Ыоуве Been Warned   ::   Patterson James

C’mon,Kristin, keep it together. Somehow, some way, this has to start making sense. You just have to find the organizing principle.

It wasn’t my father, I tell myself, just someone who looks like him. Maybe someone’s trying to mess with my mind. It’s got to be something like that.

Christ, how insanely paranoid can I get? Someone messing with my mind? Who?

Out of nowhere, a sharp pain shoots straight up from my feet. My thighs and calves are throbbing, and I can’t stand it anymore. Not any of this.

Balling my hands into fists, I begin to pound at my legs. I’m literally beating myself up.

“Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!”

Closing my eyes, I let go with a primal scream, and yet at the same time I have a very sane thought. This is no time to be alone.



Chapter 33



I CALL MICHAEL.

Actually, I page him. That’s how we work it on the weekends. The arrangement between us.

I’m the supposed big client to whom he gives direct access 24/7, so Penley doesn’t raise a tweezed eyebrow when he disappears into his study to call me back on his private line. I even have a name. Carter Whitmore. Sort of sounds like a guy in finance.

Two minutes later, my phone rings. I don’t bother with hello and cut right to the chase. “I need to see you.”

Before Michael can respond, I realize how that sounds, or at least how he might interpret it. Sexually.

“I mean, I need to talk to you,” I tack on. Strangely, I’m feeling better now. Calmer.

“Okay, so let’s talk.”

“Where can I meet you?”

“Oh,” he says haltingly. “We can’t do this on the phone?”

“I’d rather not.” Tell you that either I’m cracking up or it’s a whole lot worse than that.

“You sound stressed. Is everything okay?”

“No,” I answer. “Can’t we meet somewhere?”

“That’s the problem. I’m about to take Dakota and Sean to the Central Park Zoo.”

“Perfect. I’ll meet you there. Ten minutes.”

Silence.

“What is it, Michael?”

“The kids,” he says.

“What, don’t you think they’d like to see me?”

“Of course I do. That’s my point, Kristin. They’ll like it so much it will be the first thing they tell their mother when they get home.”

“Then what if I just happen to bump into you guys?”

He chuckles in a way I immediately don’t like. Almost condescending. He can be that way, but not with me.