Page 78 of In Death, Love Survives

Locking the door as I go, I walk out of the medical unit and toward the exit.

As I go by, I see that all the prisoners are still outside. Some are working out or playing basketball, and others are gathered together chatting. Without trying to be obvious, I scan them to see if Wolfe is there.

I don’t spot him, but I do see Toby, who I’ve seen with Wolfe from time to time. He’s looking at me strangely and doesn’t break eye contact the entire time.

Some shouting breaks our eye contact, and then I spot Wolfe. He’s talking in the distance to someone I don’t recognize offhand. Clearly not a patient of mine.

Wolfe stills with his back to me, almost as if he senses that I’m around, but he doesn’t turn to check. I hadn’t realized that I paused in the walkway, waiting for his reaction.

Nothing.

I continue walking out, feeling even more confused than I’ve been all day.

The next day,I feel refreshed as I come back into my office. I spent the night cleaning out my apartment. Even though it could be described as minimalist, I had so much storage that I was saving for some reason.

I purged it all and felt lighter.

Then I moved on to actually cooking a meal, something with more than two ingredients, and watching reality television. It was the most normal evening I’ve had in ages. I wasn’t thinking about Wolfe, work, or anything else, just like I intended.

Today, I’m ready to take on whatever comes my way.

“Yes, she’s in there, but…” I hear Jessica stutter.

Crawley bursts through my door without notice.

Maybe I didn’t need to take on seeing Crawley first thing this morning.

“Dr. Fletcher. Just the person I need to see,” Crawley declares.

Ryan is right on his tail as he nearly stumbles behind him, followed by June.

I stand immediately from the sudden intrusion of these three.

“What’s going on?” I ask.

Crawley laughs as he shakes his head.

“What’s going on? Good question. Really good question now,” he answers as he starts to pace back and forth in front of my desk.

Ryan and June keep a healthy distance in the back.

“Dr. Owens here tells me you’ve been getting through to Wolfe Walker. Is that true?”

“I wouldn’t say getting through, but yes, he does speak to me in the sessions.”

Crawley pauses and puts his hands on his hips. His cowboy hat is tipping over the front of his face, but I can still see the anger seeping in.

“What do you talk about? There are barely any goddamn tapes to listen to.”

“We talk about the mundane.”

“The mundane?”

“Yes,” I say, standing my ground.

He looks at me like he doesn’t believe a word I’m saying. Glancing over at Ryan and June, I see them both looking nervous on my behalf. Only Ryan looks concerned for my well-being, and June looks as if I may spill something I know instead.

I don’t think I’m reading too much into it, but maybe she knows I was in Crawley’s office and can’t say anything. If she did, then he would find out she had just left and would also get into trouble. Potentially, have her job at risk with the way he tends to overreact.