Chapter 45

Holly finds herself back inside the same cramped interview room at the Newport Beach police station, sitting across from Detective Rivers, whose light-blue shirt sets off his ochre skin tone.

He jots notes with the same pen as before while Holly describes the incident involving her car. “What type of car do you drive, Dr. Danvers?”

“A BMW X3.”

He nods. “And you had the electronic key in your possession the whole time?”

“Not on me,” she says. “But it would’ve been in my purse, yes.”

“What about the backup key?”

“It’s at home somewhere, I think.”

He looks up from his notebook. “If the doors were locked, then either someone would’ve had to use one of your keys or a fairly sophisticated relay system to open it.”

“A relay system?”

“Basically, a hacking device that amplifies or relays the signal from the electronic key to another device near the car, allowing it to open the door remotely.”

“That doesn’t sound like some bored teen looking for loose change.”

“No, it doesn’t.” Rivers taps his pen on the pad. He offers her a sympathetic smile. “But there’s not much I can do. This apparent break-in happened at your office in Laguna, and I have no jurisdiction there.”

“Even if it were connected to JJ’s death?”

He eyes her skeptically. “Connected?”

Holly wavers. She still feels conflicted about sharing the name of a living client with the detective, but if Liisa has fled, then the detective needs to know. “As a psychiatrist, I have a duty to report if I have concerns that a client’s life might be in danger.”

“Yes, you do,” he says. “Which client?”

“Dr. Liisa Koskinen.”

He jots the name down, confirming the spelling. “But what does this have to do with your car?”

“Maybe nothing.”

“OK, what makes you believe Dr. Koskinen’s life is in danger?”

“Believe might be too strong a word,” Holly says, wondering when it comes to Liisa if the threat is more suicidal or homicidal in nature. “I couldn’t find her this morning. And no one seems to know where she went. I’m concerned.”

“Is Dr. Koskinen a Newport resident?”

“She is. I went by her place on my way here. There was no answer. And her car was gone.”

“Can we backtrack a little? Why would Dr. Koskinen’s life be in danger?”

“Liisa is in… turmoil. Both professionally and personally.” Holly’s stomach twists, hearing herself divulge private information on a client. “She is—or at least was—a member of the same therapy group as JJ and Elaine.”

The detective’s eyebrow shoots up. “Another one?”

Holly nods.

“Does Dr. Koskinen also suffer from addiction?”

“Yes. Xanax.” Holly hesitates. “But I only recently learned she’d also been hiding other secrets.”

“Can you be more specific, Dr. Danvers?”

Holly tells him about the misconduct complaints with the California Board of Psychology, stressing that all of the information is already in the public realm. “Also, I just found out that Liisa was trying to convince other women in the group that I’d been molesting them, too.”

He angles his head. “Too?”

Holly swallows. “I should’ve told you sooner, Detective. But Elaine—who was sexually abused as a child—misinterpreted an incident with me while under ketamine.” And she goes on to summarize her allegations.

He eyes her steadily. “And you think Dr. Koskinen planted the suggestion with Ms. Golding that you were abusing her?”

“Not necessarily. But Liisa certainly capitalized on it. Turns out she has resented me all along. And at that point, when Elaine first accused me, Liisa was the only member who hadn’t reached sobriety. She was more bitter about it than I realized. I think she wanted to sabotage me and, by extension, the whole group.”

Rivers is quiet for a few moments. “Sounds like a complicated group,” he finally says.

Holly can only sigh.

He lowers his pen. “Dr. Koskinen’s behavior does sound erratic. But do you think she would go as far as to stage the deaths of two others?”

“I have no idea, Detective Rivers. Truly. But I’ve always struggled to believe that both my clients took their own lives. It never added up with their clinical presentations. And now I find out that Liisa—as vindictive and damaged as she is—was trying to manipulate Elaine and others behind the scenes. And I think JJ knew about it, too.”

He frowns. “Would that be motive enough to kill them?”

“I know how this sounds, Detective. I can’t explain it. Maybe something backfired between Liisa and Elaine? Or maybe Elaine really did overdose and JJ threatened to expose Liisa for pushing her into it? And then Liisa got rid of JJ.” She sighs. “Who knows? But clearly, Liisa has a history of suspect behavior. If she’s capable of stealing pills from a client and trying to blackmail her into silence, then it’s hard to imagine a line she wouldn’t cross.”

Inwardly, Holly cringes. She’s one to talk, having already proven herself capable of vaping DMT in her own office and of interrogating her clients while they’re medicated. What lines am I not willing to cross?

The detective’s face is as impassive as ever, but his tone takes on a slight edge when he asks, “Is there anything else you’ve neglected to share with me?”

“I don’t think so, no.”

He nods. “Obviously, I don’t need to tell you how erratic and impulsive addicts can be. But to go to this extent? Hard to imagine anyone constructing such an elaborate conspiracy simply to cover their tracks.”

There it is again. Conspiracy. The word grates after the way Aaron already turned it against her. “Even if Liisa had nothing to do with either death, it still concerns me that she would disappear in her current state of mind. In my professional opinion, she is not stable or safe.”

“I suppose that’s true,” Rivers says as he rises from his chair. “I’ll see if I can track her down.”