Текст книги "Sleep No More "

Автор книги: Iris Johansen

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Текущая страница: 10 (всего у книги 21 страниц)

*   *   *

“DROGAN, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?” Pierce’s voice was shaking with anger as Drogan finally picked up. “I just had a call from the local police asking questions about Jessie Newell. I told you that any questioning had to be done discreetly. Just find out the information, then make the kill. You fumbled everything again.”

“No, you did it. Everything would have gone off just as I planned if that Detective Quinn hadn’t interfered. You were supposed to throw him off the trail.”

“I tried.” Pierce took a deep breath. “He’s a cop. I couldn’t just kick him out of the hospital. I thought that I might have convinced him that—” Why was he making excuses to this idiot, he thought impatiently. “Did you get a lead on Beth from Newell?”

“Yes, he’s the one who helped her get away from the hospital. I took Newell’s phone and talked to her on his cell.”

Yes. Pierce’s hand tightened on the phone. “So you know where she is?”

“No, she hung up on me before I could trace the call.”

“You bungled that, too?”

“I’m getting very tired of your insults, Pierce. Be careful.”

Pierce struggled to curb his tongue as well as his rage. Drogan was definitely unbalanced and unpredictable. Besides, the man was his only path to Beth at the moment. “You can hardly claim any great progress when you had a chance to trace her and lost her.”

“I didn’t lose her.”

“What?”

“I’m going after her right now. You should be grateful I didn’t kill Newell. He’s going to lead me right to her. After I hung up from talking to Beth Avery, I headed for the hospital where they’d taken Newell. I knew that if I hadn’t damaged him too much, he’d be on his way to her as soon as he could. He wouldn’t tell me anything even though I hurt him bad. If she meant that much to him, he wouldn’t stay in that hospital when he knew I’d be after her. So I staked out the hospital parking lot and waited.”

“And?”

“Newell was picked up by Quinn and whisked away from the hospital.”

“Quinn, again.”

“And the woman who was with him at Newell’s apartment. Find out who she is.”

“I will.” Quinn was displaying an odd intensity about Beth’s case that was surely out of all proportion. He was reluctant to have to tell Nelda how badly the situation had deteriorated, but he might need her to do some discreet investigation into Detective Joe Quinn. “You think that they’re going to Beth Avery now?”

“I’d bet on it. And I’m right behind them on the freeway. Quinn’s taillights are only four car-lengths ahead.” Drogan hung up.

“Drogan is following Jessie Newell. He thinks he may be on his way to Beth,” Pierce said to Stella as he pressed the disconnect. “But Joe Quinn is with Newell. It could be bad if there’s police interference.”

“Maybe.” She leaned on the corner of his desk. “But when I talked to the hospital inquiring about Newell’s condition, I found out that it was the emergency room who notified the local police.” She smiled. “Not Quinn, even though he was at the apartment. He seems to want to work alone. Now why would he want to do that? I think that we should find out.”

His gaze narrowed on her face. “You don’t like him.”

“He didn’t like me. He’s either gay or a very cold fish.”

Pierce chuckled. “He didn’t respond, and your nose is out of joint. You want to punish him. Poor Stella.”

“Shut up. I didn’t really try. I only brushed up against him.” She shrugged. “But that’s usually enough. He’s not normal.”

“I agree. But we’ve got to find out just what he is.” He grimaced. “And I have to call Nelda to help me do that. It won’t be pleasant.”

“But what comes afterward will be pleasant.” She opened the top three buttons of her uniform, took his hand, and rubbed it against her breasts. “I like pretending to be Nelda for you. I like the pain and the fierceness. I even like kneeling naked for you because I know it’s just a game and that I’m really the one in control. But if I was really Nelda, I’d be the one hurting you.”

“But you’re not Nelda.” His hand closed on the fullness of her breast, and he squeezed with all his strength. “You’re just a whore I use whenever it amuses me.” He watched her expression for pain or weakness.

She only smiled and leaned forward and ran her tongue over his lips. “Or do I use you? Who is really the whore, Harry?” She stood up and buttoned her uniform. “Ask Nelda, why don’t you?” She moved toward the door. “I’ll be waiting for you in the apartment. I’ll give you a particularly good time if you find a way to get her to take down that snooty Quinn.”

He watched the door close behind her. He was as hard as a rock just the way she’d wanted him to be. Why could she do this to him? He’d taken her because he’d wanted a woman who was the perfect sex toy, but her sexual dominance over him seemed to be getting stronger every day. Even at this moment, when the situation was getting tense, she’d made him forget everything but her for that brief moment.

Forget her. Take what he wanted as he usually did and go about his business. But those taunts about Nelda’s dominance had been particularly annoying when he knew that he was going to have to tell Nelda that he’d lied to her about Beth’s being found and brought back to the hospital.

Dammit, just get it over with.

He reached for his phone and punched in Nelda Avery’s number.

*   *   *

STUPID BASTARD.

Nelda hung up the phone and leaned back in her chair.

Keep calm. Smother the anger. She’d managed to maintain an icy control with Pierce, but it had been difficult. She’d let him make excuses and had assured him that she’d find about that troublesome police detective.

She hadn’t let him know the fury and disgust that was tearing through her. Nor that he had forced her to make a decision she hadn’t wanted to make.

“What’s wrong?” George had come into her bedroom from his own suite. “Who’s calling at this hour? It’s almost midnight.”

“Pierce.” She pushed back from her Louis XV desk. “He’s causing trouble. Nothing to bother you with. I’ll take care of it.”

“You don’t want to talk about it?” He shrugged. “I’m just as happy that you don’t. I’d rather stay out of your dealings with Pierce.”

“That’s the problem. I believe I’m going to have to stop dealing through Pierce and handle the matter myself.” She went to the closet and pulled out a Louis Vuitton suitcase. “I’m going out to the coast. I shouldn’t be more than a few days.”

He went still. “You’re going to the hospital?”

“Of course not. That would attract far too much attention. I just need to be nearby to be more effective.”

“My dear, you’re always effective.”

She glanced at him to see if he was being sarcastic, but he only looked very weary. “In this case, I have to be.” She added softly, “For Rick’s sake. There mustn’t be any publicity that might take away the focus on what a fine president he’ll be.” She opened the case, which she always efficiently kept packed except for a few items she had to throw in at the last minute. “I’ll keep you informed of developments. Tell everyone I went to a spa to relax after the whirl of town meetings in the past few days.”

“I’ll tell them, but they may not believe me. Anyone who knows you would know that you thrive on pressure.” He paused. “What am I going to tell Rick?”

“Nothing more than you tell the others. I’m going to call Lisa on the way to the airport and tell her to get her butt on a plane out of Miami and come here and make some appearances with Rick. She’ll distract him enough to keep him from noticing that I’m not around.”

“Do you think she’ll come? She said when she left that she needed a long break.”

“She’ll come. She wants to be first lady, and its time she paid her dues.” She slammed her suitcase shut. “You’ve always felt sorry for her. She knew what the situation with Rick was before she married him. She was ambitious. She said she could work it out.”

“She didn’t know she was going to fall in love with him, Nelda,” he said quietly.

“That’s her problem. If she loves him, she should fall into line and do what’s necessary to give him what he wants.” She called for the car to be brought around. “Damn, I forgot my night cream.” She headed for the bathroom but paused at the door to glance at him over her shoulder. “I may need Spoder to come out to Santa Barbara if I find Pierce too difficult. It should be okay. Rick will behave himself if Lisa is with him.” She shrugged. “If she stays at his side and watches him close enough. He does care about her.”

“Which is very convenient considering they’re married,” he said dryly. “But you counted on that, too, didn’t you?”

“I knew it was a distinct possibility. Everyone loves Rick once they get to know him.” She went into the bathroom and closed the door. She quickly went to the jewelry armoire, unlocked the compartment above the drawers, and drew out a .22 revolver. She stared at it for a moment. She doubted if it would be necessary to use it, but she always believed in being prepared. So stop hesitating and get on the move. She slipped the gun into her tote. Then she relocked the compartment and shut the armoire.

She opened the bathroom door and smiled brilliantly at George. “I’m all ready. Don’t worry. Everything is going to be fine. It’s not as if I’m not aware of what’s going on. I’ve made sure that what Pierce knows, I know.” She moved toward the door. “I should have taken care of the problem myself from the beginning. But it’s not too late to save the situation.”

“If anyone can do it, you can.”

That weariness in his tone again, she noticed; she’d have to address that attitude when she returned. It could hide signs of an underlying festering that would cause problems. “I’ll call you when I reach California.”

“Thanks.” He turned back to the door leading to his suite. “Have a good flight.”

She hesitated in the hall after she’d closed the door behind her. Should she go back to him and try to smooth away that disturbance?

No, it would be fine until she came back. She couldn’t be everything to everyone. Rick was the important one at present. All the progress she’d attained from years of work could go down the drain if she didn’t take care of this problem with Beth.

As she started down the stairs, her hand slipped into her tote and closed on the revolver. It felt cool and hard and sleek beneath her touch. She had studied a number of guns before choosing this one because it had reminded her of her own personality. She could be just as dangerous and explosive as the weapon in her palm if she chose. She was a great problem solver, and so was a revolver.

Not that she was contemplating solving the problem of Beth with this weapon.

But one must have insurance, mustn’t one?

CHAPTER

10

Seventeen Mile Drive

“VERY IMPRESSIVE,” EVE MURMURED AS she got out of the car and looked up at the house towering above the crashing surf.

The house was English Tudor in design and resembled the castles Eve had seen in England. It would definitely have been more at home in the English countryside than on this lush California coast. “What did you say you did for the owner?”

“I didn’t.” Newell got out of the car. “I was Mr. Dendridge’s bodyguard and personal trainer. He was a great guy. We became good friends before we parted company.”

“I don’t remember any mention of him in your personnel record.”

“My uncle furnished me with that dossier and set up background records. If I’d given the hospital an authentic history, it would have led back to him.” He was gazing up at the house. “God, I hope she’s in there.”

“And I hope she’s still alive,” Eve said grimly. “Let’s find out. You have the security code, right?”

“Yes.” He was moving toward the front door. “I gave it to Beth. It was the only way she could get into the—” He stopped and his gaze shifted to Eve’s face. “I didn’t tell you I had the code. Was that a guess?”

She ignored the question as she reached the door. “You’d better go in first. She must have heard the car drive up, but you’re the only one she’d recognize. We don’t want to scare her.” She glanced back at the car. Joe had gotten out of the car but was standing there, his head lifted as he gazed around the courtyard. “Joe?”

“Go ahead. If the alarm is still set, it’s probably safe enough inside. These mansions on the strip have state-of-the-art security. You have your gun?”

She nodded. “In my bag. Why aren’t you coming?”

“I want to take a look around the property. Even if Drogan isn’t inside, it doesn’t mean he’s not stalking out here. Call me if there’s a problem.” He started toward the steps that led to the beach. “It shouldn’t take me more than ten or fifteen minutes.”

Newell watched him until he disappeared. “Smart,” he said “And careful.”

“Always.” Eve could feel the tension grip her as she watched Newell try the door, then punch in the security code. In a few minutes, she’d be face-to-face with Beth Avery. Relax. She was just a stranger. It shouldn’t matter this much.

It did matter.

“It was locked. That’s a good sign.” Newell swung open the door and went into the foyer. “Beth!”

No answer.

Newell muttered a curse. “She might have gone on the run if she knew that Drogan was after her. He could have called and scared her. Hell, that would be the best scenario. Beth! It’s okay. It’s Billy.”

“It’s not safe to turn on the lights if there’s a security guard monitoring these houses on the beach.” Eve reached in her purse and pulled out her small flashlight. She moved forward across the foyer toward the staircase. “Keep calling her name.” She shined her beam around the cherry stairs and mullioned windows on the landing. “I’m going upstairs.”

“No, you aren’t. Stay right where you are.” The woman who had spoken was coming down the hall toward them. “Billy, that means you, too.”

She had a gun.

The beam of Eve’s flashlight fell on the Luger the woman was holding before her with both hands.

Eve froze.

“Beth?” Newell took a step toward her. “Don’t be scared. It’s me.”

“Don’t move. I don’t want to hurt you, Billy. But I will if I have to do it to save myself. You told me that over and over, didn’t you? Save yourself.”

“Your hands are shaking on that gun. You’re just as likely to shoot yourself.”

“No, I won’t. When I first saw that gun case in the library, I knew that I might have to break into it if it became necessary. I found some books in the library on gun usage and studied them.” Her voice was quivering. “Remember? You told me I had to learn, to teach myself. It didn’t take much studying to learn how to take off a safety and pull the trigger.” She took another step closer. “But I don’t want to pull the trigger, Billy. I don’t want to hurt you. Tell me why you’re here.”

“For God’s sake, I want to help you. Why else would I be here?”

“I don’t know. I do know you told me not to trust you either. You said don’t trust anyone. Not even me.” She looked at Eve. “Who is she?”

“Eve Duncan. She wants to help you. I want to help you, Beth.”

“He said you were dead.”

“Who?”

“It was that man who had the hypodermic needle. He called me, using your phone, and said he was the police and that you were dead, stabbed to death. But I recognized his voice. It was the man who tried to kill me in the hospital room. He wasn’t the police. I hung up.”

“Then why in God’s name didn’t you run like hell?” Newell asked roughly. “There are ways that you could be tracked once you answered that call. You shouldn’t have taken the chance of staying here.”

“I was hoping that he’d lied, that you were still alive. I knew if he hadn’t killed you, that you might come to help me. So I broke into the gun case and waited.”

“And then pulled the gun on me.”

“I’m afraid, Billy. I have to take care of myself. What if that murderer made you come here? How did he get your phone?”

“His name is Drogan. And he took it.”

“How?”

Eve had enough. They had to break through this wall of fear and suspicion. “Show her, Newell.” She took his arm and pulled him to stand before Beth. She jerked open his shirt and pulled it aside to reveal the bandages. “That’s how Drogan managed to take his phone. Do you want me to take off the bandages and let you see the wounds? They’re not pretty. Drogan wanted to inflict the maximum amount of pain. But Newell didn’t tell him anything about you. Drogan located you through the cell phone.”

“Billy?” Beth whispered. Her gaze was focused on the bandages, then lifted to the jagged stitches on his throat, where he’d torn off the bandages earlier. She flinched and reached out to touch the wound on the side of his neck. “He … hurt you.”

“Yeah. Now will you put down the gun?”

“I’ll take it.” Eve reached out and her hand closed on the barrel of the gun. “Now let’s talk reasonably and—”

Her head snapped back as Beth’s fist connected with her jaw.

Pain.

Darkness.

“Beth!” Newell grabbed Beth and pulled her back. “What the hell are you doing?”

“Tell her to keep her hands off me.” Beth pulled away from him, her hand tight on the gun, her voice fierce as she glared at Eve. “I don’t know her. I guess I can still trust you, but I don’t trust her. There’s no way I want her here. Why did you bring her? Who the hell is she?”

“I told you,” Newell said. “Eve Duncan. She’s not going to hurt—”

“I’m your sister,” Eve said baldly. “And I don’t want to be here any more than you want me. But I have no choice. Therefore, you have no choice.” She rubbed her jaw. “And if you ever do that again, I’ll deck you. You won’t catch me off guard again.”

“Sister,” Beth repeated blankly. “I don’t have a sister.”

“How do you know? I didn’t. It appears that our relationship wasn’t important to anyone in either of our lives.” She turned away. “Until now. Now take us someplace where it’s safe to turn on a light without its being seen from outside. I’m sure you must have checked that out since you’ve been here. Which room?”

She didn’t answer for a moment. “The library. Heavy velvet drapes on all the windows. As long as the light wasn’t too strong, it didn’t show around the edge. I went outside just to be sure and checked it when I was watching TV and reading.” She pushed past them and led the way down the hall. “I’m not doing this because you’re telling me to do it. I just want Billy to have a chance to sit down and rest. He’s paler than I’ve ever seen him.”

“I’ll accept that my wishes aren’t of importance to you,” Eve said. “And I don’t give a damn. I just want to keep my promise and have this over.” She followed Beth as she opened a tall, mahogany door and entered a large room lined with bookshelves. “Sit down, Newell. She’s right, you’re not looking so good.” She moved toward a desk in the center of the room. “You don’t want to end up back in the hospital.”

“No, I don’t.” He dropped down in a leather easy chair. “And you might not help to spring me next time. After all, you’ve got what you want from me.”

“I’m not that callous.” Eve leaned forward and turned on the desk light. The library was suddenly flooded with soft light. “And I wouldn’t want to set you up for Pierce. I’ve taken a great dislike for him.”

“Not callous, tough.” Newell turned to Beth, who was still in the shadows outside the pool of light. “Will you put that gun down now? Eve’s not going to attack you.”

“I couldn’t be sure.” She came forward to put the revolver on the desk. “She could have been fooling you.”

“And I told you not to trust anyone.” He made a face. “It was a good idea, but I’m beginning to rue the day I said it.”

“You shouldn’t,” Beth said as she came toward him. “It’s as bad out here as you told me. Look what that monster did to you.” She gently touched the stitched wound on his cheek. “I’m sorry, Billy. Why didn’t you run away when I did?”

“It wasn’t the right time. I didn’t know enough. I was trying to learn more about the bad guys.” He shrugged. “But the bad guys found me instead. Or one bad guy, Drogan.”

“And just who is Drogan?” Beth asked.

“I couldn’t trace him. But we should know soon.” He nodded at Eve. “Her significant other, Joe Quinn, is a detective and he’s checking him out.”

“Joe Quinn?” She whirled toward Eve. “If he’s a detective, will they make him take me back to the hospital? Pierce knows all the police at– What are you staring at?”

“Nothing.” Eve was staring at Beth Avery. The soft lamplight surrounded her sister, and Eve couldn’t take her eyes off her. Her slender body was dressed in gray slacks and a cream blouse that she wore with simple elegance. Her dark hair resembled the curls and textures of Eve’s Bonnie, and her face …

Beautiful? Yes, a fascinating face with large dark eyes set wide in a triangular-shaped skull with beautiful bone structure. The wonderful vitality Eve had noticed in the photograph was no longer there, and she felt a sudden anger that Beth had been robbed of that lust for life. Instead, there was a … watchfulness.

And Eve noticed something else.

Beth was two years older than Eve, but she looked much younger. Her face was perfectly smooth and glowing, as if she were a child who had only just woken from a nap. No wrinkles or lines that were the usual signs of emotional or physical stress.

Sleeping Beauty.

The words popped into Eve’s mind out of nowhere. The fairy tale of the princess who had pricked her finger and fallen asleep while the world went on without her. A garden of thorns had grown up around her castle to make sure that no one got close enough to wake her, to save her.

“You’re not telling me the truth,” Beth said curtly. “I know when people lie to me. God knows, those doctors and nurses did that enough. I can tell the difference. I’m not stupid because they had me on all those drugs.”

“I don’t think you’re stupid. You want the truth? I was thinking you look very young, like Sleeping Beauty coming out from behind the wall of thorns.”

“That’s silly.” She frowned. “I don’t belong in any fairy tale. I’m just trying to understand and survive.”

Newell gave a low whistle. “I believe you’ve hit it, Eve.” He touched the cut on his throat. “Right down to the sharp thorns.”

“You can think what you wish,” Eve told Beth. “You asked me, and I told you. Look in the mirror sometime and think about it.” She took out her phone. “Now I’m going to call Joe and tell him that you’re safe and ask if he’s noticed anything suspicious while he was reconnoitering the grounds. If you want to be useful, you can find a first-aid kit in this place and rebandage any of Newell’s cuts that need it.”

She didn’t move. “Joe Quinn? That detective Billy mentioned? He’s here?”

“Yes, and you’re lucky that he is. His presence ups your safety quotient about 70 percent.” She saw that Beth wasn’t moving, and she was suddenly impatient. “You can trust him, dammit. You can trust me. We’re all here to help you.”

“Are you?” She looked Eve directly in the eye. “Then why are you angry with me? Is it because I hit you when you tried to take my gun? I’d do it again. You don’t care anything about me. I didn’t know you even existed. I don’t like you, and I don’t want you here.”

“I’m not angry.” But she was lying, Eve realized. There had been a smoldering resentment connected with Beth since the moment Sandra had told her about her. Resentment, pity, shock, curiosity had all been there, and now there was this deep frustration that she had to bury all those feelings and just find a way to rescue Sleeping Beauty. And, added to that barrage of emotions, an instant antagonism between them had flared at their first encounter.

To hell with it, she thought recklessly. She would be honest and direct and forget about pity. It was the only way that she could deal with Beth Avery. She had an idea that Beth could take whatever she had to take. “Maybe I am angry. I don’t need a sister, and I don’t want one with all the baggage you’re bringing into my life. But I promised our mother that I’d make sure you’re safe, and I’ll do it.”

“My mother? I don’t know anything about her. I never wanted to know. They told me she gave me up when I was a baby. She didn’t care about me then. Why should I believe she does now?” She drew a deep breath. “So you can call your Joe Quinn and get him to take you out of here. I don’t need you.” She turned to Newell. “I’ll be right back, Billy. There’s a first-aid kit in the kitchen.” She turned on her heel and strode out of the library.

“She does need you,” Newell said quietly. “The cards are stacked against her. It has to be the Averys who gave the kill order. That’s a hell of a lot of power for Beth to have to go up against. She can’t even go to the police. Just the fact that she’s been in a mental hospital all these years will make it difficult for anyone to believe her. She’d end up back in the hospital, and, in a year or two, they’d find a way to kill her.”

“I’m not going to leave her.” She shrugged. “Even if she tells me to do it. It’s not totally my fault, you know. It appears that she’s taken a dislike to me.”

He smiled. “I noticed. It’s a little strange. I actually think it’s healthy. I’ve never seen her react like that toward anyone. She’s always been sweet and docile. It could be that the drugs are totally out of her system now. Or it could be spending this period alone, she’s had time to think, and her personality is beginning to assert itself.”

“Or it could be a natural antipathy.” She reached up and gingerly touched her jaw. “For any reason you choose to call it, her personality is definitely present and accounted for.” She turned away and dialed Joe. “Everything is fine here. Drogan was in contact with Beth, but he hasn’t shown up here. Anything suspicious out there?”

“No. How is Beth Avery taking all this?”

“Not tamely. Scared, but she’s no timid rabbit.”

“Do I detect an edge?”

“Probably. But I’m trying to work through it. Are you ready to come in? I’ll unlock the front door.”

“Not yet. I’ll call you. I’m going to drive back the way we came and check to make sure we weren’t followed.”

“I didn’t see anyone tailing us on the freeway.”

“Neither did I. But Newell said Drogan was a professional who knew what he was doing. He might have been good enough so that we wouldn’t have been able to notice him. It won’t hurt to take a little time to be sure.” He hung up.

“Okay?” Newell asked, as she hung up her cell.

She nodded as she turned back to face him. “He’s going to backtrack in case we were followed. He’ll call me.”

“Smart move.” He leaned wearily back in the chair. “Thorough.”

“That’s Joe.” She gazed thoughtfully at him. “You look like you’re ready to pass out.”

“I’ve been worse.” He smiled slightly. “But if I do pass out, you’ve got to promise that you’ll take care of Beth for me. I promised Uncle Hermie that she’d come out of this okay.”

“Is that the only reason?”

“No, I like her.” He chuckled. “And I’ve no ambition to be the prince who battles through the thorns to save her.”

“Yet you already have.”

“Yeah, I guess so.” He tilted his head. “But I feel more like she’s my sister. I’d do it for a sister. Would you?”

She didn’t answer. “She said that she didn’t know anything about her mother. But your uncle told you about Sandra. You didn’t mention it to Beth?”

He shook his head. “You have no idea how little time we had for small talk.”

“Hardly small talk,” Eve said dryly.

“It was for me. Everything I did, everything I said, was aimed at getting her off the drugs, clearing her mind so that she didn’t stay in that damn fog they tried to keep blowing around her. It was all present and a little future, no past. You weren’t important.”

“I’m still not, but Sandra wouldn’t agree.” She thought of something else. “Beth calls you Billy. William is your middle name.”

“And no one at the hospital would recognize it if she mumbled something by mistake during the time we were hiding those pills in the mattress. It protected both of us when she was still heavy into the sedatives.”

“You thought of everything. She owes you a great deal, Newell. Does she realize that?”

“Of course I do.” Beth was standing in the doorway with a bowl of water and a first-aid kit in her hands. “Why shouldn’t I? I’m not on those drugs any longer. I can think, I can feel. Stop talking about me as if I was that woman at Seahaven—I’m not that person any longer.” She came forward and set the bowl of water on the table beside Newell’s chair. “I won’t be her.”

“Shh.” Newell smiled at her. “You protest too much. Of course, you’re not her. I was just telling Eve how much you’d changed.”

“You were?” Her expression cleared, and she suddenly smiled. “I thought that I was learning and changing in the past few days, but it’s hard to know when there’s no one around that you trust to ask if it’s true.” She dipped a cloth into the water. “Now be quiet, and I’ll clean up these stitches and rebandage you.”

“I could do it,” Eve offered.

“Why? Because you think I can’t?” Beth was carefully cleaning the blood from around the stitches. “I took a first-aid course when I was competing at a ski competition in Switzerland before … before they took me to the hospital.”

“And you still remember?” Eve asked.

“I didn’t. It was only a blur. But it’s all been coming back to me for the past few days. Just bits and pieces, but the memories are as sharp as if it were yesterday.” She dried the wound, then carefully rebandaged it. “This was nothing. I remember CPR lessons and laughing at—” She broke off and stepped back. “I remember laughing a lot. Then it stopped.”

“Do you remember a Dr. Hans Gelber?” Newell asked.

“No. Why?”

“He was one of your first specialists at the hospital. I was just wondering if that was about the time that you forgot the laughter.”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. There were so many doctors. It doesn’t matter. I’ll know soon. It’s all coming back now.”

“You’re wrong. I believe it may matter very much,” Eve said slowly.

“I wasn’t talking to you.” Beth glanced at her. “And you’re looking angry again.”

“I am angry. But not at you.”

I remember laughing a lot. And then it stopped.

Eve was finding those words incredibly moving. Her own life had not been filled with laughter, but her laughter had not been smothered by some doctor who had been ordered to destroy memories, and with it, a woman’s laughter. “And I think that we should hurry the process along and track down that doctor Newell mentioned.”