Page 93 of The Unraveling

When I walk into the office, Sarah’s face falls.

“Oh, Mer. You don’t look good.”

“I haven’t slept so well.”

“Or at all…” She shakes her head and comes around her desk. “Are you sure this is a good idea? Maybe you should wait until you hear from the detective before trying to come back to work.”

I force a smile. “I’m fine. Really. It’ll be good to be busy today.”

Sarah doesn’t even get a chance to call me out on the lie. She doesn’t have to. I prove I’m full of crap when the office door opens and I jump.

My heart is in my throat, and it’s only Mrs. Radcliff. My first patient. I nod good morning and slink into my office, where I find a large cup of chamomile tea and a bagel waiting on my desk. Thank the Lord for Sarah. She also stalls my first appointment a few minutes, which I’m certain is to give me a chance to collect myself, which I badly need.

My first session starts off rocky. I have a hard time focusing at first, but eventually I ease into it and start to settle. By the afternoon, I’m feeling a bit like myself again. A healthy lunch helped. I stop jumping every time my phone buzzes. When my last session of the day is finished, I close the door behind the patient and Sarah smiles.

“You did it.”

“Thanks to you. I wouldn’t have been able to muddle through this last week without you, Sarah.”

She waves me off. “Eh. That’s not true. You’re tough as nails, lady.”

I motion to the door. “Why don’t you get out of here? I think I’m going to stay for a while and write up my patient notes.”

“No, it’s fine. I can stay until you’re ready to go.”

Today has given me courage, and I’ve already leaned on my assistant enough. “No, I insist. Go home. I’m good on my own.”

She hesitates. “Are you sure?”

I smile. “Yeah, I am. I need to do this.”

Sarah studies my face for a moment before nodding. “Okay. But lock up behind me.”

“I will.”

And I do. I lock both doors—the outer and the interior one to my office. I throw myself into typing up my notes for the day, and before I know it, more than an hour and a half has gone by, and I only have one more patient to write up.

But then I hear a knock.

And not the outer door to my office suite, which I locked.

My interior one.

Someone is inside.

It’s so faint I’m talking myself into believing I’ve imagined it.

Until it happens a second time.

“I know you’re in there, Dr. McCall.”

Rebecca.

Oh God!

I stop breathing and don’t move a muscle.

How did she get in? Did Sarah lock the outer office when she left and I unlocked it, thinking I was doing the opposite? Or did Rebecca break in? And oh God. That time my door was open at my apartment—was that her, too?

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