Clare O’Donohue - The Lover’s Knot

I headed over to the shop as Tom was loading in.

"You don't need me babysitting you?" I asked.

"Not really, but you're welcome to stay if that's what your grandmother wants."

"Let's just say I did."

"Keeping secrets from your grandmother?" he said. "That seems risky." He smiled and went back to getting his tools from the truck.

I walked up the street until I was sure I was alone. I dialed information on my cell phone.

"I'm looking for a Dr. Parnell in Archers Rest, New York."

The computer on the other end connected me to a doctor's office, and a receptionist gave me a quick appointment when I impliedI might be pregnant and was concerned about some heavy cramping.

I walked straight over to the medical center, about a half mile from the center of town. I was reading a year-old Good Housekeeping when I heard a concerned voice say my name.

I looked up to see Jesse standing in front of me.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"I'm fine. I just have a doctor's appointment."

"When did you make it?" He looked at me suspiciously.

"Recently."

A nurse walked into the waiting room. "Nell Fitzgerald."

"That's me," I said, and got up. Jesse grabbed my arm.

"How recently?"

I took a deep breath. "This morning."

He let go of my arm. "What are you doing?"

The nurse came over. "Are you ready, miss?"

"Yes," I said.

"We're going in together," Jesse said.

"Are you the husband?"

He looked at the nurse. "Let's just say we want to do this together."

Dr. Parnell was a man in his early sixties, with a thick head of snow-white hair and silver-rimmed glasses. His office had a full wall of baby pictures, as well as charts on the female reproductive system.

"What week are you in?" Parnell said to me.

"What week of what?" Jesse interrupted impatiently.

"Pregnancy." Parnell looked at me. "Do I have the wrong chart?"

"No," I said weakly. I moved slightly down my chair in the hopes of disappearing.

Jesse, who was on the verge of saying something the entire walk to the doctor's office, now seemed to be stunned into silence. I thought briefly about keeping up the charade, but I knew it wouldn't last through an examination. And, quite frankly, I wasn't prepared for that level of undercover work.

"I'm not, actually," I stammered. "I just wanted to talk to you about Marc Reed. Do you know who he is?"

"Yes, I know who he is. Or was. The young man who was killed over the weekend." The doctor leaned back in his chair.

"Look, she doesn't belong here." Jesse gave me a long hard look. "But I don't want to waste time arresting her for impeding a police investigation right now. She's here, and I'm here, because Marc Reed had an appointment with you on Thursday."

"I remember. Quite unusual, as you can imagine."

"What did he want?"

The doctor sighed. "Despite the appointment, he wasn't a patient, so I suppose there is no doctor-patient confidentiality." He leaned forward. "I know Marc's father, Dr. Michael Reed. He's a good man who has suffered a terrible loss. I don't want to hurt him by helping you."

"If you help me find Marc's killer, then you're helping his father, " Jesse said.

Dr. Parnell looked at Jesse and sighed. "I agreed to see Marc when he called. I suppose I was curious to find out what he wanted. He was here asking about paternity. He wanted me to check the records of a patient of mine. Obviously, I turned him down."

"He thought he was the father of Natalie's baby," I blurted out. It made sense. He glared at Natalie, had mentioned something about building a business for his son, and Susanne seemed to see Marc as a threat. I looked at the doctor and knew I was right.

"That's not something I can discuss further," the doctor said sternly. "I can tell you what I told Marc. If he had a question about the paternity of a child, then he should approach the mother for a DNA sample. Lacking her permission, he should seek remedy from the courts."

"Did Natalie know he was here?" I asked. Jesse put his hand up to signal me to stop talking, but that wasn't going to happen.

"No. I didn't mention it," Parnell told me, "but I believe my nurse, Angela, mentioned something to Maggie Sweeney. She's Mrs. Sweeney's daughter-in-law. It was inappropriate, I suppose, but it's a small-town and they are related. I didn't make an issue out of it because frankly I was a bit concerned for Natalie."

"Concerned about what? Did Marc make threats?" I asked.

Jesse stared at me. "Excuse me, Doctor. Please don't answer her." He turned back to the doctor. "Did he make threats?"

"Marc was a very smart young man. Such a disappointment to his father when he dropped out of school and… drifted. He was unfocused, a little headstrong, and perhaps a bit mean. If he did make threats, and that is possible, he didn't make them in front of me."

"What's your opinion of Natalie's husband?" I asked and met with the same icy stare from Jesse.

"I don't know him. I believe he and Natalie were having some marital difficulties during her pregnancy, so he didn't come to any of the prenatal visits. He was at the birth, but I certainly didn't speak to him enough to form an opinion.

"Thank you for your time," Jesse said as he rose. I got up and was about to follow him out of the office when Dr. Parnell called us back.

"By the way, Marc offered me five thousand dollars for a look at my patient's file. It was a ridiculous offer. If for no other reason than I can't imagine where he would get five thousand dollars. His father was paying his rent half the time."

Jesse nodded and pushed me ahead of him down the hall. I waited by the entrance while Jesse chatted with Dr. Parnell's nurse, confirming, I suppose, that she had talked with Maggie. Then he came walking toward me. Though his face was devoid of emotion, I knew he was just waiting for the moment when it was safe to yell at me.

It came in the parking lot.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"I want to know who killed Marc."

Jesse's head tilted slightly, like a confused puppy. "Why? Did you care about him that much?"

"Do you have to care about someone to want justice for them?"

"That's bull. That's not why you're here." He started pacing. "And just for your information, it's my job to get justice for people."

Instantly I was twelve years old and getting a talking-to from my father for skipping math class. What I had done, as far as he was concerned, was indefensible. And yet I was required to stand there and defend myself.

"If you felt that way, why did you let me go into the doctor's office with you?"

"Because if I hadn't, then you would have gone in alone and told me that you had an appointment. I wouldn't have been able to prove otherwise." Jesse looked at his feet and then at me. "I will arrest you," he said. There was no anger in his voice, but it was serious in tone. I was meant to be scared. But I wasn't.

"No you won't."

"Because you will not do this again. Do you understand?"

Without meaning to, I laughed. This did not go over well.

"Nell," he said as he fingered the handcuffs that were attached at the side of his belt. "If Ryan did it, I will find out."

"He didn't do it," I said.

"If you really believed that one hundred percent, you wouldn't be here."

"I just don't want this hanging over us. He wants…" I hesitated. I wasn't sure if I should say it. "He wants to get married."

Jesse's face changed into a sympathetic half smile. "Congratulations, " he said softly. "As of when?"

"Yesterday."

He stood silent for a minute, then lowered his eyes. "Get in the car," he said.

"Where are we going?" I asked for the second time, but Jesse was ignoring me. "Shouldn't you obey the speed limit?" I asked as he flew down Main Street.