Read Online Don't Go by Lisa Scottoline - Free Book Online Page A

This is the great divide.” Susie patted the new wall. “I call it West Berlin, but the new people are too young to know what I’m talking about.”
    “Where’s my office? Where are any of the doctors’ offices?”
    “There’s only one office now, and you share it. We boxed up your things carefully, don’t worry, and you’ll have your own file cabinet.”
    Mike shrugged it off. “I guess we don’t really need our offices, anyway.”
    “That’s what Jim said, and did you see the child at the reception desk? Tanika moved to Cleveland, and Jim had to let Marilyn and Lorene go. Welcome to the recession.”
    “That’s too bad.” Mike’s partners had written about the diminishing caseload, with patients putting off elective surgeries because of the economy. He’d still gotten his base share though he hadn’t known it came at the expense of the staff. “Where’s Jim?”
    “Follow me.” Susie bustled ahead, and Mike fell into step beside her.
    “How’s Tony and Dave?”
    “Good. Tony’s in surgery, and Dave’s in with a patient.” Susie pressed through the wood door, and Mike slipped through behind her, surprised. The hallway emptied into a bustling space painted the same orange as the entrance hall and blanketed with team photographs. Susie rolled her eyes. “Smells like team spirit.”
    “We have new staff here, too?” Mike asked, as nurses hurried in and out of examining rooms. One rolled past a new portable x-ray machine, which had to cost a fortune.
    “Dr. Lyon brought a lot of his people.” Susie walked ahead. “Let’s find Jumbo.”
    Suddenly the door to an examining room opened, and Jim stepped out, file in hand. He was a big blond bear of a man, in his late thirties, though his hair was thinning. His back was to Mike, and he was talking to his patients, a mom and a young son.
    “Now stay off that foot, even though it’s in the cast, you got me? Go Aces!” Jim shut the door, turned around, and opened his arms when he spotted Mike. “Oh, buddy, you’re home. I’m so sorry about Chloe.”
    “Thanks.” Mike hugged him back, trying not to choke up. They’d been in practice together for almost ten years, during which he and Chloe had become good friends with Jim and his wife, Laura.
    “Laura’s been on the phone with Danielle. We can’t believe that Chloe’s gone. I got a second, want to talk?”
    “Sure, thanks.” Mike felt his throat tighten. “If you’re busy, I get it.”
    “No this is important, I want to see you. I got one case, then I get a break.” Jim opened the door of an empty examining room and motioned him inside. “Here. Be right back.”
    Susie squeezed his arm. “Mike, I gotta get back to work. See you tomorrow. I’ll say a prayer for you and the baby.”
    “Thanks.” Mike went in, shut the door behind him, and sat down across from the examining table. Posters of young runners and soccer players lined the wall, and opposite him were glossy brochures titled Cleat Selection, Running Shoes and You, and Orthotics Aren’t Those Things on Your Teeth. He tried to wrap his mind around the changes here. They didn’t need his permission under their partnership agreement to rearrange the offices, and Jim knew how to pinch a construction penny, coming from a working-class upbringing like Mike. Still he wondered what Tony and Dave thought of the new sports-medicine practice, since they’d ended up on the outs.
    Jim burst into the room. “Sorry about that, Mike. The kid’s in X-ray so I’m good for a few minutes.”
    “No worries.” Mike sat up, as Jim rolled over a stool, sat down, and looked at him with concern.
    “So, I’m still in shock, man. How the hell are you doing?”
    “Not so great.”
    “I believe it.” Jim shook his head, stricken. “She’s gone, just like that. I don’t how you deal, I don’t know how I would. It must feel like the rug got taken out from under you.”
    “And the baby, too.”
    “Right.” Jim’s eyes flared. They were