Fatal Mercy by Dan Padavona

Author:Dan Padavona [Padavona, Dan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-01-20T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Dr. Mandal’s office smells of incense today. Patchouli with a hint of wood smoke, like a new age cabin on a January morning. She taps her pen against her pad as she studies Thomas, and her vision penetrates deeper than Thomas can dig.

“I had the dream again last night,” he says, scratching his arm and watching the sweet smoke curl off the stick and plume toward the ceiling.

She nods and sets the pad in her lap.

“Would you like to talk about it?”

“I’m on an island. Not sure where. Somewhere warm. There’s a palm tree in the middle of the island, taller than all the others.”

“What do you do?”

“I climb the tree and shimmy up the trunk. Maybe because I’m searching for a way off the island. But I doubt it, because I’m in no rush to leave. The higher I go, the further away the top seems. When I look down, the beach is a hundred yards below and fading fast. The air is thinner here. Helps my sinuses. That’s when I spot the tree house at the top of the palm.”

Mandal blinks and writes something on her notepad.

“Go on.”

Thomas runs a hand over the two-day scruff along his cheeks.

“So I keep climbing, because I want to make it to that tree house, no matter how high I need to go. I’m not afraid to fall, just determined to see what’s inside.”

“Do you reach the tree house?”

He bobs his head.

“It’s the size of a family home when I climb inside. That makes zero sense, right?”

“Tell me about the tree house.”

“Windows surround each side. Clouds float past the glass, like translucent pieces of cotton I can touch if I open the windows. I’m too far up to see the island, only the ocean. It’s placid, no waves. Running water, electricity. A ceiling fan spills cool air over my face.”

“Sounds peaceful.”

“It is.”

“How does the house make you feel, Thomas?”

His eyes crease in consideration.

“Safe.”

“Why do you think you’re safe inside the tree house?”

“Because nobody can hurt me there.”

Mandal tilts her head.

“Who wants to hurt you, Thomas?”

A vein pulses in his neck.

“People are good to me.”

“But inside, a part of you believes people want to hurt you. Like the gangster who shot you in the back. And Jeremy Hyde. You stopped Hyde from harming anyone else, and the LA gangs are on the other side of the country.”

“You’re right.”

“What about the woman you mentioned when you began therapy? Your former girlfriend, the private investigator.”

“Chelsey,” he says, and the name rolls off his lips and drifts toward the ceiling with the incense smoke.

“That was a long time ago, Thomas. Don’t blame her for the mistakes she made as a teenager. Major depression is crippling. We should admire her for putting her life together.”

“I do admire her.”

“But you want more. You want her by your side again.”

Thomas shrugs.

“I can’t force her to feel the same as I do.”

“What about your parents? It must hurt you that they’re forcing you to take over Shepherd Systems and lobbying the sheriff to fire you.

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