Chapter 13 - The Missing Doctor
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I stared at the name at the bottom of the sticky note. Dr. Helen Mercer.
"I remember her," I whispered. "She had a sunflower pin on her lapel. She smiled when she told me I was pregnant. But when Luke found my appointment card in my coat pocket, he went into a rage. He said her clinic was dirty. He made me call and cancel while he stood over me in the kitchen."
Priya pointed to a second note jotted beneath Dr. Mercer’s signature. Phone disconnected.
"He unplugged the landline the next day," I realized, the pieces finally snapping together in a horrifying mosaic.
Suddenly, Evelyn backed away from the bed, her face turning chalk-white. "Helen Mercer," she gasped. "I know that name."
"How?" I asked, turning to look at her.
"She called me," Evelyn said, her voice shaking. "Years ago, right before you stopped speaking to me entirely. She called my cell phone. She said she couldn't legally discuss your medical chart, but she was deeply concerned that you had vanished from her practice and weren't receiving follow-up care."
"What did you do?"
"I called your house immediately," Evelyn cried, frustration bleeding into her words. "Luke answered. He told me Dr. Mercer was a quack who had frightened you with a false diagnosis, and that you had chosen a better doctor. He said you were so stressed out that you begged him not to let me interfere."
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I closed my eyes, feeling sick. Luke had built a fortress of lies, brick by brick, trapping me inside.
"I didn't fully believe him," Evelyn continued. "So I called the clinic back the next day to demand answers. But the receptionist told me Dr. Mercer had abruptly resigned. They wouldn't tell me where she went."
