When he arrived back at Hovington House, Joe found Elaine on the far edge of the bed and staring through the window in front of her. There was something wrong. It was one of those intuitions that came with the territory of being married to someone for as long as he had. The room was saturated with her discontent. Her eyes were fixed on the storm outside with a detachment that left Joe unsettled. She had been crying. He could tell by the way she gasped for each breath. Most of all, he could tell by the way she refused to look at him. Her sadness always paired with a resentment for its cause. If it wasn’t he that made her upset she would have at least acknowledged his presence. As he took a seat next to her on the bed, his hands pressed firm between his knees. He stared at her face, puffed by the red streaks caused by her tears and sighed. She squeezed her eyelids together, which caused a few more tears to spill down her cheeks.

 

“I was worried,” she stammered. She continued to stare past the window without offering a glance in her husband’s direction. Her lip trembled lightly, but went still as she continued to speak. “I was worried that you had gone off and were hurt somewhere in that horrible storm.” She paused for a moment to wipe her eyes with the back of one hand. With a heavy sniff to ease back her running nose, she dropped the hand back to her lap and finally looked at her husband.

 

“I’m tired of worrying, Joe. I’m tired of not knowing if you’re okay. I’m just tired of this life.”

 

Joe stared at the side of her face and wondered if there was anything he should say. A couple of years ago, he might have gotten angry at the implications that his career caused her pain. He was beyond that now and understood how hard it must have been to be his wife. It hurt him to see her like that. She didn’t have too many crying spells, but when she did, it broke his heart. With a thick, dry swallow, he finally prepared to speak. His hands trembled as they clasped together in his lap. “Laney, what are you saying?”

 

She shook her head slowly and looked at him with a full recovery of her composure.

 

“I don’t know, Joe.” Her voice had become a whisper. “I just can’t stay here anymore. I have a feeling. I don’t know what it is, but this town makes me uncomfortable. Please, Joe, come with me. Let’s go home together. There will be other cases.”

 

He knew what she was saying before the words even passed her mouth. She didn’t understand. Better yet, she couldn’t understand the drive to change a life for the better and to prove himself to his collective field. He didn’t expect her to, but a little support would have helped him a lot. He slipped one arm around her stomach and the other around her back. He held her, first at a distance, then moved closer to her until her shoulder rested against his chest. Nestling his nose to the side of her neck, he sighed. “Oh, Laney. You know I can’t do that. I’m here for a reason. If I leave, this man who hired me will continue to suffer until he dies and no one will ever know what he’s seen. This is the case that I’ve looked for since my very first patient. I can’t give up. I won’t give up. That’s why you married me.” He pulled away from her and leaned forward to look into her eyes. He smiled as her attention shifted to his stare.

 

“Is it?,” she whispered again. Her response was cold and precise. He wondered if she had intended it to sound that way. Her eyes glared at his face through a glaze of tears and took him by surprise. She had intended to hurt him. He didn’t know how to react to that. His smile disappeared and was replaced by an expression of pain. His eyes softened and his brow twitched into a light wrinkle. Elaine sobbed again and dropped her face into the cradle of her hands. Her cries were muffled by her fingers, but were still loud and unnerving. As she bawled, Joe pulled her closer to him. He closed his eyes and shook his head, unsure of what needed to be done. With his free hand, he pulled her hair behind her ear and kissed its lobe. Without moving away from her, he continued to speak with his lips still close to her ears.

 

“After his patient Elaine. I swear, I’ll quit as soon as it’s over. Just please, let me finish this one.” He was pleading. He was groveling. With every ounce of his being, he was begging his own wife for the chance to succeed. He would have never imagined it coming to that. The truth was, with or without her blessing, he was going to finish it. How he would explain that rationally was beyond him. He waited, but she did not answer. Her breasts heaved beneath his arms with long steady breaths. She was calming down, which was a small victory for Joe. When he was about to begin again, he felt her head nod.

 

Again, she wiped tears from her eyes. With a deep breath, she stood from the bed and away from her husband. She turned to face him and pressed her palm to her hip. Despite it all, he could not lose even a speck of love for her. She was his life, his oxygen, his heartbeat. If she wanted to go, he would not argue.

 

“But I’m still leaving today. I can’t take any more of this storm. I’m going back to Washington.”

 

Joe felt himself nod. He didn’t feel in control of himself anymore, but it didn’t matter anyway. It was a dead issue. He wished she would stay, but it was a selfish desire. He wanted to be with her, but he didn’t want her to be miserable or resent him for it. They would only be apart a few more weeks anyway.

 

There was a positive side to Elaine’s decision that Joe realized as he watched his wife disappear into the bathroom to clean herself up. It would be best for Grady to have his complete, undivided attention in the case. His wife’s presence would only distract him from his final patient. He would be the last and, after him, Joe would be through. He would sell the office and force himself into an early retirement.

 

                                             *                                           *                                           *

 

Elaine Richards left around noon that day. They had ordered food from the hotel’s small restaurant and ate a quiet lunch before she left. As she leaned against her car, ready to start her trip back to Washington, she smiled a beautiful smile at Joe. Grabbing his left hand, she pulled him with a sudden force into her arms and kissed him with a passion that he could not remember her ever possessing before. It was obvious that she was trying to entice him. Without releasing her embrace, she brought her lips to his ear and whispered a simple goodbye. “Come home to me, Joe. Come home soon.” Moving away from him, she stepped into her car and drove slowly away.

 

It didn’t take long before Joe lost sight of her through the rain. He stood in the raging storm with rainwater pouring over his face and watched her car until the brake lights faded to nothing. He hoped she would make it through the storm okay. The damage to the countryside was one thing, but there was no telling how bad the rest of the state was. He was sure she could handle herself. From overhead, the thunder rumbled a punctuation to his thought.

 

Back in his room, Joe made a short phone call to the prison. With Elaine gone, he was down to one option on how to spend his time. Work would consume it all. He wasn’t on hold for long when Leon Westering answered and announced himself as assistant warden.

 

“Is George not back yet?,” Joe asked.

 

“Haven’t heard from him, Dr. Richards. I figured you would have an update on his condition, but I guess I was mistaken.”

 

Joe frowned at the use of the word condition. He wondered how badly Leon hoped for the warden to be incapacitated for a long time. He imagined that his taste for control had made him hungry for more. Ignoring the thoughts, Joe pressed on.

 

“What about Grady? Has he come out yet?”

 

“No, sir. Still as lively as a pin cushion.”

 

Joe thanked him and hung up the phone, with a disappointed sigh. Falling backwards on the bed, he frowned again as he realized that he had nothing to do with the rest of his day. Scratching the top of his head, an idea began to take shape. He was close enough to drive down to his old stomping grounds a few days and catch up with his older brother. The constant reminders of his father had left him wanting to see his office again. He wondered what good it would do him to make the trip, but convinced himself that it was his best option. He would get up early the next day and take a road trip to his hometown. He doubted Grady would be available for more interview time before he returned. With a rebuttal for every argument his mind could bring up, Joe found his decision settled. By the time the sun set the following day, he would be in Bufris, Georgia.