Page 90 of Mountain Freedom
Beverly sighed. “Listen, I don’t know how to say this, but I know you two are involved. I think you should know there was a rumor going around that Dr. Bell slept with Dr. Johnson to get this job. I had changed my mind about her, but then she asked me to schedule this meeting with him for tonight. Right after I did, he sent her roses. She got all starry-eyed over them and wouldn’t admit who they were from. Then tonight, I offered to stay for the meeting, but she sent me home, and, well, they’re alone at the office together…”
I froze as puzzle pieces from the past started sliding together in a way I had never expected.
“Beverly, where did you hear that rumor?”
She didn’t answer.
“Beverly,” I said more forcefully. “I need to know where you heard that rumor.”
“From Penny, Dr. Johnson’s wife,” she finally admitted. “Dr. Johnson had an arrangement with Dr. Bell’s mom years ago. When the announcement was made about Dr. Bell coming to take over the clinic, Penny was furious. Said she shouldn’t have been surprised—all Bells were the same, and for some unknown reason, Dr. Johnson couldn’t get enough of them.”
I closed my eyes as what Allison had told me about her mom lined up with everything else.
The poker games.
Russell’s jokes about my mother not being as valuable as Allison’s.
Jokes about how he wished Brent owed him as much money as he owed the doc.
His warning to me about how Allison was already spoken for.
The way Penny had treated her at the town dance.
The letter that said Allison had always been his.
My eyes opened again. Russell had been at the dance. I thought he had been there for Allison, but what if he had been meeting Dr. Johnson instead? What if the “doc” he had referred to so often in my childhood wasn’t Doc Rogers, like I’d always assumed, but…
What if Dr. Johnson had used Russell to do his dirty work all along?
“Where are you?” I demanded, motioning to the front desk that I had an emergency and had to leave.
“I’m at home,” she said. “I wasn’t sure if I should tell you or not, but you’re a nice man, and well, you just don’t deserve a woman who cheats on you.”
“Allison didn’t sleep with him,” I almost yelled. “She’s in trouble. I’ve got to go.”
I hung up the phone and jumped into my truck, praying I wasn’t too late.
I raced to the clinic,cursing when I saw there was no longer a patrol vehicle out front. Their shift would have just ended, but surely a replacement was coming.
Or not, since everyone would have expected Allison to be back at Greg’s by this point.
I pulled my truck up onto the sidewalk, threw it into park, jumped out, and ran to the door.
Locked.
In an instant, I flashed back to the worst day of my life—the day I’d lost Allison.
I wasn’t going to lose her again.
One solid kick and the old door gave way. I pushed through and ran toward Allison’s office, feeling the same terror and loss I’d felt so many years before when I’d run toward her bedroom and discovered she was really gone.
No. Not again. I couldn’t lose her.
When I threw her office door open, I almost vomited.
They were gone.
I heard the sound of a door opening in the back and took off, running past the exam rooms. I turned the corner and saw what had to be a nightmare. Allison’s body was crumpled on the floor, her eyes closed and her face drained of all color, as Dr. Johnson dragged her by her wrists toward the exit that led to the alleyway. He dropped her immediately when he saw me and turned to run, but I was faster.
