"They're brothers. What one of them does, the other does too. Haven't you noticed?"

The driver sounds surprised.

"But Stuart never called from the limo?"

"Nah, he didn't care. He and his wife had an arrangement, I think."

Evy sighs.

"Evy, in all the year I have been James' driver, I have never seen him so angry."

He stops for a few seconds.

"I just thought I'd let you know."

Evy makes a face.

"Thanks."

She hangs up on him.

"Eric, are you still there?"

It's quiet for a long time.

"Yes, Evy, I'm still here."

She gets up suddenly and turns when she hears a key in her lock.

"What?!"

"h.e.l.lo Evy..."

Evy can hear Eric's voice when the door opens.

"James! Where do you have a key from?!"

Evy's voice is loud and shrill. The door closes with a loud bang, and he is suddenly next to her.

"Where do you think?"

Now her voice is only a whisper.

"From Stuart."

He smiles and tilts his head before grabbing her arms. The pain races through her.

"Don't tell me where and when. Do you have any idea how much you cost me every month? Do you even realize where you would be without my money?"

He pushes her back harder than he has ever done before.

"Is that James Schmidt?"

Eric's voice is loud but far away because Evy's no longer holding the phone to her ear. She screams with pain when he pulls her into the bedroom by her hair. He hits her hard in the face, and throws her onto the bed with a force that makes her let go of the phone. He leans down over her and yells: "You dress like a teenager. You're a wh.o.r.e. Dress like one!"

She screams again when he hits her a second time. She sees his next strike in the mirror before she feels the pain. Then she curls up with her back to the mirror, and it's as if she's no longer present in her body.

"Evy! Evy!"

Somehow, Eric's voice manages to get through. She sees the phone and slowly reaches for it, but James gets to it first.

"Evy! Evy!"

Eric's voice is clear and strong. James stares at the phone, before he picks it up. Then he slowly says: "Eric Taylor."

Evy stares at James.

"Eric, I don't have time for you right now. I'll get back to you later. Trust me."

He looks at Evy and smiles. Then he throws the phone through the room, and, with a deafening crash, the mirror wall breaks and falls to the floor with a sound she's sure the neighbors can hear. "They'll be here soon. They'll be here soon." She feels how her clothes are torn from her body and hears a crunching sound from her ribs when James. .h.i.ts her hard in the side. Another blow hits her on the cheekbone, close to her ear. The pain is unbearable, but soon the pain coming from her abdomen is worse. "Oh, please don't let me lose consciousness." But her wish isn't granted and soon she slips away.

"Wake up, wh.o.r.e!"

James is standing over her, fully dressed. She feels another blow and she registers a surprising smell of leather.

"Finally awake, are you? I want you to be awake for this."

He holds a piece of gla.s.s under her nose. He's wearing gloves.

"Do you see?"

He doesn't wait for her to answer but bends down over her and shakes his head.

"And so, you became a simple wh.o.r.e. And a wh.o.r.e who's ready to do anything. You could've at least tried to be a cla.s.sy call girl."

He shakes his head again, and Evy sees the light reflected in the piece of gla.s.s and then a flash cuts through the room. She feels a pain just over her collar bone and her scream cuts through the silence. She's no longer in control of her body and the screams go on and on. He tries to cover her mouth and for a moment she can taste the leather from his glove mixed with a taste of her own blood. Then she manages to kick him in the stomach, and he falls over on the floor as her screams fill the room again and again. For a moment, he stares at her, and then he gets up and holds his head high.

"I'm not finished with you. Trust me, Evy, I'm not finished."

Her screaming stops at once and her eyes are wide open.

"See you soon, Evy."

She looks down and sees the blood on her body and on her legs. When she looks up, he's gone.

Chapter 7.

The sun is close to the horizon when Nathan takes out his phone from his pocket.

"Did you get the results from my tests? You should've called me earlier today."

He listens for a while.

"Yes, I can imagine. But I've had my phone on me all day."

He listens again, getting more and more annoyed.

"Are you saying that you've had the results for over a day and haven't called me?"

The voice on the phone gets louder and Nathan holds the phone away from his ear.

"Then I guess you'd better put me through to the doctor."

He has also raised his voice.

"Yes, I can imagine that he's busy. Yes, I can imagine that. But it's simply not OK to let me wait for the results without telling me anything."

His voice reveals the expression on his face.

"Yes, at nine is fine."

Then he just hangs up.

"As if I don't have enough to worry about."

He throws the phone down on the table and it slides almost all the way to the edge on the other side of the table. His eyes follow its way across the table and continues down to the letter on the floor.

"I'm not waiting until tomorrow!"

The window in the door rattles when the door handle slams against the wall.

"Take it easy, Nathan. What's wrong with you?!"

The nurse looks at him and folds her hands on the desk in front of her.

"Nathan, close the door."

He stares at her.

"Nathan, close the door."

There's a strange, attentive look on Nathan's face, and he nods, turns around and closes the door.

"Thank you."

Nathan comes back to stand in front of the nurse. He has never understood why a man his doctor's age would have a nurse that young. In his view, she sends a signal of ignorance and he always ends up getting angry with her.

"I will not wait until tomorrow. I'm here now and I want the results."

But that doesn't seem to have any effect on her.

"That's not the way we do things here. You get an appointment and then you get to see the doctor."

"I don't have to see the doctor. I just want the results. Now."

"Now, she's doing it again. Making it clear that she's the one in charge." Nathan smiles to himself. "I wonder if they have more in common than work?" He looks around. The very modern desk, the cupboards, everything seems to belong in the clinic of a doctor that has just started his practice, not in the practice of a well-established doctor. Everything seems too young and a little too cheap for Nathan's taste.

"The doctor is just in."

Something in her voices catches Nathan's attention. She never calls him "the doctor". She always calls him by his first name, Brian. Nathan can't help but wonder if something has changed between them. Maybe the doctor had made a pa.s.s at her and been rejected. He shakes his head. "What do I care? I have enough on my mind."

He turns away and looks at the other patients who are waiting. Some look at him with disapproval, some with surprise and some are just angry. Nathan shrugs and turns to face the nurse again.

"I can't give you the results, Nathan."

Nathan stares at her for a long time. She just stares back.

"The results?"

"Yes, the results."

"Why not? It was just a routine check."

She nods.

"You know that after my wife was diagnosed so late, I'm always very keen to get the results as soon as possible."

He glances at the other patients. They are all listening to every word he says. "Even if I know nothing is wrong. I can always make small changes in my diet, how I sleep, my exercise, you know."

Nathan keeps staring at her, but she shakes her head again.

"You remember the different tests we made?"

Nathan nods, "that was the most stupid question today, little lady."

"Yes, the doctor..."

"She called him that again."

"...ordered some additional a.n.a.lyses. The results of these have also come back."

"Yes, well, it's been over a month. I've asked several times."