The Silence That Speaks (Forensic Instincts 4)

Nancy Lexington strode inside, her coat billowing out around her as she turned to shut the door. She whipped around, taking a few steps toward Janet’s desk. Her eyes were blazing, and anger emanated from her.

Clearly this wasn’t a friendly social visit.

“Hello, Nancy,” Janet said carefully. Ronald might be dead, but his wife still commanded some respect in this neck of the woods. “What can I do for you?”

“You can tell me why you were meeting with Casey Woods.”

Janet’s jaw dropped. That news had traveled fast, even for Manhattan Memorial.

“Who told you that?” she asked.

“Does it matter? It’s true, isn’t it?”

Janet rose from behind her desk. At least this way she could address Nancy on equal footing.

“Casey Woods and I had a quick lunch together,” she replied. “I wanted to learn more about Forensic Instincts. I find what they do fascinating. Is there a problem with that?”

“

There’s a problem with the assumptions people make when they see you lunching with a well-known private investigator.”

Janet was starting to get angry. “And what would those assumptions be?”

Nancy closed the distance between herself and the desk, placing her palms flat on top of it. “Don’t play stupid games with me,” Nancy replied. “You know damned well what I’m talking about. You knew everything about Ronald—including his extracurricular activities. I don’t want that smut reaching my children’s ears.”

Janet couldn’t keep herself from laughing. “You’re kidding, right? Everyone knew about Ronald’s ‘extracurricular activities.’ Half of the hospital’s female population gossiped about it, and the rest were eager participants. As for your children, they’re not kids anymore. I’m quite sure they know who—and what—their father was.”

Nancy’s face had reddened. “That doesn’t mean they should have their noses rubbed in it. So keep your mouth shut and make different friends.”

“Or what?” Janet’s control snapped. “You’ll have me disposed of? I’m not afraid of you, Nancy, even if you are one step away from insane. So stop strutting around like you own this place. You’re nothing but a pathetic widow who couldn’t hold on to her husband when she had him. Maybe if you’d been a better wife, Ronald wouldn’t have spent so much time in other women’s beds.”

Nancy slapped Janet across the face so hard that the impact propelled her back a few steps. “You bitch,” she grated.

Janet pressed her palm to her cheek, which was already swelling with Nancy’s finger marks.

“You really are crazy.” Janet’s voice trembled with suppressed rage. “Not only that, but you’re delusional. You’ve actually conjured up some distorted image of your husband—heroic and monogamous to the end, despite a hospital filled with sluts who were throwing themselves at him. A noble man who was killed by a conniving surgeon, aided by his wife. Pull your head out of the sand and get some professional help. Concentrate on dealing with your grief and stop lashing out. Or is it too late? Are you already way past the lashing-out stage?”

Nancy’s eyes narrowed. “What are you implying?”

“I’m not implying. I’m stating facts. You blame Conrad, Madeline and God knows who else for Ronald’s death. Ronald’s heart condition was bad. He didn’t make it. Accept that.”

Now it was Janet’s turn to lean forward, gripping the edge of her desk with whitened knuckles. “And if you have any thoughts of broadening your retaliatory actions to include the rest of the surgical team—such as my daughter—forget them now. You think you love your children? You have no idea. If you so much as lay a finger on Diana, I’ll take a page right out of your book. I’ll kill you.”

Nancy had grown ashen long before Janet’s threat. “What retaliatory actions? What gossip are you spreading now?”

“I’m not spreading a goddamned thing. There are all kinds of rumors flying around this hospital about the extent to which you’ve gone to avenge Ronald’s death.”

“And you passed those rumors on to Casey Woods?”

“My, aren’t we paranoid for a woman who claims to know nothing of what I’m saying. As for Casey Woods, I asked her to lunch to discuss Forensic Instincts. Period. Any other conversations we had were superfluous—unless, of course, you have something to hide.”

Nancy looked positively ill. “Don’t invite Ms. Woods to this hospital again, or I’ll use my influence with the board to have you both thrown out.”

She stalked out of the office, slamming the door behind her.

Janet stared after her, a pensive expression on her face.

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