Belmont Springs

Tuesday, March 31st, 9:00 AM.

Callie

Janet pulled the thermometer out of Callie’s mouth and jotted down the temperature, her doughy brow pleated with concern.

“What?” Callie dangled her legs over the side of the exam table. “Do I have a fever?”

“No, but you’re pale.” The nurse tilted her chin toward the scale. “And you lost weight. Have you eaten anything since you left us?”

“Yeah, of course.”

“Okay. So what did you have for breakfast this morning?”

“Um, Lucky Charms?”

Janet frowned as she wrapped a blood pressure cuff around Callie’s left bicep. “That’s not a proper breakfast.”

“Hey, it’s not my fault.” Callie leaned forward to whisper into her ear. “I had a sleepover with boys.”

Janet’s frown deepened into a scowl.

“Relax, mom. It was tamer than Disney. We didn’t even kiss. And Ethan slept in a sleeping bag on the floor.”

“You slept in the same room?”

“Yeah. Huge scandal, I know. Don’t worry. No clothes were shed. No fluids were exchanged.” She grinned, then covered a yawn. “We stayed up all night, just talking. It was the best night ever.”

“Can’t say I approve.” Janet slid the stethoscope bell into the crook of Callie’s arm, then pumped up the cuff like she was trying to inflate a tire.  “If I were your mother –”

“If you were my mother, I probably wouldn’t be here.”

“Fair enough. Now hush.” The nurse listened as she slowly deflated the cuff, then repeated the process and shook her head. “Blood pressure’s too low. Have you been drinking enough?”

“Only tequila and vodka.” Callie giggled at her shocked reaction. “Joking. Seriously, Janet. What will it take to get you to crack a smile?”

The nurse yanked off the Velcro with a loud rip. “Try saying something funny.”

“Ouch.”

“That was a joke, dear. I’ve been smiling since you got here this morning.” She set aside the blood pressure cuff and patted Callie’s hand. “We all have. After what you’ve been through, returning to Belmont couldn’t have been easy. But you made the right decision. I’m so proud of you.”

Callie met her kind gaze, tears welling up. God, what was up with the waterworks lately? “Are you really?”

“Yes, dear. You’re a brave girl. Now prove it by rolling up that sleeve again so I can draw your blood.”

“Seriously?”

“Seriously.” Janet wheeled over the phlebotomy cart, ignoring her pout. “When we’re done, I’ll see if I can find you a lollypop. Then we’ll head straight to your room. Lord knows, we don’t want to keep Doctor Choi waiting.”

*

As promised, Sophie Choi was waiting for them, but she wasn’t alone. A man with dark olive skin, a boyish face, and a full head of black, curly hair stood beside her. Judging from the crisp white coat and stethoscope draped around his neck like a fashion accessory, he looked like an intern or medical student. Definitely a newbie.

Sophie greeted her with a warm smile. “Welcome back, Miss Perrin. It’s good to see you again.”

“You too, Sophie. Did you miss me?”

The doctor surprised her with a hug – a stiff, awkward hug, but a hug nonetheless.

“I’ll be back with your breakfast,” Janet announced before heading for the door.

“Don’t forget the Prozac sprinkles!” Callie called after her.

That earned a soft chuckle from the mystery man.

Callie turned to face him. “Hi. We haven’t met.” She arched a brow at Sophie. “Is this guy my new med student?”

Sophie shook her head. “Sorry. I should introduce you. This is Doctor Rai – one of our top interns. He’ll be coordinating your care for the remainder of your stay at Belmont.”

The new doctor took a step forward, smiling. “You can call me Sunil.” His voice sounded gentle, with a pleasant, exotic lilt. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Miss Perrin. I’m looking forward to working together.”

When he extended his hand, Callie gave him a tentative shake.

“Wait.” She pivoted to Sophie. “I don’t get it. You’re not going to be my doctor anymore?”

Sophie stuffed her hands into her pockets. “I’ll still be here if you need me, but I won’t be supervising your medical care. I’ve been reassigned, and Doctor Grieves…” She glanced down at her shoes. “He resigned yesterday. None of this is your fault, of course. If there’s any blame, it all falls on our shoulders.”

She looked up, gaze meeting Callie’s. “This is for the best, Miss Perrin. Doctor Rai will take excellent care of you.”

Rai put his hand on Sophie’s shoulder. “I’ll let you two continue this conversation in private.” He backed up to the exit, pausing in the hallway to give them a nod of encouragement before closing the door behind him.

Sophie sat down on the edge of the bed, shoulders slumped. Under the harsh fluorescent lighting, she looked tired. Callie noticed the bruise-like shadows under her lower lids. The worry lines bunched up at the corners of her eyes.

She sat down beside her, hands in her lap. “So that’s it? You’re bailing on me?”

Sophie sighed. “This isn’t my choice, Miss Perrin.”

“Jesus, Sophie! After all we’ve been through, could you at least call me Callie? Hell, I’ll even settle for ‘Psycho Little Bitch.’ Just pull that pole out of your butt for once. Stop trying so hard to be Robo-shrink.” She threw up her hands in frustration. “You’re better than that.”

Sophie stared at her, a single crease animating her brow. “Have you been taking your meds?”

“No way.” Callie coughed out a laugh. “Did you seriously just ask me that?”

“It’s a fair question.”

“Why do you give a damn? I’m not your problem anymore, right?”

“I’m not abandoning you.”

“Sure as hell sounds like you are.”

Callie curled away to sulk. After an uncomfortable minute of silence, the bed shifted as Sophie got up. She walked around the bed, her footsteps receding and then getting closer.

“Go away.”

“You do realize you’re acting like a baby, right?”

“Wah, wah, wah.” Callie puffed out her cheeks, realizing she had a point.

“Oh, grow up. You’ll really like Doctor Rai. He’s a gifted psychiatrist. One of the best. And he’s a close friend.” Sophie took a long breath, like she was debating whether or not to say more. When she spoke again, her voice was softer. More intimate. “Sunil’s helped me through some tough times. This week, when everything went to hell, he’s the person I turned to for emotional support.”

“Wait a second.” Callie looked up with a half-smile. “Are you saying he’s your boyfriend?”

“Well…” Sophie picked some lint off her pristine white coat. “He’s male. And he’s a friend.”

“You’re totally sleeping with him, aren’t you?”

“Absolutely not.”

“But you want to. I can tell. Look at your cheeks. They’re blushing like two maraschino cherries.”

“Let’s change the subject back to you.”

“Let’s not. Aww.” She couldn’t help but grin. “You guys are sooo cute together.”

“We’re just friends, Callie.” Sophie crossed her arms primly. “And that’s the point. The Board of Directors may have put an end to our patient-doctor relationship. But they couldn’t stop me from handpicking my replacement. Trust me. You’re in good hands.”

“I’ll bet.” Callie smirked. “Sounds like you’re speaking from personal experience. Tell me all about those good, strong hands.”

“Oh, shut up.”

“Wow. That wasn’t a very shrinky thing to say.”

“Yeah, but…” Sophie glanced at her smartphone and tapped a quick message. “I’m not your shrink anymore.”

“Must be a relief.”

“Actually, I might miss you.” Sophie gazed out the window for a moment before turning back around. “And so will Doctor Grieves. He asked me to relay his best wishes, and to apologize for all the mistakes we made. He takes full responsibility for what happened between you and Ethan. That’s one of the reasons he resigned.”

“Good. But Ethan’s the one who deserves an apology.”

“They already spoke. I realize it might not be enough, but Ethan was gracious enough to accept his apology. Doctor Grieves is a brilliant and compassionate doctor, Callie. He’s helped thousands of people throughout his career. Hundreds of thousands if you consider his groundbreaking research and academic writing.”

Callie frowned. “That doesn’t excuse what he did.”

“You’re right. It doesn’t.”

“You didn’t approve of his little psych experiment, did you?”

“No. I thought it was a bad idea at best.” Sophie looked down at the floor. “Unethical at worst. But I didn’t stop him. I guess I was blinded by his reputation. He was my mentor, so I wanted to impress him. I ignored my gut and followed his lead. That’s a lesson I’ll carry with me for the rest of my career.”

“Hey.” Callie threw a pillow at Sophie, softly enough to be caught. “It’s okay to fuck up once in a while. Look at me. I do it all the time.”

Sophie tossed the pillow back. “Speaking of mistakes, I watched your interview on CNN this morning. Quite an interesting confession you made.”

Callie winced. “Yeah, right. I bet Belmont’s legal team is all over that. I’m surprised they let me get admitted this morning. Guess I’ll be easier to sue now that they know where to find me.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t worry about that.” Choi leaned against the window sill. “Our legal department has bigger fish to fry. Turns out Ethan was right about someone hacking into Belmont’s EMR.”

Callie’s jaw dropped. “Are you serious? How do you know?”

“Because our IT guys did a deep dive into our system with the help of some friends from MIT. It was a really sophisticated hack. Someone in Russia tunneled into our EMR, then copied your medical record and sent the file as an attachment from Ethan’s Belmont e-mail account. That’s how your protected health info wound up going to Prime Dirt.”

“You mean they framed him?”

Sophie nodded, lips pressed into a grim line. “Looks that way.”

“But why?”

“That’s the question. What’s the motive? I mean, who would want Ethan out of the way?”

Callie’s cheeks burned. She could only think of one person.

“The FBI’s gotten involved now,” Sophie continued. “Lucky for us, their cybercrime unit already knows all about the Russian hackers who infiltrated our system. They’ve been tracking their activity for years. Monitoring their secret bank accounts. Money transfers in and out.”

Callie gripped the edge of her bed, rage building inside her like a geyser. All she needed was proof. Then she’d rip that bleached blonde harpie’s head off.

Sophie seemed to read her mind. “Would it surprise you to know the hackers received a large money transfer last Friday? Wired from the Grand Cayman Royal Bank.”

“Bitch!” Callie spat out. “That evil bitch!”

“Sounds like you already know who owns that offshore account.”

“But why?” Hot tears erupted. “Why would she try to ruin my life?”

“Because she wanted you to sign out against medical advice.”

Of course. That way she’d be under Elin’s thumb. Away from college with no choice but to film the second season of Prodigy.

“But why go after Ethan?”

“I’m so sorry, Callie.” Sophie’s brown eyes filled with sympathy. “I think you already know the answer to that question.”

Callie closed her eyes, her mother’s words coming back to taunt her like some warped prophesy.

Funny. You have a type and you don’t even know it.

The worst part was Elin had been right. She’d been the first one to realize her daughter was in love.

***

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