Grumpy Doctor

He glanced at Lori then back to me. “I have to admit, I didn’t expect to see you today.”

“Really? What brought you down here?”

He frowned a little and looked at Lori a second time—then I realized he was looking over her shoulder, down toward the hospital. He seemed nervous, like he was afraid someone might spot us talking, and he didn’t want that. I tried to wrack my brain for anyone that might care about this, and could only come up with Gina or Caroline, and most likely Caroline.

“Maybe we should talk,” he said. “Come on. Let’s go this way.”

He turned and set off. I followed, and Lori caught up. She gave me an uncertain look, and I shared her hesitation. I took her hand in mine and squeezed it, trying to reassure her through that simple touch, but I found myself drawn closer, my shoulder pressing against her own, like our bodies needed that physical contact to keep moving.

Theodore seemed on edge about something. Maybe it was about meeting with me like this, or maybe it was over whatever reason he had for skulking around the hospital. If he wasn’t there to spy on me, I had to guess that he was there relaying information from the Tippett family to Caroline. I figured he was very much a part of what was going on, but I was relying on one simple fact.

The Tippett family didn’t give a damn about him, and he didn’t have a position of power to protect himself. Caroline was the hospital administrator, and all the privileges of that job meant she could pull some strings to keep herself safe and clean. But Theodore was just a private investigator, and if it came to needing someone to take the fall—well, it wouldn’t be Robert Tippett, and it wouldn’t be Caroline, and it most likely wouldn’t be Gina.

Theodore took us several blocks away to a quiet Au Bon Pain. It wasn’t crowded—too early for lunch, too late for breakfast, and the good bread wasn’t the best place for brunch—and it was easy to find a table in the far corner, away from everyone else. Theodore sat with his back to the wall, eyes scanning the other patrons.

“Want something?” I asked before sitting. “Coffee? Pastry?”

“No, thanks,” he said. “Let’s talk.”

Lori beamed at the both of us while I took a seat. “I’m going to grab some coffee. I’ll bring you both one.”

Theodore didn’t argue, and she set off after giving my shoulder a quick squeeze. I felt thankful for her—she seemed to know that we needed a few minutes alone together. I felt as though Theodore might open up to me, but couldn’t guess how her presence would affect things.

“What were you doing, hanging around the hospital?” Theodore asked.

“Waiting for you,” I said. “I figured we had some things to discuss.”

“You’re right about that.”

I leaned toward him. “And what were you doing?”

He cleared his throat. “I was going to talk to Caroline.”

“I figured. Running messages for your employer.”

“Not exactly,” he said. “This was on my own initiative.”

I raised an eyebrow. “And what would you need to talk to the hospital administrator about, if it’s not coming from Robert?”

“There are some things I noticed, over the last couple weeks.” He cleared his throat again. He was nervous, twitchy almost, and he kept glancing to the side, toward the window, at the people walking past. Sweat dampened his underarms and darkened his light blue dress shirt. I couldn’t recall seeing him like this before, not even when I’d first confronted him. Back then, he seemed so cool and calm—but now, he was a mess.

Something was happening with him.

“I think I can guess what,” I said. “I’m betting it has to do with my notes.”

He coughed the nodded. “That’s right.”

“You know they’re fake, don’t you?”

“I have my suspicions.”

A long silence fell between us. My heart raced as I tried to come to grips with that. He knew, damn it, he knew the truth—he knew that Robert was setting me up, and that Caroline was in on the whole thing. They faked my documents, and somehow Theodore had found out.

Lori returned with three coffees in paper to-go cups. Theodore took his with a polite smile and placed it down to the side. I sipped mine: strong and black. Lori sat down and glanced between us, but didn’t say anything.

“Theodore was just telling me that he knows Caroline and Robert Tippett are trying to set me up,” I said.

“I didn’t say that.” He frowned only a touch, but I noticed that he didn’t disagree with my statement.

“You know those notes are faked,” I said. “I don’t know how you figured it out, but you did. And you were headed to Caroline to, what, confront her about it?”

“I wanted to talk to her,” he said. “That’s all. I wasn’t sure what I knew, at least until right this second.” He let out a bitter laugh, like it clawed its way up from his throat. I could only guess at how he felt: foolish, angry, and worse. If I could see how Tippett was going to throw him under the bus, then I was sure he could see it, too.