Page 72 of Stay Awake
“It is a vicious cycle. You need to break it if you’re to get better.”
He writes something on what looks like a prescription pad and hands it to me. I’m expecting it to be a script for drugs. Instead, he’s written the name of another doctor.
“A psychiatrist?” I look up in surprise.
“Dr. Rosen specializes in memory problems. Due to the circumstances of your condition and the fact that we can’t find any indication of damage to your brain in the scans, I believe this problem is most likely psychological. Dr. Rosen and I often work together with complex cases such as yours.”
He holds up a palm as if he knows I’m going to push back. “We need to work out what triggered your memory disorder. Fugues with no organic cause are usually the result of trauma, extreme psychological trauma. Dr. Rosen can help you identify and work through that trauma.”
“Trauma? What trauma?” I ask blankly.
He pauses as if contemplating how best to answer. “It’s best you discuss that with Dr. Rosen.”
I can barely hear him over an electrical crackle, rising in my head until it gets so explosive I want to put my hands over my ears and scream. When it stops, I realize I’m crying.
Dr. Brenner tries to comfort me. He tells me that his secretary will call Ted to come and get me. He says that he doesn’t want me to be alone.
“But I don’t know Ted,” I say so softly that only I can hear.
His reassuring voice washes over me until I find myself on an aqua chair listening to a baby screaming in a pediatrician’s examination room down the hall. Dr. Brenner’s secretary squats next to me, holding out a box of Kleenex.
“I’ve left a message for Ted,” she says. “I’m sure he’ll call back very soon. Meanwhile, Dr. Brenner has asked Dr. Rosen to come down and talk to you when he’s done with his next patient.”
The minute hand of the waiting room clock looks as if it’s frozen in time. I can’t take waiting anymore. I get up from my seat and lean across the receptionist’s desk to ask her what’s going on.
“I’ve just left another message for Ted. His voicemail says if he doesn’t answer then he’s probably in a meeting. I’m sure he’ll call back soon.”
“Maybe you don’t have the correct contact details for him? Can I check?” I’m curious to find out more about this mysterious Ted who is apparently listed as my next of kin.
“Is this his phone number?” she asks, rotating her computer screen so I can read it.
I don’t recognize the phone number. The address, on the other hand, is a whole different story.
Chapter
Forty-One
Wednesday 5:08P.M.
Detective Jack Lavelle navigated afternoon traffic to Brooklyn as he and Detective Halliday went over the shards of information they’d picked up so far on the case.
According to his fiancée, Elisabeth, Ted Cole had rented an apartment for his ex-girlfriend as a safe house because he was worried she might be in danger. It was in that apartment that he had been found stabbed to death early that morning.
“It seems straightforward,” Lavelle said. “Liv Reese snapped. She stabbed her ex, Ted Cole, and fled.”
“I think it’s too early for us to focus on her to the exclusion of all other suspects,” argued Halliday. “Ted believed that Liv Reese was in danger. That’s why he moved her to a safe house. Maybe the person he was trying to protect her from confronted them both and murdered Ted.”
“If that’s the case then why wasn’t she murdered as well?” Lavelle asked.
“I don’t know,” said Halliday after a moment’s thought. “I still think we need to find out why Ted thought Liv was in danger.”
“Maybe he made it up,” said Lavelle.
“Why would he do that?”
“Maybe Ted told his fiancée that his ex was in danger to hide the fact that he’d rented an apartment to conduct an affair with her behind Elisabeth’s back.”
“If Ted and Liv were having an affair, then why would Ted tell Elisabeth anything at all?” said Halliday. “Why not cover his tracks by telling her that he was late at work, or on a business trip? No.” She shook her head. “Ted told Elisabeth the truth. He had no reason to lie. He was genuinely worried about Liv’s welfare. We need to find out why.”
