Fool Me Once

“But that much? That long?” She put a trembling hand to her mouth. “If what you’re claiming is true-and I’m not saying it is-then it had to be big.”

Maya knelt down. “Where is your husband, Mrs. Douglass?”

“I don’t know.”

Maya waited.

“That’s why I called you back. Tom’s been missing for three weeks.”

Chapter 19

Mrs. Douglass had reported her husband missing to the police, but really, when a fifty-seven-year-old man goes off without suspicion of foul play, there is little the police can do.

“Tom loves to fish,” she said. “He goes away for weeks at a time. The police saw that. I told them he wouldn’t do that without telling me but…” She gave a helpless shrug. “They put his name in the system, whatever that means. One of the detectives said that they could open a full investigation, but they wouldn’t be able to look at his work files without a court order.”

Maya left a few minutes later. Enough waiting. She called her former mother-in-law. Three rings later, Judith said in a low voice, “I’m in with a patient. Is everything okay?”

“We need to talk.”

There was a strange pause, and Maya wondered whether Judith was making her excuses and leaving the room. “Meet me at my office. Five o’clock okay?”

“Done.”

Maya hung up and called Eddie about picking up Lily.

“Let her stay,” he said. “She’s having a blast with Alexa.”

“You sure?”

“Either you’re going to have to let Lily visit a lot more or I’m going to have to hire an adorable two-year-old to come by.”

Maya smiled. “Thanks.”

“You okay?”

“I’m good, thanks.”

“Don’t do what she did, Maya.”

“What’s that?”

“Don’t lie to protect me.”

He had a point, but then again, where would they be right now if Claire had confided in him?

There was a car parked in her driveway. A familiar figure sat on a bench by her back door, taking notes on a yellow legal pad. Maya wondered how long he had been sitting there. More than that, she wondered why he was there now.

Was it Shane-or another coincidence?

She pulled up and put the car in park. Ricky Wu didn’t look up until Maya was all the way out of the car. He closed his pen with a click and smiled at her. Maya did not smile back.

“Hello, Maya.”

“Hello, Dr. Wu.”

He didn’t like to be called Doctor. He was one of those shrinks who really wanted to be on a first-name basis. Maya’s father used to play a Steely Dan song from the seventies called “Doctor Wu.” She always wondered if that was the reason he winced a bit whenever she called him that.

“I called and left you messages,” Wu said.

“Yes, I know.”

“I thought it might just be better if I stopped by.”

“Did you now?” Maya unlocked the door with her key. She entered. Wu followed her inside.

“I thought I might pay my respects,” he said.

She made a tsk-tsk noise. “I’m surprised.”

“Pardon?”

“I didn’t think you’d try to renew our patient-shrink relationship with a lie.”

If Wu was offended, his smile didn’t show it. “Can we sit down for a minute?”

“I’d rather stand.”

“How are you feeling, Maya?”

“I’m okay.”

He nodded. “No recent episodes?”

Shane, she thought.

He would never buy it if she insisted that they had gone away completely. “Some,” Maya said.

“Want to tell me about them?”

“I got them under control.”

“I’m surprised.”

“What?”

Wu arched an eyebrow. “I didn’t think you’d try to renew our patient-shrink relationship with a lie.”

Touché, Maya thought.

Wu tried the gentle smile. Maya was about to put him off when, without warning, she flashed back to Lily’s scared face from that morning. Tears surprised her, stinging her eyes. She turned her back to him and fought them off.

“Maya?”

She swallowed hard. “I need them to stop.”

Wu moved a little closer. “What happened?”

“I scared my kid.”

She told him about the previous night. Wu listened without interrupting. When she finished, he said, “I might want to switch your medication. For patients suffering with similar symptoms, I’ve been having good success lately with Serzone.”

Maya no longer trusted her voice. She nodded.

“I have some in the car, if you’d like.”

“Thank you.”

“No problem.” He moved closer. “May I make an observation?”

She frowned. “So I can’t just get the meds and be left alone?”

“Sorry, Maya, there’s always a catch.”

“Figured that. Okay, what’s your observation?”

“You never admitted you needed help before.”

“Okay, good observation.”

“That’s not the observation.”

“Oh.”

“You finally admitted it,” he said, “to protect your child. You wouldn’t do it for yourself. It had to be for Lily.”

“Yep, another good observation,” she said.

“You’re not trying to make yourself better. You’re trying to protect your child.” He tilted his head in that shrink way of his. “When do you stop thinking that way?”

“When do I stop thinking about protecting my child?” Maya shrugged. “When does any parent?”

“Touché,” Wu said, putting both palms on the counter. “Glib answer, but touché. But you need to listen to me. The D in ‘PTSD’ stands for ‘disorder.’ You can’t just tough this out. You want to keep your child safe? Then you need to work through this.”

“I agree,” she said.

Wu smiled. “Well, that was easy.”