The Therapist

by Kelly Holm

  The more Mila thought about it, the more frustrated she felt. Then she remembered something Leo mentioned at lunch, that Maggie was helping her mother investigate Dr. Blackmore. Maybe I should give Maggie a call and see just exactly what she knows, Mila thought. She quickly dialed Maggie’s number and waited for her to answer.

  “Hello?”

  “Hi Maggie, it’s Mila Thorton; Leo mentioned that you

  weren’t feeling well, so I thought I would call to see how you were doing.”

  “That’s so sweet of you. I’m feeling much better. How are you doing?” Maggie was touched that Mila would call and check on her, but she also thought that Mila’s call was a bit suspicious.

  “I’m fine, I mean, I miss Mama, but I’m doing my best to cope. Plus, work has been crazy busy, which is good because it keeps my mind occupied.”

  “I’m glad to hear that things are going well for you.”

  “How are you feeling?”

  “Oh, you know I’m doing ok; I think the worst part is the boredom, I can’t get out of bed, and I’m dying to get outside and go for a walk. All I’ve got for entertainment is reading or television; daytime television is horrible, and I don’t think I can read anymore, I’ve already plowed through four books in the last few days.”

  “How much longer are you bedridden?”

  “A few more days, then I can start walking but in moderation.”

  There was an awkward silence then Mila spoke,

  “Can I ask you something?”

  Oh, here it comes… Maggie thought.

  “Sure, honey, what is it?”

  “Leo told me that he believes my mother’s death might not have been… natural. What do you think?”

  Maggie wanted to scream, ‘it wasn’t, she was murdered by that piece of shit Dr. Blackmore’ but she didn’t; instead, she said,

  “Oh, honey, I don’t know. She had a stroke; you don’t get a warning before they occur. Did Leo happen to mention why he felt that way?”

  “He believes that Dr. Blackmore, the well-known

  psychiatrist, might have had something to do with it.” Mila was

  very interested to see what Maggie’s response would be.

  “I see, what do you think?”

  “I really don’t know what to think. Leo said that my mother knew Dr. Blackmore and that she didn’t like him much, but that doesn’t mean he had anything to do with her death.”

  “That’s true.”

  Maggie wasn’t sure what Mila was fishing for, but she didn’t want to be the one to tell her anything. She wasn’t sure how deep Mila was in with Dr. Blackmore, and losing one kidney was enough to keep her quiet.

  “Why would Mama be working with Dr. Blackmore anyway; she was a maternity nurse, and he’s a psychiatrist.”

  “Krystal wasn’t working with him; Ashley, one of her nurses, was because the floor Dr. Blackmore was working on was short staffed.”

  “I still don’t understand what my mother had against him.”

  Maggie could think of several things, but she wasn’t going to volunteer them. I know you’re trying to get me to spill, so here’s a little crumb for you to chew on, Maggie thought to herself.

  “Ok, look, here’s the deal. Your mother and I saw Dr. Blackmore coming out of surgery, and he isn’t a licensed surgeon. We thought it was strange, not to mention illegal.”

  “Did you confront him?”

  “No, we didn’t have a chance. Your mother died before we could go to Mr. Layton, the hospital administrator, with what we found.”

  Maggie hoped that Mila would believe her and stop asking questions. She didn’t want to tell her what really happened.

  “Why didn’t you go to the hospital administrator after she died?”

  “I guess it wasn’t that important to me anymore.”

  “What did you find; I mean, it must have been pretty big if you were going to Mr. Layton about it.”

  Maggie was worried that she may have already said too much. Play it down, she told herself.

  “It was nothing, really, we just saw Dr. Blackmore coming out of surgery in bloody scrubs. You know, in hindsight, it really wasn’t that big of a deal, and I’m glad that we didn’t say anything.”

  “Leo said you had to have emergency surgery and they removed one of your kidneys,” Mila said, suddenly changing the subject.

  That was a quick change; at least she stopped asking about Dr. Blackmore, Maggie thought.

  “Oh, he did, did he?”

  “What happened, if you don’t mind me asking? Leo said you thought it was suspicious.”

  Thanks a lot, Leo, Maggie thought.

  “Well, you know, sometimes my mind goes a little crazy when I can’t understand why something happened. Turns out, I had a serious infection and removal was the only cure,” Maggie lied.

  “Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.”

  “No worries.”

  “Hey Maggie, I’m sorry, but I have to cut this short, I have a patient arriving any minute. I’ll be in Rockville in a couple of weeks, how about if I swing by for a visit?”

  “That would be great. I’ll look forward to that.”

  Mila felt confident that Maggie didn’t know what was really going on. However, it still didn’t satisfy her curiosity about her mother’s death.

  A couple of days later, Mila was at Dr, Blackmore’s office picking up some paperwork, and she asked if she could have a few

  minutes of his time.

  “Dr. Blackmore, do you have a minute? I’d like to talk to

  you about something.”

  “Sure, come into my office.” Mila followed him into his office and sat down in the plush leather chair across from his large mahogany desk.

  “I appreciate you taking some time for me.”

  “Of course, what can I do for you?” he said, as he leaned back in his chair getting comfortable.

  “I was wondering if you knew my mother, she was a nurse at Freyhill hospital.”

  “What was her name?”

  “Krystal Thorton.”

  Dr. Blackmore slowly sat up in his chair, placed his elbows on the desk, steepled his fingers, and sighed.

  “Hmmm… the name doesn’t sound familiar; you said Krystal Thorton… and she was a nurse at Freyhill hospital? To be honest with you, I meet a lot of nurses, and honestly, I don’t think I had the pleasure of meeting her.” Mila noticed that his eyes were darting back and forth, and he was running his fingers through his beard as he was trying to answer her.

  “She was in charge of the maternity ward.”

  “Well, hmmm… I didn’t spend any time in the maternity ward; my office is on a different floor. Why do you ask?” Dr. Blackmore asked as he smoothed his beard again.

  “She passed away recently and someone thought that maybe you had something to do with it. I know it sounds crazy,

  but I had to ask.”

  “Hmmm, that’s strange. I don’t understand why you think I would be involved; I didn’t know your mother. How did she die?” He asked as he cocked his head to one side and smoothed his beard again.

  “She had a massive stroke, died instantly.”

  “Well, I don’t know how I could have caused that. People have strokes all the time. I think your friend is confused. Do I know this friend?” he asked, starting to sound agitated.

  “No… you know, I shouldn’t have brought it up. Do you think we could just forget I did?” Mila was embarrassed; after she asked, she realized how silly it sounded.

  “Brought what up?” Dr. Blackmore replied with a big grin.

  “Thank you.”

  “Was there anything else you needed?”

  “No, I should get back to the office. Thank you for your time.”

  “Anything you need Mila; my door is always open. Do you think we could have a meeting in a couple days, I want to run something by you?” He didn’t say anything to Mila, but he was very impressed with the patients she was sending over.

  “Sure;
did I do something wrong?”

  “Oh no, it’s quite the contrary. I wanted to speak with you about joining forces.”

  “Joining forces, what exactly do you mean?”

  “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately, and I’ve decided that I want to have a partner in the business. It’s getting much larger than I initially planned, and I really need another person to help. I’ve been very impressed with the patients you have sent over, and I think the two of us could take this business to a whole new level,” Dr. Blackmore explained.

  “Wow; you’re asking me to be a partner?”

  “Yes.”

  Mila didn’t know what to say, she was still embarrassed for asking him about her mother. She had no idea he was thinking about adding a partner.

  “It’s something I would definitely consider. Do you need

  an answer right now, or could I think about it?” Mila was shocked, she had no idea Dr. Blackmore held her in such high regard.

  “You can take some time to think about it. I’ve taken the liberty of drawing up a contract with all the details.” He reached into his desk drawer and pulled out the contract. He handed Mila a copy.

  “If you don’t mind, I’d like to take some time to read this before I sign it.” Mila was floored; this was not what she was expecting.

  “So, is that a yes?”

  “It’s a definite, maybe.”

  “That’s tremendous. Look, take the contract home, look it over, and let’s meet next week and discuss things.”

  “Thank you so much for this opportunity,” Mila said as she stood up to leave.

  “You’re very welcome; I look forward to hearing your final decision.”

  When Mila got out of her car, she couldn’t believe what just happened. She took a moment to catch her breath and think about the possibility of becoming a partner. This is huge, but the timing sure is weird. I wonder why he chose me; I’ve only been working with him a short time, she thought. She put the thought to the back of her mind and started the engine.

  As Mila was putting the car into drive, to back out of the parking spot, her mind drifted back to their earlier conversation about her mother. She was so embarrassed that she let her emotions get the best of her and hoped that Dr. Blackmore would understand and not think less of her for it.

  However, there was something about the conversation that just didn’t sit right with her. Dr. Blackmore said he didn’t know her mother, but she noticed that when she asked, his eyes were

  darting back and forth like he wasn’t sure what to say. When he did answer, he kind of hemmed and hawed almost like he was making something up. He was very vague and played with his beard a lot. Suddenly she hit the brakes.

  “Oh my god, he’s lying,” she exclaimed. It was like a light bulb went on in her mind, and she could see the truth. It wasn’t any one thing; it was the combination of all his body language when they were talking that tipped her off that he might be lying. Mila wondered if he was using the partnership proposal to throw her off the scent. Damn I sure hope not, it sounds like a fantastic opportunity, she thought.

  She quickly pulled back into the parking spot, turned the car off, and reached to open the door, but she stopped herself. This was quite an accusation, and she wanted to be sure before she went to him calling him a liar. As she sat in her car debating what to do, she saw Dr. Blackmore leave the building and get into his car. She waited until his car was out of the parking lot, and then she went back into the office.

  “Sofia, I was wondering if you could help me.”

  Sofia closed the textbook she was reading and gave Mila her full attention.

  “Sure, what do you need?”

  “I need to get into one of Dr. Blackmore’s files. I sent him a patient, and I forgot to notate something vital in the file. I’m pretty sure he’s seeing the patient tomorrow, and he will need this information.”

  “Dr. Blackmore just left for the day.”

  “Oh, shoot. Is there any way you might be able to let me into his office for a few minutes?”

  “Well, I’m not supposed to… but I trust you,” Sofia said, as she and Mila walked over to his office and she unlocked the door and let her in.

  “Thank you so much; I promise I won’t say a word. It will be our little secret,” Mila said.

  Once she was inside his office, she quickly went to his personal file cabinet and opened it up. She flipped through the files looking for one with her mother’s name. She got all the way through one cabinet drawer with no luck. Then, she realized that those were files A-M, the drawer below it housed N-Z.

  She quickly opened the bottom drawer and looked directly into the T’s. Torres, Thomson… and there it was, Thorton, Krystal. She immediately grabbed the file and opened it, but just as she did, Sofia came back into the room. Mila quickly put the file down so Sofia wouldn’t see.

  “I don’t mean to rush you, but I need to get to class. Are you almost finished with what you needed to do?”

  Mila knew she had to distract Sofia so she could take the file, so she nonchalantly dropped her pen, giving it a good toss. It flew across the floor and right past Sofia, who immediately turned her head and picked it up. When she did, Mila quickly placed the file in her briefcase and closed the file drawer.

  “Oh, thank you so much for picking that up. It just flew right out of my hand.”

  “You’re welcome, I’m sorry to have to rush you.”

  “Oh, no worries, I made the notation, and all is good.”

  Mila walked out to her car, got in, and drove home. She couldn’t wait to read the file he had on her mother, maybe it would shed some light on her untimely death.

  When she got home, she quickly opened her briefcase and pulled the file out. She wanted to see if her mother was a patient or what her connection to Dr. Blackmore actually was; but before she could read anything, Milo jumped up next to her and demanded some attention.

  “Oh Milo, how are you, my sweet baby? Did you have a good day?” she asked while she petted him and scratched under his chin while he purred.

  Her mother’s file looked like all the other files, except in the blank where it lists the patients’ truth; Krystal’s file just said ‘Snoop.’ Mila put the file down and sighed; she was worried about what she might find when she read the rest. She had to be prepared for the worst; if it turns out that he did kill her mother, what did that mean for her and the partnership offer? Would she be able to move past it and still take the offer, she wasn’t sure.

  Mila took a deep breath and opened the file again. As she paged through, she started to feel a big knot of anxiety, forming in her stomach. The file confirmed her worst fears; it said that Dr. Blackmore injected her mother with the same medication that he uses on the other patients; except this time, he tripled the strength so it would work much faster. When she died, he harvested not only her kidneys but also her heart and eyes.

  Mila felt sick; she couldn’t believe what she just read. Suddenly she felt her stomach coming up to her throat, and she quickly ran to the bathroom to throw up. Karma had definitely come back to bite her in the ass. As she sat on the floor next to the toilet, she thought about her next move. She wanted to kill him, make him feel pain for what he did to her mother, but while one part of her felt this intense rage, another part of her wanted to forget what he did, and accept the partnership offer. She knew both options were probably wrong, but the rage she was feeling was starting to take over.

  After a few minutes, Mila realized that she didn’t know if the partnership offer was even something she really wanted, she hadn’t read the contract yet. She splashed some water on her face, brushed her teeth, and pulled her hair back into a pony; then she

  went back into the living room, pulled out the contract, and started reading.

  The first part of the contract appeared to be the real deal, with a generous pay raise and several perks. Mila would not only be recommending patients but also negotiating with the buyers on the black market. It sou
nded incredibly exciting. This could be my opportunity to really make a difference and change things in the world, she thought, and I’ll be getting incredibly rich while I’m doing it.

  Mila’s only obstacle was her conscience, it was screaming for her to do the right thing, but she wasn’t listening. If only there were a way to avenge Mama’s death and still accept the partnership, she thought.

  Chapter 15

  When Larisa woke up the following morning, after the horrible panic attack the night before, she wasn’t feeling very well. Her stomach was jumpy like she just stepped off the X2 rollercoaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain, and her mind had a bad case of brain fog, which she hoped would clear soon; not a great combination to start off her day.

  Larisa had felt like this before though, usually when she saw or thought of something that reminded her of that gut-wrenching night twenty-five years ago, but today, she wasn’t sure what was triggering the feelings. It must be nerves, she thought, because of her appointment later that day with Dr. Blackmore; but in all honesty, she was more excited than nervous about the appointment. She had been dealing with these panic attacks for over twenty-five years, and she was more than ready to be done with them.

  Larisa got up and got ready for her day; by the time she was set to leave, she was feeling much better. It was a big day for her, not only did she have the appointment with Dr. Blackmore, but she was also showing a new client, Francisco Silva, who was flying in from Portugal, some options for a second home here in L.A. Mr. Silva was an international buyer for a prominent clothing line, and he decided he wants to have a base here in Los Angeles.

  Larisa found three houses and three condos she thought Mr. Silva would like and arranged showings for all six this morning. When she had clients that lived in other countries, she tried to streamline things as much as possible; she understood that they were busy and on a tight timeline. Larisa sent Mr. Silva photos of each of the properties, and he was quite pleased with her choices. She felt confident that he would choose one today.