Page 117 of High Society

“When was the last time you saw Dr. Koskinen?”

His unease rises. “Last week. Liisa was over here with the rest of the group. Friday, I think.”

Rivers pulls out a small leather-bound notebook and jots something down. “Have you spoken to her since?”

Simon considers lying, but he suspects the detective might already know. “I called Liisa a few days ago.”

“Which day exactly?”

“Tuesday.”

“The day she disappeared?” Rivers’s eyes never leave his notebook.

“The afternoon!” Simon shoots up a palm. “But she texted us all later that evening via our group chat.”

“Your therapy group? You had a chat group?”

“Yeah. We started it a month or two ago. Clients only.”

Rivers nods. “Why did you call Dr. Koskinen?”

Simon thinks of his panic following the ketamine session where his memory had been wiped out with midazolam. But he doesn’t want to have to explain his fears of what he might have divulged while medicated. “I just wanted to, um, debrief after our individual ketamine sessions. We weren’t going to have another group session for a while. After all, Liisa is a therapist, herself.”

“I see,” Rivers says. “Did Dr. Koskinen sound different to you?”

“Different?”

“Dejected? Scared? Worried in some way?”

Simon considers the question. “Yes and no, I guess. She’s hard to read, that one. Always so inhibited. Maybe she was a little more on edge than usual?” He shakes his head. “Nothing like her texts later that night, though.”

Rivers scratches more notes. “What was different about those?”

“She was fired up!” Simon blows out his lips. “Like fit to be tied. Liisa called Dr. Danvers toxic. She went on about how Dr. D was sacrificing us all for the sake of her career.”

“Dr. Koskinen used that word? Sacrifice?”

“I think so, yeah.” Simon shifts in his seat, wondering if he’s disclosing too much. “Anyway, Liisa told us she was quitting the group and said we’d be smart to do the same.”

Rivers taps his notebook. “Did Dr. Koskinen explain why she was so agitated?”

“No. She just dropped off the group chat. Went totally dark. Last any of us heard from her.”

“Can I see this chat?”

Simon runs a hand over the phone in his pocket. He is more concerned about what the detective might learn about him from the texts than protecting the identity of anyone else in the group. “I don’t feel right betraying the confidentiality of the group.”

Rivers views him for a long moment. “I respect your desire to protect their privacy. I really do. But when it comes to missing persons, every minute counts.” He shows Simon a sympathetic grin. “I’m not interested in anything unrelated to Dr. Koskinen.”

Simon breaks off eye contact. “It doesn’t feel right to me.”

“I can get a warrant for your phone, if you prefer.”

Simon shrugs. “You could try.”

“OK.” The detective exhales. “Maybe you can help another way? Aside from Ms. Golding, Ms. Jang, and Dr. Koskinen, I still don’t know the names of the other group members.” Rivers flips back a few pages. “However, I did get a warrant to access Dr. Koskinen’s phone records. She had some calls and texts with some private cell numbers. It will be easier to track her down if you help me identify these numbers I’ve written here.”

“I don’t know,” Simon says warily.

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