Dex didn’t move. I flinched.
“What?” I asked, leaning closer to Dex’s arm. Mark of a criminal?
“I assume Dex knows this. That’s why he chose it. The fleur-de-lis is the mark of French nobility, and also the mark of a criminal. They were branded with it, usually on the shoulder or on the back. It showed that they were owned by the monarchy. Are you French, Dex?”
“Yes,” he said, sounding plain. He rolled down his sleeve. The movement was very robotic. I watched them both carefully, not wanting to interrupt.
“There you go. Not that that was hard to deduce. I can see it in your coloring. Dark eyes. Dark hair. Olive skin. You have all the French in you. But not all. You’re a half-breed.”
Dex gave the doctor an annoyed scowl. But the doctor continued, “Sorry. No disrespect. People’s ethnicities say a lot more about them than the people themselves. It’s part of the past and the past is what molds us.”
“We really don’t have time for amateur psychology, doctor,” Dex sneered. I imagined his sneer was as polite as I’ve ever heard it.
“I’m hardly amateur. And I apologize for being curious. I can tell this is all news to her and she wants to know more.”
He pointed his steepled fingers at me. Dex didn’t meet my eyes but kept his focused on the doctor.
“Half French…half Scottish?” he asked.
I expected Dex not to say anything. But he eventually said “Irish” out of curiosity to see where the doctor was going with all this. It was like going to a palm reader. I was more than glad that the attention wasn’t on me but I kind of wanted to know if he could guess my background.
“Ah. Irish and French. How perfect that is.”
“Oh yeah? How so?”
“You look it. And I bet your mother was the French one, am I right?”
Dex didn’t say anything.
I spoke up, “Is this all relevant?”
I knew Dex didn’t like to speak about either of his parents. I didn’t know anything about his mom except for the fact that she was dead, and his father ran out on him when he was a young boy, forcing him and his family into poverty. Dex had a hard enough time telling me all of that – though it was really nothing in the grand scheme of things – and I knew he wasn’t about to do it with some random doctor. Besides, Dex had enough damn doctors already.
“No, not really,” the doctor said. “I think we are done here. You may go.”
Gee thanks. I got out of my chair and grabbed onto Dex’s arm, pulling him up. He followed in a weird sort of daze, his eyes still avoiding mine, looking utterly lost.
We headed toward the door but the doctor called after us, “Sorry for being intrusive. This sort of thing still fascinates me. And it’s a nice change to be able to discuss it with people who still have level heads on their shoulders.”
Level-headed. That was a new one. I smiled, short and tense, at the doctor and waved, opening the door for us with my other hand.
He waved at us and went back to his Jenga pile of books, calling out, “Don’t forget, third floor only and you have one hour. One hour and that’s it.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Dex and I stepped into the half-lit hallway and I closed Dr. Hasselback’s door behind us. I moved my hand down Dex’s arm to his hand and shook it gently, peering at him.
“You OK there, Frenchie?”
His glare was very unamused, which, luckily, meant he was OK. I dropped his hand and patted him on the shoulder. “Shrinks, huh?”
He sighed and rolled his shoulders back. “Are you ready for the third floor?”
It sounded spooky and creepy already. I much preferred to deal with the doctor’s strange questions than to actually continue on with our little ghostcapade. But we had a job to do and in the event that Thursday and Block C wouldn’t happen, we had to do with what he had.
“Sure am,” I said. We started down the hallway back to the front doors. I wondered if Roundtree would be around to let us back in to get the equipment.
I voiced this to Dex and added, “I’ll just stay in here and hold the door for you. You can handle all the stuff by yourself, right? I saw you flexing earlier for the doctor.”
Dex let out a chuckle, which pleased me. “That was for you, kiddo.”
“Oh, I’m very flattered,” I teased and stopped in front of the doors.
He looked around the foyer, then opened the door. “I’ll be right back.”
“You better,” I said. I didn’t feel too good about waiting alone in the hospital. But it gave me a chance to attempt my plan. The car wasn’t far away, but there was a lot of stuff to gather. I had enough time.
As soon as the heavy door slammed shut and Dex disappeared from my sight, I turned on a dime and raced off down the darkened hallway, back toward the doctor’s office.
I knocked on the door as quietly as possible, catching my breath. And waited.
The door opened and Dr. Hasselback gave me a weary look. “Yes? Is there a problem?”
“Sort of. Can I come in? I’ll be two seconds. I just need your opinion on something.”
He wiggled his mouth and then opened the door. I shuffled in and walked over to his desk. He sat down, gestured to the chair again but I didn’t take it.
“This will only really take a moment.” I plopped my bag on the tiny patch of clear desk and rifled through it until I found my iPhone. I flicked through the apps to the camera one, knowing the doctor was watching me anxiously.
I found the application. I had secretly taken photos of each pill bottle earlier on the hunch that I would never find out what they were for. I displayed the phone for the doctor.
“I have a friend who is taking this medication. I took pictures of each label, if you just scroll around there.”
“Dex Foray?” The doctor looked at me.
“Maybe.”
“It says so on the label.”
“Oh. OK, yes. But please don’t tell him. He’s really sensitive about this and I just wanted to know why he was taking medication.”
“He’s your boyfriend?”
I shook my head adamantly. “Oh, no. No. He’s just my partner. For this show. But he’s my friend, too, and I’m worried about him.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. Can you just tell me what the meds are for?”
The doctor exhaled and brought the screen closer to his eyes. “Well, these yellow pills here are for severe hallucinations. The white long ones are also for hallucinations and also anxiety. The red and blue ones are antipsychotics. All of them are usually prescribed for schizophrenia. But Dex doesn’t seem schizophrenic in the slightest. And I have no idea what the little white ones are.”
“What? Really?”
He shook his head. “No. This Doctor Bains would know, I would hope, but this name makes no sense to me. I could look it up for you if you wish.”
I nervously eyed the door, knowing Dex would try to come back in the building at any minute.
“No that’s OK. So…hallucinations. Why…why would he be taking them?”
“You’d have to ask him,” he said, handing me back my phone.
I nodded, knowing I couldn’t after this. I had gone behind his back. I felt like I couldn’t get any lower.