In Dark Places

Chapter Nine

She and Brand spoke little after he regained alertness. He seemed dazed, uneasy. She wasn't sure how much he remembered of what he'd told her. It was common for patients to be unsure of exactly what they had experienced while in the trance state. And she didn't think it would be wise to press him on the details and possibly jog his memory.

"As a rule," she said briskly, "we don't make much progress in an initial session, but if you're willing to work with me, we can go deeper and retrieve more details next time."

This was safely general and, she hoped, would convince him that he'd said nothing incriminating.

Brand just nodded. He pressed a hand to his forehead.

"A slight headache may persist for a while. Aspirin will take care of it."

This raised a wispy smile. "Take two aspirin and call you in the morning?"

"Call me anytime. I'm always available if you need to talk about amp; anything." She handed him her card, which gave her cell phone number and office address, but not her home address, of course. Her residence was unlisted, and she was suddenly glad about thatalthough a cop could find it anyway, couldn't he?

"Thanks, Doctor." He palmed the card without looking at it.

She led him through the empty waiting room into the hall. As he was leaving, he turned to her with a puzzled look.

"Did I say amp; Did I amp;?"

She waited, her breath held.

Then he shook his head. "Never mind."

"The session went very smoothly, Alan, but you can't expect significant results the first time. This was more of an introduction to the process."

"Introduction. Yeah."

"Can I expect you to show up for your next appointment?"

"I'll be here," Brand said, but he didn't sound sure.

He left the building, exiting into the parking lot at the rear. Robin returned to her office and locked the door.

She was trembling. Maybe not quite so badly as after the carjacking attempt. Still, this seemed to be her day of living dangerously.

If Brand had been on the take, had shot that man in cold blood, execution style, with no possible justification amp;

Then he was a stone-cold killer, and he would surely not be reluctant to kill anyone who stumbled onto his secret.

But he'd taken no action toward her. Perhaps because he was too dazed to act. Or because he didn't recall what he'd said. Or because he wasn't a killer at all.

It was possible. No therapeutic technique was infallible. The MBI procedure could dredge up repressed material, long-forgotten abuse, memories blocked by some self-protective action of the subconscious, but sometimes it could also manufacture false memories, stories that seemed real but were only elaborate fantasies.

She had not personally encountered this problem before. As far as she knew, all the memories recovered from her other patients were genuine. This one might be, as well.

If it was amp;

Then she knew why Brand had been so resistant, why he had skipped his appointment, why he'd become more nervous when the topic of entering a trance had come up. And perhaps why he'd been showing the apparent symptoms of post-traumatic stress in the first place.

Edginess, impaired concentration, panic episodes could all be produced by a stress disorder amp; or by guilt. If not guilt, then fear of getting caught.

She paced, trying to decide what to do. Go to Deputy Chief Wagner? Physician-patient confidentiality did not apply to cases in which a crime had been committed. In fact, she was legally obligated to report what she'd learned. But if it was a false memory, she would be incriminating an innocent man. And even if the memory was accurate, it would be her word against hisand the police were never eager to turn against one of their own.

The alternative was to wait it out, see if the same material resurfaced in subsequent sessions, maybe get his confession on tape. But suppose he was guilty. He might come after her.

Maybe it would have been better if she hadn't been so damn stubborn about tracking this man down. Maybe she shouldn't have gone to Wolper and made him give her Brand's whereabouts.

She stopped pacing.

Wolper. She could talk to him. He'd already made it clear that he wanted to protect Brand. He wouldn't go running to the higher-ups without good reason. At the same time, he'd been willing to help her when she asked. And he might know enough about the shooting to judge whether or not Brand's remembered version of the event was plausible.

It was a place to start, anyway. She looked up the number of the Newton Area station and called, asking for Lieutenant Wolper. After some delay she was transferred to an unpleasant female voice she recognized as that of Wolper's civilian assistant. The day watch ended at three, she was told. The lieutenant was gone for the day.

"I need to speak with him. Can you give me a number where he can be reached?"

"It's not possible for me to give out that information."

"Then it looks like I'll have to go straight to Deputy Chief Wagner. He's not going to be happy to be distracted by a matter the lieutenant could have handledif I'd been able to find him."

A tick of silence on the line, then a sigh. "I can give you his cell number."

Robin took down the information and called that number. Wolper answered. "Look, Doctor," he said when she'd identified herself, "if you still can't find Brand, I don't know what more I can"

"I found him. We had our first session."

"Hallelujah. So what's the problem?"

"Something came up. I can't talk about it over the phone. I amp; I amp; need to see you."

"If you wanted a date that bad, you could've just asked."

"Lieutenant"

"Okay, okay, just a joke. This can't wait, I take it?"

"No."

"You know Patsy's All-American?"

"Say again?"

"It's a coffee shop, corner of Santa Monica and La Brea. I'm sort of a regular. They make good burgers. What do you say we meet there about five-thirty?"

"That's fine. Thank you, Lieu" But he'd already hung up.

She checked the clock. Four-fifteen. There would be no time for her to go home before heading to the coffee shop. And she might not be home in time for dinner.

She dialed her home number. Meg should have been home from school an hour agoshe and Jamie were driven home by Jamie's mother in the afternoon.

She got through to Meg on the third ring.

"Hey, Mom. What's up?"

"Looks like I'm going to be late tonight."

"Now that's unusual." Sarcasm, a favorite weapon of the long-suffering high school student.

"I know I've been busy lately," Robin said, "what with the research project coming on top of my regular client list. But it won't last much longer. And you know it's important to me."

"I get it. No problem."

"The thing is, there was a amp; complication with one of my patients. I need to talk to someone about it. It may take a while."

"Mom, I can handle being on my own."

"There's still some of that Chinese food in the fridge."

"I'll reheat it. My microwave skills are improving daily."

"I'm sorry about this. I shouldn't be too late."

"Take your time. I'm okay. Like the man said, everything's copacetic."

"Don't say that." She felt a stab of some emotion that was either anger or fear. "Don't use his words."

"It was only a joke."

"I'm serious, Meg."

"Okay, Mom. Okay."

Robin took a breath. "Sorry. I'm a little wound up."

"Well, you can chill. Feeble attempt at humor, that's all it was. Uh, you know I'm going over to Jamie's later?"

"That's tonight?"

"Yeah. Monday."

"Right, right. Not till seven-thirty, though?"

"Uh-huh."

"Don't worry; I'll be home in time to drive you there."

"If you get held up or something, I can take the bus."

"A city bus? I don't think so."

"We live in West LA, Mom. There's, like, no crime in this part of town."

"There's crime in every part of town. I will be home in time to drive you, and you will not take the bus. Is that clear?"

"You're kind of paranoid, you know that?"

"I'm a parent. A certain degree of paranoia is normal and healthy."

"You learn that in shrink school?" Robin shut her eyes. "I learned it in life."