rel="nofollow" href="#ulink_7bb75a68-1882-54fb-afda-85a04fa55085">Chapter 2
The drive into town felt as if it took longer than usual. He figured he’d pick up the diapers and formula after he had a word with Dr. Rand.
Dead River looked like a ghost town. Probably because it was Sunday, and most folks were either at church or home with their families. Main Street, usually pretty busy about this time of day while the stores were open, had tons of empty parking spots and only a few people on the sidewalks. But when he turned the corner onto Third and spotted the clinic’s overflowing parking lot, he couldn’t believe it. Usually, the clinic was closed on Sundays, except for emergencies.
Gemma hadn’t been exaggerating. He ended up parking in the street.
As he approached the glass front door of the one-story, white cinder block building, he nearly stopped short as he saw the mass of people milling around in the waiting area. Surely not all of these people had come down with the virus.
Pushing inside, he stopped, checking everything out. No one looked feverish, or was coughing, sneezing or exhibiting any other flu-like symptoms. As far as he could tell, none of these people actually appeared sick.
His suspicion was confirmed when Cathleen Walker, who worked the intake desk, grabbed his arm. As usual, her clothes looked a bit rumpled, as though she hadn’t had time to press them. “Theo, are you okay?”
He nodded. “What’s up with them?”
“They want a shot.” She grimaced, slipping one foot out of the high heels she continually wore to work and stretching it, before sliding it back into her shoe. “Not a flu shot either—most everybody has already had that. I don’t know why, but someone heard we had received an inoculation against whatever killed Mimi Rand and got the others sick.”
“And you don’t even know what it was, do you?”
“No. But none of these people will leave.” She heaved a frustrated sigh. “More and more keep showing up. I’ve told them, Dr. Moore has told them and even Dr. Granger.”
“What about Dr. Rand?”
Her expression changed, softening. “He’s in the back, writing up a report on the latest people to fall ill. The poor man is grief-stricken over losing Mimi. He acts like it’s his fault he couldn’t save her.”
“I need to talk to him.” Again he glanced at the packed waiting room. “People,” he said, raising his voice. “If you’re sick, please raise your hand.”
Not one hand went up. Exactly as he’d suspected. “Everyone else, go on home. You don’t want to risk being exposed to whatever this virus is.” He glanced around, picking out individuals among the crowd and meeting their eyes. “Do you understand what I’m saying? If you’re healthy, not only are you using resources that could better be directed toward helping those that are sick, but just being here puts you in very serious danger of becoming infected.”
At his words people began exchanging glances, some chastised, others suspicious, a few even hostile. One or two hurried toward the door, and then a couple more followed. Pretty soon, it became apparent the place was going to rapidly empty out.
“Oh, thank you.” Cathleen sagged against her desk, clearly relieved. “Dr. Granger has been saying if too many more get sick, we’re going to have to set up an isolation area and keep the virus victims separated from everyone else.”
Which made sense, since the clinic was the main place for medical care in Dead River.
“Come on,” Cathleen said, giving him a tired smile and finger-combing her slightly mussed blond hair. “I’ll take you back to see Dr. Rand.”
He followed behind, her high heels clicking on the linoleum. They went past the reception area to where the older patient-records were stored in manila folders. For years, Gemma had claimed Dead River Clinic wanted to go entirely electronic. Apparently they had not yet completed the task of doing so.
“Here we are.” Once again all professional, Cathleen stopped and pointed toward one of the offices. A brown and gold nameplate on the door stated it belonged to Dr. Lucas Rand.
“Thanks.” He lightly squeezed her shoulder, making her blush, which sort of surprised him since they’d known each other from the fifth grade.
Moving forward, he peered into the small office. Dr. Rand spoke into a handheld dictation device. His usually perfect dark hair looked as if he’d been dragging his fingers repeatedly through it.
Theo knocked lightly on the door.
The doctor looked up, his dark eyes full of pain. He clicked off his machine and stood, holding out his hand. “Theo.”
Theo shook his hand, trying to figure out the best way to word what he had to say. Finally, he decided the hell with it. He’d talk to Dr. Rand man-to-man.
“About Mimi,” he began.
“I can’t believe she’s dead.”
“Me, either.” Theo dug his hands down into his pockets and resisted the urge to shift from foot to foot. “I’m guessing you know she had a baby?”
The other man nodded. “Of course. When she first got pregnant, I wrote her script for prenatal vitamins.” He choked up, averting his face and swallowing hard as he tried to get himself under control. “I can’t believe she’s gone.”
“I’m sorry.”
Dr. Rand sighed. “I tried my best to save her. I couldn’t. I let her down. And now her newborn child is motherless.”
“About that.” Theo tried to figure out the best way to say it, and then decided to just blurt it out. “Is the baby—Amelia—yours?”
Dr. Rand stared at him, his expression a mix of surprise and horror. “Good Lord, no. Mimi and I haven’t been together like that in at least a year.” He blinked and peered at Theo the same way a scientist might inspect a particularly interesting petri dish full of bacteria. “Um, Theo? I don’t know what you’re getting at, but it’s my understanding that Amelia is your daughter.” He flushed and looked away. “At least that’s what Mimi told me. And she had no reason to lie.”
Mine. For a split second, it seemed to Theo everything tilted sideways. The room suddenly felt too warm. Treading carefully, as it was common knowledge that Dr. Rand had still cared for his ex-wife, Theo cleared his throat.
“Look, Dr. Rand—”
“Call me Lucas.”
Theo nodded. “Okay. Lucas. This is awkward, but Mimi never contacted me about being pregnant. I would have helped her.”
“I took care of that. I’ve been paying spousal support anyway, so I just added to it. I don’t think she ever intended you to find out, at first. Clearly, she changed her mind.”
“That doesn’t make sense.” Frowning, Theo couldn’t make sense of any of this. “Besides, she and I were only together a couple of times. I sincerely doubt that I could be Amelia’s father.”
Some dark emotion flashed across Lucas’s face, before he looked down.
