“Ehrynn?”
Nadia opened her eyes
to find a tall, thin, and impeccably dressed older man standing in the
doorway. “Come in. I’m awake.” She sat up, plumping a pillow behind her
back for support. Rather than move forward to shake her hand, the man pulled the one chair in the room over to the side of the bed and sat down. He had a le ather portfolio in his
hand. When he opened it, she spotted a yellow tablet inside. She also
noticed him withdraw a fancy fountain pen from an inside pocket of his
tailored suit and remove the cap. Crossing his legs, he propped the
tablet on his thigh and gave her a practiced smile.
“And you are…” she
prodded.
The expression of
disbelief was expected. What she wasn’t anticipating was the smug grin
that replaced it. Immediately, Nadia knew she neither liked the man nor
trusted him.
“You know who I am.
I’ve been your psychiatrist since you were eighteen, Ehrynn.” His tone
was condescending, further annoying her.
Psychiatrist? She
mentally shrugged. She shouldn’t be surprised these people would think
she was running on three cylinders. But it didn’t give the man the right
to automatically assume she was trying to pull some kind of scam. Rather
than respond, she clasped her hands in her lap and waited for the man to
continue. The doctor scratched a few notes on his pad before addressing
her again.
“I understand you
claim you’re no longer Ehrynn Rose. That you’re some other person
instead, inhabiting her body.”
“That’s true. My name
is Nadia Logermeyer.”
“For the sake of
argument, I’ll go along with you. Where are you from, Nadia?”
“New York.”
“The city or the
state?”
“Manhattan.”
Scritch, scratch, scratch.
The sound of the fountain
pen’s nub against the paper was starting to irritate her. To counter it,
she decided to go on the offensive.
“Where am I? Am I
still on Long Island?”
“You’re in Houston.
Texas.”
Nadia gasped softly. “Texas?”
“Ehrynn, or rather
Nadia, do you know how you managed to inhabit Ehrynn’s body?”
“I wish I knew.”
“Can you tell me a
little about yourself?”
“Like what?”
“Well, for beginners,
do you look anything like Ehrynn?”
Nadia shook her head.
“No. For one thing, I’m a redhead.”
“A real redhead?”
She glanced at her
hands to keep the man from seeing her rising irritation. “I’m
twenty-seven years old. I’m a dental assistant at Parkhurst Dental
Associates. My mother’s name was Daysha. My father was Oris. Dad died
from lung cancer when I was fifteen. He was a smoker. Mom died two years
ago from ovarian cancer. I had a younger sister, but she died two years
ago.”
“Cancer?”
Nadia looked at him.
“She’d stopped at the market for some milk on her way home and got shot
by an eighteen-year-old hopped-up meth addict who tried to hold up the
place.”
More scratching on the
yellow tablet.
“You seem to have your
story all worked out,” the man casually remarked.
“It’s the truth,” she
retorted. It was becoming more and more difficult to curb her tongue.
“You said you’ve known Ehrynn since she was eighteen?”
“That’s right.”
“Mind if I ask you a
few questions about her? Kind of help me fill in the blanks, so to
speak?” Since it was supposedly herself she wanted to talk about, she
knew the man wouldn’t be restricted about sharing that information.
“Ask away.” He
re-crossed his legs, resting his hands on the tablet.
“Who is she? Age, work
experience. You know, the usual stats.”
He sighed through his
nose, but before he had the chance to answer, she added, “Oh, and you
can begin with telling me what you want me to call you, Dr…”
“Nottman. Chet
Nottman.”
She flashed him a
smile. “Dr. Nottman.”
“But you always call
me Chet.”
“All right, Chet. You
have the floor. I’m listening.”
“You’re twenty-eight
years of age. You’re a native Texan, and a graduate of Texas A&M
University.”
“Job?”
Nottman shook his
head. “No job. You could say you’re a full-time homemaker.”
“And I’m married to
Mr. Rose? When?”
“Three years ago.”
“Is it a happy
marriage?”
The man hesitated
slightly. “Why would you ask that?”
She had her reasons,
but she wasn’t about to explain them to this man.
But don’t forget he’s Ehrynn’s
psychiatrist, which means she’s probably spilled her darkest secrets to
him.
“Just a feeling I
get.” For emphasis, she held up her bandaged wrists.
Nottman made a few
faces. It had to be an affectation the man had whenever he was thinking.
He wrote a couple of things, then looked back up at her.
“No. You’re not happy
in this marriage. That’s why you’ve asked Nash for a divorce.”
Divorce?
She didn’t try to hide
her surprise. “Why? Is he cheating on her? I mean, me?”
“Not that you’re aware
of. I mean, you have your suspicions, but the private detective you
hired wasn’t able to produce any proof.”
“Well, if she was
trapped in a loveless marriage, and she thought her husband was cheating
on her, I can see why she filed for divorce.” She held up her arms
again. “But it doesn’t explain why she did this to herself. I mean, give
or take a couple of months, she would have been free of him.”
The doctor got that
look on his face again. It raised red flags. Nadia narrowed her eyes.
“Chet, did you know
she was going to pull a stunt like this?”
The man would have
made a terrible poker player. She blinked in surprise.
“You
knew?”
He held up a hand.
“You told me you couldn’t take the abuse any longer. But, to me, I
assumed you were going to pack up and leave him. Not try to take your
own life.”
She latched onto the
one glowing neon word he’d uttered. “He
abused
her? In what way? Did he beat her?”
Nottman quickly shook
his head. “No. You said Nash never laid a hand on you. It was more of
a…an emotional abuse.”
“Emotional abuse?
What? Did he threaten to kill her if she left him? Is that why she tried
to kill herself, because he wouldn’t let her go through with the
divorce?”
“No, no, no. It’s
nothing like that. No, by emotional abuse, I meant it was a financial
one.”
Financial abuse? That
was a new one for the books.
“How does someone
financially abuse someone? Was he withholding money to buy groceries and
such?”
“He refused to honor
your prenup.”
A prenup. That alone
told her there was money involved. Lots of money. People didn’t enter
into prenups unless one or both of them had a steady flow of cash coming
in. Lots of cash. And since the doc confessed she was a stay-at-home
housewife, unless she was an heiress to some fortune, that left Mr. Rose
as the likely breadwinner.
What does the man do for a living?
Nadia leaned back
against the pillows. “I don’t understand. I can see her slitting her
wrists because of emotional or physical abuse. I can see her trying to
get out of a loveless marriage, especially if he wouldn’t let her
divorce him. But to pull a stunt like this over money?”
Again, that odd look
masked the psychiatrist’s face. Even if she couldn’t read it, she
realized there was a lot more to this iceberg than what was visible on
the surface.
Crossing her arms over
her chest, making sure she didn’t get tangled in the IV hose, she waited
for the man to speak. After a few more seconds, and a few more
scratchings on the tablet, the doctor placed both feet on the floor and
leaned forward.
“Listen, Ehrynn.”
“Nadia.”
He nodded. “Nadia.
When I initially got the news of your…accident, I was prepared to
discuss the reasons for your decision once you were well enough to
confront them. What I wasn’t prepared for was for you to claim to be
this other woman. A woman I doubt you know or have met in the past.”
She shook her head.
“That’s right. I had no idea an Ehrynn Rose existed until now.”
“Because Nadia
doesn’t
exist. Ehrynn, at some point you’ve
heard the name or seen it written somewhere, and this story was created
out of whole cloth. But I can see why you claim to be her. Because you
want out of this marriage any way possible, and if by saying you’re not
the person you are, you think—”
“I’m not
saying it,
Chet. I
am
Nadia Logermeyer. I didn’t make her up
out of whole cloth. I’m real! I live in… Oh, Jesus. Go check! Go! Go
call my phone. Write it down!” She gave him the number as he reluctantly
scribbled it on the tablet. “Go call right now and see who answers. If
I’m in Ehrynn’s body, then she could be in mine!”
The man was dubious,
which made her more insistent. “Go check, Dr. Nottman! Go on! Call that
number and see who answers!
Do it!”
Giving her that look
again, the man pulled his cell out of his inner jacket pocket and dialed
the number. Nadia waited, straining her ears to catch the other side of
the conversation.
It went straight to
the automated voice messaging system.
“The party you are
trying to reach is not available. At the tone, please leave—” The doctor ended the call without leaving
a message. “There. Are you satisfied?”
“Huh? What do you
mean?”
“I made the call. Now
are you willing to listen to reason?”
This time, Nadia made
no bones about her feelings for the man. “Please leave. Now. I’m tired
and I need to rest.” She fought to keep herself from shouting at the
doctor. The slim chance that her real self would answer the phone, and
hopefully provide some clue as to what was going on, had burst like an
overinflated balloon.
The man tried to
placate her. “Ehrynn.” |