Plain Jane Read Online Free

macho types who think they own the women they married. Or maybe she’s the one who shut down, and he can’t handle it. Do you get the impression he could be physical ?”
    â€œAbsolutely.”
    â€œI mean no disrespect here, Jane, but maybe he thought he could bamboozle you easier than a male shrink. The bottom line is, if the guy scares you, cut him loose. There’s no law that says you have to keep him on as a patient. Refer him to someone else.”
    â€œHe doesn’t scare me exactly, but he does make my skin crawl. As for cutting him loose, I wouldn’t have a single qualm except—what if there is a wife and she really has been raped and goes into a deep depression and . . . and . . . does something to herself? How do you think I’d feel if that happened?”
    â€œLike shit, of course, but you know as well as I do there’s a lot of ‘what ifs’ in our business. You also know that psychiatry is not an exact science. And you’re not nine-one-one.”
    Even though he was right, it wasn’t what she wanted to hear. “Did you ever lose a patient, Mike?”
    â€œ No.”
    â€œNeither have I, and I don’t want to lose one now. Why can’t we just call ‘the wife’ my invisible patient?”
    â€œYou can say and do whatever you want, Jane.”
    Now he was patronizing her. “What would you do?”
    â€œAfter what you’ve told me—I’d cut him loose. You’re spending too much time and energy on this guy, and you have other patients to think about—patients who are being honest with you and who really need your help.”
    Again, he was right, Jane realized as she thought about the sleepless nights she’d spent since first meeting Brian Ramsey. Only once before had sleeping been a problem, right after learning about Connie’s suicide. . . .
    â€œYou’re gonna love this crab pie,” Mike said, digging into his succulent-looking lunch.
    Jane broke off a piece of crust and nibbled on it. She watched her colleague devour his lunch. She broke off a second piece and crumbled it between her fingers. She decided to throw caution to the winds and tell him the rest of her story. Looking down at her lunch, she said, “I know I’m crazy to tell you this, but I went to his house one day and rang the bell. No answer. Then I went around back, looked in windows. Nothing. It was a single-story house, so I could see into all the rooms. Everything was neat and tidy, but there was no one there.” She glanced up, and before he could say anything, she added, “I went back a second time and a third. Zilch both times. Please don’t chastise me for my lack of professionalism. I know I was wrong. But I did it, okay? And still the question remains—if there is a wife who quit work and hides out in the house, where the hell is she?”
    Mike had stopped eating. “You do realize, don’t you, that you’re breaking the cardinal rule here? You’re allowing yourself to get personally involved.”
    Jane nodded.
    Mike laid his fork across his plate. “Where do you think she was, Jane?”
    Jane cleared her throat. “I think . . . I don’t know what I think. If she is in the house, the only place she could possibly be is in the basement,” she said, trying not to look at him. “They could have a summer kitchen. I have one in the house where I live now. It’s a godsend in July and August. I suppose she could be down there or—he could be keeping her down there against her will. I don’t know, Mike. I’ve never come across anything like this before. Nothing computes. I hope once you meet this guy, you’ll understand what I’m talking about. I don’t know how to proceed. I’m out of my depth here. Obviously you are, too, since you aren’t helping me.”
    Mike wiped his mouth with his napkin and set it down on the table. She