“Out,” Usipov snapped over his shoulder through gritted teeth. “Right now, if you know what’s good for you.”
For a moment, Laura thought Nate would argue. She put her hand on his arm, and he released the tension he had been holding, letting go. Without a word he began to back out of the room, closing the door behind them when they were back in the waiting room.
“Shit,” Laura breathed out, shaking her head. “Are you alright?”
Nate paused, holding up his arms and looking them over, raising the sleeves of his suit jacket to elbow-height and dropping them down again. “I think so,” he said. His voice was gruff, but Laura could tell he was shaken.
“Sit down,” she said, gesturing to one of the chairs. “Take a breath. Christ. That was…”
“Unexpected?” Nate said, giving her a wry look.
Was he… making a joke about her psychic powers not working?
Laura gave a startled laugh, then dropped down into the chair next to him. “Seriously, are you alright? Even if you don’t think you need medical attention, you can get out of here, go to the precinct and check things out there. But maybe you should get checked out. Just in case.”
Nate shook his head no. “I’m fine,” he said, almost brusquely. “Let’s just do what we came for. We need that therapist. And you saw his reaction when we burst in – that cold anger.”
“Right,” Laura nodded. She tilted her head, listening. She could hear Usipov’s voice now, quiet and soothing, through the door. The place wasn’t exactly soundproof. Maybe that was one of the reasons he’d opted for a waiting room inside his office rather than putting chairs out in the hall – to provide a small barrier for the sound – but still, it was possible to hear fairly well through the plasterboard wall. “We should keep it down. If we can hear them, they can hear us.”
Nate nodded his understanding. No discussing tactics. They had already lost a huge part of the element of surprise, and they were going to need to hold onto every advantage they had.
Usipov was going to be ready for them.
“Alright, Stanley,” Laura heard him say. He was closer to the door now, judging by the sound. “Come on, then. Let’s use those coping tactics we’ve talked about. We’re going to walk right by them, and no one’s going to arrest you. Alright? Here we go, then.”
Laura glanced at Nate – he was bristling with anger at what they’d both just heard. But before they could agree on a plan or speak out against the doctor’s assumption, Stanley was being shepherded out of the room past them. Dr. Usipov was very literally shielding Stanley’s view of them with his body, holding out his arms on both sides and ushering Stanley straight towards the door.
Laura didn’t know whether it was fear of setting him off again, or recognition that they had bigger fish to fry, but Nate said nothing as they went, remaining stoic in his chair.
Dr. Usipov carried on talking to Stanley in a low, reassuring voice all the way to the door, then let him out into the corridor with a few more words and a reminder to take his medication as soon as he arrived home. He closed the door slowly, watching through it all the while, as if waiting to be sure that his patient really was leaving the building.
Then, with the door closed, he turned on Laura and Nate – his previously calm and reassuring demeanor replaced by that of pure rage.
“Do you realize what you’ve just done?” he fumed, stalking towards them on stiff, straight legs and stopping only when he was right up in front of both of them, leaning down into their faces. “Months of therapy completely undone! He could sue for that, you know – and I know who I’d be suing in return!”
“Why the hell did he attack me like that?” Nate exclaimed. “You said he was scared of cops, not homicidal!”
“His extreme reaction to your presence was to prevent you from harming him, by any means necessary,” Usipov growled. “Like the way an arachnophobe might kill a spider to prevent it from scaring them any further. As far as I’m concerned, you brought that on yourself – and you deserved worse!”
Laura tried to stay calm, unflappable. But the more he went on, the more it was starting to look as though they had a very viable suspect.
There were only three of them in the room. As much as she trusted Nate to have her back, anything could happen in such tight quarters. Usipov could flip, hit one of them over the head before the other could react. He could have a concealed weapon on his person.
There was no telling how dangerous he could be – and Laura knew they needed to tread carefully.
She nudged her foot against Nate’s, a tiny little movement that might be interpreted as a shuffle if Usipov even saw it. But for her and Nate, it was a message. A message that said trust me and wait.
“We apologize for the intrusion,” Laura said, trying hard to sound as if she actually meant it. “We had no idea you were seeing a patient who would have such a violent reaction. Given you don’t have a secretary out here to let us know…”
“Oh, my fault, is it?” Usipov sneered. “My fault that you barged into what was very clearly a confidential session instead of just sitting and waiting your turn, as the sign clearly instructs?”
Laura held up her hands, palm outward, to appease him. “Alright, I’m sorry,” she said. “Look, we’re only here because it’s urgent. We need any information you can give us about a couple of former patients of yours.”
Usipov paused in his rant, squinting at her. “You’re expecting me to cooperate with you on an investigation?” he asked, as if unable to believe what he was hearing.
“Yes, we are,” Laura said firmly. She didn’t want to spook him, but she wasn’t able to bend, either. She needed him to come with them peacefully so that they could avoid any danger. Right now, the situation was still pretty far away from being defused. “I’m afraid that both of your patients have died. We’re here looking into an active murder investigation, and your cooperation could mean that we get the answers that their families so desperately need.”
She hoped that appealing to his better nature would work – because she didn’t have a whole lot of other ideas.