15
Dan didn’t think
it was safe for us to go back to Chicago that night, and I wasn’t
about to argue. Almost an hour after we stepped out of that icy
tunnel, we found ourselves in a no-tell motel somewhere north of
Winnetka. Our room was right off the just-about-deserted parking
lot and was furnished with a lumpy bed, a nightstand that hadn’t
been dusted in a couple weeks, a dresser topped by a cracked
mirror, and one chair. All of it looked as if it had been new long
before I was born. The walls were pumpkin orange, a color that had
never been one of my favorites. The carpet was lime green shag, and
let’s face it, that is so yesterday. The bedspread? Gold and
black paisley. I will not even comment on the splotchy stains that
dotted it.
It was the most
beautiful place I’d ever seen.
The results were
predictable; I was so hopped up on adrenaline, I couldn’t keep
still. I stripped off Dan’s parka, tossed it aside, and paced
from one end of the room to the other. When he opened the bag of
burgers we’d picked up at a McDonald’s near the freeway, I
never bothered to consider calories or fat content. I tore into a
Big Mac, snaffled it down in a dozen ravenous bites, and started in
on the supersized fries.
“Here’s what I
don’t get.†I hadn’t bothered with ketchup, and when Dan
opened a little pouch of it, I darted forward and dipped my fries.
“What’s he trying to prove? Doctor Gerard, I mean. I mean, you
know who I mean, right? I don’t get what he’s up to. I mean,
you do know what I mean, right? You know that I was right when I
said he—â€
“You told me the
people who go into the study aren’t seen or heard from again.â€
Even though he hadn’t taken a bite, Dan set aside his fries. I
grabbed a few of his and wolfed them down. “I didn’t believe
you, Pepper.â€
“But now you do,
right? That’s a good thing. You—â€
I am not by nature
an emotional person. At least not when it comes to warm and fuzzy.
Chalk it up to the drugs; I teared up. When I swallowed down
another mouthful of fries, my throat ached.
“You believed me
when I told you something fishy was going on at the clinic,
didn’t you? You said you didn’t, but you really did. That’s
why you came to rescue me.â€
Instead of gloating
like any self-respecting knight in shining armor should have, Dan
looked away. “If I would have listened to you sooner, maybe . .
.â€
Just like he
didn’t want to say it, I didn’t want to hear it. Suddenly, I
wasn’t all that hungry anymore. I set down my container of fries
and wiped salt from my hands. The adrenaline—all that had kept me
going—vanished, and I suddenly felt as if I’d crawled through a
ceiling, fought my way out of a creepy mental hospital, and dealt
with an army of ghosts. I dropped down on the bed. “How did you
figure it out?†I asked him.
Over by the window,
Dan slipped out of his lightweight jacket and tossed it on a chair
upholstered in a shade of orange that didn’t match the walls.
“I thought about what you said, you know, about the missing
people. But I’ve got to tell you, Pepper, as much as I like you .
. . well, I just couldn’t believe it. Hilton Gerard . . .†He
shook his head and his hair flopped in his eyes. He didn’t bother
to push it away. “I’ve known Hilton for years. I’ve worked
with him. He would never—â€
“But he
has.â€
“So you said. And
while you’ve always been a little . . . well, how should I say
this? A little different . . .†Apparently satisfied that I
wasn’t going to jump up and punch him in the nose, he went on.
“But I knew you wouldn’t tell me those things about a man I
respect if you didn’t think it was important. I spent a couple
days deciding what to do. That’s why it took me so long to find
you. If only . . .†He dashed the thought away with a twitch of
his shoulders.
“There was a
fundraiser for the clinic the other night, so I knew Hilton would
be wining and dining the city’s elite. While he was gone, I went
to the clinic and looked through the files.â€
This sounded
encouraging. I sat up. “And you found out I was right,
right?â€
“I found out that
the information in his research files isn’t
complete.â€
I guess this was
supposed to be an aha moment. To me, it
was more like huh?
Dan must have
recognized this, because he explained. “No research scientist
worth his weight in salt would be such a sloppy record keeper. That
was my first clue that something was wrong. The second one came
when I realized Hilton has done no follow-up with his subjects.
It’s part of the research protocol. He should have done it. Maddy
would have if she were still in charge. She did everything by the
book.â€
Pardon me for
bristling, but since I was the one who’d just been held prisoner
and drugged by a mad scientist . . .
And I was the one
who’d helped in my own escape by clunking Burly Attendant Guy
over the head. . .
And I was sitting
there in that motel room with Dan . . .
Well, I didn’t
think it was exactly fair for him to play the dead wife
card.
I knew it wouldn’t
do any good to point this out, so I didn’t bother. Instead, I
reminded him, “Now you’ve seen the truth with your own eyes.
The files aren’t complete like they should be, and I think
that’s because there’s no one to follow up. He’s got jars of
brains, Dan!†I yelped, and I could have gone right on yelping if
I didn’t control myself. I took a deep breath.
“Once his
experiments are done, Doctor Gerard doesn’t care about those poor
people anymore. And he kept me prisoner. You saw that, too. He
wanted to experiment on my brain. And you . . .†Something told
me Dan wasn’t going to listen unless I made this as clear as
clear can be. I got up and closed in on him and looked him in the
eye. I didn’t want to play the dead wife card, either, but I
couldn’t think of any other way to make Dan see the truth.
“Doctor Gerard took advantage of you, Dan. He knows you want to
communicate with Madeline and he knows you’re the only one
brilliant enough to figure out how to do it. He figured if he
funded your research—â€
“I’d lead a
whole bunch of people right to him and then he could experiment on
them for his own purposes.†Dan’s shoulders drooped beneath the
weight of his responsibility.
“Neither of us has
the luxury of feeling sorry for ourselves. We’ve got to save
everyone else. We’re going to call the cops,
right?â€
“Sure.†Dan said
it, but he didn’t look convinced. “We will. I promise. It’s
just that—â€
“What?†I
couldn’t believe I was hearing this from him. “You saw what’s
going on there, Dan.†Just for emphasis, I pointed, though
whether it was in the direction of the Gerard Hospital for the
Insane and Mentally Feeble was anybody’s guess. “You know
it’s not right. Locked rooms and bars on the windows and weird
experiments.†The very thought made me queasy. I stuffed a few
more fries in my mouth to keep my stomach from rebelling.
“We’ve got to help those people. If you won’t go to the cops,
I will. I—â€
He grabbed my
shoulders to stop me. His voice was calm, but his grip was steady.
“I will. I promise. After I talk to Hilton.â€
“But—â€
“Nothing’s going
to happen to anyone. Not tonight. For one thing, the staff has an
escapee to worry about. They’re going to be too busy looking for
you to do anything else.â€
“But I have a list
of their names and everything. The missing people, I mean. We could
just—â€
“I know how he
thinks, Pepper. He sees you as his best chance ever. He’s not
going to worry about the others. Not for a while, anyway. And I’m
going to talk to him first thing in the morning. I’ll give him a
chance to explain himself. I owe him that.â€
“But why wait?â€
No way I could stand still. Not when I was so hyped, and so
frustrated by Dan’s convoluted logic. I spun away. “We’ve got
all the proof we need to go to the authorities. Oatmeal Lady was
down there in the tunnel, Dan. I saw her. I had breakfast with her
a couple days ago. Now . . .†I didn’t want to take the chance
of clogging up again, so I wiped the image from my mind. “She’s
a ghost. She’s dead. Believe me, she wasn’t dead the last time
I saw her. That means something happened to her at that hospital,
and that means somebody’s got to stop your buddy Hilton. Before
it happens again to someone else.â€
“You saw a ghost
in an old tunnel. You think the cops are going to believe
that?â€
“Do
you?â€
Dan let out a sigh.
“I want to. Really, Pepper, I do.â€
“Then if the cops
raid the place—â€
“They’re going
to find some very sick people who they’ll be thrilled to know are
off the streets and in locked rooms where they can’t hurt
themselves or anybody else.â€
“And when I tell
them what happened to me?â€
“Hilton is going
to paint you as just as crazy as the rest of them. I’ll bet
he’s dummied up the records to prove it. And he’s got your
brain scans. They are strange.
There’s no denying that.â€
Before I had a
chance to defend my brain scans, Dan went right on. “Believe me,
Pepper, my way is the best way. We’ll wait until morning. I’ll
talk to Hilton and then—â€
“And
then?â€
His shrug wasn’t
exactly the reassurance I needed. “If he can’t provide a good
explanation, then I’ll have no choice. I’ll go to the
cops.â€
It’s not the way I
would have handled the situation, but it made sense. Sort
of.
With all the pacing
and spinning going on, I found myself near Dan’s fries again. I
reached for a couple and chewed thoughtfully while I sorted things
out. I guess it was all the chewing that made me start asking
questions.
“How did you find
me, anyway?â€
“I knew you were
scheduled to give your talk on the Resurrectionists at the
conference and—â€
I gulped. “Oh my
gosh, I forgot all about it! Did I miss it? Is the conference over?
Ella’s going to freak.â€
A smile touched
Dan’s lips. “She might understand when you tell her you were
kidnapped.â€
“She might.†I
couldn’t help but smile back. Right before I shivered. “It’s
kind of what Doctor Gerard must be doing,†I said, thinking out
loud. “When his patients die, he studies their brains. Just like
the Resurrectionists did. They dug up bodies to dissect them.â€
Suddenly, the ketchup didn’t look all that appealing anymore. I
didn’t bother dipping the next handful of fries I ate. “Maybe
he’s not even waiting for them to die,†I said, talking with my
mouth full. “Maybe he’s—â€
Dan held up a hand
to stop my wild imaginings. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,
OK? After I talk to Hilton tomorrow, I’ll know
more.â€
I realized Dan had
dodged my original question. I chewed and stared at him. “And you
were saying . . . about how you found me . . . ?â€
He blushed like any
humble hero would have. “After I went to the clinic and saw the
files, I knew something wasn’t right. I wanted to talk to you
about it, but you weren’t at your hotel. And you didn’t answer
your phone. So I went back to the clinic and talked to a couple of
the homeless guys outside. One of them said he saw a woman who
matched your description leave the clinic a couple days earlier.
I’ve gotta tell you, I breathed a sigh of relief when I heard
that. If you were at the clinic and then left, I figured you were
all right. But then he mentioned that you left, all right, but you
left in a wheelchair. He said it looked like you were sleeping, and
that he saw Hilton Gerard put you in a van and drive
away.â€
“Which explains
how I got to Winnetka, but not how you knew to go there. Unless . .
.â€
My face must have
betrayed what I was thinking, because Dan stopped in the middle of
taking a slurp of a chocolate shake. “I didn’t know what was
going on in that hospital. That’s the God’s honest truth,
Pepper. I didn’t even know the hospital was open. I was there
once. With Maddy. I’d read so much about the place in my studies,
I talked her into taking me there just so I could look around. It
was years ago, and I swear, when we were there, I didn’t see any
signs of life.†As if it would prove it, he held up one hand, Boy
Scout-style.
“Anyway . . .â€
Dan rolled the milkshake cup between his palms. “After I talked
to that homeless guy, I spent a few hours trying to figure out what
might have happened. I thought maybe when you were at the clinic,
there was an accident of some sort, that what that guy had seen was
Hilton taking you to a hospital. I called every one in the area. I
even checked with the police. I went to your hotel again. Then I
thought about Winnetka.â€
“Pardon me for the
sarcasm, but from what I saw, Winnetka isn’t a place anybody
thinks about.â€
“That’s true.
Except . . .†He bit into a cheeseburger. I was glad he’d
gotten two for himself because I’d eaten just about all his fries
and I didn’t want to see him go hungry. “The hospital in
Winnetka is a huge part of the Gerard history. It was the only
place I could think of. I took a chance.â€
“I’m glad you
did.†I reached for the second chocolate shake. “But hey, maybe
I could have gotten myself out of there. That was pretty cool,
wasn’t it? The way I bashed that guy over the head with the
mop?â€
Dan grinned, but it
was short-lived. “It was pretty cool. You’re one tough
cookie.â€
“You don’t sound
impressed.â€
He took a bite of
burger and chewed it over thoughtfully, holding up one finger to
tell me he’d answer as soon as he was done. “Oh, I’m
impressed, all right.†He washed down his food with some of his
own chocolate milkshake. “It’s just that . . .â€
Dan set down his
burger so that he could cross the room and take my hand. When he
walked over to the bed, I naturally went right along. The mattress
was mushy and it sagged when we sat down.
As if he was getting
ready to make a confession, he drew in a breath. “I’ve sent
people to him, Pepper.†Dan’s voice was so low, I could barely
hear it.
I leaned closer.
“You’ve sent people to . . . Doctor Gerard?â€
He nodded. “As
I’ve been working on my part of the study, you know, in places
like Cleveland. When I found people I thought showed promise,
people who I thought might have the ability to get in touch with
the Other Side, I recommended they go to Chicago and see Hilton. I
was blinded by my desire to contact Maddy again. I thought if I
could find him the raw materials, Hilton could really make it work,
and when he did . . .†We were sitting close, and his sigh
rippled against my skin. It smelled like ketchup and onions. “I
was just thinking . . .â€
I could see why
he’d put down his burger. My stomach felt a little queasy, too.
“You’re not blaming yourself for what happened to those people,
are you?â€
He shook his head,
but I wasn’t convinced. I mean, how could I be? He looked
miserable, poor guy. That’s why I slipped an arm around his
shoulders.
“It’s not your
fault,†I said. “You didn’t know.â€
“I should have
asked more questions.â€
“Knowing you, I
bet you asked plenty.â€
I guess I was right
on the money, because Dan looked relieved. At least a little. He
sighed again, and when he adjusted his weight to make himself more
comfortable, his thigh pressed against mine.
Dan isn’t at all
like Quinn. They don’t look alike, they don’t act alike (well,
except for the being-around-to-save-my-life-once-in-a-while thing).
With Quinn, there’s always a hint of sensuality simmering just
below his extra-large ego. As I’d found out firsthand and much to
my delight, when that sensuality bubbled to the surface, it was a
thing of wonder.
But Dan . . . Dan is
one of those deep guys who feel things through and through but
don’t always like to let on. I mean, look at the way he still
carried a torch for Madeline. It was creepy, sure, but it was
sweet, too. It showed how much he could love, and how devoted he
could be.
As for me, well, I
had just been as close as I ever want to be to having my brain
pickled and put in a jar. Like anyone could blame me for craving a
little comfort?
“There are a lot
of questions that need to be answered,†Dan said. His voice was
huskier than I’d ever heard it.
I took that as a
good sign and leaned in close so I could whisper my response
against his lips. “And we’ll find the answers. Just not
tonight.â€
“You mean . . .
?†For a moment, I thought Dan was going to say he didn’t know
what I meant. Or worse, that he was still so into Madeline that he
wasn’t interested. But the truth dawned, and I saw his pupils
widen. A smile touched his lips. Before I knew it, his arms were
around me.
Dan looked into my
eyes. His mouth was only a hairbreadth away from mine. “I thought
once you knew about Maddy, you wouldn’t want
to—â€
“She’s got
nothing to do with this.†This was the truth. At least for right
then and there. “Besides, I’ve been held prisoner and drugged.
I’ve had weird electrode thingees attached to my head. I was
scared, Dan. I just need you to hold me.â€
He, being the knight
in shining armor that he is, didn’t refuse.
From
there...
Well, I won’t go
into details. I mean, what’s the point? Let’s just say that
before either of us had a chance to second-guess what we were doing
or why, we had that black and gold bedspread—and our
clothes—stripped off.
“You’re
sure?â€
Leave it to Dan to
ask permission even while he was trailing a series of kisses down
my throat.
“No.†I lay back
against the flat-as-a-pancake pillow and smiled up at him. “But
being sure has nothing to do with this. Are you
sure?â€
“Sure I want
you?†He kissed me hard, and when he was done, he grinned. There
was heat in that smile of his. It tickled over my skin and set me
on fire. “Right now, you’re the surest thing in my life. I’m
sure I can’t wait. Not for another minute.â€
Again, I don’t
need details, do I? At least I wouldn’t if everything happened
the way it was supposed to happen. But let’s face it, this is my
life, and lately, the way things are supposed to happen and the way
they do happen...
Well, I guess
that’s why I wasn’t exactly surprised when I realized I
wasn’t feeling all the things I should have been feeling at that
particular moment.
Instead of snap,
crackle, pop and sizzle, I felt a weird pull. Like suddenly my
spirit was made out of metal and there was a giant magnet in the
room tugging it.
That was kind of
weird. Because my body was doing exactly what it was supposed to be
doing. In fact, the last thing I remember is looking up into
Dan’s dreamy blue eyes.
Right before my
spirit was sucked straight out of me.
I found myself
sitting on the dresser. Only it wasn’t me. I mean, it couldn’t
have been.
Because I was still
in bed with Dan doing you-know-what.
Or at least somebody
was.
My mouth open in
surprise and horror, I watched as the Pepper who wasn’t Pepper
went through the motions. This did not seem possible, and just to
check, I looked at myself in the mirror.
I was me, Pepper
Martin, and my hair was red and curly and my face was a little
pale, what with the lack of light and the drugs and all. But still,
I looked like me, all right. Only I didn’t.
Maybe that’s
because I was wearing a long, shapeless black skirt, glasses, and a
lab coat.
I jumped off that
dresser in an instant and hurried over to the bed, but by that
time, it was too late. Dan and the Pepper he was in bed with were
done doing what they’d been doing and they were both looking
pretty darned happy. The Pepper in the bed winked at me over
Dan’s shoulder. She didn’t move her lips, but her voice
reverberated through my head. It sounded smug and a little too
academic for my taste.
“Thank you,
Pepper. I couldn’t have planned this any better.â€