Chapter 41
Ellie
Ellie sat at her desk, staring at her phone like it was a loaded weapon.
Twenty-three patients on her schedule for this week. Twenty-three people who trusted her, who needed her, who'd made progress under her care.
And she had to call every single one of them and cancel, indefinitely.
Her license, the credential she'd worked years to earn, was suspended pending investigation.
Cole sat in the chair across from her. "I can make the calls. You don't have to do this yourself."
"No. They deserve to hear it from me."
She dialed the first number. Mrs. Ryder. Seventy-two years old, recovering from hip replacement surgery.
"Mrs. Ryder, it's Ellie Hansen. I'm calling about your appointment this afternoon—"
"Oh good! I wanted to ask about adding balance exercises—"
"Cindy, I have to cancel. All future appointments. I’m so sorry." Ellie felt her throat closing. "There's been a complaint filed against my license. I can't treat patients right now."
"That's ridiculous! Ellie, you're the only physical therapist who's helped my hip in three years! Who filed this complaint?"
"Dr. Matthews—"
"I've heard about him. My neighbor showed me that article." Mrs. Ryder made a disgusted sound. "Ellie, that man is a bully. You fight this. You hear me?"
After hanging up, Ellie put her head in her hands and cried.
She made thirteen more calls that morning.
Some patients were supportive, angry on her behalf, promising to speak at the town hall.
Others were uncomfortable. "My parents saw Dr. Matthews' article. They're... concerned. Maybe I should see someone else."
And a few, the ones that hurt worst, questioned whether Derek might be right. "Licensing boards don't just suspend people for no reason, right?"
By noon, the breakdown was clear: fourteen patients supportive, six uncomfortable, three openly doubting her.
Five years of work. Destroyed in one morning.
Sophie
Sophie wiped down the espresso machine for the third time, her hands needing something to do while she listened to the lunch crowd gossip.
"Did you hear about Ellie Hansen?" Mr. Teller was saying, loud enough for half the café to hear. "Her license got suspended. That doctor from Boston filed a complaint."
"Well, Cole's shoulder seems fine now," someone else observed. "He's playing hockey again."
"But maybe that was luck? That's what the article said..."
Sophie's hands clenched around the cleaning cloth. She couldn't take it anymore.
She walked over to their table. "Ellie Hansen is one of the best physical therapists in Vermont. Dr. Matthews is a bully who systematically destroys people who threaten his ego. If you want actual facts instead of gossip, come to the town hall meeting Friday night."
Mr. Teller blinked at her, startled, then pushed his wire-rimmed glasses up his nose with one finger, a nervous habit Sophie had seen a hundred times.
“Well, I don’t know who’s right or wrong, I’m just—”
"Just think about who you're believing," Sophie continued. "A man who showed up in our town two weeks ago and started causing problems? Or a woman who's been part of this community since she was born?"
She walked back to the counter before she said something she'd regret.
Luke, sitting at the counter with Jamie, gave her a sympathetic look. "Town's divided, huh?"
"Divided is putting it mildly," Sophie said, wiping down the already-clean counter with more force than necessary.
Jamie leaned forward slightly, his expression softening. "For what it's worth, you were very impressive just now. Defending Ellie like that."
Sophie glanced at him, caught off guard. "Someone has to."
"True. But you do it with style." Jamie's smile was warm, almost teasing. "Passionate. It's a good look on you."
Sophie felt heat creep up her neck. "I'm just—it's just the right thing to do."
Jamie held her gaze for a beat longer than necessary before turning back to his coffee.
Luke looked between them, grinning. "Oh, this is interesting—"
"Shut up, Luke," Sophie and Jamie said in unison.
Jamie
Jamie had been at his laptop for sixteen straight hours after coming home from morning coffee with Luke, at Sophie’s cafe. His eyes burned. His back ached. His brain felt like soup.
But he'd finally found something.
Something big.
He'd been digging through obscure medical licensing databases, cross-referencing Derek's name with various state boards, following every digital trail he could find.
And buried in Massachusetts medical board records from eight years ago:
"Complaint filed against Derek Matthews, MD - License temporarily suspended pending investigation - Allegation: Inappropriate relationship with patient - Resolution: Investigation inconclusive, insufficient evidence to proceed with formal charges, license reinstated with formal warning."
Jamie read it three times to make sure he wasn't hallucinating from exhaustion.
Derek's medical license had been suspended eight years ago in Massachusetts.
For inappropriate relationship with a patient.
Jamie grabbed his phone and called Mac.
"Jamie? It's two AM—"
"I found something. On Derek. Something huge." Jamie explained what he'd discovered. "They couldn't prove it conclusively, but there was enough smoke that they suspended him temporarily and gave him a formal warning."
A moment passed, then Mac's voice suddenly fully awakened: "You're sure?"
"It's public record. Mac, this changes everything. Derek has been positioning himself as this ethically pure professional questioning Ellie's standards. But he has his own history of crossing lines."
"Can you pull together everything you have? We will present this Friday."
"Already on it. I'm making a presentation.
Timeline of Derek's career. The Massachusetts suspension.
The three other PTs he destroyed back in Burlington, according to Rachel.
The article about Ellie. The surveillance footage of him stalking Rachel.
" Jamie sounded punch-drunk but determined.
"We're going to bury him, Mac. Completely bury him. "