Page 26 of The Last Session

I rushed to the break room. Amani and Rachel talked in low tones by the coffeepot.

“What happened?” I cried. “Is she okay?”

“Where were you this morning?” Rachel asked, her face drawn.

“I overslept. Where’s Catherine?”

“We don’t know.” Amani shook her head. “She left with her parents. Well… we thought they were her parents.”

“What?” The words weren’t computing. “But her parents are in Diane’s office.”

“Herrealparents,” Rachel said. “Yeah.”

At my confused expression, Amani held up a hand. “So this couple showed up early, like at eight, and said they were Catherine’s parents. And she went with them. Her real parents came at ten, and Diane had to tell them that she’d already left. It took a minute to figure out what was going on.”

“Who were the first couple?” I asked.

“No one knows.” Amani shrugged. “Except Catherine, I guess.”

I thought suddenly of Clint, the “therapist” whose number I’d given to Catherine. But he’d looked to be younger, in his thirties. It couldn’t have been him.

“No one knows what her parents look like?” I couldn’t keep the exasperation from my voice. “They’re famous.”

“Thea, I didn’t even know whoCatherinewas. Not until you showed me pictures.” Amani shook her head. “They said they were her parents, and they had IDs.”

“It is weird, though,” Rachel mused. “If she didn’t want to leave with her parents, why didn’t she just check herself out?”

“So she knew the—the impersonators,” I said.

Rachel nodded. “Seemed like it.”

Catherine had gone through something, some ordeal that had triggered psychosis, mutism, and amnesia. Had the people who’d shown up been somehow involved?

The shock was beginning to shift into something else, something darker. I shivered despite the warm, stuffy room.

“She asked for you.” Rachel’s expression was curious, maybe even a little sad. “She said she wanted to tell you something. I told her you weren’t in yet.”

Dread filled my chest. Had she wanted me to help her? Had she known these people were coming for her?

If I’d come into work this morning as usual, would I have been able to save her?

14

A half hour later, Diane called me in to talk to Catherine’s parents.

I’d seen pictures, but experiencing them face-to-face was startling. They had that same celebrity aura as Catherine, wealth and fame surrounding them like a cloud of perfume. Killian—creepy director dad—was compact and rugged-looking, his thinning copper hair tousled, his tan face etched with lines. Lisette had reached the age where her upkeep work made her look uncanny: eyes too wide, lips too puffy. Her smooth face was shiny with tears that continued to fall as I told them and the two police officers everything I knew, which wasn’t much.

Officer Rivera, who had a baby face despite his beard, asked me where I’d been that morning. His questions threw me: Did they think I was somehow involved? Officer Kim, a fortysomething woman, watched silently as I confessed to having fallen asleep on the couch.

“Do you recognize these people?” Officer Kim turned Diane’s computer screen to show video footage of a man and woman walking in the front entryway and stopping at reception. He wore a baseball cap, she a wide-brimmed felt hat. Had they been trying to shield themselves from the cameras?

“I don’t think so.” The man was tall, slightly stooped, and had a noticeable paunch. The much smaller woman leaned on the front desk, using one booted foot to scratch the back of her left ankle. Her light hair flowed in soft waves over her back.

“One more.” Officer Kim nodded and Diane clicked on another clip. Rachel and Catherine sat at the conference room table, papers and crayons strewn around them. Despite the graininess of the black-and-white footage, I could see Catherine stiffen when the couple arrived. My shoulders tightened as the woman ran to give her a hug. The man swooped in to embrace her. Catherine had recovered and even looked like she was smiling as they broke apart. Diane appeared on-screen, her back to the camera. The woman remained by Catherine’s side, one arm possessively clutching her shoulders.

“I don’t recognize them. I mean, from what I can see.” I shook my head. “But it looks like she knew them. Right?”

“Thanks for your cooperation.” Officer Kim gave me a tight smile.

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