Page 35 of Exit Strategy

‘The things he knew—’

‘I’m not telling you. Forget it.’

‘I’m not asking you to. My only question is, did he get the information from Dr Martin?’

Patten took a mouthful of water. ‘I can’t see it any other way. I feel so betrayed. If you can’t trust your therapist, who can you trust?’

Reacher said, ‘Are you certain the information came from Dr Martin? Could this guy who threatened you have found out from anyone else?’

Patten set her glass back down. ‘Definitely not. How could he? I didn’t tell anyone else.’

‘Not your friends? Your family?’

‘If I had, half of them wouldn’t be my friends anymore. And my family would disown me.’

‘Do you keep a diary?’

‘Not since I was thirteen.’

‘Did you check any research books out of the library about … whatever your situation is? Or buy any from a bookstore?’

‘No. I didn’t google it, either. And I didn’t ask Siri or Alexa.’

Reacher glanced at Gilmour, eyebrows raised. Gilmour shook his head. Reacher said, ‘You quit therapy when this happened?’

Patten said, ‘Before, actually.’

‘How did you settle on Dr Martin?’

‘My brother had seen her a year or so ago. The court sent him for evaluation. He’d gotten into some trouble with drugs, the idiot. The doctor didn’t help his defense any, but he said she made him feel better about himself.Less likely to backslide if he could ever get himself clean. So I figured I’d give her a try.’

‘So you quit therapy, then sometime later this guy, whoever he is, showed up and told you to hire Gilmour?’

‘Right.’

‘Was that the first time he contacted you?’

‘Yes.’

‘Do you have a way to get back to him?’

‘No. No name. No number. No email. Just a threat and an instruction.’

‘Has he been in touch since then?’

Patten paused, then said, ‘One other time. A couple of days later. He made me hire somebody else as well as Gilmour.’

‘For the same role?’

She shook her head. ‘No. A security guard.’

‘Another train wreck with no experience?’

Patten glanced an apology to Gilmour, then said, ‘No. This guy was well qualified. I remember thinking, why bother with the strong-arm shit? He would easily have gotten hired on his own.’

‘What’s his name?’

‘Arlon James.’