Concealed Attractions (Cedar Island Tales) (14 page)

“
We used condoms.
Except for t
he last time we did it
on campus
. H
e said he was going to pull out—before—”

How many times
have I
heard
that?
Angela
sighed and turned around to face her new
pat
ient.
“
Dannilynn
,
your boyfriend
couldn’t
possibly
guarantee that you w
ouldn’
t get pregnant
by pulling out. If you’
re
going to be
sexually active, you have to be on the pill, or
get
an IUD
or one of the other devices now available
, or insist that your partner use a condom
—with foam
. Otherwise, you risk getting pregnant. Do you want that?”

“No
!
And,
I’m never going to have
sex again
. Ever.
”

All or none thinking. How soon w
ill
that change?
“I can understand why you might feel that way.”

Danni
reached for another tissue
.
“
I don’t want
to be pregnant. Not
like this, anyway
.
Maybe if I was married, and
old
. Not now.
”

Angela nodded.
“
Read
what I gave you
and decide what you want to do. And come back here
next week
. N
o later
,” s
he
repeated
.
“
Now, t
ake your time, wash your face, and stay in this room until Phoebe comes to
get you.
”

Angela spoke briefly with Phoebe before picking up the phone in her office.
“May I speak with Chief Mathiesen, please?”

“Good afternoon, Doctor Wright. What can I do for you?” New Harbor’s chief of police always sounded so cheerful.

“I’m calling to alert you to a possible problem—that is, if the person in question is around here, or nearby.”

“What person would that be?”

“A man whom I suspect gave Rohypnol to one of my
pat
ients—a young woman, college student.”

“Was she hurt?”

“She’s pregnant.”

“Hmm.
You think she was raped?”

“I suspect so, but the problem is that event is more than two months old. I have no identifying data to share with you and the young woman did not report what happened—until I saw her.
Do you know of any
sexual assaults
that might have occurred at any of the local campgrounds
?”

“Sorry to say, I haven’t. Actually, I’m glad we don’t, but sorry I can’t think of someone around here into that sort of thing. Who’s the
pat
ient?”

“She hasn’t given me permission to share that information.”

“And she’
s not a minor, so her parents—”

“Her parents don’t know. Yet.”

“Best I can do is let my officers know and if a complaint comes in, we can compare notes.”

“Okay.”

“Where was the scene of the crime?
You mentioned campgrounds.
”

Angela smiled to herself. The man was quick.
“At a national park, near M
ount
Baker. Not your jurisdiction, but I k
now you stay in touch with the park r
angers.”

“You’re thinking of that other case
. When on
e of your
pat
ients lost her son?
”

“I’ll never forget it.”

“Tell your
pat
ient if she sees the young man again to call us right away. Even if he’s just taking a stroll on the beach. Maybe if we talk to him and he knows we’re watching him, he’ll mind his manners.”

“I’ll do that, Chief. Thanks.”  Angela hung up.
Dannilynn
might
have more to worry about than being pregnant. As if that wasn’t enough.

That evening,
Joe
l
knocked on the side door of Angela’s office.

She
opened the door
.
“Why are you skulking in through the back?”

“Didn’t want to be seen.” H
e swept her into his arms.

She
slowly
extricated
herself
from his
embrace
.
“I thought we were going to cool th
is
for a
while.”

“Couldn’t help myself.” H
e
approached
her again.

She pulled away and sat down at her desk, rubbing her eyes.

“
A
hard day?
”
H
e
took
a seat near the window.

“You could say that.” She
felt his eyes on her
. “Let me guess. You want to know about
Dannilynn
.”

He smiled. “I told Phoebe I would ask professionally rel
evan
t questions.”

“
Go ahead
.”  She
retrieved the chart from the pile on her desk and
reviewed
its contents
.

“What limitations do I need to place on her activities at the clinic?”

“No heavy lifting would be good. Does she do much of that?”

“Not
really
. How about exposure to feces, that sort of thing?”

“I’d prefer that she n
ot clean out cat litter boxes.
Is that part of her work
?”

“
Whenever we have feline boarders—which
is
n’t that often
—unless they’re here for surgery. I’ll have
Kate, when she’s in—
or
Ben—
take
that
on
while
Danni
is here. She tells me she’s going back to school in the fall. Is that true?”

Angela
shook
her head, her blond hair catching the light from her desk lamp. “I’m not sure.” She
gaz
ed
into
Joe
l
’s warm brown eyes.
“You and she
seem to have a good
relationship—at least before you forced her to come see me.
Phoebe
mentioned
she
was
reluctant.”

“You guessed right. I’ve been sort of a boss qua big brother to her.
By the way, send me her bill. She’s saving her money for college.
”

“
I’ll comp her—
make her
one of my free clinic
pat
ients.”  She
twiddled a pen before sliding it into her center desk drawer
. “
Has she ever mentioned a boy
friend or any other male she might
be close to
?”

“Not a word.
Last summer, she was very shy around
boys
. In fact, she barely sp
ok
e to the kid
who
help
ed
me
build the
holding
stalls. I thought it was just ’
cause she didn’t like him, but Bronnie thought it was because she
hadn’t done much
dating.”

“Bronnie has daughters
?”

Joel
held up two fingers
.

“Then s
he would know when a girl is slow to get comfortable around boys
.
”

“But this year, she wasn’t so shy—with the customers, or with
Ben. ‘Course, he hasn’t come on
to her
, e
ither,
as far as I know
. S
he’s helped him with the Doberman a few times.”

“Ben’s your
extern
.”

He nodded. “That’s why
I’m
surprised she might be preggers. To be a bit more mature is one thing, but
—
”
Joel
leaned forward
.
“You don’t think she was raped, do you?”

“I can’t answer that,
Joe
l
. You know I don’t share
detail
s about my
pat
ients.”
She scanned his face for clues. “Has she said anything to you that might lead you to that conclusion?”

“
No.”
He got up from his chair. “Who would do that to that sweet kid? No wonder she doesn’t want her folks to know. Her dad would go off the
dee
p end
—
”

Angela’s voice rose.
“D
on’t you
dare
say it
, Joel
.
And
you
better not
let her know
you suspect it.”

“What do you mean?”

“I can’t say.”

“But she goes to Buckley College—a
private school. I always thought it was pretty uptight about
fraternizing between the sexes
.” H
e waggled his
eyebrow
s at her.

“Since when does sex
among college kids
not occur just because a school happens to be private
ly endowed
?
The hormones are still there,
Joe
l
.
”

“You’re right, but still
…Well, what do you want me to do—besides keep her away from litter boxes and no heavy lifting?”

“That’s about it. Treat her like you have before. M
aybe she’ll open up to you
.
I’ve asked h
er to get back to me
a week from today
. T
hat’s important. If she doesn’t ask for time to come see me, kick her butt in this direction, will you?”

“Yes, sir, er—ma’am.” He saluted
as he
stood
up
. “Can I give you a hug,
because
you to
ok
such good care of my
assistant
?” Before she could protest, he did just that,
adding a little
impromptu waltz around the office
. “Hm
m, you feel so good
, Angie
. We need to do this more often.”

She pushed him away
with a gentle shove
. “Not right now,
Joe
l
. Maybe later.
”
She
ushered him
toward the door.

He
gave
a mock gasp.
“L
ater? How do you define later, D
octor
Wright
?
”

She did not reply, except to
give him a quiet
smile.

During
a lull in customers,
Dannilynn
knocked on
Joe
l
’s office door.

“It’s open.”

“
W
hy
are you making
Ben do the cat boxes?
He said
he has to when Kate’s not here
.
”

He
looked
in her direction
.
“You want to be a vet. Why don’t you read up on diseases yo
u’
re exposed to from cat feces?
”
He
lowered his
voice. “Your doctor requires it.
”
He
bent his head over
his paperwork.

“Oh.” She left his offic
e, and came back a minute later
without knocking. “Are you going to fire me?”