Steve Patricks fell back against his chair as the last applicant left the office. Running his hands through his hair, he stared down, aghast, at the resume and sighed. He picked it up and dumped the papers into the trash bin, shaking his head.

“That’s it. No more. I’m done.” He put his head in his hands and sighed. If only Nancy hadn’t…well, there’s no sense dwelling on that. Accidents happen all the time, and sometimes good people just get hurt.

Or die.

“Just going to have to make it without a secretary for a while,” he murmured aloud. “Let the other shrinks pay the loonies, I’ll let the loonies pay me.”

He walked to the cabinet on the wall, opened it and took out the bottle inside. He sat back down a moment later with a tumbler, half full of bourbon, three cubes of ice. He raised it for a drink when a knock sounded on his door, half-ajar,it swung fully open, to admit a slim young blond woman with a white smile.

“Dr. Patricks? I hear you have a job opening for a secretary? My name is Heather Kendall.”