Winner The Crystal Awards 2016, Best Multimedia Story (3d Place).
A spinster doctor rents her spare room to a brain-damaged patient who doesn't know he is a former undercover agent targeted for execution by a powerful criminal.
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We've learned a little about Agent Yves Dubreau's position as a bodyguard in the Averell household.
Now, let's find out what happened to turn Dubreau's "employer" against him - in a deadly way.
Enjoy the first half of Chapter 14 of DUBY'S DOCTOR.
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The Averell mansion glowed and glistened like a fairy tale castle in the sultry Florida evening. Inside, people bustled about with last-minute preparations. Tonight's dinner for a South American potential client was to be lavish and impressive. Kyle Averell knew how to wine and dine in a manner that guaranteed a favorable result. The pending contractual arrangements were important to Averell, and he was pulling out all the stops to make tonight's guest a very happy – and agreeable – man.
Carinne had been swathed in the best designer gown money could buy. Her hair and makeup had been styled and applied by highly paid professionals. Her father intended her to be the centerpiece of the evening, the shining prize to be dangled before a drooling client. He couldn't dangle her until he could find her, however. A search had begun.
It was Rico who found her, in her evening gown and near-priceless jewelry, visiting the rabbit hutch near the tennis courts.
Carinne cuddled and cooed at the newest baby rabbits until a shadow fell over her. The frightened bunnies fled to the far corners of their hutch, and Carinne turned to look up into Rico's frown.
"They're waiting for you," he said.
Averell and Iglesias, the client's representative, sipped cocktails in the elegant formal living room. Iglesias' bodyguard stood sentinel on one side of the room's entrance, Dubreau stood on the other side. Rico entered, directing Carinne ahead of him with his hand on her elbow. She looked beautiful, of course, and she wore her carefully perfect smile, but she felt as if she were being led to her own execution.
Her father and his guest stood from their chairs when she came into the room. Her father's smile was too sweet, letting her know she was in disfavor and had better toe the line for the remainder of the evening. He stepped toward her. "Ah, here she is! Always fashionably late."
Rico delivered her hand into her father's.
Her father, in turn, placed her hand into the outstretched palm of Iglesias.
"Definitely worth waiting for," said Iglesias, bowing and placing a kiss on her hand.
Averell set his cocktail glass on the nearest end table and extended an arm toward the door. "Now that everyone is here, let's eat dinner, so these two young people can get to the theater before the curtain goes up."
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Dubreau drove the couple from Coconut Grove to a theatre in Miami Beach, that night. When the play ended and Iglesias escorted Carinne from the theater, Dubreau waited at the curb, standing at attention beside the limousine. Stiffly formal, he opened the back door and helped Carinne into the car.
