Hush

“What’s it about?” Lake asked. “I assume you know I’m not with the clinic anymore.”

“Yes, I know that. Everyone does. But”-and she lowered her voice even more-“I overheard Maggie talking to Chelsea. I know what you told her.”

“Yes?” Lake asked quietly.

“It made me think. You see, something funny happened here recently. Something maybe you should know about.”

Lake wondered if this was finally it-the break she had desperately longed for.

“What happened?” Lake asked. She realized she was whispering, too.

There was a pause. Lake sensed that Rory had turned around and checked behind her.

“I’m afraid to talk about it right now. I can’t believe I’m even calling you from here-someone might overhear.”

Quickly, Lake tried to think of a plan. “Do you want to come to my place? After work. We could talk here.”

“No. I can meet you after work, but I don’t want to go to your place. Someone from here might see me going into your building.”

“Your place, then?” Lake asked. She remembered that Rory lived north of the city; Lake could drive there.

“That’s too far,” Rory said. “I’m all the way up in Bedford Hills. Oh gosh, I don’t know. Maybe I-”

“I’ve got an idea,” Lake said, her mind forming the plan as she spoke. “There’s a little piano bar in the Eighties. It’s not far from the clinic, but no one on staff would ever go there. Why don’t we meet there when you finish up today?”

Rory sighed. Lake bit her tongue, afraid of pushing too hard.

“Okay,” Rory said finally.

Lake gave her the name of the bar-a place she used to go with Jack to hear music-and they agreed to meet at six-thirty.

Next she called Archer to fill him in on her conversations with Maggie and Rory.

“Sounds like we might be in luck. When are you going to speak to her?”

“At the end of the workday.”

“Call me, okay? As soon as you’re done talking to her.”

For the next hour she sat in her home office, trying to concentrate on the rest of her consulting business, which she’d almost totally ignored lately. She hadn’t read her emails in days, and there were dozens and dozens of them, many of which should have been answered immediately. She responded to the most urgent ones, including one from a prospective client wondering why she hadn’t yet received a proposal from Lake, and then she just couldn’t concentrate any longer. Her assistant was due back next Wednesday, and she could help get things under control. But Lake couldn’t imagine how she’d function normally in front of her with everything that was going on. Plus, would Lake be putting her in danger?

Suddenly she felt overwhelmed with fatigue. But she didn’t dare take a nap like yesterday, in case it would be hours before she woke. Instead she showered, turning the water to cold before she finished. As she toweled off, she mentally prepped for the meeting with Rory, urging herself not to seem desperate like she had with Maggie. She winced at the memory of her grabbing Maggie’s wrist. This was a different situation, of course. Rory was coming to her. But she could sense that Rory was a reluctant witness and that she’d have to be careful not to frighten her off.

Lake made sure she was at the bar fifteen minutes early. She found a table toward the back, with a view of the door but away from the windows. It was too early for the first piano player of the evening, though people were already gathered at the bar, a few in groups. She ordered a glass of red wine and folded her hands on the table. Let this be something, she thought.

When Rory entered the bar, Lake almost didn’t recognize her. In her floral dress she looked far more pregnant than she did in her white uniform jacket. Her blond hair was wavy from the humidity and pinned back on one side with a barrette.

As she made her way to Lake’s table, Rory searched the room with her eyes and then looked behind her before sitting down.

“Are you sure no one will see us here?” she asked worriedly as she sat across from Lake

“I’m positive. Would you like something to drink?” Lake asked.

“Drink?” Rory exclaimed, her pale blue eyes widening. “But I’m pregnant.”

“I didn’t mean a drink drink. Do you want a soda-or a sparkling water?”

“No, nothing.”

It was clear Lake needed to cut to the chase.

“I really appreciate your coming, Rory,” she said. “Why don’t you tell me what’s on your mind.”

Rory looked behind her once more before speaking.

“Like I told you on the phone, I overheard Maggie and Chelsea talking. Maggie usually eats lunch at this one coffee shop and she always takes the full hour, but today she went out and came back in ten minutes with just a sandwich from a deli. I saw her go into the kitchen to get something to drink and she seemed sort of flustered. Chelsea was already in there and I started to go in there, too, but then I overheard them whispering. Maggie said that she’d run into you and that you told her that the real reason you were fired was because you’d discovered something bad going on at the clinic-in the lab in particular.”

“Did she tell Chelsea what it was?”

“Not that I heard. She just asked Chelsea if she thought it could be true, if Chelsea thought something weird might be going on. And Chelsea told her that you were just trash-talking out of revenge. Of course, I’m not sure how Chelsea would even know, one way or the other. She’s really not that smart.”

“As far as you know, did Maggie say anything to anyone else?”

“I doubt it. Chelsea’s the only one she’s really close to.” Rory ran her eyes over Lake’s face as if she were searching for something.

“Rory, look-”

“Is there really something going on at the clinic?” Rory asked, her eyes narrowed in worry.

“Yes, I think there may be,” Lake said. “A former patient told me she believes that the doctors implanted some of her embryos into another woman-without permission from either one of them.”

“Omigod,” Rory said, instinctively curling her arm around her rounded belly. “They-they could get in so much trouble for that.”

“Have you ever witnessed anything that would make you think that they’re guilty of that? On the phone you said that something funny had happened.”

“I did see something funny,” she said after a moment. “But I don’t know if it has anything to do with what you’re talking about.”

“But it might,” Lake urged. “Please tell me.”

Rory took her arm from her belly and folded her hands on the table. Her hands were large and strong, fitting her body, but also perfectly manicured-with peach-colored nails.

“When I first got pregnant I felt really awful,” Rory said. “I have no clue why they call it morning sickness because I was sick all day long. One afternoon I felt so bad I didn’t know how I was going to be able to get on the train to go home. So after I’d finished with the last patient, I decided to lie down in Dr. Kline’s office for a while-he’s got a little love seat in there. It was about five-thirty and I only planned to rest for a few minutes, but when I opened my eyes it was almost seven. I couldn’t believe it. I was afraid that everybody had left and I was locked in with the alarm on. I walked down to the reception area and all of a sudden I saw Dr. Hoss standing there with a man I’d never seen before. She seemed really uncomfortable when she noticed me-like I’d caught her at something.”

“Maybe it was someone she was dating-and she felt awkward?”

Rory glanced quickly behind her again.

“Well, he had a silver container with him,” she said, her voice hushed. “The kind that’s used to carry eggs.”

“Eggs?” Lake said.

“Yes. And embryos.”

“Was he delivering eggs?” Lake asked. “From a donor bank?”