“I swear.”
She chuffed and turned her head aside.
“Think about it, Dylan. If you had ratted me out to John, told him you couldn’t continue with me, the jig would have been up. My scheme, as you call it, would have been screwed. So, yeah, that kiss was spontaneous, and it surprised the hell out of me, too.”
He waited her out until finally she looked back at him, then he said, “Why didn’t you tattle on me? You’ve never given me a straight answer to that, only some psychological stuff about transference and manipulation. Was that the real reason you didn’t tell John? The only reason? Or was it because you felt the earth move the same as I did?”
Whispering, “Damn you,” she raised both hands to cover her face and screamed behind them. Her body shook with the effort it took to contain the emotional outburst. This Dylan was the polar opposite of the one with the tight ponytail, her face a mask, sitting primly on the edge of her sofa while jotting down notes about her truculent new patient.
This wasn’t the way he had wanted to watch her fall apart.
By a force of will, he kept himself from touching her while she struggled to temper her outrage. Ultimately she did, but even when she lowered her hands and looked at him, her eyes were glossed with tears borne of fury, her aspect hard and accusatory.
“All the trickery? What was it for? Besides making a fool of me, and continuing to, why did you do it?”
“Not to make a fool of you.”
“Then why?”
“I told you why. Roland Malone.”
“Then you’ve wasted your time and hoodwinking talents. I will not disclose anything about a patient. For which you shouldbe very grateful, because I would have plenty to say about you. Like you breaking into my office on Tuesday morning. Were you after information on Roland? What were you looking for?”
“You. Remember? I told you I thought you might be in another room.”
“Which is a damn lie that insults my intelligence.” She looked ready to throttle him. “Go play your cop games, Mitch, but leave me out of them.”
She turned in her seat and reached for the door handle, but before she could open it, Mitch placed his hand on her shoulder. “Listen to me,listen to me.”
She stopped her struggle to open the door and turned her head, making a point of focusing on his restraining hand. He removed it immediately.
She said, “I’m done listening. You lie. You connive. I would never trust another word out of your mouth. Nothing. Not ever again.”
“There are things you should know about Malone, if you don’t know them already.”
She was fumbling with the door handle, her efforts to unlatch it becoming more frantic. “Do you have a child lock on this?”
“No, it’s an old truck. The handle is contrary.” She stubbornly continued to yank on it. “Dylan, stop it, for god’s sake. Look around us. You can’t get out of the truck here.”
“Watch me.”
“How far do you think you’ll get in those shoes?”
“I’ll call Uber.”
“No telling how long that would take, if one would come at all. It’s dark out here. There’s nobody around. It’s beginning to rain in earnest. And—”
“What? And what?”
“And I have your phone.” Since taking it from her when she went into the drugstore, he’d had it tucked between his thighs along with his nine-millimeter.
“Give it to me!”
“I know you’re angry, but—”
“Angry?”She laughed with an edge of hysteria. “That doesn’t come close. I’m infuriated. Give. Me. My. Phone.”
“Shit!” he said under his breath. Then, “Listen. Just… please listen. I admit to everything you’ve accused me of. The playacting, conniving, all of it. Hoodwinking?” He leaned in and said with emphasis, “You’re damn right I use trickery, because many a time my life has depended on fooling people. If I weren’t good at it, I’d be dead several times over.”
