Good evening! Yes, yes, of course…»
When the psychiatrist returned to the living room with a pensive expression on his face, a question was already waiting for him:
«Well, what is it?»
«She wants to stop by for half an hour just to talk. She even begged me as she is divorcing her husband.»
«Wow! Didn’t you refuse?»
«No.»
«Great! Is she the same Carol, the wife of the policeman, right? I have not heard about them for a long time. There’ll be a new interesting story. It turns me on. What about you, Mickey?»
«Don’t call me that. At least for now. I need to get my thoughts together,» it was unpleasant to hear hints of past relationships, especially because he was going to break up with this once and for all.
«As you wish. I’ll wait in the bedroom. I promise to sit quietly. Don’t worry! I’ll be waiting for her news. Just be sure to find as much as possible about her divorce and bring Bill’s glass here. I like looking at it. It turns me on too.»
«You’re crazy’ noticing dissatisfaction in his visitor’s look, Woodruff waved his hands: «Okay, go, go now. She’s pulling up.»
There was a rustling sound of tires on the street. The doctor looked around the living room and headed for the door.
«Michael, hello!» Carol was incredibly attractive in the dim light of the entrance light.
«Come in, hello! What happened?»
«I’m going to my friend’s and I decided to call on you to say thanks for your help. Things went to plan, he was quiet, as you said. But I want to help me with another thing if you don’t mind.»
«No, I don’t. Come in, come in, of course,» he stepped aside, letting her in. The pleasant scent of perfume, cream, and something else distant, alluring and inherent in real women, touched his nostrils and carried him into the living room.
Carol confusedly told him everything that they had already discussed with him more than once before, when she was just getting ready to make this difficult decision, but then the conversation took on a different tone, and when Michael understood it, it was too late.
«To be honest,» she leaned forward, as if she wanted him to hear better, «I cannot forget what was between us.»
«But this… we both agreed it was an accident,» he muttered in panic, watching the door in the corridor out of the corner of his eye. Carol spoke quietly, but her voice could be heard in the bedroom.
«Yes, we did. You’re right, but you felt sorry for me and understood. You were so imbued with my grief that I didn’t even know how to explain it, and your attention… it did something unimaginable to me. I think about you constantly. I agree that I shouldn’t have done so. Perhaps, I was too weak and wanted this, but now I don’t care. I miss you. I know that sounds silly but you’re divorced too. Why don’t we think about… well, you might understand me. At least we could try to live together. We can move to Frisco, I have a house there and it’s not far from here. My mother…»
«Carol,» he interrupted her, feeling that his throat was dry. «It’s impossible. I have a clientele, my job, connections here… You see I agree that I was wrong and made a mistake, but I can’t do that again…»
«You aren’t Weinstein and you don’t need to make excuses!» a sharp answer sounded. «I knew it!» she cried and leaned back in the sofa. Tears flowed from her eyes in thin streams, as when they first crossed the line of formal communication. «Don’t worry, I will not throw a tantrum. It’s just a pity, it’s a pity… Give me something soothing and I’ll go,» she could not restrain herself and burst into tears, hiding her face in her hands.
«OK, wait,» he wanted to make sure that nothing was heard in the bedroom, so he hurried there first.
«Give her sleeping pills!» was the first thing he heard when he carefully opened the door. There was no point in asking if his visitor heard everything – he clearly did. It was terrible. «Faster!» the whisper was hot, burning hot.
«You’re crazy! It’s…» Michael Woodruff was desperate to pull himself together.
«What? I’m gonna tell her everything and then I’ll tear the two of you apart. Did you sleep with her? Did you sleep?» the last words turned into the hiss of a cobra, ready to take a lethal leap. Michael realised it was necessary to reassure him.
«Wait, wait. I’ll be right back! Just don’t go out, I beg you!» he spoke in a whisper, but it seemed to him that he was screaming. Having slipped out of the bedroom, in one breath he swept along the corridor into his study and opened the safe. Then he took out the strongest sleeping pills and shook the capsule on the table with trembling hands.
«Thanks! You look so excited. Sorry,» Carol said in a low voice, seeing him with a glass of water. «How many?» she asked with a guilty smile, taking a glass from the doctor’s trembling hands.
«Usually three are enough, but you can take four now, I think,» he said in an uneven voice, wondering in his mind what dose she would receive and whether it would be harmful.
«I’ll take five!» the capsules disappeared into Carol’s hands. She washed them with water and again threw her head back on the sofa. «Now, let me have just a minute… I’ll calm down a bit and go. My friend Tina is waiting for me.»
Five minutes later, her body relaxed. A hand slowly slipped into a handbag at the back of the sofa. Michael stood up and headed towards the corridor. He was shaking from excitement.
«Where have you been for so long? I’m about to burst! Come here! If possible, I would put her on this table instead of this glass. Look what I have! This is a wig. Do I look like her?» listening to this, Woodruff felt that he was beginning to give in to internal instincts.
«You are definitely out of your mind today! Stop it! Otherwise, I…» he did not have time to finish, having received a push in the chest and finding himself on the bed. The only thing he managed to say sounded pathetic and humiliating, «Just don’t tie me! She may come to her senses out there.»
Half an hour later, both sat back in bed, and Michael said quietly:
«You are strong and do you also keep taking hormones?»
«Yes.»
«This is odd. Okay, I’m gonna get some water, I feel thirsty. I can’t believe that all this is true. Horrible! Imagine, the patient is behind the wall! What if she regains consciousness? That’s dangerous…»
«Bring me a drink,» he heard his visitor’s answer. «Come back and tell me about her divorce. I’m just bursting with curiosity! Don’t argue! Didn’t you enjoy it? It was as tough as you like.»
It took Woodruff some time to find whiskey, because he completely forgot where he’d put the bottle the previous Christmas. Holding two glasses in one hand, Michael left the kitchen and, taking two steps, was dumbfounded. Carol looked at him with wide eyes and smiled, but this could not be true! Five capsules would have knocked down an elephant.
«You
