Close Contact by Sue Parker

Author:Sue Parker [Parker, Sue]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Parker Publishing
Published: 2020-02-07T22:00:00+00:00

Thirty-three

“The goal of neuro-linguistic programming is to reroute, reframe and redirect the brain,” Dr. Bentley informed me later that afternoon. “In Haley’s case, we’re hoping to lessen the impact of the shooting by desensitizing her brain to the reality, making it as if it happened to someone else or as if it were a movie, instead of personal experience.”

He further explained that Haley would need many such treatment sessions, most of which could be done on an out-patient basis once she was well enough to go home.

Haley going home?

The thought was overwhelming. Where exactly was home? She couldn’t return to her apartment with the gunman still on the loose. Maybe she should move home with her parents. Pick up where she left off at a university up there. But what if she refused? That left only one place: my house.

After what I had been through three years before, I dreaded the idea of having my sanctuary at risk again. I shuddered as I made my way to Haley’s room. By then, I was starving. It had been so long since I’d eaten. My plan was to stop in for a couple of minutes and grab something to eat on the way home.

The minute I entered, however, Haley lambasted me with questions about Mikko, the investigation, the funeral. When I broke the news that the funeral was already over, she fell to the floor sobbing again, not to be consoled. I called for Pepper, but he wasn’t on duty and neither I nor Pepper’s replacement could calm her. Eventually, a sedative did the trick, and I wondered how Haley was ever going to be able to leave here.

As soon as she fell asleep, I schlepped to the dining room, bought a sandwich from a machine and headed home. Though the sandwich was stale, it tasted like a gourmet meal. I pulled into my driveway at ten o’clock, full but exhausted.

Kit was on the couch wound into a ball when I punched in the code to turn off the alarm. He peered up at me, blinking a few times and then returned to his favorite past time. I plopped down next to him and rubbed him awake. “Hey, baby guy,” I said. “Miss me?” He meowed his answer which I took as a, yes. “Missed you too.” Not long after, we moved to the bedroom. I took a shower and crawled into bed next to him where we slept like babies until morning.

The sun was busy burning off the marine layer when I wandered out to get the newspaper, coffee in hand. Most of my news came from the internet these days, but I was still stubborn enough to keep my subscription to the Las Lunas Press. There was information in the newspaper you didn’t find anywhere else.

I had only been back inside a couple of minutes munching on an English muffin when the roar of a motorcycle coming up the driveway grabbed my attention. It sounded like it might keep coming and bust through my front window.

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