Page 97 of Help Wanted

Chapter 17

After a recommendation from Brady, Kenley sat in Dr. Fulmer’s office as the doctor read the police report out loud.

“So that is officially what happened. Those are the facts,” the woman said as she crossed her arms on her lap.

“Okay,” Kenley said. She was there. She knew what had happened.

“Was anything missing?”

“I don’t know. I don’t think so. The police were pretty thorough with their questions.”

“And your subconscious is taking the facts and twisting them into something horrible.”

Kenley nodded. That was an adequate description. Over the last two weeks she’d been having more bad dreams. The anxiety of being alone in the office was getting worse too. Zane was doing a good job of having excuses to stay in the office, but he still needed to take Weston’s boat up to Boston.

“When you’re awake, do you seem fixated on what could have happened if Brady hadn’t come in?”

“I try not to think about it. If I start thinking about all the potential risks of going anywhere alone, I’m afraid I’ll become a prisoner in my apartment.” She swallowed. “But it does pop into my head when I’m not concentrating on other things.” And it had kept her from going to the city to meet up with Alyssa last weekend. She’d come up with a last-minute excuse and gone home.

“If you don’t deal with it, it could sneak up on you at any time. You could become a prisoner in your own head.”

“I feel very fortunate nothing happened. I just want to focus on that.”

“Nothing happened?” Dr. Fulmer repeated her words while holding up the three-page report. “This happened. It’s real. It was bad. Yes, it could have been worse, but don’t downplay what took place.”

Kenley swallowed and nodded again. Why couldn’t everyone just let it go? Why couldn’t she? She hadn’t been shot or hurt in any way. So he’d grabbed her arm. So he’d shouted at her with his nasty breath fanning across her face. That happened a million times to people in the subway.

“I’m going to read the report again so you know what happened. They are facts and they are in the past. Do you understand?”

Kenley nodded and listened to the words this time instead of trying to block them out.

When she was done she passed the papers to Kenley.

“You’re going to be called to testify on these facts. While you’re in the courtroom you are going to hear this again. I want you to be prepared and comfortable with the facts so you don’t break down on the stand. Can you read them out loud to me?”

She stumbled on the words armed robbery all three times they came up. Apparently the doctor noticed.

“You were robbed at gunpoint.”

“But I wasn’t hurt—”

“It’s true you weren’t shot, but the fear of the possibility brings out the same feelings of helplessness and loss of control.”

Kenley nodded in understanding. She had felt helpless and out of control. That was the part that still haunted her even when Zane was close by.

She took the papers home and read them out loud twice a day, per the doctor’s orders.

By the third appointment Kenley was able to read through the report and admit that she had been threatened at gunpoint without making other excuses or trying to brush it off. It was progress.

She was healing. Maybe someday soon she would even be fine.

* * *

Zane was following Kenley’s lead as far as her recovery was concerned. And it was a recovery. The night she’d pulled out the tattered police report and read it to him out loud had nearly killed him. But he’d listened and held her close afterward, feeling as if she’d made some giant step forward.

Inside he’d raged for the chance to hurt the man who had terrified her this badly. If he’d actually pulled the trigger, Zane would have ended him and not cared about the repercussions.

Fortunately that hadn’t happened.