Obsession: Callie Douglas, Book One

Chapter Thirty-Two

I was feeling unsettled and desperately wanted to talk to Gabe. Instead, I picked up the phone and called my old supervisor.

"Hi, Ethan, it's Callie."

"Callie, hon! How are you?"

"I've been better. I need some advice."

"You've come to the right place. The doctor is in." I smiled and could feel my stress levels falling as I imagined his cheery face. "What can I help you with, hon?"

"I have a difficult patient. She started out as one of the easy ones. She was struggling with a case of unrequited love."

"Seems straightforward. What's the catch?"

"I've developed a friendship, which is starting to become a close friendship, with a detective on the force. I suspect that this is the person she has a crush on. I know for a fact that Gabe doesn't think of her as anything other than a fellow officer." Ethan just listened as I babbled. That's why he's a good psychiatrist. He doesn't mind babbling. "I'm sorry, but this will be a bit disjointed."

"You just take your time and tell it however you want to tell it."

"Another patient I had was a psych evaluation for a serial killer. That's how I met Gabe. He's the detective on the case and, when he found out I was interviewing the felon unrestrained, he blew up at me. He's been teaching me self-defence every night since, and it has become our habit for him to work out with me for an hour and then I feed him dinner. It's nice for me, as I haven't really had a chance to get lonely.

"The serial killer has a pattern." I reviewed Brian's standard MO, and talked about the three suspects we had. "I was certain that two of them are coincidences, while the other is the stalker. I just got out of a session with Samantha, and in the session she talked about how the object of her affection has developed a friendship with another woman." I summarized what she had said. "It all points to her being my stalker. Yet even as I'm telling you I keep thinking I must be wrong, that I must have misinterpreted."

"So now you're in a quandary. Confidentiality versus potential that your suspicions are right and your life is in danger?"

"You always were the perceptive one."

"You're no slouch yourself, hon. If you suspect your life is in danger, then it likely is. You're not a reactionary person who flies off the handle at nothing. Confidentiality only goes so far. If it affects the health and safety of the patient or another person, then that confidentiality clause is null and void, right?"

"Yes, although I tell my patients that, if it affects their jobs, it's also null and void."

"To my way of thinking, this affects both your health and safety – which negates the confidentiality clause – as well as performance of the woman's job. I certainly wouldn't want the police officer protecting me to be unbalanced and planning on killing someone. How is everything else going in Rockville?"

"Good. I'm really enjoying my job. The patients are interesting."

"You said that on Saturday. Tell me about Gabe. You didn't mention him at all on the weekend."

"He's nice. He's everything Michael is not. Michael was small; Gabe has to be a foot taller than me. Michael looked like a gypsy; Gabe is a former SEAL and still has the physique and look to go with it. Michael was artsy, an energetic whirlwind and a little all over the place; Gabe is focused, analytical, protective, steady, kind. He's taken me under his wing."

"You deserve someone nice after the hell that Michael put you through. You don't trust easily, and Michael abused the trust that you had. What about that other guy you were concerned about?"

"Blake? I'm still concerned about him." I told him about the fiasco on Sunday. "I'm still angry with him."

"So Blake is definitely out of the picture."

"You know how I was concerned about being in the same town as him? My concerns were all valid. Let's put it that way. Also, there's something going on between Gabe and Blake and neither of them will tell me what it is. Blake tells me to back off and Gabe tells me to ask Blake and then tell him what Blake said. It gets me worried that Gabe is just spending time with me to get back at Blake for something that happened a long time ago."

"Does Gabe seem like the kind of person to hold a grudge?"

"No, he doesn't."

"Does Blake?"

"Absolutely. That's one of the reasons I'm treading so carefully around him right now. I want this job to work long term and I don't want to lose his friendship in the process."

"I think, then, you have your answer. If Gabe isn't the type to hold grudges, he won't use you to get back at Blake. How's your apartment?"

"Beautiful. Gabe took me to a liquidation warehouse on the weekend – I told you that a friend was taking me – and I got a pile of furniture. My place is almost completely furnished and it looks like a home now. I really like it."

"I meant to ask you on Saturday – how are you finding living alone? I know this is the first time you've never shared a space with someone."

"It's okay. Gabe's been helping me ease into it, as he's been eating dinner with me and spending the evenings with me. He reminds me of you. He's a good listener and I find I can talk to him unlike anyone else other than you. It was a little hairy on Saturday evening after my place was broken into. Gabe offered to stay or to alternatively let me stay at his place, but I felt like it was time to put my big girl pants on and do it on my own."

"Good for you. Just don't try to be so independent that you get yourself into trouble. I have to go because I have a patient waiting for me, but I'd like to hear from you again in a couple of days to know that you're all right, okay? I'm worried about what you told me and, since you phoned for advice, I'm advising you to run – not walk, but run – to Gabe and tell him of your suspicions right away. Trust him. Also, you know my cell number. Keep it close by and if you ever want to talk, even if it's in the middle of the night, give me a call, all right, hon?"

I assured him I would and hung up, looking at the phone for a few minutes longer. Then, before I could back out, I typed in a text to Gabe. "Am going out with Addison tonight. Was hoping to come by afterwards if that's okay with you. If so, will need your address."

Seconds later I got the text "would love to see you. Address is 319 Water's Edge Road. Take Main north of your building and your first right. I'm a few minutes down the road on your right. What time are you thinking? I have to clean the house."

I smiled and felt my stress levels recede a bit. "Be there after the mall closes. Will text you when I'm leaving. Don't worry about the house. I just need to see you."

I got an immediate response back. "Everything okay?"

I paused for a moment, knowing that I currently had one leg over the line. Deciding to take Ethan's advice, I jumped to the other side and before I could chicken out, I wrote "just a bad day. Will tell you about it when I get there."

Gabe immediately responded with "anything I can do?"

"Listen to me when I get there. See you later."

I put my phone in my purse and went out to join Addison in locking up the office.