Free I'll Be Seeing You by Mary Higgins Clark Page B

discuss being a client here.”
    â€œMiss Collins, the answer is no, and now I’m afraid I’m due at a meeting.” He rose.
    Meghan had no choice but to stand up with him. “What happened, Doctor?” she asked quietly. “You must know I’m aware that there’s got to be a lot more to this sudden change than belated concern for your clients.”
    He did not reply. Meghan left the office and walked down the corridor to the reception area. She smiled warmly at the receptionist and glanced at the nameplate on the desk. “Mrs. Walters, I have a friend who’d be very interested in any literature I can give her about the clinic.”
    Marge Walters looked puzzled. “I guess Dr. Manning forgot to give you all the stuff he had his secretary put together for you. Let me call her. She’ll bring it out.”
    â€œIf you would,” Meghan said. “The doctor
was
willing to cooperate with the story I’ve been planning.”
    â€œOf course. The staff loves the idea. It’s good publicity for the clinic. Let me call Jane.”
    Meghan crossed her fingers, hoping Dr. Manning had not told his secretary of his decision to refuse to be involved in the planned special. Then, as she watched, Walters’ expression changed from a smile to a puzzled frown. When she replaced the receiver, her open and friendly manner was gone. “Miss Collins, I guess you know that I shouldn’t have asked Dr. Manning’s secretary for the file.”
    â€œI’m only asking for whatever information a new client might request,” Meghan said.
    â€œYou’d better take that up with Dr. Manning.” She hesitated. “I don’t mean to be rude, Miss Collins, but I work here. I take orders.”
    It was clear that there would be no help from her. Meghan turned to go, then paused. “Can you tell me this? Was there very much concern on the part of the staff about doing the feature? I mean, was it everybody or just a few who objected at the meeting?”
    She could see the struggle in the other woman. Marge Walters was bursting with curiosity. The curiosity won. “Miss Collins,” she whispered, “yesterday at noon we had a staff meeting and everyone applauded the news that you were doing a special. We were joking about who’d get to be on-camera. I can’t imagine what changed Dr. Manning’s mind.”
19
    M ac found his work in the LifeCode Research Laboratory, where he was a specialist in genetic therapy, to be rewarding, satisfying and all-absorbing.
    After he left Meghan, he drove to the lab and got right to work. As the day progressed, however, he admitted to himself that he was having trouble concentrating. A dull sense of apprehension seemed to be paralyzing his brain and permeating his entire body so that his fingers, which could as second nature handle the most delicate equipment, felt heavy and clumsy. He had lunch at his desk and, as he ate, tried to analyze the tangible fear that was overwhelming him.
    He called the hospital and was told that Mrs. Collins had been removed from the intensive care unit to the cardiac section. She was sleeping, and no calls were being put through.
    All of which is good news, Mac thought. The cardiac section was probably only a precaution. He felt sure Catherine would be all right and the enforced rest would do her good.
    It was his worry about Meghan that caused this blinding unease. Who was threatening her? Even if the incredible were true and Ed Collins was still alive, surely the danger was not coming from him.
    No, his concern all came back to the victim who looked like Meghan. By the time he’d tossed out the untasted half of his sandwich and downed the last of his cold coffee, Mac knew that he would not rest until he had gone to the morgue in New York to see that woman’s body.

    Stopping at the hospital on his way home that evening, Mac saw Catherine, who was clearly sedated. Her speech