Twisted Minds

Twisted minds

My workday took a sudden turn as I was looking at myself in the mirror, and did not recognize the person staring back at me. My black wool suit was slightly baggy, but it would do, my shoes brand new and shiny and my navy and red paisley tie folded with a perfect knot. As I walked out the door I took a last glance at myself in the mirror and put my hat on as I closed the door behind me.

My name is Jo Saunders and I’m a psychologist. I have had many strange and difficult patients over the years and I can honestly say, there is nothing I wouldn’t do to help my patients! I found myself standing at the entrance of The Big Apple Cocktail Bar in upper Manhattan. I pushed the door open. As I walked in the air was hazy with cigarette and cigar smoke and there were alot fewer  people than I expected. I looked around the room and made my way across the room to a row of booths where I would have some privacy. A tall skinny man with a pockmarked face dressed in black pants a white collar shirt and a black velvety undercoat made his way over to the table holding a round empty silver tray flat on his right hand.
“Good evening, Sir, anything to drink?” he asked
“Yeah, rye on the rocks, please” I replied and he disappeared into the hazy light.

I looked around the room, searching. More people were making their way across the room and the music was pumping away in the background. I looked up as the tall skinny man placed my drink in front of me and disappeared just as quickly as he had appeared. I noticed three men approaching me. If I didn’t know any better I would think that they were triplets. They were of medium height, thickset; wearing long heavy coats and black fedoras, pinched at the front and pulled over their eyes. I looked down at my coaster and lifted my stubby tumbler to make out the words Faygo – the cheaper alternative. I could not help thinking alternative to what?

The music stopped and the triplets sat down in the booth next to me on my right. There was a buzzing in the club and I was waiting for the music to start again. The skinny waiter appeared at the booth next to me and I could hear the triplets ordering three martinis.  I took a sip of my drink. I could feel the liquid burning my throat all the way down into my belly. It was awful, and I was convinced that the cheaper alternative would not taste any better! I leaned back in my seat to take a deep breath and decided that if I wanted to get any work done tonight that I should get off my butt and search for my target. Just as I was getting up I could hear one of the triplets saying:
“Shut up, you idiot! Do you want the whole world to hear? It is Jo, Jo Saunders the psychologist”
I sat back down.
“Don’t ask questions just get rid of him,” the other one said
“Get rid of him as in killing him?” the first triplet asked.
“Yes you idiot! Make him disappear!!” the other one replied.
With that said the music started up again, louder filling every space in the room and in my head. I knew for a fact that they were talking about me. I was the only Jo Saunders in Manhattan, well the only one in the whole of New York. That I was sure of!

I stood in front of the mirror in my apartment, not knowing how I got back there. My target found me and wanted to kill me before I could expose his affair to his wife, my patient. I took my hat off and my long blond hair fell to my shoulders, flat and sticky from being under the hat all evening. I carefully removed the thick sticky moustache and kicked the flat shiny shoes off to one side.
“Hi” I said to myself in the mirror
“I am Joanne Saunders, pleased to meet you.”
How could I have missed him? I knew where he would be and exactly what he looked like but it was dark and he was wearing a hat.  All I had to do was confirm that he was seeing another woman, tell my patient so that she could divorce him and become a rich woman.

It was 7:00am. I could not sleep at all but at least I now knew what I had to do. I phoned my patient to make an appointment with her for later that day. My bags were packed and my passport was ready. The triplets can never know that I am not a man. As long as they were looking for a man, I would be fine and I have handled situations like this before. I walked over to my dressing room to get dressed. I threw on black pants and a silver grey cashmere top. I was ready to see my patient.

I walked into my office, my patient sitting in front of my desk. All I had to do was convince her to keep her mouth shut about me and my gender. It would not be hard to do; she trusted me and knew I only wanted the best for her. I would give her the bad news, confirm her suspicions and give her a little something to help her sleep. I will send her home promising that she would call me the next day, but she wouldn’t. I will be on a plane far, far away and she too would be far, far away, never to tell anyone ever again who her psychologist is. As I have said before, there is nothing I wouldn’t do to help my patients!