The China Doll (24 page)

He walked back into the room where Jessie was
sleeping. He knelt down next to her. She didn’t have any marks on
her this time, just the salty traces of dried up tears on her face.
She looked like his mother, he knew, but he couldn’t imagine that
his mother had ever been this fragile. He smoothed Jessie’s hair
and kissed her cheek. "Everything’s going to be okay," he
promised.

Miranda threw every bit of cash she had at
the driver and flew out of the cab. She ran into the lobby
frantically. The elevator would take too long so she raced up the
stairs, cursing herself over the run at the gym the day before that
now made every step excruciating.

She flew into the office at the end of the
hallway and flung open the door. "Oh thank God," she let out in a
gush of relief.

Jessie looked up from her magazine and rolled
her eyes. "What the Hell are you doing here?"

Miranda took the magazine away and grabbed
her hand. "Jessie, we have to leave right now."

"What is your problem?" Jessie asked
angrily.

"I’ll explain as soon as we’re out of here,
but we have to go before he comes back."

Jessie pulled her hand away. "Why are you so
afraid of Doctor Wolfe all of a sudden?"

"Michael’s therapist knows him. He’s—"

"Oh, well if Michael says something, it must
be true," Jessie snapped and sat back down to glare at Miranda.
"You are so pathetic around him. Is he really that good in
bed?"

"You can call me any name you want, you can
beat Michael with your bare hands, I don’t care, we just have to
go—now!"

Jessie opened her mouth to retort, then
suddenly closed it. "Okay." She stood up. "Let’s go."

They had taken two steps toward the door when
Doctor Wolfe appeared. Miranda jumped a little, startled. He looked
at the two of them, then raised his eyebrow. "Miss Harel? Did we
have an appointment today?"

"No—no." Miranda smiled quickly. "I’m sorry
for the intrusion. There’s been an emergency this morning. It’s our
friend Emily."

"Hellie," Jessie corrected. "Hellie fell down
the stairs, and we have to go to the hospital to meet Emily."

Miranda shrugged apologetically. "Well, you
know how upset Emily can get. I think Hellie’s arm is going to heal
but we need to get to Emily to help calm her down."

"Which hospital?" Doctor Wolfe asked, leaning
on the door.

"Brigham," Miranda said quickly. "That was
where they took her." She turned to Jessie, who nodded for
emphasis.

Doctor Wolfe folded his arms. "How old is
your friend’s daughter?"

"Just turned two," Miranda said, smiling
again. "I’m sorry, we really have to go." She moved to the door,
but Doctor Wolfe didn’t budge from where he was standing.

"Where did you say your friend lived?"

"Brookline," Miranda answered calmly.

Doctor Wolfe looked at Miranda then Jessie.
"How strange, I’m pretty sure Beth Israel would be the closest
hospital."

"Oh, I don’t know," Miranda said, not hiding
her nervousness well. "That’s what I thought, but I know Emily said
Brigham."

"Hmm. Maybe so. But it is still unusual that
they’d take a child that age to Brigham and not Children’s, which
is just a few blocks away."

"If Emily thought Brigham was best, she’d be
very persistent to go there."

Doctor Wolfe quickly closed the door. "I
think your friend can wait for a little bit. I think we all need to
have a little talk."

"Hey!" Jessie said. Before she could move to
the door, Doctor Wolfe grabbed Miranda.

Miranda stayed calm and hoped Jessie would do
the same. "Fine, I can stay. But Jessie really needs to go."

Doctor Wolfe looked at Jessie as he tightened
his grip on Miranda. "No, I don’t think Jessie wants to go either,"
he said silkily. "I think Jessie’s going to want to stay here and
make sure that you’re okay."

Miranda looked at Jessie. "Jessie knows I’m a
big girl and can take care of myself."

Doctor Wolfe pulled Miranda closer. Now she
flinched. "But we all know that isn’t true, is it? Poor little
Miranda who’s needed someone to rescue her since she was a little
girl."

"Jessie, open the door and get out of here
now."

Jessie stood frozen on the spot. She looked
at Doctor Wolfe then back to Miranda. "Please," Miranda said
pleadingly. "I’m going to be fine."

"No," Jessie said, still unable to move.
"We’re leaving together."

Doctor Wolfe smiled at Jessie and finally let
go of Miranda to walk over to Jessie. She stepped back in the
direction of the doctor’s office. "I’m so proud of you, Jessie. I’m
glad we’ve made so much progress."

Miranda looked at Jessie who was trying not
to panic. Miranda could run out the door and scream for help, but
so much could happen in that short span of time.

He didn’t take his eyes off of Jessie. "Tell
me, Miranda, how did you figure it out?"

His back was still facing Miranda so he
didn’t see her eyes widen as she tried to figure out the best
answer. "It was something you said," she replied, remembering
Michael on the phone. "It rang a bell once I had time to think
about it."

"What did I say?" Doctor Wolfe asked calmly.
"What gave me away?"

"Closing your eyes." Miranda crossed her
fingers. "Closing your eyes and doing what you have to do. It was
such a strange thing for a therapist to say."

"Yet we all do it all the time, don’t we?
It’s amazing what we let each other get away with because we’re not
looking."

"What have you gotten away with?"

He turned and looked at her now. He took a
moment to read her face before he pushed her next to Jessie. He
leaned in his doorway. "Oh, this is such a shame," he said. "I wish
you would have let me know sooner. Because now...unfortunately it
looks like I’ve committed to a certain set of actions that I can’t
get out of." He shrugged. "Story of my life, I suppose."

"You haven’t committed to anything yet,"
Miranda insisted. "Everything can be fixed."

"You think so?" he asked coldly, crossing his
arms, just as Richard had earlier. "Jessie, do you think your
parents would agree?"

Jessie wrinkled her brow in confusion. "I
don’t think they have much of an opinion on anything anymore."

He smirked. "Then what’s your opinion?"

"That you need to let us go. Now."

Doctor Wolfe laughed. He seemed impressed.
"I’m sure you do. But I actually meant your opinion about something
else." He cleared his throat. "Jessie, who do you think killed your
mother?"

"I really don’t know."

Doctor Wolfe smiled. "Excellent." He went
into his waiting room and grabbed a book. He opened the book and
took out a piece of paper. "Miss Harel, I’d like you to read that
out loud." He handed her the paper.

Miranda read it to herself. "No! Jessie, get
out of here now!" She lunged for Doctor Wolfe, but before Jessie
had a chance to move, he grabbed Miranda and twisted her free arm
behind her back painfully.

"Read it before I break your arm," he said
calmly.

"Jessie, go!"

Jessie had tears in her eyes. "Miranda, just
read it, damn it!"

Miranda blinked. "I’m so sorry Jess," she
said then read the read first verse of
All Through the Night
out loud.

"Very good," he said. "Jessie, does that
remind you of anything?"

Jessie shook her head. "No. You already asked
me—"

"Not even in a woman’s voice?"

She looked around and shook her head. "Should
it?"

"No, not at all."

"Okay, good," Jessie said. She gulped.
"You’re going to let her go then."

His grip on Miranda’s arm eased a bit. "And
why would I do that?"

He kept hold of her arm but let her turn
around. "Because it looks like you got what you wanted," she said
quietly.

The doctor looked at Miranda and smiled. It
was a smile similar to the one Alex had when he looked at her. No,
another smile, from when she was a little girl. A smile that scared
her before Richard came to save her...

She thought she saw a shadow outside the door
in the corner of her eye. She felt goose bumps rise on her arm. She
was relieved, she was terrified.
Hello, Michael
.

"It’s time to let Jessie leave now," Miranda
repeated. "But I’ll stay."

"Miranda—"

"Jessie, listen to me," Miranda said, raising
her voice. "You’re going to leave, but there are some things I need
you to tell Michael. Can you do that for me?"

"Stop talking like—"

"I want you to tell him how glad I am that he
came back." The shadow grew larger. "And tell him how much I missed
him. I don’t know how I lived this long without him here. Tell him
I’m glad he screwed up his joy ride in Monte Carlo, and that I
still think that was a selfish bastard thing to do. And tell him,
most importantly, that he shouldn’t go doing anything stupid from
now on. Because he owes me. Can you do that Jess?"

"Miranda, I’m sorry I—"

"It’s okay. He put you through a lot, but I
don’t think he knew." She looked at the doctor. "But you do. Very
well. So let’s be fair, okay?"

She felt his sour breath on her face. "I
think we all need to leave together. Jessie can walk us to my
car."

"Jessie goes first," Miranda said firmly. "Or
you’ll have to drag me out kicking and screaming."

"Not such a princess after all, hmm? Fine.
Miss Bartolome, you’re free to leave."

"Remember what I said, Jess." Miranda tried
to shoot her thoughts through her eyes and prayed that Jessie
understood.

Jessie nodded, then ran out. Miranda thought
she saw something outside the door, but she couldn’t be sure.

The door closed. "Here we are," the doctor
said. "But there’s just one thing." He walked Miranda over to his
desk, then took out a gun from his drawer. "A little insurance,
although I know you’ll be a good girl. Shall we?" He walked her
over to the door. "Ladies first." She took a deep breath, then
opened the door.

The first thing she saw was Michael’s
horrified face. She bit her lip and shook her head. "Stop!" she
screamed before he could move any closer.

Michael saw Doctor Wolfe’s gun. He pulled
both of his hands back, but Miranda didn’t feel any better. She
knew by the look on his face that he was thinking about his next
move.

"Mister Abbot, step away now," Robert said
from her right. Miranda saw two uniformed officers behind him. They
didn’t make her feel any better either.

Robert walked towards them. "Doctor Wolfe,
I’m going to need you to put that weapon down. We need to have a
little talk now."

The gun was in Miranda’s back, but both of
her hands were free. She looked at Robert, then Michael. She hadn’t
heard Doctor Wolfe undo the safety on the gun. She closed her eyes.
Now or never, do or die
.

Miranda rammed her elbow into Doctor Wolfe’s
ribs, then stamped on his foot as hard as she could. Doctor Wolfe
howled in pain just as Michael pushed her away and into Robert. In
the two seconds it took for Robert to get his balance, Michael had
lunged for Doctor Wolfe.

One shot rang out before the officers could
reach them. Both Wolfe and Michael froze. Miranda gasped as she saw
blood ooze from Michael’s shoulder. "Michael!" she screamed as she
rushed to catch him.

The officers drew their weapons on the
doctor, but before anyone could move Jessie appeared from the side
and slammed a large vase onto his head. He fell down, unconscious.
Jessie stood over him, holding the broken pieces of pottery in her
hand.

Michael was half-sitting, half-lying down
against the wall. Miranda took off her sweater to try and stop the
profuse bleeding. She stroked his white face. He was shouting in
pain. "It’s going to be okay, it’s going to be okay," Miranda kept
repeating, to herself as much as to him.

Richard came running from behind five seconds
later. "Michael!" he said when he saw him on the floor. "Oh my
God."

"Please, whatever you do, spare me the ‘I
told you so’ right now, alright?" Michael said weakly. "Besides, I
think you should check on Jessie."

Richard looked at Miranda, who nodded, still
shocked. Richard ran over to Jessie and embraced her. "Oh, Jess!
What would I have done if anything happened to you?"

She collapsed onto his chest. "Richard, what
the Hell is going on?"

"I’ll explain everything later, I promise. In
full. But there’s something I need to do first."

Jessie pulled up and nodded at him. Robert
came up behind them. He forced himself to make eye contact.
"Jessie, I’m going to need you to tell us what happened."

Jessie nodded wearily. "Whatever." She kissed
Richard on the cheek, then gingerly walked around Doctor Wolfe.

The paramedics arrived five minutes later.
They attended to Michael first. After loading him up on the gurney,
they turned to Miranda. "Would you like to ride with him?"

"Yes," she said quietly. "I’m his wife."

Another set of paramedics started to work on
the doctor. "Is he conscious?" Richard said, looking down on
them.

"Yes, sir."

"Good." He knelt down. He bent over so that
he had to see him. At last, the doctor looked at Richard. "Hmm," he
said at last.

Richard stood up. "Hello, Uncle Tom."

The ambulance ride felt like it took forever.
The paramedics were working quickly to get Michael on fluids and to
manage his bleeding. Miranda heard them say something about a
possible puncture to the lung. She felt like she couldn’t
breathe.

Michael clearly struggled with the pain.
Miranda stroked his face and his good arm. "It’s alright, honey.
They’ll give you something once we’re there. I promise."

Michael groaned. "Don’t cry—I’m going to be
okay."