your fault. Plus, it doesn’t necessarily mean that—”
“I can’t really talk now—Dr. Sherman is waiting for me.”
“Do you want to meet for coffee after work?” Lake asked.
“Tonight’s not good. But I could meet you for lunch, I guess. My break is at twelve-thirty. I always go to the coffee shop over on Lex and Eighty-first.”
After agreeing to meet Maggie there, Lake hurried back through the labyrinth of corridors. She nearly collided with Brie as she once again entered the small conference room. Brie was obviously just leaving.
“Good morning,” Lake said, trying to sound friendly.
“Hello,” Brie said coolly. Her lips, painted a glossy plum color today, barely moved as she spoke, and Lake noticed that the tip of her nose was pink, as if flushed with blood. “Are you going to be in here all morning? We really need to use this room later.”
“I’m leaving shortly,” Lake said. “And I’m always happy to work my schedule around the clinic’s.”
“I actually thought you were going to be done by now. Aren’t we supposed to be getting your report?”
“As Dr. Levin knows, I’m exactly on schedule.”
Brie just stared at her for a moment and then walked briskly from the room. Lake shook off the encounter and sat down. Immediately she could see that there was something different about her laptop. She’d left the lid only partly lowered, but now it was completely closed.
Brie had been snooping. And she’d clearly seen what Lake had been looking at.
12
WAS THIS MORE than simple nosiness on Brie’s part? Lake wondered. Lake knew Brie was a control freak and rigidly protective of the clinic, but maybe it had gone beyond that. If Levin was the killer and suspected Lake knew something, he might have asked Brie to keep an eye on her. And now Brie would report back on what Lake had been up to.
Though she was desperate to read the article, she didn’t dare do it here. She needed to find a café with wireless and read it there. And then at twelve-thirty she would meet Maggie.
After stuffing the laptop into her tote bag, Lake zigzagged back to the front of the clinic. Today, every door seemed to be closed. From inside one of the examination rooms she heard low moaning, followed by a choked scream of anguish. She’d heard how uncomfortable some of the procedures could be—such as when they filled the uterus with a solution to better examine it during X-rays.
Passing Levin’s office, she held her breath, wondering if Brie was in there now, tattling on her. Suddenly the door swung open. Levin was standing in the doorway, not with Brie but with a striking girl who looked to be nineteen or twenty. Her long straight hair was the color of butter and her face was tanned. Levin extended a hand, palm side up, indicating the front of the clinic.
“Reception is just around the corner to the left,” he told the girl, his charm fully on. “We’ll see you Monday, then.”
The girl bit her lip and shrugged, as if she wasn’t sure.
“Okay,” was all she said. Her flip-flops slapped on the carpet as she headed down the hallway.
“Oh, you’re here already,” Levin said, spotting Lake. “Have you got a minute? I’d like to speak to you.”
“Of course,” she said, an alarm going off in her head. His tone seemed crisper than usual. When she stepped into his office, she found Hoss standing in the room, dressed in a sleeveless blue dress, sans lab coat.
As Levin opened his mouth to speak, Brie stuck her head in the door. The sight of her made Lake’s heart jump.
“Dr. Levin, Dr. Sherman needs you stat,” she said. “He’s in 4.”
He sighed, clearly bothered by the interruption.
“I’ll be right back,” he said to Lake. “I’d appreciate your waiting.”
Again crisp, very no-nonsense. But Lake figured Brie couldn’t have blabbed to him yet—Levin had been behind closed doors with Hoss and a patient.
“Certainly,” Lake said, letting him pass by her.
“Lovely-looking girl, don’t you think?” Hoss said to her.
“Brie?” Lake asked, unable to contain her surprise at the comment.
“No,” Hoss said dryly. “Kylie—the girl who was just in the office.”
“Oh, yes. She’s so young to be a patient here.”
“She’s not a patient,” Hoss said. She raised her chin in that haughty way of hers so that it was practically pointing at Lake. “She’s one of our potential donors.”
“Oh,” Lake said, surprised again. She knew that the clinic regularly used donor eggs, and sometimes even donor embryos. It was the last option for women