Swann Dive by Arlene Kay

Author:Arlene Kay
Language: ara, eng
Format: epub
Publisher: BelleBooks, Inc.
Published: 2014-05-04T16:00:00+00:00

Thirteen

WE ADJOURNED TO an exquisitely presented dinner of broiled lobster and fresh vegetables that tempted no one. Deming usually wolfed down anything Po put in front of him. But tonight he listlessly picked at his food, just like the rest of us.

“I have a confession to make,” Anika said as we finished dessert. “Eja and I did some investigating.” She touched Bolin’s hand. “Nothing dangerous, darling, but instructive. Very instructive.”

Deming’s frown lacerated me. He clenched his jaw as he spoke. “Snooping, you mean. All right. Tell us.”

Anika summarized our encounter with Dr. Wesley Townsend. “I know we should have waited, but I just had to do something.” She turned to Jake. “You understand, don’t you?”

He nodded. “I did some snooping of my own. Spoke with a few colleagues about Wesley.”

Deming glared at his friend. “Well. Let’s have it, man.”

Jake dabbed the corners of his mouth with his napkin. “It’s nothing conclusive. Mostly gossip, and you know how unreliable that can be.”

“Get on with it!” Deming walked the tightrope between anxious and rude, drumming his fingers on the table.

Bolin touched his son’s arm and leaned forward. “Don’t keep us in suspense, Jake.”

“Okay. There’s nothing formal. Wesley’s too clever for that. It’s just . . . a few things that concerned me. Whispers. Just hints, nothing more. Some of it’s probably prejudice. You know how conservative our profession is, and Wesley’s always been keen on hypnosis. He’s written any number of journal articles on it.”

“So?” I controlled my impulse to shake the good doctor until he spilled his guts.

Jake turned to Anika. “I know he helped you, but I don’t think you should see him again. Not if it involves hypnosis.”

She shuddered, turning an even whiter shade of pale. “Say it, Jake. You’re scaring me.” Anika grasped her husband’s arm as if she were drowning.

“Okay,” Jake said. “One of his patients claimed that Wesley molested her. It was never proven, and she’d been under hypnosis. Had a history of delusions. I understand that such accusations are not uncommon in that field.”

Bolin’s eyes gleamed with a ferocity I’d never seen before. “Just one, Jake?”

Jake avoided his eyes. “More than one. They said their clothes were rearranged, that there were other signs of . . . interference.” This time Dr. Jake looked really uncomfortable.

“Were the authorities involved?” Bolin’s voice was low and lethal.

“I understand that they did a rape kit on one of the women. No evidence whatsoever of sexual contact.”

“Not surprising,” Bolin said. “He’d use a condom.”

My confusion mounted as they debated the forensic aspects of sexual congress.

“I don’t get it,” I said. “CeCe refused hypnosis. It’s one of the reasons they had a blowup.”

“I didn’t,” Anika said. “Wesley hypnotized me every time.”

A small bomb imploded in the room. At least it seemed that way. Deming shot out of his seat, upending his plate and savaging his crystal goblet.

“That bastard! That dirty rotten bastard!” He averted his eyes from his father’s anguished face. “If he touched her, I’ll . . .”

“Hold on, son,” Bolin said.

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