped back as if was a rattler
coiling.
    I called Silverman, my hands were
trembling so much that I could barely hold the phone.
    I sat on the steps feeling totally
exposed, scanning the area, wondering if the monster was watching
me.
    A police car pulled up. A young blonde
woman and an older large man climbed out. They looked at it and
called Silverman again.
    “ We’re going to secure the
area until the tech unit gets here. We’ll need you to wait.
Detective Silverman wants to talk to you.”
    I knew what the conversation was going
to be. I sat on the hot, metal steps, and waited.
    Stella called. Her voice had an
edge.
    “ Sam, we lost our patient,
Abe Williamson. The mother said they were going to do outpatient
instead. Know anything about that?”
    “ Yeah. I suggested it. It’s
really what he needed. A seventeen year old shouldn’t become
housebound. And he needed to be around other patients going through
what he’s going through.”
    “ Well I really don’t
appreciate this, Sam. And Mr. Brueller, the owner, is really
pissed.”
    “ It was a very unusual
circumstance. I’m sure you understand.”
    “ Well, I gotta tell ya’ the
owner’s pissed about this one. Pissed, pissed, pissed. But at least
you’re making Mr. Hollywood happy. Oh, he called. He wanted your
number but naturally I wouldn’t give it to him. He wanted you to
call in the morning.”
    My heart raced.
    Silverman pulled up.
    “ Oh, joy,” I
thought.
    His coat was off.
    “ I have some iced tea made,”
I offered.
    “ That would be
great."
    He sat on my gray vinyl kitchen chair.
The legs