“Oh.” Olivia tried to keep her eyebrows from going skyward. She wanted to fire questions at the girl. Was she bipolar? Schizophrenic? Did she have violent episodes? “Should you...?” she began, but didn’t know where to go from there.
“It’s okay,” Elise said. “I didn’t hurt anyone. They think I tried to commit suicide so they had me locked up.”
“Who did?”
“My parents and my husband. This sandwich is really good. Quite fresh.”
“You tried to commit suicide?” Olivia’s voice was soft and caring.
Elise took a long drink of her tea. “No, I didn’t. I was so angry at my husband, Kent, that I couldn’t sleep, so I took one of his sleeping pills. What I didn’t know is that he had crushed four of them and put them in the drink he made for me. When I woke up in a hospital, Kent was crying and begging me to forgive him for slipping me the extra pills and nearly killing me. I told him I wanted a divorce. In the next minute, in came my parents with a therapist who was telling them that I’d tried to commit suicide. My throat was so raw I couldn’t talk but I looked to Kent to tell them the truth. But he lied and said I’d taken the pills by myself. And of course no one was going to believe me because I’d just tried to kill myself, right? So anyway, I was locked away for ‘protection’ and talked to for weeks about my suicidal depression. Only Jeanne believed me when I said that if I was going to kill anyone it would be my husband and not myself. Do you think they have any pie? I haven’t eaten much lately because I was hidden inside the trunk of Jeanne’s car for so long, then I was too angry to eat. Is there a restroom here?”
Olivia was blinking so hard she had trouble reacting. Hiding in the doctor’s trunk? She very much wanted to hear this story. She pointed out the restroom door, then raised her hand to the owner. She came to the table as Elise left.
“What do you need, Olivia? And I’m sorry about the waitress. She broke up with her boyfriend and is looking for a new one.” She glanced up as Ray came back in. “Is he available?”
“No. Not at all. Could you bring us a slice of every kind of pie you have?”
“There are six of them.”
“That’s great. One of each, and put everything on Kit’s bill, with a twenty-five percent tip.”
“You got it.” She was watching Ray as he started back inside. “If I were ten years younger...” With a sigh, she took the empty dishes and left.
Ray sat down across from Olivia, then looked at Elise’s glass of tea. “Did she show up?”
“She did.” Olivia was still trying to digest all that she’d heard.
“Is she crazy? I mean, she is one of Jeanne’s patients.”
“She’s not crazy at all,” Olivia said. “Would you like to have some pie? I’ve ordered rather a lot of it.”
“I’d love some.”
Chapter Two
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Kit asked. “Is Estelle’s house comfortable?”
Olivia held the cell phone close to her ear as she watched Ray and Elise looking at the flowers in her friend’s garden. Ray was big and handsome in a rough sort of way, while Elise looked as fragile as a butterfly. The two of them were so different they didn’t seem to be the same species.
“Are you still there?” Kit asked.
“Yes,” Olivia answered. “I’m here and listening. I heard you say you might have to stay in DC for a whole week. Which country are you trying to save?”
“I, uh—”
She cut him off. “I know. You can’t tell me. What do you know about Dr. Jeanne Hightower?”
“Nothing, really. My cousin Cale’s friend Ellie Abbott swears by her.”
“Ah, I see. Two mystery writers.”
“Yes.” Kit lowered his voice. “Has something happened? You sound...well, distant.”
“I just ran into a couple of very interesting problems, that’s all.”
“You’re going to stay with Jeanne’s patients and help out, aren’t you?”
Olivia gave a sound that was half groan, half laugh. “I’m not sure I like someone knowing me so well.”
“I may have missed out on a few years, but I remember everything. So tell me what’s going on.”
“Ray is a big guy, midthirties, who probably grew up on the wrong side of the tracks, but it looks like he’s pulled himself up in the world of sales. Now he wears Bond Street clothes, but I’d bet that he has a gang tattoo somewhere on his perfectly toned body.”
“I hope you don’t go searching to find out,” Kit said. “And the girl?”
“Money and manners. She dresses like a street kid but she probably went to Miss Porter’s and Bryn Mawr. I haven’t heard the whole story yet, but I think she tried to buck the system and she got locked up for it.”
“As in jail?”
“No. As in being held in a mental institution under lock and key. But it seems that Jeanne broke her out, hid her in the trunk of her car, and drove her across the country.”
Kit was quiet for a moment. “I thought what I was doing was exciting, but you have me beat. My concern is whether you’re going to miss me at all.”
“I don’t want to see our house until you’re with me,” she blurted out.
“Good! I like that. It’s you who was the practical one and wanted to stay there alone.”
“Are you saying you’re the romantic one?”
“Peacocks, well house, moonlight parties in the nude. They were all from me. Yeah, I think I’m the Emperor of Romance.”
Olivia smiled at the images of long ago that he brought up. “I’m not so sure. When you get back, you need to prove it to me.”
“I look forward to doing just that.”
They were silent for a moment, just breathing. “I better go,” Olivia said. “The warrior and the fairy princess have stopped talking. Ray might start trying to sell her a mountain that may or may not be full of gold.”
“What’s his problem?”
“He’s trying to get the courage to tell his wife that he wants a divorce. Poor thing. My heart goes out to her. He’s her entire life but he’s going to drop her.”
“You think it’s another woman?”
“Probably. You know the saying. Men divorce because they have someone else. Women leave because they’re fed up.”
“No, I hadn’t heard that one.” He paused. “Did you get fed up with me?”
“You know I didn’t. What happened between us was an accident. Just fate.”
“And two bratty kids and a peacock and...and Gaddafi.”
Olivia laughed. “Good idea. Let’s blame him. I do have to go. Ray is looking at his watch, and Elise looks like she might drift away into a fairyland of her own making.”
“Ah, my wife the brilliant people observer. How I could have used your expertise when I was working in Morocco. We could have—”
“Don’t,” she whispered. They had agreed not to dwell on what they’d missed in not being together all those years. At least not out loud.
“You’re right. I better go too. The prez is waiting for me.”
“The president? No! Don’t answer that. Just go. I love you.”
“And I love you more. Keep me up to date on this. It’s interesting.”
“I promise.” Reluctantly, they hung up and Olivia went into the garden. Ray and Elise were standing on opposite sides, lost in their own thoughts.
Their silence made it flash across Olivia’s mind that this woman she didn’t know, Dr. Jeanne Hightower, had planned for Olivia to be with them. That would have taken some detailed organization, but it could have been done. As it was, the situation reeked of too much coincidence. An “older woman” was supposed to have been with them, but she’d dropped out. Was it just an accident that Olivia had been asked to accompany these two? She didn’t think so.
“If you’re ready to go, we can leave now.” As she led them through the house, Ray picked up Olivia’s suitcase from beside the front door and followed the women outside. He put the case in her new BMW, another gift from Kit.
Olivia glanced at Ray’s sleek Jag, something more suited for a bachelor than a married man.
He closed the trunk. “I’m getting rid of it and buying an SUV.”
“Girlfriend pregnant?” she said before she thought. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.”