He Locked Me Out and Let Her In novel · Chapter 9 of 24

Chapter 9: The Trash Can

Daisy came out of surgery with a bandage on her belly and a pink tongue poking out of her mouth.

Lydia kissed her carrier twice, thanked the whole staff, left a hundred-dollar tip on the counter and walked out smiling.

I stayed in the recovery room until the sound of her heels was gone.

Reuben came in with his glasses on his head and the scope under his arm.

"She'll be fine," he said. "I got it all."

"I know."

"Donahue, you haven't blinked in a minute. What did she say to you?"

I looked at the small cat in the cage, and then at him.

"You were on shift three years ago," I said. "The night Dean carried Daisy in."

He went still.

"I was."

"There was a woman in the parking lot. In a car, with the engine running."

I watched his face, and I saw it before he said it.

"Yes," Reuben said. "I saw her."

"For how long?"

"The whole time. Forty minutes, maybe more. I went out for the trash, and the car was there, and a woman was staring through the clinic glass. I thought she was waiting on somebody's family."

"And then?"

"And then she came to the desk the next week to ask if you'd been on duty, and I thought it was strange." He rubbed a hand over his beard. "I thought a lot of things were strange. I told myself it wasn't my business."

"A year ago she started bringing Daisy back," I said.

"Yes."

"And you saw that she always asked for me."

"Maddie."

He had never called me Maddie before.

"For a year," I said, "you watched that woman walk in here and ask for me by name."

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