Free Numb by Dean Murray Page B

with a sense of excitement,
or maybe of power?"
    He rubbed his
eyes and then leaned back and shook his head. Interesting. It wasn't
late enough in the day for him to be tired already. It probably meant
he wasn't sleeping well. Of course there were another dozen
possibilities, but it wasn't the first clue that I'd recorded since
he'd walked through the door. Each bit of information helped clarify
what I was up against this time. That, more than anything, was the
secret to my success. I had a photographic memory and the ability to
put seemingly unrelated bits of information together to arrive at the
answer I needed. It really was just a matter of time. If we spent
enough time together I'd eventually figure out what was causing his
underlying problems.
    He shook his
head again and then looked at the window. "No, it was just
another transaction. We've had our eye on the area for a couple of
years now. Our best computer model says that there should be…let's
just say that once it's developed it will pay for itself in short
order. The owner of the land died a little while ago and we had the
operating capital necessary to move so we approached his estate about
purchasing the land."
    It was another
interesting tidbit. There weren't many people and organizations in
the U.S. who could come up with that kind of money at the drop of a
hat, but those weren't the kinds of clues that I needed.
    "What
about non-business purchases? What was the last thing you bought that
you looked forward to?"
    He shook his
head. "No, that's off-limits. I'm not interested in getting into
that particular discussion, I'm here for other reasons."
    I leaned
forward and gave him my best 'earnest concern' expression. "Brad,
why are you here? I mean, why did you choose me out of everyone else
you could have gone to?"
    He didn't like
that question either, but this time it wasn't an emotional response.
He knew where I was headed. That was okay though. In many ways it was
easier to deal with the really smart patients. I wouldn't have to
take him all the way through my logic; he'd see it for himself
without needing to be spoon fed.
    "I'm here
because you're the best. Even the psychiatrists who hate you agree
that you're good at what you do."
    I leaned back
in my chair and nodded. "Exactly, which means that you have a
decision to make. You can either get up and walk out of my office, or
you can answer my questions. It's entirely your call, but you came
here because you knew you needed help."
    "Fine. The
last big non-business purchase I made was a trip."
    "A trip?"
    He nodded and
then cleared his throat. In someone else it might not have meant
anything but this was the most rattled I'd seen him yet.
    "Yeah. I
wanted to surprise a girl so I booked a skiing trip for our
families."
    "By booked
you mean that you had one of your people make the arrangements?"
    He closed his
eyes briefly as if hiding from a memory, and then shook his head.
"No, I flew out to the resort one evening after she'd gone to
sleep and toured it. It was amazing. Not the skiing so much, I don't
know much about that, but the cabins were gorgeous."
    It was the most
passion I'd seen out of him yet, so I pursued the line of
questioning. "Tell me about them."
    "It was
almost like living outside despite the cold. They had a solarium off
on one side, fireplaces in every room, and the master suite was
situated at the top of the cabin and had a three hundred degree view.
The night I was there you could see the snowflakes drifting down onto
the skylight. It was the most peaceful thing I'd experienced in a
long time."
    "Your
families would have been okay with the two of you sharing the master
suite?"
    He shook his
head again, seemingly still lost in the memory of his trip. "No,
it wasn't like that. Her mother would have freaked out. We would have
slept in separate rooms, but the layout of the cabin sparked
something inside of me. When I got back home I started looking into
property so that I could start building