Page 95 of High Society

Holly can only laugh. “No kidding. It never occurred to me to look into Liisa’s background.”

“What do the police think?”

“I haven’t heard from the detective since I left his office yesterday. To be honest, I get the feeling he’s sick of me and my off-the-wall theories.”

“Are they? Off-the-wall?”

She sighs. “Aaron seems to think so.”

“Does his opinion matter that much?”

“It does to me, Papa. Yes.”

“You’ve always known your own mind. Since you were this tall.” He levels a hand with the height of the table. “What do you think, Koala?”

“Look, it could all be unrelated.”

He eyes her without comment.

“An opioid user relapses and overdoses,” she continues. “That happens all the time. An alcoholic falls off the wagon, gets incredibly drunk, and rashly decides to jump off her balcony. She certainly wouldn’t be the first. And an unethical psychologist takes her bitterness and jealousy over her professional downfall out on another colleague by trying to prejudice a few patients. That one actually makes some twisted sense.”

Walter views her for a long moment. “All in the same group. Do you believe in coincidences that large?”

Holly shakes her head.

“Neither do I, Holly. So what are you going to do?”

“What can I do?”

“Look for a better explanation.”

She nods.

Walter sips his tea. “Can I ask you something?”

She can tell by the quietness of his voice that he is feeling vulnerable. “Of course, Papa. Anything.”

“This group… all the tragedy and adverse outcomes… do you believe the psychedelics are to blame?”

Holly has wondered the same recently. But she knows it would contradict all the data that has been accumulated for decades on the effects of psychedelics. “This group consisted of seven highly accomplished people. But all of them are—were—addicts, deeply scarred by personal traumas. And each of them had been hiding secrets for years. Essentially, their whole lives have been facades. Ready to topple at any moment.” She pauses. “No. I don’t blame the psychedelics. Not directly, anyway.”

He tilts his head. “What does that mean? ‘Not directly.’ ”

“I think the buried traumas and memories that have surfaced during therapy have affected their states of mind. But blaming psychedelics would be like blaming the ocean for the rocks that appear at low tide.”

He grunts. “Then again, those rocks would stay buried forever if not for the tide.”

She shakes her head. “Honestly, I think it’s the group itself. Not the medication. Getting the seven of them together has somehow created a very… combustible environment.”

Walter accepts her theory with a shrug.

They sit in silence for a few moments, until Holly’s phone rings. She glances at the screen and sees that the call comes from her office line. She raises the phone to her ear. “Hi, Tanya.”

“Sorry to bother you, Holly,” her assistant says. “But I have Liisa Koskinen’s daughter, Kimberly, on the other line. She insists on speaking to you.”

Holly’s heart skips a beat. “Of course, patch her through, please.”

“Dr. Danvers?” Kimberly asks in a voice that is similar to but higher pitched than her mother’s.

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