Thumbprint

Chapter 9: Sanity

"Hey, Pete. If you want an appointment, you know we're always open." a grinning receptionist said from her seat to the detective, beckoning him over to stand by the computer screen in front of her.

Hunt had managed to get a Skype link set up between the office and the station when Jinet had called the receptionist a few minutes earlier. There was little reception in the Institute and he'd wanted to go over to the office to speak to Dr. Weslaw before it closed.

"Hello, Sindy." Hunt replied cheerlessly, coming to stand behind her to stare at the screen that was filled with Cooper's somewhat green face.  

"You know each other?" Cooper asked in surprise. The receptionist was about half Hunt's age and didn't look like she'd have a record.

"Everyone knows the cops here, well enough to know that you're new and there's some hotshot from the federal division, I'm guessing that's you." the blonde haired woman said.

"I'm not here for an appointment, Sindy. I haven't shot anyone in a year." Hunt told her, ignoring the last statement.

Sindy sighed. "Well, I suppose you're here on business than."

"I'd still be on business if I shot someone; apparently that's mandatory now."

"Yes, we're looking for Dr. Weslaw." Cooper told her, glaring at Hunt, who was now in the back of the screen.

"Did he get caught drinking again?"

"No."

"His wife call about that gun? I told her it's legal to threaten her if I don't want her on the property but she won't listen."

"No." Cooper said, more slowly this time.

"How about the medicine he keeps giving that short kid with the glasses?"

"He's in jail." Hunt said.

"Oh, he seemed like such a nice boy." Sindy sighed.

"That's why he's serving the minimal sentence."

There was a pause. Sindy scratched her head with long, manicured red nails and frowned. Then, as if a light bulb was about to appear over her head, she straightened up quickly and grinned.

"Is this about the gentleman who came in here a few weeks ago?" she asked triumphantly.

"Who?"

Sindy shrugged. "Some tourist, creepy guy."

"What makes him creepy?" Cooper asked.

"I know every person on this island, most of us do, and none of them would wear a suit like that and come to visit a psychology and psychiatry office like ours without something to hide." she said. "I mean, we're next to the Institute, so most creepy guys are stalkers or creeps, which is why I call them 'creepy' in the first place."

"Thank you for the insight." Hunt said dryly.

"This could be important, what if he had something to do with the case we're working on?" Cooper shrugged. He would have interrupted had it not come out about six seconds later; the line was more than a bit slow and his voice was crackling like there was a fireplace nearby.

Hunt glared at the screen in front of him. Sindy's hair was blocking most of the screen so he wasn't sure if Cooper could see him, but he figured that the agent was smart enough to recognize a glare from silence when he had to.

"Didn't get his name, just said he needed to see Dr. Weslaw. I told him he was out, which he wasn't, but that's what I'm supposed to tell people during his nap. Besides, I thought he was one of them photographers who got caught outside during the rain." Sindy said, oblivious to the glare coming through her hair and beaming into Cooper.