There's No Place Like Rhodes (Book 2)

Home Sweet Home

Karen's anticipated meeting with Dr. Dorsch ended up disappointingly uneventful. She'd expected some excitement after the way Arthur went on about how devious and terrible he was.

Before Arthur had entered the examination room with Charlotte and a midwife, at the doctor's office downtown, he had pointed a finger at her and said under his breath, "No guns."

She'd stuck out her tongue when his back was turned and hadn't agreed to it.

And after that, Karen was left alone with Dr. Dorsch in the waiting room. She sat in a wooden chair, a nervous energy coursing through her as she watched him sort files at the reception desk.

She was just thinking he seemed more distracted than diabolical when he remarked, "If I'd known I had a medical professional as a house guest, I would have introduced myself sooner."

"Sorry for not announcing myself properly," Karen answered, biting her tongue to keep from saying more.

"You're a nurse?"

Don't sound too experienced or he'll question your qualifications, but neither too green or he'll suspect you of being false, came Charlotte's advice from their ride over."I just finished my apprenticeship with a doctor in Strawberry."

"Strawberry?" His nose wrinkled with displeasure. "What a ridiculous name for a town."

She shrugged. "I suppose it is."

"I hear you were quite occupied this afternoon," Dr. Dorsch said. "How does my sister fare?"

Karen answered without thinking, "She's bored."

He narrowed his eyes on her. "I meant in a medical sense."

"So did I," she shot back defensively. "Ms. Rosie doesn't need to be locked up like a prisoner. Her symptoms aren't affecting her day to day so I can't see a reason why she should stay in a facility meant for invalids."

Dr. Dorsch harrumphed, but made no additional comment. Karen didn't know if that meant he cared for his sister's predicament or not and she expected an interrogation of her skills at that point. But it never came. Neither did he try to test her on her general knowledge of anatomy or illness or broken bones.

Instead, Dr. Dorsch asked pointedly, "You know this Callahan character well?"

"He ain't a stranger to me," Karen said carefully. The more she connected herself to Arthur, the less likely Dorsch would see her as an innocent party. Yet, she couldn't resist smoothing her hands down her waist to feel the small guns there.

"What would it take to remove him from the picture, so to speak?"

Dorsch was fixated on Arthur, so distracted that he was unable to see Karen's dishonesty as anything less than the truth. Her barefaced lies had worked.

It surprised her, but maybe it shouldn't have. Men like him-rich, powerful, authoritative-they tended to see women as either useless or decorative. Neither did he question her current living arrangement with Charlotte and Arthur. There was no concern Karen could be the one corrupting his daughter when an argument could be made she was the worse influence of the two.

Dr. Dorsch waited patiently, fully intent to hear her reply. Karen had been too quick to dismiss his deviousness. She finally admitted, "I've known Arthur more than a few years and he's loyal to a fault."

"Is that so?"

"I don't understand why all you see is the bad in him. He ain't no angel, but he's doing alright on his own these days."

"Indeed. At the detriment of my daughter's once promising future, it seems."

"So?"

He cut a sharp glare her way. "Excuse me?"