“Excuse me. Dr. Ladd?”
Alex turned to find herself face-to-face with Bobby Trimble. Her heart lurched.
Reaching for her hand, he pumped it enthusiastically. “Dr. Robert Trimble. Montgomery, Alabama. I’m on vacation here in Charleston, but I saw a notice about your lecture this morning and just had to come and meet you.”
Doug, unaware of her discomfiture, introduced himself and shook Bobby’s hand. “Colleagues are always welcome at our lectures.”
“Thanks.” Back to Alex, Bobby said, “Your studies on anxiety have been of particular interest to me. I’m curious as to what made you focus on that particular syndrome. Something in your own experience, perhaps?” He winked. “Afraid past sins will catch up with you?”
“You’ll have to excuse me, Dr. Trimble,” she said frostily. “I have patients scheduled.”
“I apologize for detaining you. It’s been a pleasure.”
Turning abruptly, she headed for the exit. Doug mumbled a hasty goodbye to Bobby, then rushed to catch up with her. “One ardent fan too many, huh? Are you all right?”
“Of course,” she replied brightly. But she wasn’t all right. She was anything but all right. Bobby’s unexpected appearance was his way of letting her know that he could intrude at any time. Easily. There wasn’t an area of her life that he couldn’t penetrate if he wanted to.
“Alex?” Doug asked if she would join him for a late breakfast. “By way of thanks, the least I can do is buy you a plate of shrimp and grits.”
“That sounds delicious, Doug, but I have to pass.” She couldn’t have swallowed a bite of food if her life depended on it. Seeing Bobby in what she had considered a safe realm had left her terribly shaken and upset, as was most certainly his intention. “I’ve got a patient scheduled in fifteen minutes. I’ll barely get there in time as it is.”
“We’re on our way.”
Doug had insisted on picking her up that morning and driving her to the MUSC Medical Center because parking spaces near the sprawling complex were scarce. On the way downtown, he thanked her again.
“No need. I enjoyed it.” Until Bobby ruined it, she thought.
“Anytime I can return a favor, I owe you one,” he said earnestly.
“I’ll remember that.”
Trying to hide her agitation, she kept the conversation light. They exchanged gossip about friends and colleagues they had in common. She inquired about the AIDS research paper he was working on. He asked if anything new and exciting was going on in her life.
If she told him, he wouldn’t believe her. Or maybe he would, she amended when they turned onto her street.
“What the hell?” Doug exclaimed. “You must’ve had a burglary.”
She knew instantly, with a sinking sense of dread,
that the police car parked in front of her house had nothing to do with a burglary. Two uniformed policemen were flanking her front door like sentinels. A plainclothesman was peering into the front windows. Smilow was talking with her patient, who apparently had arrived early for her appointment.
Doug pulled his car to a stop and was about to get out when Alex forestalled him. “Don’t get involved in this, Doug.”
“Involved in what? What the hell’s going on?”
“I’ll fill you in later.”
“But—”
“Please. I’ll call you.”
She squeezed his arm, then got out and hastily went through her gate and up her walkway, noting as she went that the scene being played out at her front door had attracted the attention of several passersby. A tourist was taking photographs of her house, which was nothing out of the ordinary. The street was featured on all the walking tours. While similar in design, each house on her block boasted at least one distinctive feature of historical significance. This morning, her house was set apart from the others by the police car parked in front.
“Dr. Ladd!” Her patient rushed forward. “What’s going on? I got here just as these policemen arrived.”
Alex glared at Smilow over the shoulder of the woman in distress. “I’m terribly sorry, Evelyn, but I’ll have to reschedule your appointment.”
Placing her arm around the woman’s shoulders, she turned her about and walked her to her car. It took several minutes for Alex to reassure her that everything was all right and that her appointment would be rescheduled for the earliest possible time.