Strange Medicine (Dr. Maxwell Thornton Murder Mysteries #1)(49)

She sighed. “Okay.” She stood slowly. “Thanks, Dr. Thornton. I feel much better.”

A swell of pride hit me, and I realized she was the first patient I’d seen since I’d been in Rainy Dale who’d ever given me a compliment. “Oh, well… I’m just doing my job.”

She studied me with a curious expression. “Is Rainy Dale not what you expected?”

I frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Well, I know you came from the city, and I know you were a well-known surgeon before. Life here in Rainy Dale must be very different.”

I was surprised at her perception. “It is really different.” I thought about Royce, and my chest tightened. “But this place has grown on me.”

She grinned. “I’ll have to tell my friends that you’re not the ogre some people think you are.”

I winced. “They think I’m an ogre?”

“Well, you took away their cookies, and you yelled a lot in the beginning.”

Those damn cookies again.

I straightened. “Tell your friends that effective immediately the cookies and coffee have been reinstated.”

She giggled. “Well, you sure know how to make a pregnant girl happy, Doc.”

“I can’t guarantee that I won’t still yell occasionally.” I lifted my chin.

“Pfft. Who cares? So long as you give the people of Rainy Dale sweets to eat, we’ll forgive you just about anything.”

****

Catering to people’s every emotional need was twice as tiring. By the time five rolled around, I was exhausted and just wanted to go back to Royce’s place and put my feet up. I went into the waiting room, and Girdy was shutting down her computer.

“Doc, I want to enter all your receipts into the QuickBooks program, but your personal receipts are mixed in with the business ones.” She pushed a folder toward me. “Do you think you can go over these tonight and pull out the ones that are purely personal?”

“Sure.” I tucked the folder under my arm. “Are you ready to go? I want to set the alarm.” I’d had a security system installed after the last incident just for peace of mind.

“Okay.” She grabbed her purse and hurried to the door. “You’ll have to teach me how to do this.”

“It’s easy. You just put in the access code and hit All Zones.” I pushed buttons as I spoke. “Then when that green light comes on you hit Arm.”

“Looks simple enough.”

I closed the door behind us. “Did you notice the red panic button they installed on your desk?”

She grimaced. “Yes. I was terrified all day I was going to accidentally hit it.”

“I didn’t request it; they just threw that in for free.”

Her boyfriend, Todd, was parked at the curb waiting for her. “Can we give you a lift into town, Doc?”

“Nope. I need the exercise.”

“Okay. See you tomorrow.” She waved and got in the car, leaning over to kiss her boyfriend.

I smiled for some reason. Maybe because they made a cute couple. Or maybe because I’d spent the day showing compassion to my patients and now I didn’t know how to shut off the sap switch. I lifted my chin and strode in the direction of town. The scent of sage was heavy in the air as I moved along, and it felt good to stretch my legs and get the blood pumping.

I was glad there was some traffic on the road. After all the strange things that had happened since I’d arrived, I didn’t like being alone quite as much as I had in the past. I walked past Ned’s house, noticing a For Sale sign in the front lawn. I really hoped that Royce was getting close to figuring out who was responsible for Ned’s murder. The longer it went unsolved, the more I feared it would never be resolved.

I was about halfway to Royce’s house when my phone buzzed in my pocket. I was inclined to ignore it, but I thought it might be Royce or one of my patients. The number was blocked, and I hesitated, tempted to not answer. But perhaps because I’d spent the day being nice, I was still in that mode and so I did answer.

“Hello?”

“Maxwell Thornton?” The voice was muffled and sounded like they had something over the mouthpiece. I couldn’t tell if it was male or female either.

“Yes.”

“You need to stay away from that house at night.”

I stopped walking and scowled. “I’m sorry?”

“Unless you want to end up like Ned, you need to avoid that house at all costs, especially after sundown.”

A chill went down my spine. “Who is this?”

“It doesn’t matter. Just listen to me or—” There was the sound of voices in the background.

“Hello?” I said.

“Just do as I say and you might not die.” The deep masking of the voice slipped ever so slightly, and I caught the first hint that the caller might be a woman.

“I live there. How am I supposed to avoid it?”

“You can listen or you can be stupid. It’s your call.”

“What’s so special about that damn house?” I demanded, and my answer was a click and then a dial tone. “Shit.” I stared at my phone as if that would somehow help. I looked around, feeling little prickles of hair on the back of my neck. Was the caller watching me?