Red Rain: Lightning Strikes: Red Rain Series #2 by David Beers Page B

at here, John, is whether or not you want to continue seeing me. Do you? Do you think there’s any value in this for you?”
    John looked out the window and was quiet. Finally, after perhaps a full minute, he looked back to Vondi. “Yes, I want to keep seeing you. I don’t think you’re helping me any, Dr. Vondi, nor my mother, because you’re lying to yourself. Which is fine. Necessary, maybe. I want to keep seeing you because I don’t think you’ll stop thinking about me one way or another, and I don’t want you … investigating anymore, like you did a year ago.”

    * * *
    “ H e told me that I won’t be able to stop thinking about him, and that he wants to make sure he can monitor that.”
    Vondi looked at Lori from his chair. This was the first time he had ever revealed any of the conversations he held with John. Hell, the first time he revealed a single therapy conversation to anyone.
    “What did he mean by monitor?” Lori said.
    “He meant keep tabs on me. He meant make sure that I don’t dig too much into his life.”
    “Why would you do that?” Lori said.
    “Because … because there’s something to him that I can’t uncover. I don’t know what it is; I don’t think he’s Clara, like you do, but he’s different than any other person I’ve met, Lori, and I want to know what makes him tick.”
    Lori nodded slowly. “I see.”
    “I almost stopped seeing him, that’s how the conversation came up. I told him that I wasn’t sure I could help him anymore, and I don’t think I can.”
    “I didn’t think you saw him to help him, I thought you were seeing him to help me understand he isn’t Clara,” Lori said.
    “I was. In the beginning. But I can’t do that either. I can’t understand him, Lori. Do you? Do you know your son? I’m not asking whether you think he’s a killer; I don’t want to go down that path right now, but I’m asking if you actually feel like you know him.”
    Lori shook her head. “No, I don’t. I’ve never known him or understood him. It’s not just that he keeps his own counsel, it’s like he knows that if he were to open up, everyone would see what’s inside him. Everyone would see—and I know you don’t want to talk about it—that he’s not normal, that the world would call him a monster or something.”
    Vondi nodded, waiting a few seconds in silence before speaking. “Part of what he says is true. I don’t think I can just let it go. My mind wants to understand what it doesn’t, and it wants to get to the bottom of whatever is going on with your son.”
    “Then stop seeing him,” Lori said. “If it’s bothering you so much, stop. You haven’t changed my beliefs about what he is. All his therapy has done is confuse you. I’m not confused. In fact, I don’t worry about it much anymore.”
    “And what about him wanting to see me?”
    “I can stop that,” Lori said.
    “What do you think is best?” Vondi asked.
    “I think that it’s probably a good idea we stop his therapy. I’m not sure what you’re wanting to get out of it. I like you, Dr. Vondi, and you have helped me, but I’ve told you for years that John is live fire and right now you’re playing with it. You should let it go, like I have.”

    * * *
    L ori sat in her car , hands in her lap, keys in her hand. The car was in Dr. Vondi’s parking deck, or rather his office’s parking deck. She walked down here ten minutes ago and hadn’t moved since.
    Dr. Vondi just went from harmless to dangerous.
    In a single conversation.
    The whole point of him seeing John was to convince Lori that she was wrong, and now, whether he knew it or not, he was coming around to see John as she did. He would see Clara reborn.
    Had Lori done this?
    She knew the answer was yes. She should have never let John start seeing Vondi. She knew the truth, but she wasn’t going to get her son hurt, no matter what. Vondi, though? When he finally came to the only possible conclusion, what would he do?
    And John