Never Lie (31)

“No, I’m fine.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure. Really.”

Now my cheeks are hot because I feel bad that I want him to leave. I want him to go away so I can continue listening to these tapes. It’s quickly become a bit of an addiction.

Will the contents of these tapes reveal the secret of what really happened to Dr. Adrienne Hale?

I can’t leave this house without finding out.

I open the bottom drawer of the desk. I rifle through the cassette tapes inside and the one that’s different catches my eye. LUKE. The boyfriend. Why does she have a recording of her boyfriend?

I pull the tape out of the drawer and remove it from the cover. I eject the session with EJ and I put the new tape inside the player. Then I press Play.





Chapter 23


ADRIENNE



Before




“Is Luke here today?”

Gloria’s eyes light up at my question. But she has no idea why I want to talk to Luke, and I have no intention of telling her. “Yes, he’s here. He’s helping Dr. Griffith out in the documentation room in the back.”

My first patient at the free clinic is scheduled in fifteen minutes. I came early today so I could talk to Luke. I wasn’t certain if he would be here, but I’ve noticed he’s found an excuse to show up whenever I’m scheduled to work. Coincidence? Perhaps. We’ll see.

“Also,” Gloria adds, “you got another card. And some chocolate.”

She slips me a small box of cheap drug store mixed chocolates with a little rectangular pink envelope on top. “Dr. Hale” is scrawled on the envelope in ballpoint pen. Even though I’m desperate to find Luke, I take a second to rip open the envelope. I slide out a small card with a lone bird pictured, flying through a blue cloudless sky. I open the card and read the shaky script:



Dear Dr. Hale,

I can’t tell you how much your help meant to me. When I saw you, I was going through a dark time in my life. If not for you, I’m not sure I would be here anymore. You saved my life. Bless you.

Lola Hernandez



I slide the card back into the envelope and slip it into my jacket pocket. This is one I will save. I have a collection, and sometimes I read through them on my own dark days. But there’s no time today to dwell on it and pat myself on the back. I have to save my career.

“Don’t forget the chocolate, Dr. Hale,” Gloria speaks up.

The card was thoughtful, but the chocolates are undoubtedly of poor quality. I shake my head. “You can have them, Gloria. Give them to your grandchildren.”

“You should eat them. Put some meat on your bones—men like that.”

I flinch. Gloria isn’t the first person to comment on multiple occasions that she feels I’m too bony. Like a skeleton. I can’t imagine how anyone could possibly think my body habitus is any of their business. I don’t even dignify her comment with a response. Instead, I turn on my heels and head down the hallway to the documentation room, leaving the box of chocolates behind.

When I’m about ten feet away from the room, I can hear Luke and the elderly Dr. Griffith speaking together. Dr. Griffith sounds frazzled, which isn’t out of the ordinary for him.

“So I just want to look at the note. But every time I click on it, it opens the note for editing or tries to add an addendum.”

“That’s because you’re double clicking on the note. You just want to click on it once to view it.”

“I am clicking on it once. See—look what it did.”

“Right. That’s because you double-clicked.”

“No, I didn’t.”

I enter the documentation room just in time to hear Luke patiently explaining to Dr. Griffith the difference between single clicking and double clicking for what I’m sure is the third or fourth time. I can tell by the way Dr. Griffith’s bushy white eyebrows knit together that he doesn’t get it. He will never get it.

I rap my fist gently against the door. Luke’s brown eyes light up when he sees me. Today I have worn a red dress that I located in the back of my closet. Psychological studies have demonstrated that men have more amorous feelings towards women wearing red than any other color. They are more likely to express the desire to take a woman wearing red out on a date, and are also willing to spend more money on the date. Moreover, the men in these studies could not identify the origin of these feelings. They just liked the girl in red.

“Adrienne!” Luke says happily. “What’s going on?”

“Do you have a minute, Luke?”

He looks between me and Dr. Griffith, obviously torn between his promise to help the elderly doctor figure out how to click on a note and wanting to help me. Thankfully, Dr. Griffith takes pity on him and rises unsteadily to his feet.

“No worries, Luke,” Dr. Griffith says. “We can try to figure it out later.”

Luke rises from his seat to face me as Dr. Griffith leaves the room. He looks different today. His sky blue dress shirt has been ironed, and he’s wearing a brown tie, although the knot could be a little tighter. And he’s shaved this morning. Usually, he smells like soap, which is not at all unpleasant, but today I detect a different musky scent. Cologne or aftershave.

“What’s up?” he asks.