Dark Whispers

Natalie stood. “I should go so you can get back to your scheduled patients. Your secretary is going to start locking the door when she sees me coming.”

Sadie dismissed the idea with a wave of her hand. “Nonsense. Now, I expect to hear from you if there are any more unsettling episodes.”

“Count on it.” Natalie made her way back to the lobby. As if he sensed her coming, Clint set the magazine he held aside and pushed to his feet.

How was it that she suddenly felt safer just knowing he was waiting for her?

* * *

CLINT WALKED NATALIE to her car. Like yesterday, she insisted on driving herself about. Reasonable considering she’d only been cleared to drive again four months ago. No one appreciated the everyday personal freedoms until they were lost. Though he had never suffered an injury like the one Natalie struggled to overcome, he was more than a little familiar with the battle to conquer life’s stumbling blocks.

She hit the fob to unlock the doors and he opened the driver’s side for her. “You’re headed to the office?”

“Yes.” She hesitated before settling behind the steering wheel. “Will you be coming as well?”

Clint had planned to meet Lori and Harper for coffee to discuss Natalie’s case once she was settled in at her office. Maybe he still would, but the distinct note of hope in her question gave him pause. “I have a meeting, but—”

“Really, you don’t need to watch me every moment.” She arranged her lips into a smile that failed to reach her eyes. “I’m fairly certain no one is going to attack me at my office. Besides, if the police are correct in their conclusions my concerns are wholly rooted in my imagination.”

She turned to get into the car and he touched her arm, stopping her though she didn’t face him. “My meeting can wait. Why don’t you tell me what happened to bring you here this morning? The appointment wasn’t on your calendar.”

He’d skimmed her calendar yesterday. Her next scheduled appointment with Dr. Morrow was two weeks away. From the moment she greeted him at her front door this morning he’d recognized something was off.

“Last night I... I think I started hallucinating again.” She turned to him and the fear and pain in her expression tugged hard at his protective instincts. “I haven’t done that in nearly a year.”

“The office can wait. Let’s go back to your home. I want you to walk me through exactly what you saw and heard last night.”

She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment. “Dr. Morrow said it may have been a dream. But...I can’t trust my judgment.”

“Your judgment seems fine at work all day and all evening with me. Why is it that all these strange events only occur when you’re at home alone?”

Her response was slow in coming. “I don’t know. I guess I feel more relaxed at home.” She shook her head. “Or because that’s where the fall happened. Two psychiatrists as well as Sadie have analyzed me and they all seem to agree on one thing: my brain is trying to recover the pieces and the pieces don’t always fall into their proper place leading to misinterpretations. I can’t trust...myself.”

Clint resisted the urge to take her in his arms and comfort her. Not a smart move. The hair on the back of his neck suddenly stood on end. He glanced at the street, surveyed the block. The distinct feeling they were being watched nudged him. “Let’s talk about this in a more private setting.”

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