Doubt (Caroline Auden Book 1) (28 page)

“And you know this because . . .”

“Because she’s camping in Oregon,” Caroline said, trying to control her exasperation.

“And you know your uncle is disabled because . . .”

“I got a text from the people who are doing this.” Caroline realized she was shouting at the same moment she realized the call was useless.

“Never mind,” she said, hanging up.

She ran her hand through her hair.

She needed another way to stop the discharge. She needed a doctor’s order. She scanned her mental roster for someone who could help. College friends. Law school classmates. Acquaintances from her days as a software engineer. Anyone with any link to Northridge Hospital.

Suddenly, she stopped.

Picking up her phone, she dialed the phone number for Hale Stern.

“Deena Pensky,” Deena answered.

“This is Caroline. You know, from work.” Caroline took a breath. She needed to make sense. “I need to ask a huge favor.” She paused, hoping that Deena had a soul somewhere beneath her designer clothes.

“Yes?” Deena said, suspicion coloring her voice.

“Your mom’s working at Northridge Hospital in neurology, right?”

“Yes,” Deena said, her voice rising at the end in question.

“I need you to call her. Or give me her number.” Caroline took another breath to settle her nerves. “My uncle is at Northridge. I don’t even know why or how he landed there, but it sounds like he’s in really bad shape. He’s had some drinking issues, and . . . it’s a long story. Anyway, I’m in Mendocino trying to find that missing scientist for the
SuperSoy
case and someone—I think someone connected to the biotech company—is trying to get the hospital to release my uncle to some creep who’s going to dump him on the streets unless I come home—”

“I get the idea,” Deena cut her off.

Caroline’s heart sank. Deena wasn’t going to help. Her last desperate hope was gone.

“Hold on a sec,” Deena said.

Caroline waited for the rebuff, but instead of words from Deena, she heard rustling, then a muffled conversation. When Deena came back onto the line, her voice was kinder than Caroline had ever heard it.

“I told her what’s happening. She’s going to call you. She’s going to help,” Deena said.

“Thank you. Thank you so much,” Caroline said.

“No problem.” Deena paused, an uncharacteristic break in her usual staccato delivery. “My brother has had some problems,” she added quietly. “I know how it goes.”

With those few words, Caroline’s image of the snobby New York associate shattered, making room for a more nuanced and empathic vision of Deena Pensky.

“Good luck up there. I’ll see you when you get back,” Deena said and hung up.

Seconds later, Caroline’s cell phone rang. When she answered it, Dr. Pensky-Levine introduced herself and said, “Your uncle was brought in by someone who claimed to have seen him wandering the streets in a state of extreme confusion. Our preliminary diagnosis is alcohol poisoning.”

“Will he be okay?” Caroline asked, wondering at the identity of this supposed Good Samaritan and the odds that he or she had something to do with her uncle’s gravely compromised state.

“It should resolve in the next day or so if it’s alcohol poisoning,” Dr. Pensky-Levine said. “But I want to rule out other potential causes for his condition. I’ve ordered a dozen tests. I’m requiring results before your uncle is discharged to home care. Don’t worry. He won’t be leaving anytime soon.”

“Thank you,” Caroline said. The two words were too small to encompass her gratitude.

“You don’t have to thank me. These tests are absolutely medically indicated.”

Caroline could almost hear the doctor smiling on the other end of the line.

“By the way, if anyone ever asks, this HIPAA-violating conversation never happened,” Dr. Pensky-Levine said. “Good luck getting that scientist to New York.”

And then the line clicked off.

Caroline sank down to the floor. She wrapped her arms around her body and held herself while she shook, the tension of the last minutes leaving her in fits of electricity. Her nervous system, keyed up to fight-or-flight readiness, twitched, looking for the hazard that had resolved itself.

I got a lucky break, she told herself. Uncle Hitch is safe.

She repeated these two facts over and over until gradually, slowly, the shaking stopped and was replaced with focus. Laser focus.

Caroline stood up, exhaling slowly and deliberately, finding her center again.

Now it was time to do what she’d come to Mendocino to do: get Annie to New York.

Nothing was going to stop her.

CHAPTER 15

Caroline parked in front of Annie’s building and stepped out of the Mustang. Overhead, the moon’s silvery light reflected off the whitewashed siding of the turn-of-the-century structure, making Caroline feel as if she were bathed in a spotlight. Exposed. Dangerously visible.

She paused, her ears straining to detect any out-of-place sounds. But she heard only crickets chirping in the pasture beyond the row of sleeping buildings.

Slipping around the back of the building, Caroline found a door tucked in an alcove with a mail slot. The apartment wasn’t recognizably an apartment. It was obvious why Annie had found it attractive.

Caroline tapped on the door.

Annie opened it a crack, as if she’d been waiting by it.

Upon seeing Caroline, she opened the door and stepped aside.

Entering the apartment, Caroline was struck by how sparse it was. No furnishings filled the living room, except for a single threadbare couch and a small, serviceable television set. This dwelling was intended to be a temporary arrangement, Caroline concluded. Even Annie hadn’t been able to convince herself she’d stay for long.

Whether that was a good or bad sign, Caroline couldn’t yet tell.

She glanced over at Annie, who stood with her eyes downcast and her arms folded across her chest. The overhead lighting reflected off the scientist’s black hair. Dark circles ringed her eyes. A testament to sleepless nights.

“Are you packed?” Caroline asked.

Annie nodded once without looking up.

“Good. Let’s get going. We have a long trip ahead of us,” Caroline said, looking around for Nolan. “Where’s your son?”

“Sleeping.”

Caroline raised an eyebrow.

“I’m not so sure about this,” Annie said. “This is a huge risk.”

“Once you testify, you’ll be safe.”

“I know. I understand all of that,” Annie said. “I know I need to get out of here . . .”

Caroline’s eyes traveled back to the packed suitcases by the door.

Suddenly, she realized that Annie planned to leave. But she hadn’t decided where to go yet. Tamping down her alarm, Caroline reminded herself that if Annie had wanted to run, she would’ve already done it. The fact that Annie hadn’t left yet meant she wanted to be convinced to go to New York.

“I know you’re scared,” Caroline said in a quiet voice. “Honestly, I am, too.” It felt good to admit her fear. Especially to Annie, who she knew shared it.

“But this is the right thing to do,” Caroline said. “We both know it.” Again, she spoke for both of them.

“I could leave here for two days, and then this will all end,” Annie said. “Like you said, once the hearing is over, they’ll have no reason to come for me.”

Caroline considered what arguments she could use to try to persuade Annie to join her. She considered what manipulations or subterfuge she might be willing to utilize to win the case. But then she exhaled.

“You’re right,” Caroline said. She was done trying to persuade. Trying to manipulate. “It’s true that it would be safer for you in the short run just to run away instead of coming with me to New York. But I can promise you this: nowhere else will give you your life back. Only testifying in New York will let you come out of the shadows.”

Annie’s dark eyes watched Caroline.

“Think about it,” Caroline continued. “If you reappear after the
SuperSoy
hearing is over, you’ll have to answer for so much. You’ll be the reason why the
SuperSoy
plaintiffs got their cases thrown out of court. You’ll have to live with that. Plus, the police will have a thousand questions for you.” She held up her hand. “I stand by what I said—you didn’t kill Franklin. But the police will have hard questions.”

“That’s the least of my worries,” Annie said quietly.

“I understand,” Caroline said. “But this is your chance to stop running.”

Instead of answering, Annie turned away. She walked to the bedroom where her son was sleeping.

Caroline stood frozen in the foyer, waiting.

Annie padded softly back into the room, her arms around herself again, hugging her body as if to stop it from shaking. She met Caroline’s eyes and said two words:

“Let’s go.”

Caroline led Annie and Nolan from the apartment. When she reached the street, she stopped, stretching out her senses for signs of danger. Scenting the air for predators.

She found none. Instead, the last light of day streaked the western sky. Somewhere in the distance, Caroline could feel rather than hear the deep bass thump of waves crashing against the bluffs, their rolling power relentless even in the night. Endless vibrations rising up through solid rock, the sound was both subtle and constant.

A sudden crack in the woods made Caroline’s breath catch.

She froze, listening. Watching the darkness for movement.

Beside her, she could sense Annie Wong holding her breath, too, hoping that the calm evening wasn’t about to turn into a nightmare.

When there were no further sounds, Caroline decided it must have been a deer or other nighttime woodland creature. Even knowing the sound didn’t connote actual danger, she couldn’t relax. Standing on the street, she felt exposed.

Her father’s old Mustang offered an illusion of safety, as if his arms were wrapped protectively around her. Still, she wanted to hurry Annie and Nolan along toward it.

“Come on,” Caroline murmured, stepping toward the car. She ignored the nose-to-tail gouge in the paint, a souvenir from her escape at the golf course. She just wanted to get inside. To get moving.

But Nolan stopped. He tipped his face up toward his mother, his eyes open and curious in the moonlight.

“How long are we going away?” he asked.

“Just a few days, honey,” Annie replied. “We’re going to go on a long trip, but then we’re going to come back here and pack up all of our stuff and go home.”

“Home to Henrik’s house?”

Annie paused and met Caroline’s eyes before answering.

“Yes,” Annie said.

“Good. I like Henrik,” Nolan said. “But can we come back and visit here some time? They have good ice cream here. And good swings.”

Instead of answering her son, Annie looked toward the hills and pastures. Even in the darkness, the air was fresh, a verdant green moistness overlaid with sea salt. But despite the pastoral beauty, Caroline knew what Annie was seeing: a prison. Nothing could ever erase the reason why Annie had come to this place.

“Maybe someday we can come back here,” Annie allowed, glancing at Caroline.

On the silent cue, Caroline led Annie and her son toward her waiting car.

Behind her, she heard Annie’s words, softly spoken to her son. “I need you to try to sleep in the car. We have a very long trip ahead of us.”

Annie strapped her son into the car seat. Then she moved to close the passenger door, her movements hurried and efficient, as if she felt as vulnerable as Caroline did in the open.

“Don’t forget Dino,” said Nolan, his almond-shaped eyes big and concerned.

Annie reached into the large purse slung over her shoulder. She fished out a turquoise dinosaur and handed it to Nolan, then moved again to close the passenger door.

“And Teddy,” Nolan said.

In answer, Annie opened her bag again, withdrawing a tattered stuffed bear, which her son took and tucked beside the dinosaur.

Nolan opened his mouth, but before he could speak, Annie handed him a gray fox.

Nolan smiled a large smile and hugged the fox as his mother shut the back passenger door and climbed into her seat.

When Annie had closed the door, all was quiet. The streets of Mendocino lay dormant and empty in the moonlight.

“Is it going to be a long drive?” Nolan asked, breaking the silence.

“We’ll be in San Francisco in about three hours,” Caroline answered, pulling away from the curb and swinging the Mustang onto the road.

“Is Dino short for dinosaur?” Caroline asked Nolan, her conversation an attempt to ward off the seriousness of their journey.

“No,” Nolan answered from the backseat. “It’s short for what kind of dinosaur he is. See if you can guess.”

“Can you give me a hint?” she asked.

“He lived in the Cretaceous period and liked to eat Tenontosaurus for breakfast.”

“Dimetrodon?” Caroline asked, though she knew it couldn’t be right.

Nolan laughed like she’d cracked a joke. “Dimetrodon wasn’t even a dinosaur. Plus, he lived in the Triassic. Tenontosaurus lived in the Cretaceous. So he couldn’t have been eating him. Dino’s a Deinonychus. Duh,” he added.

“Duh,” Caroline repeated, smiling. She chanced another glance at Annie Wong, whose eyes remained unreadable.

“I got us a flight out of Oakland to LaGuardia,” Caroline said, checking her rearview mirror as they drove out of town. Still no one else on the road. Good.

When Annie didn’t respond, Caroline left the subject of their travel plans. Annie probably didn’t care. She just needed to get the hearing over and done. So she could go on with her life . . . if that was possible after what had happened to her.

“Can we stop for food soon?” Nolan asked.

“As soon as we hit the 101 freeway, we can stop at a Burger Boy or something,” Caroline said, trying to think of the quickest meal she could find. They had a few hours before their flight. Even so, she wanted to get to the airport early.

“Maybe you could get a milk shake or something,” Caroline added.

“Woo-hoo!” Nolan crowed.

“If it’s okay with your mom, I mean,” Caroline added, casting the scientist another sideways glance.

When Annie didn’t respond, Caroline took it as agreement. Or catatonia.

“It’ll be my treat,” Caroline said. She’d charge dinner to the firm. It was the least Hale Stern, LLP, could do.

Prickles of bile clawed at Caroline’s throat. The oily film in her mouth was unpleasant but didn’t account for the morbid funk that always descended on her after eating a bad meal. She only got so many meals in a lifetime. She hated to waste any of them on inedible food.

Nolan, on the other hand, happily slurped a milk shake in the backseat, his stomach apparently impervious to the trials of fast food. Caroline envied him his hearty constitution.

Accelerating back onto the highway, she checked her rearview mirror. She saw only a handful of headlights scattered far behind her. Good. Perhaps their trip down to San Francisco would transpire without incident.

In the backseat, Nolan’s slurping slowed, becoming intermittent, and then finally stopped. When Caroline checked her rearview mirror again, Nolan lay sleeping against the seat belt, his milk shake still gripped in his hand, his menagerie of animals tucked across his lap. The child looked peaceful and not the least bit nauseated. Caroline envied him his comfort, too.

“Do you have any siblings?” Annie asked.

Caroline startled at the sound of the scientist’s voice. After Annie’s virtual silence during the meal at Burger Boy, Caroline hadn’t expected much conversation.

“No, I don’t have any brothers or sisters,” Caroline answered. “How about you?”

“I have a younger sister.”

“Are you close?”

“No. We used to be,” Annie answered.

Caroline could feel a story lurking behind the scientist’s tone.