Page 51 of Sachie's Hero

Sachie’s brow furrowed. “I’m thinking.”

Before she could come to a conclusion, her cell phone rang. She frowned down at the display. “It’s Dr. Janek,” she said and answered. “Yes, sir.”

The lines across her forehead eased. “Yes, sir. We’ll stop by in a few minutes.” After she ended the call, she gave Teller a brief smile. “Dr. Janek forgot to give me a stack of mail. I’d like to swing by and collect it. I’m not sure where to go next to find my stalker until we corner Travis at the club tonight, so I’d like to get in touch with Kylie, Luke’s girlfriend.”

She scrolled through the contacts on her cellphone, found what she was looking for and placed a call, putting the phone on speaker. “I hope Luke’s foster family has Kylie’s information.”

The call rang three times before a woman’s voice answered. “Ms. Moore?”

“Yes, Mrs. Randall, how are you and your husband?”

The woman sighed. “Okay, now that the reporters have stopped coming around. How are you?”

“Finally coming out of the fog and looking for answers.”

“How can I help?” Mrs. Randall asked.

“I’d like to talk with Kylie, Luke’s girlfriend. I know they had an argument, and that Kylie fell and got hurt. He blamed himself. I’m trying to piece together what made Luke feel like he had no other choice.”

“He was head over heels for that girl,” Mrs. Randall said. “I can’t imagine him purposely hurting her.”

“I agree. I’d like to hear Kylie’s side of that argument,” Sachie said. “Do you have her phone number?”

“Actually, I do. Thankfully, I got it from Luke when he started dating her, in case I couldn’t get in touch with him on his own phone. Hold on, let me scroll through my contacts.” The woman stopped talking for a few seconds and then came back with, “There she is. I’ll share the contact.”

A moment later, Sachie’s cell phone beeped with an incoming text.

“I’m glad I had her number,” Mrs. Randall said. “The police confiscated Luke’s cell phone and have yet to return it. I hope you find out what was bothering Luke. My husband and I tried talking to him the last couple of weeks before he did what he did. We could tell all was not well in his world, but he wouldn’t open up. He kept saying he was fine. At one point, I asked if I could help him with whatever problem he was having. I remember him saying,I can handle it.” She paused. “I only wish I’d tried harder to get him to open up. I keep thinking he’d still be here if I’d been more persistent.” She gave a brief laugh. “At the time, I thought there was a fine line between being persistent and pushy with teens. I didn’t want to drive him away. I should’ve been pushy.”

“We can’t second-guess what happened,” Sachie said. “It doesn’t change the outcome. But we can learn. That’s why I want to understand everything that led up to Luke’s final decision.”

“I’d like to know that as well,” Mrs. Randall said. “If my husband and I decide to foster a teen again, which I doubt we will, I’d like to know how to get in front of the issue before it goes too far.”

“Thank you for taking Luke in. I’m almost certain that whatever happened to send him over the edgehad nothing to do with you and your husband. He only ever had good things to say about you.”

“Thank you for that,” Mrs. Randall said. “And if there’s anything else I can do, don’t hesitate to call.”

Sachie ended the call and placed the next. It only rang once before voicemail picked up. “Hi, this is Kylie. I can’t come to the phone right now. Leave a message, and I might return your call, that is,ifyou’re not a telemarketer or a creepy stalker.”

Sachie shot a smile toward Teller.

He liked it when she smiled. She’d had so little to smile about lately. He wanted to find her stalker and put an end to the terror he’d inspired. Then Sachie would have the time to heal and learn to smile more often.

“Kylie, this is Sachie Moore. I was Luke’s counselor and was with him when he... passed.” Sachie paused as if gathering her thoughts or courage. “I’d like to talk with you, if you’re up to it. I’m trying to better understand what happened. No pressure. If you’re not ready, I’ll understand.” She ended the call and sighed. “I hate opening the wounds. If she was half as crazy about him as he was about her, she’s got to be a dark place right now. The shock of losing a friend so suddenly and violently can sometimes have a domino effect. I hope she’s not dominoing.”

Teller reached for her hand and held it for the rest of the drive to Dr. Janek’s office.

The doctor was seated behind the receptionist’s desk, looking at the computer monitor, his forehead creased in a deep frown. He glanced up at Sachie. “I can’t make heads or tails of this appointment calendar.”

Sachie slipped behind the desk and leaned over the doctor. “Let me.”

He removed his hand from the mouse, and Sachie took control. “What were you trying to do?”

“I just spoke with a patient and needed to schedule his next appointment.” He sat back far enough to let Sachie in to navigate the system. He gave her the date and time. “I checked against my schedule, and it will work. I just couldn’t add it myself. Lindsey can’t call in sick ever again.”

“It’s not as hard as you think,” Sachie said. “Watch.” She slowly led him through the steps to add an appointment to the calendar and backed out all the changes before committing them.

“Whoa, wait,” he said, his eyebrows rising up his forehead. “Why did you remove the appointment?”

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