Chapter 32

Cami

Olivia was telling me about a visit with her older brother—the first happy memory she’d shared with me. Before my initial session with Olivia, her mom had given me a brief rundown on Olivia’s history. Her older brother was a child from her father’s previous marriage. He hadn’t been close to his father and had only seen Olivia a handful of times before their father’s death.

“I’m glad you had such a nice visit with your brother,” I told her.

“I think I helped him,” Olivia announced, confirming what I’d suspected. Her visit with her brother made her feel more in control of what was going on in her life. It was hard for a young child to understand the loss of a loved one. On top of that, Olivia had been forced to move. She was dealing with a new school, new home, and adjusting to life without her father.

“This has been a great session, Olivia,” I said as we came to the end of our time.

“I’m starting to think it might be okay to be happy,” she admitted quietly.

“It’s definitely okay to be happy,” I assured her.

After Olivia left, I was getting my stuff together so I could head home when there was a knock on the locked office door.

I opened the door to find a vaguely familiar woman in a business suit.

“Dr. Shaw?” she asked.

“Yes,” I replied. “What can I do for you?”

“I’m Elaine Marcello with Morrison Management Services. Can I talk to you for a few minutes?”

“Of course.” I stepped back, and she came into the office. Morrison managed the building, so I’d probably seen Elaine around. The company had offices on the fifth floor.

“I wanted to talk to you about your accident,” she explained. “Naturally, we need to get an official report filed. We’ve also referred the matter to the police, and they would like to interview you.”

“Sorry, I didn’t contact you about filling out the report before,” I told her. “I know the procedures.”

She waved off my apology. “You left in an ambulance, and I’m assuming you have other things to handle. I have all the paperwork with me, so we can handle that while I’m here.”

“Good. That will make it easier. Why do the police need to talk to me?”

“Our security staff feels the oil on the stairs was suspicious, so they filed a police report,” she explained. “It seems there is enough evidence to believe someone deliberately spilled the oil there.”

“You think someone wanted to make me fall down the stairs?” I asked. That seemed insane. I didn’t have enemies. Sure, some patients hadn’t liked me, but they’d just gone to different therapists. Not all of my break-ups had been amicable, but none had been truly ugly. Mitch was the exception, but even he merely refused to accept it was over between us. He’d never threatened me.

“It may not have had anything to do with you specifically,” she replied. “Someone could have thought it would be funny. We don’t know, but since you were the one who fell, the police need to interview you.” She slid a card across the desk. “They left this so you can call to set up a time.”

I let out a tired sigh. “I suppose they want to talk to me as soon as possible.”

She nodded. “It is a criminal investigation, so they don’t want to delay. We’re also giving them access to our building security feeds, so they might be able to see who did it. Unfortunately, we don’t have cameras in the stairwell.”

“That would make things too easy,” I muttered. “Well, let’s get this report filled out, and then I’ll call the police.”

So much for my plans to go home and sleep.