Tell Me No Lies

“Oh, no, Janey, what—?”

“She’s all right. Brad saw her before her own doctor came in. He said she’s got bruises and she’s shaken, but it doesn’t look like there’s any serious damage.” Janey drew in a breath. “Her doctor told Brad to tell us to wait out here and she’d find us after she examined Tessa.” Thank God Janey’s husband was a doctor.

His body went limp. Closing his eyes, he forced himself to calm down. Dan could do this now. He could do anything so long as she was all right. “What happened?”

Janey looked over his shoulder.

Dan tracked her gaze and saw a firefighter coming toward him.

“Hey, Dan,” Jake, their neighbour, said. “I was the first responder. Tessa’s rattled and bruised, but basically fine.”

“You’re sure?”

“Her doctor’s examining her, but, yeah, I think she’s okay. Except…”

“Except what?”

“She’s really shaken. We had to pry her hands off the steering wheel. They’re black and blue from holding it so tight.”

“Is that uncommon in a car accident?”

“It happens. But she also kept saying she was sorry.”

“Poor Tessa.” She hated to drive and this would make it worse. “Was she at fault?”

“Nope. A red Mustang T-boned her when he ran a light. Luckily on the passenger side, which was empty.”

His stomach roiled. If one of the girls had been with her…

“The driver of the Mustang is okay, too. He admitted the accident was his fault.”

“It’s just like Tessa to believe she could have driven more defensively so this didn’t have to happen,” Janey said.

“She’s a sweetheart.” Jake smiled. “My kids love her. Anyway, count your blessings it wasn’t any worse.”

When Jake left, Dan turned to Janey. “I think it’s more than what you said.”

“What do you mean?”

“Tessa hates to drive. She didn’t even have her license when I met her, which is odd for someone her age.”

Her sister said nothing.

“Look, Janey, you know that accident when she was nineteen made her gun-shy. I had to coax her into learning to drive after we were married.”

Janey sank into a chair. “That would make anybody gun-shy, wouldn’t it?”

Dan dropped into an adjacent seat. “I guess.” He watched Janey fidget with her wedding ring, and his gut instinct—the one that made him a successful lawyer—kicked in. “Is there something I should know?”

“No, nothing.”

He grasped Janey’s hand. It was cold and clammy. “Honey, I’m crazy about your sister. If there’s any way I can help her, please tell me.”

“What do you want to know?”

“What was she like when she had the accident? I know so little about how you two grew up. I wish I had more information, but it upsets Tessa to talk about it.”

“You know the important details.”

Some of them, he thought. They never knew their father. Their mother drank and took off with some guy when they were little. Child protective let them live with their grandmother.

“Tessa said she worked in a diner after high school. I always wondered why she didn’t go to college. She did great at Buffalo University when she got her librarian’s degree.”

“Sometimes people aren’t ready for college right away.”

“That’s what she said.” But he always thought she was hedging. Just like Janey was doing right now.

“You’ve been so good for her, Dan. That’s all that counts.”

“Dan, is that you?”

He glanced up to see that their doctor, Lisa Benton, had come out of E.R. “How is she, Lisa?”

“Physically, she’s fine. Emotionally, she’s shaken.”

“Pretty common after an accident, right?” This from Janey.

“Yes, often it is.” Lisa looped her stethoscope around her neck and looked down at a chart. “But Tessa’s response is a bit exaggerated. She’s quiet and withdrawn. She’ll answer my questions, but there’s some kind of, I don’t know, fear in her behavior.”

“She hates driving,” Dan said.

“Maybe that’s all it is.”

“Should we do anything?” Janey asked.

“Not now. Take her home, keep her in bed the rest of the day, and call me tomorrow. If she’s still this upset, we’ll think about what to do.”

“All right.”

“I can stay with her,” Janey said after the doctor left.

Dan looked askance. “I’m not going back to work after this.”

“Okay. Could I have some time alone with her?”

An odd request. “Why?”

Janey’s lower lip trembled. “I was scared that something bad was going to happen to her, Dan.”