of change. As much as you want to control every aspect, you can’t all the time. Did you stop and take deep breaths?” The last time she saw Jane leaving her office popped into her mind. Could she have done anything to prevent Jane’s murder? What if she could have—
She wrenched her thoughts back to her patient across from her.
“No, I didn’t have time. I was already five minutes off schedule. I tried rushing, but that made it worse.” He kept looking at his watch as his chest rose and fell rapidly. “And now with the accident, I’m fifteen minutes behind. I feel out of control. I can’t deal with this.” Red flushed his face.
Up until recently, he’d been able to deal with small changes, thanks to a few techniques she’d helped him incorporate into his routine. What was causing this?
“Dr. Rhodes, you have got to stop me!” He held out an arm, his hand shaking.
Stop me! It was as if an arctic blast of wind swept through her office. She hugged herself to keep the trembling at bay.
Those words again! Had Charles listened to her radio show? Or was it something else?
* * *
That evening, Ian escorted Caitlyn to his SUV at her office. “Did anyone from work say anything to you about the caller on your show this morning?” He opened the front passenger door.
“The receptionist. She was on break and one of the nurses was listening to the end of my show. Creepy was their description.”
“And yours?”
“I’d have to agree with creepy. I’ve worked with people who have problems, a few barely functioning day-to-day, but there was something in the way the caller said those two words that set off alarm bells.”
“I’ve talked with Sheriff Mason, who I’m assisting on this case, and we aren’t revealing that you received a photo of the victim with the words Stop me! on it. If he’s doing this for attention, we don’t want to feed into it.”
“I agree. The press would have a field day with it. My patients could be affected by the publicity. That’s unacceptable.”
Ian stopped at a red light and glanced at her, seeing that the events of the day had left their mark on her, based on her slumped shoulders, tired eyes and furrowed forehead. He wished he could have changed the circumstances and the killer had never brought her into the middle of the murder. Why had he? The thought left a hollow sensation in Ian’s gut. “How did your afternoon sessions go?”
“Okay. My first client was later than I was, which pushed everybody back twenty minutes. Thankfully, the others after him are patient about waiting. A few of mine aren’t.”
Ian made a left turn. “I got a call from my brother’s housekeeper, Alice. She wanted me to come to the ranch. Sean hasn’t come out of his bedroom all day. When she last saw him last night, he’d been drinking. Today when she knocked on his door, he didn’t respond. When she tried to turn the knob, it was locked.” Sean’s and his relationship had grown further apart as the years had passed and totally broke down when their father died last year.
“And you want me to come?”
“Yes, but I’ll understand if you want to go to your grandmother’s house instead.”
“I’ll go see Sean. I’ve been worried about him. He’s becoming more reclusive.”
“Yeah, especially since Dad died nine months ago. It’s one of the reasons I transferred here. He hasn’t dealt well with it.”
“What are the other reasons?”
“Nana. She’s beginning to be forgetful. Sean used to check on her frequently, but now he doesn’t. When Mom died, Nana stepped in and helped raise us, while Dad ran the ranch. I was six when she died, and my grandma is really the only mother figure I had.” His mother’s riding accident had affected him, but not nearly as much as it had Sean, who’d found her in the field behind the house.
“With all that’s happened, I’d better call and let Granny know where we’re going. She knows about the photo. Have you talked to her about not saying anything about it?”
“Yes, when I went back to process your car. Nana too.”
“Good. I don’t want them connected in any way with the murder investigation.” Caitlyn dug into her purse for her cell phone.
“Speaking of the investigation, we need to consider that one of your patients could be the killer.”
She dropped her cell phone onto her lap and twisted toward him. “Because Jane was seeing me or because you think it’s one of my patients?”
“Because the guy has pulled you into this.”
“That doesn’t mean one of my patients is the murderer.”
“It doesn’t mean he isn’t. I’m concentrating my investigation on Jane. Who would want her dead? Who has she been seeing? But I have to investigate all angles. This afternoon, after talking to your neighbors—who saw no one by your car, by the way—I interviewed people where Jane worked.” Other than hearing that Jane was a wonderful, giving woman, who’d dedicated her life to running the Shephard Foundation, he’d come up with little information to help with the case.
“Believe me, I want this person caught as much as you do. I’ll go through my list of patients and see if anyone jumps out at me. How about the phone number he used to call me this morning?”
“He used Jane’s cell phone.”
Caitlyn sucked in a deep breath. “I was hoping the caller wasn’t the killer, but I guess that’s wishful thinking now.”
“Yes, since he left the photo and used her phone.”
“And was in front of Granny’s house, while I was inside.” She folded her arms over her chest.
He sliced a look toward her. “Call your grandma. Let her know we’re stopping at the ranch. Don’t tell her about the call coming from Jane’s phone. She and Nana don’t need to worry any more than they already are.”
“Neither do I.”
While Caitlyn made her call, Ian reviewed what little he’d discovered when he’d talked with Jane’s two closest friends. Terri and Zoe said they didn’t know where she went after seeing Caitlyn or anything about Jane’s whereabouts the day before. They both thought she’d stayed at the Shephard ranch yesterday, not feeling well. They didn’t know of her dating anyone seriously after Max and she broke up. Ian and the sheriff had met at the ranch Jane’s family owned, next to the Pierce family’s land, and gone through it. The only thing out of place was her missing car. He couldn’t find anyone who’d seen Jane after she left her therapy appointment.
When Caitlyn finished talking with her grandmother, she shook her head. “I’ve changed my mind about staying with Granny. She wants me to and said if I didn’t, then she was going to come to my town house. With all that’s going on, I think we’d be safer next door to you. Did you say anything about me staying at her place?”
“No, I only mentioned it to you earlier.” The sight of her reinforced all the reasons he needed to find the killer. As a child, he’d been her protector, and he would be now. The guy had involved Caitlyn. Why? He didn’t like any of his answers. “I figured I could talk you into it.” He smiled at her.
Her eyebrows shot up. “You did? You’re awfully sure of your powers of persuasion.”
“Well, if that didn’t work, then I was going to let Granny know about that time you broke her favorite lamp.”
She shot him a glare. “Traitor! It was an accident. I knew how much she loved that lamp. Gramps gave it to her that year for her birthday. You know, I have a few incidents that I could blackmail you over.”
He chuckled. “Yep, and that’s the reason I haven’t said