“We’ve had this discussion.” Melanie touched my hand. “Stop playing the ‘what if’ game. We don’t know, and we never will know, what might have happened if you’d gone with him. You might’ve both been taken. Perhaps neither of you would’ve been taken. Perhaps you would’ve gone a different way. We just don’t know.”
My head told me that she was right. My heart still wasn’t sure. At any rate, I had to let it go.
“So has Colin dropped his accusations against you?” she asked.
“Like I said, I don’t think the accusation even came from Colin. He was in no condition to form a story like that. I think his father made the whole thing up. Since I haven’t heard from him again, I assume the case is closed.”
“That’s good. I suppose at some point I need to contact my malprac
tice insurance company and deal with the lawsuit the Cateses filed against me. The answer is due in a few weeks, and I certainly don’t want to default.”
“Baby, I will get you the best lawyer out there.”
“You don’t have to. I have insurance. They will pay.”
“I can find you a better lawyer.”
“It probably won’t come to that. I doubt the case will go far. But let me use the insurance I’ve been paying for the past fifteen years. I might as well get something for my money.”
I couldn’t help a smile. She had been through so much, but she was moving forward. The least I could do was move forward as well.
Time to really let go of the guilt now. To stop saying it and really do it.
I hoped I could.
“Another thing happened. I got another text from my stalker.”
She dropped her mouth open. “We’ve got to find out who’s doing this. If it’s not Brooke, someone is after you, and I don’t like it.”
“I think it’s probably harmless,” I said, and I truly believed that. But it was still starting to creep me out.
“I think you should have Mills and Johnson look into it.” Melanie sighed. “I know you don’t want to take the time away from Talon’s and my cases, but look how much we’ve found out already. We know who the other two abductors are.”
“But we don’t know where they are.”
“Honestly, how much time is looking into a phone number going to take away from finding Tom Simpson and Theodore Mathias?”
She had a point, and I was sick and tired of the stupid texts.
“All right. I’ll call them and have them look into it.”
“Good.”
“As long as you promise to call your insurance company and get this lawsuit taken care of.”
She let out a breath. “All right.”
“Have you heard anything from the medical board?”
She shook her head. “Not yet. I’ll have to talk to Miles Bennett at the hospital, see what they’ve found out. I’m hoping my leave of absence will end soon. I need to get back to work. I need to focus on something other than all this stuff.”
“I hear that one.” I took a sip of my martini. “It has pretty much taken over our lives.”
“So what’s the next step?” she asked.
“For me? I’m going to go to the city again and see Larry Wade.”
“I figured as much. Do you think Talon will go with you this time?”