“Omigod, I don’t know,” she said. “I mean at the time I just thought someone had come in after I’d been there and then left. I even thought Dr. Keaton might have come back early and gone out. But when I called him, he was still at the Ocean Club.”
This could mean that someone had been after Keaton long before last week, Lake thought.
“So you told him? Was he concerned?”
“At first he did sound concerned. He asked me some questions—like what time had I been there and when did I go back—and then he said not to worry. He’d been having a problem with the bathroom drain and he said the super had probably checked on it. That’s why I forgot all about the whole thing. Because Dr. Keaton had just dismissed it. But now I wonder if it might mean something.”
“It would be easy enough to check—the police could ask the super. You told them about this?”
“Not yet. I just thought of it on the way over here. But I will, I swear. I feel so dumb. When I told them about the keys, I could tell they thought I was a total idiot.”
“Had you just forgotten about the keys when you first talked to them?” It did seem like a stupid oversight to Lake.
“Forget’s not really the right word. When we were being called into the conference room that day to hear the news about Dr. Keaton, Brie whispered to me that he had been murdered. Dr. Levin had told her right before we walked in. She said someone had broken into his apartment. I knew he had a terrace so I figured the burglar had gotten in that way. It was only later, when I was talking to my brother and he said that Dr. Keaton had either let the person in or the murderer had used a key, that I remembered.”
“Do you think someone from the clinic could have done it?” Lake asked, her voice a whisper now, too.
Maggie’s elbows were on the table and she rested her face onto her fists, squashing both cheeks. Then she wiggled her head back and forth in a no.
“I just can’t believe that’s possible,” she said mournfully. “What would the reason be? People seemed happy that Dr. Keaton was joining the clinic.
“Maybe it’s all a coincidence, then,” Maggie added, lifting her head. “I mean, me having the keys and someone getting into the apartment. If you add it up, Dr. Keaton was only at the clinic for about seven weeks total. How could anyone get to hate him in such a short time?”
“Yes, it’s probably just a coincidence,” Lake said, smiling wanly. Despite her reassurance, there was every chance someone from the clinic had swiped the keys. Seven weeks wasn’t a very long time, but it was long enough for Keaton to have stumbled onto unscrupulous doings and confronted the person responsible. And that would have given the person reason enough to silence him.
They ate their sandwiches without enthusiasm, though Lake forced herself to ask Maggie a few benign questions about her background and how she’d ended up in reproductive medicine. She listened to the answers without hearing them. When Maggie said she didn’t have time for coffee Lake asked for the check.
“You know, I can never look at one of these without thinking of a story a patient once told me,” Maggie said, gesturing toward the untouched pickle on her plate. “The day after her transfer, she developed this incredible craving for pickles. She ate an entire jar one night. And then half of another jar. She thought it meant she must really be pregnant. But it turned out it was all in her mind. And now she says the sight of them makes her sick.”
Lake imagined the woman forking spear after spear from the jar and devouring them. That’s like me now, she thought. Half crazy in desperation.
They paid the bill and walked out of the restaurant. Lake glanced quickly around, making sure no one from the clinic was in sight.
“Are you going back to the clinic now?” Maggie asked her.
“Uh, no. I have some other appointments,” Lake said.
“Well, thanks for listening,” Maggie said. “I feel a little better. I still can’t believe that someone from the clinic did it.”
As they stood listlessly on the sidewalk a new question surfaced in Lake’s mind. “I’m just curious—how complicated was it getting into Dr.