A Woman With A Mystery Part 15

Slade stared at him. "Done?"

"For Lorraine. Obviously, there wasn't anything I could have done for your mother or Lorraine's son Roy at that point. But Lorraine..."

Lorraine Vogel. The mother of the young man who'd allegedly killed Slade's mother.

The doctor must have seen Slade's confusion. "I was afraid Lorraine wouldn't complete her training after everything that happened. She was training to be a nurse here at the Inst.i.tute. But she did finish. Now she works part-time here-and part-time at the hospital."

It took Slade a moment to find his voice. Lorraine worked at the Inst.i.tute? And Slade's mother- "You knew my mother?"

Dr. Parris seemed surprised by the question. "Only to say h.e.l.lo in the hall really."

"Here at the Inst.i.tute?" Slade asked.

Parris realized he'd made a mistake, but it was clear he didn't know how. "Yes."

"She was a patient here," Slade said.

Dr. Parris smiled and looked relieved. "Yes."

His mother was a patient here? How was it possible that he and his sister and his father hadn't known that? He couldn't remember even one day his mother hadn't been at the stove on his return from school or from playing in the neighborhood with friends.

"Back when Evergreen was a fertility clinic," Slade said, trying to put it together. "Back when Dr. Allan Wellington was running the place." He felt something like a flash go off in his head and wondered if it was like this for Holly. A thought. A memory? A piece of knowledge just appearing in a bolt of crystal-clear bright thought. "I was pretty young then, but, that's right, she came up here every Tuesday and Thursday."

Dr. Parris beamed. "That's right. She always had a kind word and a smile."

Stunned, Slade was still trying to make sense of it. His mother had come up here every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon. No affair? But what had she come up here for? It couldn't have had to do with infertility-and his mother didn't drive. She'd been in a near-fatal car accident and had a deathly fear of driving. Norma always drove her wherever she wanted to go. Or Slade's father, Joe.

Who had driven her to Evergreen twice a week? Not Joe, the person she'd said in her letter she didn't want to know about her afternoons away from home. So who had driven her? Not Norma. Dr. Wellington? Was he also the man who'd had Marcella Rawlins in his arms the day Norma had seen the two of them at the house?

Slade felt sick, all of it coming too close to home. "You have a very good memory, Dr. Parris. You probably remember that my mother didn't drive," Slade said as they moved out of the office and into the empty hall.

"Why, that's right," Parris exclaimed. "I think that's why she came up on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so she could ride with Lorraine on Tuesdays and Dr. Delaney on Thursdays. My, but that has been years ago. My memory serves me well."

Slade fought to breathe. Dr. Delaney?

"Give yourself some time," Parris was saying to Holly. "You're a strong young woman. You're going to be just fine."

"Thank you, doctor," she said.

"I didn't realize that Dr. Delaney worked here," Slade said, interrupting Holly.

"Only on special projects anymore. A fine man and a wonderfully compa.s.sionate doctor," Parris said. "Let me know if there is anything else you need. It is always nice to see you, Holly, and nice meeting you," he said again to Slade, then turned and disappeared back into his office.

Slade took Holly's arm as they started down the hall toward the exit. "Are you all right?"

"Yes. No. Inez lied about the sessions."

He nodded, wondering why Inez had done that. Unless it had been a test. A test to see if Holly was remembering.

"And she lied about where I was last Christmas Eve," Holly said, sounding angry and scared. "Unless she knew I was with you." she lied about where I was last Christmas Eve," Holly said, sounding angry and scared. "Unless she knew I was with you."

"Yes," Slade said. "I thought of that. Or maybe she just didn't want the staff up here looking for you. Any idea why you left here in such a hurry? You didn't even have a coat on when I found you."

She shook her head. "You said I thought someone was trying to kill me. Do you think it was just the pills?"

"Dr. Parris swears you weren't taking them while you were here," he pointed out. "Nor were you taking them when you were with me."

A door opened off to the right ahead of them. A woman in a business suit and heels came out carrying a large cinnamon bun and a mug of something hot. She headed down the hallway in front of them without looking back, her high heels clicking on the hardwood floor, turning off one of the many hallways.

Through the gla.s.s window in the office door, Slade spotted a desk and computer. Seeing no one else around, he quickly pushed the door open before it could shut completely. He pulled Holly into the office and closed the door behind them.

"What are you doing?" she whispered in obvious horror as he grabbed a straight-back chair from in front of the desk and stuck it under the door so it couldn't be opened from the outside.

"Buying time." He hurried around to sit down at the computer. "I want to see your file. And my mother's."

"Here, let me do that," she said after a moment of watching him try to call up files.

He moved to let her sit down and, standing behind her with his hands on the back of her chair, watched in awe as she quickly maneuvered her way through the system. "I didn't know you knew anything about computers."

She let out a quiet chuckle. "So, there is at least a little something about me that's still a mystery."

Her joking tone stirred old memories deep within him of the way it had been between them. "You will always be a mystery to me," he said softly.

She leaned back, waiting for the computer to respond, her scent filling him. Her hair brushed the tops of his hands, reminding him only too well of the feel of it against his bare skin.

He could see her reflection in the computer screen as her eyes came up to meet his. For the first time, he didn't see fear, but something just as familiar. A look that made him ache inside.

His hands slipped from the chair back to her shoulders. She pressed against the pressure of his fingers and closed her eyes. Slowly he moved his hands down her arms to her elbows as he bent over her, breathing her in, wanting to envelop her. She felt warm and solid, strong.

Her eyes opened and her gaze met his in the screen. Her lips parted, her look softening, deepening. He would have kissed her. The chance of getting caught be d.a.m.ned.

But just then the computer screen flashed. No Holly Barrows found.

He straightened, releasing her.

She typed in Holly Wellington. "Look at this," she said. Under Medications, it read, None. "And this." She pointed to a notation at the top of the file: Genesis Project. When she clicked on it, the screen flashed: Enter Security Code. She tried several. None of them worked.

He heard the sound of high heels tapping down the hallway. They grew louder as they approached. "See if you can get Marcella Rawlins's file."

Holly typed in the name. "I can't find her. How long ago was it?"

"More than twenty years ago," he whispered, watching over her shoulder.

"Let me try something else." She hurriedly clicked at the keys. "Wait, I've got it." He watched her type in Keyword: Inez. What came up on the screen was a list of patients under Genesis Project. She scrolled down to Wellington, Holly. File: Current.

"What is the Genesis Project?" Slade asked.

"I have no idea." She moved the cursor through the list. Norma Curtis. Genesis Project. File: In storage.

He spotted another name. Patty Dunn. Genesis Project. File: Current.

Pharmacist Jerry Dunn's wife.

He wasn't surprised when Holly stopped the cursor on Marcella Rawlins. Genesis Project. File: In storage.

"What do we all have in common?" Holly whispered, turning to look at him.

"I wish I knew. My first guess would be infertility if I didn't know better."

Outside in the hall, the footsteps grew closer.

Slade put his hand over Holly's on the mouse and scrolled on down to the end of the list, stopping just once. On the name Lorraine Vogel. Genesis Project. File: In storage.

"Clear the screen," he said next to her ear, then quietly stepped to the door to remove the chair blocking it, hoping the woman he'd seen leaving the office hadn't forgotten something. But the sound of the footfalls went on past the door as Holly joined him.

He waited for a few moments to make sure the hallway was clear, then opened the door.

"You looked as if you'd seen a ghost when Dr. Parris mentioned your mother," she whispered as they headed for the exit again. "What happened to her?"

He kept his voice down even though it appeared everyone had gone to lunch-even the woman who'd been at the front reception desk earlier.

"She was murdered twenty years ago by the son of the woman who supposedly drove her up here on Tuesdays. Lorraine Vogel."

"The woman who was also in the Genesis Project file," Holly said.

He nodded at Holly's thoughtful expression. "The thing is, my mother kept all of this a secret. Why is that? And why would she be coming to a fertility clinic in the first place? She had two twelve-year-olds."

"Twenty years ago. And she was a Genesis Project patient," Holly noted. "Like me."

"Yeah," he said. "That's what has me worried." What was the Genesis Project? And what did any of this have to do with their baby? Probably nothing. They were just wasting time here. All he wanted was to get out of this place. It felt even more dangerous than he'd first suspected-and he had no idea what there was to fear here.

They were almost to the exit, crossing the great expanse of marble that made up the ma.s.sive foyer, when an older man in a white lab coat over an expensive gray suit stepped from a doorway, almost colliding with them. Behind him was Inez Wellington.

"Holly," the man said, a reprimand in his voice.

"Holly, you remember Dr. O'Brien," Inez said, not seeming that happy to see them, or at least not Slade.

"Inez." Holly sounded scared, and when she looked at Dr. O'Brien it was clear to Slade that she had never seen him before-that she could remember anyway.

A tall man with thick dark hair, a square face and small, dark eyes behind wire-rimmed gla.s.ses, the doctor ignored Slade and turned all of his attention on Holly.

"I thought you were checking in?" O'Brien said, his voice low and rough as sandpaper and about as warm.

Holly shook her head. "I've changed my mind."

"Let's discuss this in my office. Alone," he said pointedly.

"There is nothing to discuss," Holly insisted.

"From what Inez has told me, I'm not sure you're capable of a reasonable decision at this point."

"I disagree," Slade said stepping between O'Brien and Holly. "I think she is more than capable of making a reasonable decision, and that decision is that she doesn't need your...help."

Slade heard Inez say something about commitment papers and court orders, but he'd already swept Holly past the doctor and Inez. He hit the ma.s.sive front door, half afraid he'd find it locked. It flung open, the cold and snow hitting him in the face as he grabbed Holly's hand and bolted.

He could hear both O'Brien and Inez call after them. And another voice. Female. He glanced over his shoulder, thought he glimpsed Carolyn Gray step behind a column on the outside edge of the building entrance, but his attention was quickly drawn back to Dr. O'Brien. The doctor reached for something. An alarm went off.

"Run!" he yelled to Holly over the clamor.

The sky had darkened to gunmetal gray, huge floating snowflakes fell around them like confetti.

He and Holly reached the pickup before he let himself look back again. To his surprise no white-coated bodybuilder types had come exploding out of the Inst.i.tute.

Holly jumped into the cab and he slid in after her. The pickup started, almost to his amazement. He wasn't sure what lengths these people would go to. He told himself they needed Holly back under their control. She was starting to remember too much, and by now they had to know that.

He spun the pickup out of the parking lot, snow flying off the hood and winds.h.i.+eld, and headed for the gate, expecting that would be where the doctor planned to stop them. Pus.h.i.+ng down the gas pedal, he increased his speed as he raced down the narrow evergreen-lined road, pretty sure he could ram through the gate if it came to that.

One glance at Holly told him she was braced for just that. She was buckled in, both hands on the dash, a look of incredulity on her face.

But to his amazement, the gate was open when he came around the bend. No guard tried to block his exit. No big orderlies tried to jump them.

Slade cruised out of the Inst.i.tute's grounds and onto the highway, putting his foot to the metal as he watched in his rearview mirror, unable to believe their luck. No, not luck, he thought as the pickup put distance between them and Evergreen Inst.i.tute. Dr. O'Brien had let them go. But why?

He glanced over at Holly. She too was looking back, obviously just as surprised. Then her gaze s.h.i.+fted to him and he had such a feeling of deja vu he almost drove off the highway. She was staring at him as if she'd never seen him before.

Chapter Twelve.

"Holly?" Slade let out a curse as he met her gaze. They'd gotten to her. But how? The alarm? Or something O'Brien or someone else had said or done?

"Holly, you remember who I am, right?" Wrong.

She was gripping the door handle. He kept the speed up on the pickup, pretty sure she wouldn't be foolish enough to leap out, but not really sure what what she'd do. she'd do.

In his rearview mirror, he spotted a car coming up fast and swore.

She glanced back at the winding two-lane highway, then back at him. "What's going on?" She sounded only a little scared. "Rawlins?"

He shot her a look. "You called me Rawlins."

"Yeah," she said, still eyeing him strangely. "I've always called you Rawlins."

His heart hammered so hard in his chest he couldn't breathe. He stole another look at her. What he saw almost floored him. He let out a laugh. "Everything's just...fine now." He stole another look at her. Wasn't it?