Moonlight Masquerade (6 page)

The next morning,
Sophie felt much better. Yesterday, over thick cheeseburgers and fries, the handsome young pastor had told her funny stories about him and his brother. He'd made her feel so much better that she'd even had a strawberry milk shake. After they ate he drove her to Kim's house and, at Sophie's insistence, he'd left her there alone. All she wanted to do was get clean and put on clothes that smelled good. Kim's pretty house, with its blue and white furniture, supplied her every need. She soaked in a tub of hot water, washed her hair, used a conditioner that smelled of peaches and almonds, put on a clean cotton nightgown, and fell into bed at 9:00 p.m. She was asleep instantly.

She didn't wake until after seven the next morning, and she was pleased to see that the fridge was full of food. She made herself a big breakfast, raided Kim's ample closet, then set out to find Dr. Reede's office. It wouldn't do to be late on the first day.

But when she opened the front door, she was startled to see a young woman sitting on the porch, waiting for her. “Hi,” she said. “I'm Heather Davis, I work for Dr. Reede, and I've come to drive you to the office.”

“Oh,” Sophie said, “I didn't expect this.”

The woman was looking Sophie up and down, as though she were judging her. “Anything to help our beloved doctor. The poor man is so lonely, so needy, that our hearts cry out for him. We've been searching for someone to come along and rescue him.”

For a moment Sophie could only blink at her. “Rescue?” she managed to say.

“Well, you know what I mean. Not literally, of course, because he's a hero in his own right, but then you must know that. If you were Kim's roommate, you've probably seen a thousand photos of him.”

“Not really,” Sophie said. “Kim was more interested in trying to find—” She cut off, not wanting to betray a confidence. “But no, I've never met Kim's brother. I'm sure I've seen photos of him, but that was a long time ago.”

“Great!” Heather said, then caught herself. “I mean it's good that you've had some acquaintance with him. So to speak.” She waited until Sophie got in, then took the driver's seat.

“I need to get my own car,” Sophie said. “Do you know what's happened to it?”

“Junked,” Heather said.

“What?”

“Early this morning Mr. Frazier sent a tow truck out to get your car and he said it wasn't worth fixing.
I'll have to drive you everywhere and make sure you see only the right people.”

Sophie looked at the young woman, who seemed to be talking very fast and with a great deal of nervousness. “I'll need my car to—”

“You'll get one. Russell and Clarissa took care of everything last night.”

“Clarissa?”

“Russell's wife. She was married before and she has a little boy named Jamie. They've been married a very short time and when Ellen—that's Kim's mom but I guess you know that—asked our old pastor—not old in age but he'd been here a while—if he wanted to leave, he said yes and Russell was one of the candidates. He gives good sermons, but then we all say we just go there to
look
at him and that he could say anything and we wouldn't care. It was announced yesterday that he and his wife will be taking over the church. Gum?”

Sophie wondered if the woman always talked this fast or if she was just nervous. “What?”

“Chewing gum. Would you like some? We're here.” Heather pulled into a six-car lot in the back of some brick buildings and they got out.

Sophie smoothed her hair and her skirt, hoping she was presentable to meet Kim's heroic brother.

Heather was watching her. “The doc's not here. He left early this morning, something to do with tourist problems.” She started walking quickly toward the back of a building.

Sophie hurried after her. “What does that mean? What are tourist problems?”

“Oh, you know. They burn down forests, break
body parts, run their cars into the lake, fall out of trees, all the usual things.”

“My goodness,” Sophie said as she followed the young woman into the building. They'd entered at the back of a doctor's suite, and she hurried past three exam rooms. In the outer office two women were standing and looking at Sophie as though she needed to pass inspection. The three of them stared at her in silence.

“I don't really know what my job is,” Sophie said. “Kim was rather vague about my duties, and she said it was temporary, so—”

“Oh no! Not at all,” said the middle woman. She was pleasantly plump and looked like she laughed a lot. “I'm Betsy and this is Alice. We want to welcome you to Edilean and your job will be to give Dr. Reede—”

“Our dear Dr. Reede,” Alice interspersed.

“Yes, our esteemed Dr. Reede, a man loved by everyone, any and all personal service that he needs.”

“Or wants,” Heather said.

“What exactly does that mean?” Sophie asked. “Are we talking cleaning or handling his finances? Or what?”

“Yes,” Betsy said. “I mean no, you don't have to clean, but actually he doesn't have anyone now.”

“He did,” Alice said, “but she . . . Well she had to quit so, uh, she did.”

“Not because of Dr. Reede,” Heather said quickly. “She really should have seen the cobwebs, but she didn't, so—”

“What Heather means is that you're his
personal
assistant so you're to do what you can,” Betsy said.

“When do I meet him?” Sophie asked.

“Who?” Alice asked.

Betsy elbowed her. “Our doctor works long, hard hours, and sometimes he leaves early and stays late. You might not meet him for days.”

“If we can arrange it,” Heather said under her breath.

Betsy glared at her. “Heather means that we have difficulty arranging his very busy schedule. It keeps him so busy because he lives for other people, and is always helping them. He never thinks of anyone but his patients.”

“He sounds like a remarkable man,” Sophie said. She remembered that Kim used to talk of her brother as though he were a pest, and that she didn't much like his hometown girlfriend. “The most boring person on earth,” Kim used to say about the woman. “I don't know what he sees in her.”

The three women were staring at Sophie as though they expected her to say something, but she didn't know what. “Should I come back later when he's here so he can tell me what he wants me to do?”

“Oh no!” Betsy said. “He won't be back until this evening. Late.”

“But what about his patients? Don't they have appointments?”

“We cancelled them,” Heather said.

“Because of emergencies,” Alice added.

“Why don't you go upstairs and make yourself at home?” Betsy said.

Sophie had no idea what they were talking about. This was a job, not a home. Before she could express
her doubt, the three women opened a door and practically pushed her up the stairs. She went through a doorway, a door shut behind her, and she found herself alone in an apartment.

Her first thought was that it wasn't a very nice apartment. There were few windows, little furniture, and what there was seemed to be covered in gray. It looked as if people who wanted to get a new set of furniture had given Dr. Reede their old things. There was a fine coat of dust over everything, and as far as she could see, there was nothing personal anywhere. Motel rooms had more personality.

There was one large room that contained a living area, an old dining table with three scruffy chairs, and a little kitchen that had some basic appliances. At the end of the room was an open door and inside was a bedroom with as little personality as the rest of the place. The bed hadn't been made up, but it wasn't a jumble. The bathroom, with a stack washer and dryer, completed the apartment.

Sophie went back to the living room and called Kim on the landline and right away confirmed that it was all right for her to stay in Kim's house.

“Make yourself at home,” Kim said.

Sophie went on to tell her where she was at the moment. Kim groaned. “Horrible, isn't it? It used to be the sheriff's apartment. His office is next door and the apartment is above both of them.”

“Where did this furniture come from?”

“Grandma's attic.”

“That was my guess. Kim, I don't mean to be ungrateful, but what am I supposed to
do
here?”

“Make him stay.”

“What does that mean?”

“Reede agreed to stay in Edilean for three years while the original doctor, Dr. Tris, works in New York to be near Jecca.”

“The other doctor is who Jecca married? This Dr. Tris?”

“Sorry. I keep thinking you know everything that's happened. Yes, Jecca married Dr. Tris, but then she got a job in New York and Tris went there to be with her. But that left Edilean without a doctor. When he gets back in about two and a half years, my brother is going to hit the road again. Until then he's staying in that hideous apartment.”

Sophie tried to digest this news and her heart went out to Dr. Reede. How many men would do such a noble thing? “Isn't there a house he can rent here in Edilean?”

“The man hardly has time to sleep, much less to go looking for a place to live. Sophie?”

“Yes,” she said.

“My brother is miserable. He took a job he didn't want and got stuck with it for years. I'd appreciate anything you can do to make his life more comfortable. And you have carte blanche to do whatever you want to that horrible apartment.”

“I don't know . . . ” Sophie said as she looked around the place. “I'm not sure . . . ”

“You
can
do it,” Kim said and began a pep talk.

Sophie had to smile. Kim was a doer, a go-getter. Tell her something was impossible and she went after it. Right now she seemed to believe that Sophie's problem
was a lack of belief in herself. That was far from the truth. Sophie was tempted to interrupt Kim's little speech by saying “I'm just concerned that the FBI might be after me,” but she didn't. Instead, she said, “You're saying I should be a cleaning woman, a secretary, a cook, and an interior decorator. It sounds like a wife. Tell me, is sex included in this job?”

Sophie meant it as a joke, but Kim didn't miss a beat. “I would imagine that some all-night, mind-blowing sex would cheer both of you up. It's done wonders for me. Speaking of which, Travis is pointing at his watch. I have to go. Oh, and Sophie, help yourself to my clothes. After all I've bought on this trip, I'm going to need the closet space.” With that, she hung up, and Sophie stood there, staring at her phone.

“ ‘All-night, mind-blowing sex,' ” she said aloud, and that made her think of Carter. Kim knew nothing about what Sophie had been through since they graduated. For that matter, she and Jecca didn't know the truth about Sophie's life before college.

She set the phone on the kitchen counter and looked around. The women had said Dr. Reede wouldn't be home until this evening, and Kim had asked Sophie to make him stay. Maybe she only had this day before she was found and had to face the consequences of what she'd done, so she was going to use the time to the best of her ability.

She went downstairs and asked if she made a list of things she needed, could someone get everything for her. The three women nearly fell over themselves saying yes. “Including my things from inside my junked car?” Sophie asked. She looked at Heather as she said
this, and the young woman's face turned red. Sophie had an idea her car wasn't as bad as she'd been told, but then, it looked as though the women wanted her to help their beloved Dr. Reede. And why not? He was an overworked doctor who thought of other people before himself. He should have the best.

With that thought in mind, she went back upstairs, took off her cardigan, and set to work.

Reede didn't think
he'd ever been so tired in his life, but then he knew it was an accumulation of things that had made him feel so bad. The young woman pouring the beer over his head had been the straw that was about to break his back. Today he'd called six people he'd been at school with and offered them the job. He'd praised Edilean until it made Nirvana seem like a wasteland.