P.J. Morse - Clancy Parker 01 - Heavy Mental (13 page)

Mom stepped up behind Peggy. “The only reason I don’t see Dr. Redburn is that my life is already perfect. However …” she leaned her head toward me “… there is a little something we could talk about—If you don’t mind, my dear.”

“Oh! Oh,” I shuffled my feet and tried to look as meek as I could when she addressed the doctor, who seemed pleased that he could return his attentions to me instead of Peggy. “Well …”

“Out with it!” Mom exclaimed, patting my back. “You can be so silly sometimes!”

I was impressed with Mom’s efforts, especially since Mom wasn’t exactly the mom type. I turned to Dr. Redburn and said, “Since I read your book and heard such wonderful things, I was hoping to have a session with you, but, when I called your office, your receptionist said you weren’t taking any more patients.”

Dr. Redburn nodded. “Now that the book is out, I’m getting calls from everybody and anybody, so I’m taking only private referrals. Maybe you and your mother could be a package deal!”

Mom didn’t miss a beat with her comeback: “Well, I’ll talk to my dermatologist, my trainer, and my colorist, and I’ll see if I can fit you into my schedule.”

Meanwhile, the art students and the security guard were in the midst of a gazebo cold war. One art student whispered to another, “I bet that guard isn’t real. I bet it’s a sculpture, and they stuck a tape recorder in it. He’s just saying the same thing over and over!”

Instead of shouting, “DON’T TOUCH THE ART!” the security guard let out a low growl.

Dr. Redburn looked nervous. “I think it’s getting crowded in here. Let’s head out of this gazebo … installation … thing … and talk about this a little more,” he took me by the shoulder and said pointedly to Peggy, “I’ll see you next week.” He said it in a tone almost as if he were dismissing her.

Mom air-kissed Peggy, and Peggy reciprocated. During the exchange part of Peggy’s robe got caught on one of Mom’s hoop earrings.

“Ow,” Mom said. “Why do I have a knack for this sort of thing?”

I made a move to disentangle them, but Dr. Redburn swept in and helped extricate the robe from the earring. As he did so, his hand brushed Peggy’s temple, and she nearly swooned with delight, so much so that her eyes almost rolled back in her head.

Right when Peggy was distracted, Dr. Redburn guided me and Mom out of the art-damaged gazebo. I looked back at Peggy as we left, and she seemed to want to follow us, almost like a puppy, but her feet remained planted on the ground.

CHAPTER 17

THE PATH OF MOST RESISTANCE

B
EYOND THE GAZEBO,
D
R.
R
EDBURN,
Mom, and I found a reasonably quiet spot by the gift shop entrance. A waiter passed by with a tray of plastic cups each filled to the brim with white wine. Mom took one, but Dr. Redburn and I abstained. I needed to let the bourbon pass through my bloodstream so I could stay in character.

“So, what do you do for work?” Dr. Redburn asked me.

I wasn’t sure how much to tell him, but Mom had already gulped her wine, so she answered, “She’s in a rock band.”

I spun to look at my mother. I wasn’t happy, but at least she didn’t spill that I was a private eye.

Dr. Redburn smiled. “No way! I was in a band. Took a few years off before college and went on tour.”

Mom raised her glass. “Aren’t you glad I said something? Now you two can bond!”

I wasn’t sure how much I wanted to bond with someone I was supposed to be investigating, but having something in common might make it easier to get into his office.

“It’s true,” I said. “What was your band’s name?” I asked.

“The Sun-Seekers,” he replied.

“I’ve heard of you!” I yelped. That wasn’t empty flattery. When I was a DJ at the UC Santa Cruz radio station, I got into their song “The Path of Most Resistance.” They were the kind of band that got drowned out by other, bigger bands who eventually got major-label record deals.

Now the doctor was laughing. “You’re way too young to know of us!”

“No, no! You were, like, psychedelic!”

Dr. Redburn grinned. “That was why we didn’t get so far. We weren’t mad enough. What’s your band’s name?”

“The Marquee Idols,” I replied.

“What do you play?”

“Lead guitar.”

“I played bass!” he said, his eyes lighting up.

I was stunned. Since Larry and Muriel had rejected being a Marquee Idol, the question “Do you still play?” came out of my mouth like a reflex. I quickly added, “You were good!”

He chuckled. “For what was essentially an also-ran band, maybe.”

Mom leaned behind me, supposedly to pick up a mini-quiche from a waiter passing by with a tray. As she took a quiche, she whispered in my ear, “Don’t forget what you’re here for.”

The point of the trip to the museum was not to wax nostalgic over the glory days of the Sun-Seekers and turn into a shameless rock groupie. I had to schedule an appointment to find out if Dr. Redburn had anything to do with the disappearance of Sabrina Norton Buckner’s necklace.

“I see what you’re saying,” I told Dr. Redburn. “The rock life might be too much for me, too.”

Dr. Redburn nodded. “It’s too much for a lot of people. It’s tough for a regular person to maintain a stage persona.”

Mom added, “That sure sounds like you, darling. Go on. Tell him more.” Then she looked at me eagerly, as if she were anxious to see what I might come up with.

I chose to base my lies in truth. “All my problems started with a bad breakup. I can’t seem to get my mind off this guy.” Well, that was a big stretch. I limited myself to thinking about Larry only two or three times a week. Maybe a little more than that, but my mind certainly wasn’t “on” him in the strictest sense of the term. “He was in the band, too, but now that he’s gone, I have stage fright. Everyone else in the band wants to book a gig, but the thought of playing without him…. It’s terrifying! I’m worried I won’t be able to play again!”

I thought I spotted even more interest in the doctor’s warm, dark eyes when I made clear that I was single. The music connection didn’t hurt, either. I knew that I had at least one introductory appointment with him all locked up.

Dr. Redburn had pulled a small notepad from his pocket, and he began to scribble on it intently, as if I had said the most fascinating words he’d heard all day. “Clancy—you don’t mind if I call you by your first name, do you?”

“Of course not!” I replied, happy that he was already dropping formalities.

“Clancy,” he continued, “I think we can easily overcome your feelings of anxiety. But I have to warn you of something—you might find my methods unorthodox. Is that all right with you?”

“I love unorthodox!” Mom exclaimed.

I shot Mom a look. Sometimes she could be too helpful. “Unorthodox in what way?” I asked.

Dr. Redburn seemed to clam up a little bit. “I can’t say too much about it. Let me put it this way—I like to get to the root of people’s problems very quickly.”

“I think I can handle that,” I replied. I thought I heard Mom snicker a little bit and blushed.

Then he flipped to a clean page of his notepad and wrote a time and address on it. “Do you think you can be here at this time tomorrow? It’s a little early, but I know I can fit you in then. Just tell my receptionist that you’re an exception.” The doctor smiled, exposing a set of flawless, even teeth. “I really must be going. Remember, 10:00 am tomorrow morning.” And he was gone.

Mom and I watched Dr. Redburn cross the room, only to be hugged by yet another overzealous patient. Mom took another sip of her wine and toasted me. “Well, my darling, you just got hit on. Did you see how he looked at you? See what happens when you dress up a little?” Then Mom’s face darkened, and she leaned in. “He has an effect on Peggy, doesn’t he? That Peggy, you’d think she lived in his office.”

“Really?” I looked back toward the gazebo and saw Peggy and her blonde wig, standing outside the gazebo as Dr. Redburn worked the room. She looked like she was about to cry.

Mom shuddered. “Peggy almost joined this yoga cult. She ran away to India, and her family had to hire one of those deprogrammers to get her back.”

“Maybe her parents should ask for a refund,” I said.

“That’s exactly what her mom told me! It’s horrifying. Peggy’s not that much older than you. God, I’m glad you’re not like her. If you acted that lost at your age, I’d spank your butt.”

“Uh, thanks. I think.”

Mom stared into her drink, which was almost empty. “I’m surprised Peggy’s here. I heard a rumor they had her in a mental hospital after India. It says a lot about the doctor to fix her up enough so she can be in public.”

I grabbed a cup of wine from a tray passing by and pressed it into Mom’s hand. “Here. Enjoy. I think it is time to talk to Peggy.”

“Sure, leave me alone here …” Mom said. But she was kidding because, soon enough, one of the dumpy guys with the Cosby sweaters swooped in and asked her if she was a movie star, and Mom began to bloom again.

CHAPTER 18

BOUNDARIES

P
EGGY TURNED AND TOOK THE
stairs down toward the bathrooms, and I followed. I wasn’t the type to corner anyone in a bathroom, but there was no reason I couldn’t casually bump into Peggy when she was on the way out and strike up a conversation. I lingered around the water fountain a moment, and then Peggy emerged, with her hair fully groomed and a fresh coat of coral lipstick on her mouth.

Despite her wacky new-age getup and monster hair, Peggy was actually cute, and a lot younger than I thought at first. When she joined our conversation in the beginning, I thought she was closer to my mom’s age, but she was probably only a few years older than me. Then again, maybe it was the lost, childish look in her eyes that made her look younger.

Turning as if I just had a sip from the water fountain, I exclaimed, “Hello, again! Peggy, right?”

While I never expected Peggy to remember my name during all the fundraising meet-and-greet, I was surprised that she looked at me as if she’d never seen me before. I had to say, “We met upstairs, with Dr. Redburn” before a faint light of recognition appeared in her eyes. “I’m Kit’s daughter.”

“Oh, yes!” And then Peggy overdid it, hugging me as if I were my own mother. “So good to see you!” I began to wonder if it would be worth talking to Peggy at all because it seemed like the woman just knocked back a bottle of Valium.

I said, “I’m so sorry if my mom and I interrupted you with Dr. Redburn upstairs. You know my mom … nothing stops her! He’s up there if you want to talk to him.”

Peggy shook her head vigorously. “No, no. That was my fault. I tend to interrupt the doctor when he’s working, and I’ll get to see him tomorrow. I just get a little overwhelmed by him.” Her voice lowered. “He changed my life.”

Tears sprang into her eyes, so I asked, “Would you like to sit down?” I carefully guided Peggy to a low, padded bench set up outside the bathrooms. I wished the whole room were padded.

Peggy sat down with a long sigh, as if she’d walked to India and back. The look in her eyes resembled the emptiness that occasionally flashed in Sabrina’s eyes during her first visit to my office. She told me, “I hope you don’t mind. I just get so emotional thinking about what Dr. Redburn has done for me.”

“You’re not the only one. He’s done a lot for another one of my mom’s friends,” I said. “You know Sabrina Buckner?”

Peggy’s face twisted up. “Yes.”

I remembered the list Sabrina made of people who could recommend Dr. Redburn’s character. Peggy’s name wasn’t on it. “Oh? Did something happen?” I asked. “She’s the one who recommended Dr. Redburn to me.”

“Really?” Peggy asked. “I thought she wanted him all to herself. That woman thinks she can buy him.”

I wondered if Peggy knew about Sabrina’s plans to give Dr. Redburn her two-million-dollar necklace. That was a surefire way to earn loyalty for life. I wondered what kind of donations Peggy made to Dr. Redburn’s cause. “Buy him? How so?”

Peggy’s eyes darted back and forth. “Oh, she just throws money at him. He has a foundation to raise self-esteem, especially for students in the public schools.”

“Sabrina mentioned that to me,” I said. That’s where her necklace was supposed to go. “It sounds wonderful.” It actually sounded silly, but I played along.

“Yes! It is! I’ve donated to the cause, and every time I donate, she donates more. That’s good for the foundation, but she’s not really working for her enlightenment. She thinks she can buy enlightenment, and that’s the wrong way to go about it.” Then Peggy shook her head. “And, to think, I’m the one who told her about Dr. Redburn! And this is how she thanks me!”

She started waving her hands around at this point, so I scooted down the bench to give her space. She must have sensed that I was a little freaked out, so she said, “Oh, I’m not saying you shouldn’t see him. You seem like the kind of person he’d like to talk to.”

I asked, “Why?”

Peggy stared at my face for a moment, until she finally recollected the conversation in the gazebo. “Yes. Yes. I was looking at you in the gazebo, and I think you would understand. I feel so lucky! I’ve been trying to recruit your mother for months, and now you come along!”

“Recruit?” I asked.

“Well, yes. Dr. Redburn and I want to spread the word of his teaching. I tell everyone I meet about him. It’s just as well that your mother isn’t interested. Don’t get me wrong, but I don’t think your mom could handle what Dr. Redburn would tell her.” Almost instinctively, Peggy took my hands. Her robe swished, and I thought I was about to have my fortune read.

“What would he tell my mom?”

“Your mother is too attached to her possessions. She protects herself with them instead of making herself stronger.”

I wasn’t going to argue with most of that comment. But, while Mom loved her material goods, she wasn’t exactly weak-minded. “What would he tell me?” I asked.

Leaning in and staring into my eyes, Peggy said, “You have a lot of anger. You should release it.”