The Missing Year (25 page)

Back at the loft, Ross tried to recreate what had happened at Lakeside. When he met Camille and Mattie out front, the patrol cars were gone. “There’s no way policemen escorted a woman past you two and you didn’t notice, right?”

Camille, who had changed back into her own clothes, pursed her lips. “Really, Ross? We didn’t happen to notice an arrest in progress?”

“Is it possible you were so caught up in what you were doing that you missed them?”

“No. Absolutely not,” Camille said. “No one came down the stairs before you and those two guards.”

Mattie had been unusually quiet since leaving Lakeside.

“You okay?” Ross rubbed her shoulders from behind the chair.

“There were
police
, Ross. I’m fine, but we could’ve been arrested.”

“For impersonating a couple of girlfriends? Not likely,” Camille said. “Anyone up for a trip to the bar? I could use another martini.”

Mattie held her stomach. “No more pumpkin.”

“None for me, either. Thanks.” Ross had too many things on his mind to be interested in anything other than finding Lila. “What about a back door? There’s an emergency exit. Is it possible they took her out that way?”

Mattie turned to face him. “Anything’s possible, Ross, but if the police
did
take her away, what can you do about it?”

The answer, though Ross hated to admit it, was nothing.

“Mattie, I have to find her.”

“Okayyyy,” Camille stood up. “Since I know less than a fraction of what’s going on here, I’m going to show myself out so you can talk.”

“Camille, you don’t have to go,” Ross said.

“Maybe if you two brainstorm you can come up with something.”

“Or maybe you can help me talk him out of this,” Mattie said. “Ross, we’ve bent enough rules that I think you’re asking for trouble.”

“Mattie’s right,” Camille said. “You should probably leave this alone.”

Ross wasn’t ready to accept defeat. “What about Lila’s lawyer? If I can figure out who that is, they should know where she is, right? God, Guy looked so
smug
.”

“Not for nothing, Ross, but I’m not the only actress in town. What if he was bluffing? Trying to get you to admit to something you know? It wouldn’t be unheard of.”

“If it was an act, where’s Lila?”

“I have no idea and I’m out of the business of finding out. I’m hanging up my Adele Clements hat.” She hugged Mattie. “Take care of him, would you?” She hugged Ross next. “You have one of the good ones here. She’s smart, a better actress than she gives herself credit for, and she knows how to make a slap hurt. Think about that before you upset her.”

Ross half-heartedly returned the embrace, too preoccupied with possibilities to be in the moment. “Thanks, Camille, for everything.”

“What are friends for? Anyway, Ross, Mattie’s right. Don’t mess up a good thing over this. Sometimes you have to know when to let go.”

Ross knew she wasn’t only talking about Lila’s case.

“Take care,” Camille waved to Mattie, “and stay in touch.”

“I will,” Ross said, locked the door behind her and firing up his laptop.

“What are you doing?” Mattie said.

“I’m looking for the Wheelers’ attorney. They’re high-profile people. Maybe there’s something about who represents them, or has historically.”

More than a dozen pages of answers returned, none of them what Ross wanted. There were links to the hospital’s legal staff, to malpractice lawyers, and to lawyers in general, but nothing he could use to find Lila.

“Anything?” Mattie said.

Ross shook his head. “Nothing. What if she hasn’t been arrested? If she somehow got out of Lakeside she’d go home, right? To Edinburgh?”

“I don’t know what you base that on. Maybe that’s the
last
place she wants to be right now. She hasn’t been back since—”

“Blake’s funeral.”

“I was going to say since she tried to kill herself, but neither makes home more welcoming. Listen, I know you want to help, but you’re officially at a dead end.”

“I don’t believe that, Mattie. I came all the way here to help her. I can’t leave if I don’t know where she is.”

“That’s where you’re wrong. You can’t
stay
because you don’t know where she is. How long do we live in a hotel? A day? A week? What about when I have to go back to the doctor for my follow-up?”

“You said you wanted to be here.”

“I want to be wherever you are, Ross. Always. But you’re fighting a losing battle. We tried tonight. We went above and beyond, but Lila made a decision she has to live with. You did, too, and her being caught, if that’s what’s happened, has nothing to do with you.
You
didn’t incriminate her. When is it enough? What do you want to do? Drive back to her house? And if she’s not there, then what? Stalk her mother-in-law? Get Camille to play another role for you? You go from one obsession to the other. It’s like—”

“Say it.”

“I won’t, but you know you tend to hang on to things.”

“Mattie, Lila confided in me. What she did wasn’t wrong.”

“This is a gray area at best. Lila forging her husband’s signature
is
illegal, whether you agree with that or not. Right and wrong doesn’t come into play here.”

“She’ll lose everything if I don’t help her.”

Mattie took his hand, leaning against the edge of the desk facing him. “I’ll make you a deal. I can’t say I’ll stay indefinitely, but I’ll stay long enough to find out if Lila was arrested or not. Something like this would make headlines either tonight or by first thing tomorrow, right?”

Ross nodded.

“If by the morning’s news nothing shows up, we fly home,” she said. “You’ve gone borderline too far on this one. I’ve waited a long time for us to have a life together and I don’t want it to end with you in handcuffs. What do you say?”

“What if Lila
has
been arrested?”

“Then we’ll stay in New York long enough to meet with her attorney and see if there’s anything you can do. If you need to come back to testify or do a deposition then we’ll make arrangements. We’ll do what we can to help her, within the law. Agreed?”

“Agreed,” Ross said.

“And we’ll pack just in case.”

The following morning held no news about Lila or Blake Wheeler, the forged advance directive, or what might have transpired at Lakeside for the police to have been called there. As agreed, Ross and Mattie had taken the first available flight home to Chicago. Mattie slept most of the way, giving Ross time to think about all that had happened. He wanted more than anything to believe that Camille was right, that Lila was somewhere safe, but with Ruth out for blood, he wasn’t sure there was such a thing.

Hours turned to days, Ross observing a strict morning ritual of searching both the Lake Placid and Edinburgh news. Lila had vanished, the only positive sign in all of it that her house had been taken off the market, and even that was questionable. There was no public record of a buyer. It could have easily been too soon.

Sitting back in his office chair, listening to Mattie unpacking her things in the next room, Ross knew that leaving New York was the right thing to do. There had been no more phone calls from Guy or Mark, and the only person that did call, Dr. Daniel Long, had gotten news he clearly hadn’t expected.

Ross tendered his resignation and promised to follow up with the formal written notice he had just finished writing. He printed the letter and checked to see that the pen he planned on signing with had ink in it.

“Mattie, can you come here a minute?” No matter how many times he read what he wrote, he wasn’t sure it was right.

“Everything okay?” Mattie wore a pair of baggy jeans and a sweatshirt. She had little makeup on and finally seemed at home.

Ross had rarely seen her so relaxed. “Can you take a look at this? I feel like I should say more about why I’m leaving, but I’m sure it doesn’t matter. It’s not like the hospital and I were on the best terms.”

“That wasn’t entirely your doing. You were crucified for doing what you were asked to. Dan knows how you are. He counted on it.” Mattie took the letter from his hand and sat on his lap to read it.

Ross wrapped his arms gently around her, though she insisted she was completely healed. She said he was going overboard in refusing to let her lift or carry anything. After all he had put her through, it was the least he could do.

“What do you think?”

“Short, sweet, and to the point.”

“You don’t think it’s too short and sweet?”

“It says what needed saying. Feels good to be out of there, right? I mean after what Dan did and this whole Lakeside thing.”

“I still don’t know what really happened there. When I saw Dan after your accident, he asked me to come back. He said he needed me.”

“He still suspended you.”

“True. Anyway, it’s over. Dropping off the letter is a formality.”

“Speaking of, did you make that phone call?”

“To Tim? Yes, this morning. He was happy I accepted the position.”

“He’s not the only one.” Mattie kissed him. “Think you can put up with me all day every day?”

Ross smiled, trying to push away the thoughts of New York and Lakeside. “I’m sure I can manage.”

“
Manage
. I’m flattered.” Mattie rolled her eyes. “No news is good news, you know?”

“What do you mean?”

“I can tell when your mind’s somewhere else by now. You might as well admit it.”

“I’m sorry. This whole thing with Lila has me bugged. The way Guy was acting, it was like he got exactly what he wanted. You don’t think Ruth or the lawyers made it so the news wouldn’t report Lila’s arrest, do you? People can do that, right? Not every crime makes headlines.”

“It’s been almost two weeks. I think it’s time to let this one go.” Mattie kissed his forehead and stood to leave.

“Where are you going?”

“I still have a couple more boxes to unpack and—” The doorbell interrupted her. “Are you expecting something?”

“No, you?”

“I haven’t even put in a change of address, but I’ll get it.”

“No,
I’ll
get it.”

“No. No. I insist. You have a letter to sign.”

“And you have boxes to unpack.” Ross chased Mattie downstairs, swerving around her in the foyer and pulling the door open with a smile.

A stunning brunette with crisp blue eyes and a tentative smile stood on the other side of the threshold, her arms folded across her chest.

“Lila?” Ross said.

Mattie’s eyes went wide.

“I’m sorry for showing up like this, Dr. Reeves.”

“Ross, please call me Ross. What are you doing in Chicago?”

“Strange coincidence. I had some business to take care of with Blake’s estate and the life insurance policy. The company is based in Chicago, so I thought I’d make the trip in person. You know, clear my head. It’s been a while since I’ve been anywhere.”

“How did you find me?”

“Mark. I hope you don’t mind. I asked him to get me your address out of your file. He had said you were looking for me, so he figured there was no harm.”

“That place is terrible with security.”

“Tell me about it.”

Mattie cleared her throat and locked her arm around Ross’s, looking up at him with an expression that said he had overlooked formality.

“I’m sorry. Lila, this is my girlfriend, Mattie. Mattie, meet Lila Wheeler.”

“I’ve heard a lot about you.” Mattie shook Lila’s hand.

“All good I hope. May I come in?”

“Please. Can I offer you something to drink?” Ross couldn’t believe the woman he had been looking for had turned up in his living room. “Make yourself comfortable.”

“I’ll only be a minute.” Lila sat on the sofa.

Ross sat across from her.

Mattie brought two bottles of water, though Lila had said she didn’t want anything. “I’m going to finish unpacking,” she said, “give the two of you time to catch up.”

Ross waved her over for a kiss before leaving.

Lila smiled. “Beautiful girl you have there.”

“Thank you?” Ross wasn’t sure what to say. He was still too shocked. “What happened to you? I went back to Lakeside and I thought—”

“The police were there to arrest me? Mark had said.”

“One minute they were there and the next they’d left.”

“It was a new patient admission sent over from the hospital. Mark said it was an out of control teen.”

“Mark seems to have said a lot. I didn’t think you talked to him so much.”

“I didn’t. Only recently. There were things that needed tying up.”

“Does he know?”

“What I did? No. He suspected after what he’d heard from Ruth and Dr. Oliver. You are the only person I admitted the truth to. Thank you for not saying anything. I know you were getting pressured, that your job was threatened.”

“I wouldn’t have talked regardless. All things considered, you made a valid decision. How did you get out of Lakeside? What happened? Is everything all right?”

“It will be. I signed a lot of paperwork going in that I shouldn’t have. I made a call to my lawyer and she came to help me. I had no idea what I was doing, or who was doing what to me when I was admitted.”

“You mean Ruth?”

Lila nodded. “Her house was my first stop after the lawyer’s office.”

“Speaking of houses, what about yours?”

“No sale. It’s taken a couple of weeks to get everything straightened out, but I’m home where I should be thanks to you.”

“Me? What did I do?”

“You understood me. You helped me believe I had done the right thing, for me, honoring Blake’s wishes, and you reminded me that there was a life outside Lakeside. If you hadn’t told me about the house being on the market, I’m not sure I’d have acted so quickly or so drastically. I needed the push to get out of my own way. I came to terms with things the way Blake had come to terms with his mortality. He wanted to die before the disease ruined him, before he became something neither of us would have wanted. He saw an opportunity and he took it. I know it and I’ll make sure Garrett Wade knows it, too, because eighteen-years-old is too young to have someone’s death on your head. The kid was high, frantic. Blake took advantage. He had told me once that his father might as well have been an invalid his entire life because that was how he remembered him. You know how I remember Blake?”

“How?”

“The night of the shooting, I had been studying for my first nursing exam. It had been a long time since Blake and I had been together, you know, physically—since the day he pushed me, actually. He had a harder time forgiving himself for that than I had forgiving him. I knew he didn’t mean to hurt me, but I also knew it was the beginning of changes neither of us was prepared for. We made love the night of the shooting, on the living room sofa, and I was going to cook us a late night snack, but we were out of eggs. When I think of Blake, I don’t think of him as sick, or dying. I remember him as young and healthy, running to the store so we could have omelettes. He told me he loved me and that night, I felt it. Losing someone changes people, but Blake was ready to go. I’m not sure I would have accepted that without your help, so thank you.”

“You helped me, too, believe it or not.”

A knowing smile spread across Lila’s face. “Looks like you’re working on your second chance.”

“Second? More like one-hundred-and-second. Everyone needs forgiveness, right?”

Lila nodded.

“What’s next for you? What about Ruth and the paperwork? I got the impression she was out for blood.”

“
Was
. Funny how the right lawyer can put the fear of God in someone. Ruth stands to be in as much trouble as I would have been for the forgery, or worse, for what she and Dr. Oliver did to me. She went too far, crossed too many lines. The paperwork I signed under heavy sedation nullifies any hold she had on me or Blake’s estate. Ruth doesn’t want Blake’s illness exposed, nor does she want his memory tarnished. He died a hero. People wouldn’t look at him the same way if they knew his death was more of an assisted suicide.”

“What about Guy?”

“Lakeside’s troubles being what they are, I don’t expect him to be supportive of Ruth since she’s not making that donation he had hoped for. Mark told me everything after all. Things are as they should be. Ruth and I reached an understanding, which is more than I’d have expected.”

“So everything’s settled between the two of you?”

“We agreed that trying to destroy each other means neither of us wins. She even returned Princess.”

Ross managed a smile. “Then I guess this is happily ever after?”

“As much as it can be for people like us.”