by Robin Janney
“What is it, Philip?” the other man asked without opening his eyes.
“Are you going to be alright?”
Everett took a deep breath, and when he let it out his eyes opened. Looking out the airplane window, he said, “I may never be alright. It’s one thing to watch a past event on video, another to witness one and still be just as powerless. She’s safe for now, and I think you’re right about Craig, but I fear Angela will never be the same. I never thought I would see today. I tried so hard to protect her from the world I live in. Our happy little girl asked me to kill someone for her.”
“You know you can’t do it,” said Philip, sparing another glance towards the back where his son lay. From the sounds, he thought it might be a Fast and Furious movie being watched. Anything so his attention wasn’t on their soft words. Jared deserved as much protection from his father’s old life as the other children did.
“I know better than you the reasons why I can’t.” Taking a deep swallow of wine, he looked back at Philip. His green eyes were glassy with unshed tears. “I’ll still make some inquiries, but in the end…I’ll have to tell Angela I can’t do it. No matter how much I want to.”
The tightness in Philip which had coiled at Angela’s request released. “Oh, thank God.”
Everett chuckled. “I don’t want that stain on her soul, Philip. It’s one thing for you and me to live with it. I have no doubt she’s stronger than we think she is, but I see no reason to test her.”
Dropping his voice lower, Philip leaned closer to the other man. “Do you have an explanation for that blast? In all our experiences together…that’s never happened.”
“Psionic energy,” Everett answered, taking another deep drink of his wine. “It’s how Angela was able to gain the upper hand against Nikki. Until she can control it, it will only draw unsavory attention.”
“That’s just wonderful,” muttered Philip. He leaned back in his seat.
“I suspect it has happened before,” the other man said softly. “We can feel things like that if we’re close enough. There was one night several years back, I was having a late dinner at the Scenic Overlook and felt a blast like that. If my math is right, it’s probably the reason why Angela doesn’t have a clear picture of…the end of her senior prom. If it was the first time, it would have been as much of a shock to her as any physical assault.”
“A fight or flight response,” he mused. “But then why didn’t it trigger during the other kidnapping?”
“I’m not sure it didn’t. I felt something, but it was cut short. Derek may have been prepared for it, or she misfired. This is just speculation, based on what I felt, what Erica said she witnessed, and studying the original crime scene photos of the accident.” Everett sighed. “Erica claims the van was in the air before it hit the SUV. Maybe Angela…was trying to kill all of them, including herself. If she thought Craig was dead…”
Philip nodded. Unsure of what else to say, he asked the impossible. “Any idea when the next attack will come?”
“No idea.” Downing the last swallow of wine, Everett stood. “It’s not like they keep me informed. Excuse me.” Walking to the front of the jet, he refreshed his wine and returned to his seat. “How much are you going to tell your wife?”
“Enough to let her know our daughter has been hurt and has had a miscarriage.” He wiped a hand over his face. “Pray it’s not enough to trigger one of her own.”
48
O nce Angela was asleep, Craig left her and Princess in the bedroom and returned downstairs. Righting his office took considerable time, but it was something he needed to do before he could allow himself to rest beside his wife. Aside from the gashes in the desk, their wedding pictures and the pencil sharper she had given him their first Christmas, nothing was broken.
Setting his laptop in its usual spot near the center front edge, he wondered if he was strong enough to check the video of his wife’s time in his office. Did he really want to know how badly he’d damaged their relationship? Looking at the fresh wedding pictures he’d placed in frames and replaced on the desk to the sides of his laptop, he decided he had no choice. Knowing how deep the wound ran would be the only way he could help heal it.
A few clicks of his mouse gave Craig the feed and time he wanted to see. It was about fifteen minutes after he’d ended their conversation. Angela walked into his empty office, looking…he didn’t even know to interpret her expression and body language…lost, confused, angry. She sat in his chair, and he could see the heartbreak even more clearly. He could tell she was looking at the photos and when she hopped up and grabbed the first one, it was with a frantic energy he hadn’t seen in years.
“Why did you leave?” she cried plunging the letter opener into the first picture. Craig flinched as he looked at the new whole picture on his desk. “You’re the one he needs! Not me! Where did you go and why can’t I find you? You’re the one who made him happy! You’re the one he loves! You’re the one he married.” He flinched at each of her blows, and not for the damage to the desk.
There was the sound of breaking glass and he looked back at the feed to see her taking the second picture out of its frame. There was no hesitation in her rage, or her blows. “I hate you! You cause him too much trouble! You’re too needy, you stupid bitch! He doesn’t like you anymore!” His hand covered his mouth in horror…what had he done? “You heard what he said! He’s going to go fuck her because you couldn’t keep your stupid mouth shut and trust him! She trusted him…”
Her hatred of herself rained down on the first picture again…but it felt like she was stabbing him in the heart. “He fished her out of the pond, and when she had a concussion, he carried her because the path was slippery, he stayed by her side when she had pneumonia and when she was in a coma…But you!” Again, there was no hesitation as she switched her focus back to the other picture. “You’re the one who woke up! You didn’t even know your own name! Or his! And then you ran like a little scaredy-cat to the farm he said was yours! And now he’s left you just like you left him! I hate you! I hate you!” She repeated the last line over and over. When her motions finally slowed, her voice softened as her hand ran over the pictures. “I just want you to come home…we’re going to have a baby…and I’m too afraid to tell you.”
The soft moment didn’t last for long, but it cut Craig as deeply as her self-hatred had. His wife had been afraid to tell him she was pregnant with their child. How had he allowed this to happen?
“What a stupid gift…” she said as her hand came down on the pencil sharpener. “The man has more money than you can count, and you buy him a cheap pencil sharpener. God, it’s a wonder he married you! Either of you!”
The gift broke against the wall. His wife pushed everything off the desk with swift motions of her body. Craig saw her look around sharply before she began rifling through the drawers. What had she been looking for? He didn’t know, just wiped his face as he watched her frantic search. It died down at last and she sat in the chair again, her hands wiping her own tears away from her face.
“Are you done?” he heard Jared ask. The teen must have been standing in the doorway. Craig wondered how much the youth had seen and heard. It was a wonder the boy was even able to talk to him after witnessing this rage he’d triggered in his sister.
His wife shrugged and stood to her feet. She grabbed the edge of the desk like she wanted to flip it. “Yeah, sure,” she said, apparently deciding she couldn’t.
Jared came into the picture then. The youth looked frightened of his sister. “Why don’t you come out to the living room or something? You can have a cup of tea and we can talk about what’s going on?”
“Oh, you want to know what’s going on?” Angela moved on her brother fast enough that Craig leaned back in his seat almost as fast as the teen in the video backpedaled. “Why? So you can run off and ask people to pray for us? Sure, go ahead. Tell them my husband is on his way to fuck another woman because he’s tired of my shit! That’ll set the tongues back home wagg
ing! Probably be Flo’s juiciest bit all year!”
And then she had stormed out of the office, Jared not far behind her. Craig stopped the playback and marked off the time stamps to save it for later.
“Well, fuck,” Craig muttered. He had no idea how to fix any of this. Angela had revealed more of herself in those few minutes than she had in almost three years of professional counseling, or even with him in their four-plus years of marriage. He had known she’d lost more than a few days worth of memories…but his wife hadn’t remembered her own name when she’d come out of the coma? Or his? No wonder she hadn’t spoken those first days awake. How much had she really remembered and how much had she picked up from the conversations around her?
Picking up the receiver to the desk phone, he dialed Kevin without regard to the difference in time zones.
Instead of the normal cheerful greeting Craig was used to, even in the middle of the night, when his friend answered his voice was hard and angry. “According to caller ID, I see you’re finally home.”
“Yeah.” Craig took a deep breath. “I got in late this afternoon.”
“And you’re calling me now…because?”
Elbow on desk, Craig rested his forehead in his palm. “I know I haven’t been returning your phone calls, but that’s no reason to be this angry at me. What’s going on, Kevin?”
There was a brief silence as he heard his friend moving. The other man’s anger had not dissipated when he replied. “While you were gone, I received several rather distraught emails from your wife. She even forwarded some of the pictures she’s been receiving.”
Craig groaned. Of all the people he’d have expected his wife to reach out to, Kevin hadn’t even been on the list. “I wanted to ask you for help again. I can’t even begin to describe how badly I’ve messed up, and I don’t even know why I did it. Can you do that if your judgment is colored by friendship?”
“I’ve been doing it for years, Craig.” There was a sigh, and some of his friend’s anger vanished. “No, I don’t know the whole truth of what happened, and yes – it pisses me off that you would allow even the slightest hint of infidelity into your marriage. It pisses off both the friend and the doctor. I can’t separate one from the other in me, because my training is part of who I am.”
From the sounds, Craig thought the other man must be going down the stairs of the house he was in.
“We can do it like before,” Kevin continued, more anger leaving his voice. “Either phone calls in the evening or webcam chat. I’m not sure how often until we get started. Until I know more of how you messed up. You’re going to have to be willing to say things straight out again. No riddles. Can you do that?”
Looking at the wedding pictures to each side of his laptop, there was no question in his mind. “Yes,” Craig told his friend. “I can do that. I have to.”
“Good. Consider me on the clock then; I won’t even charge you double for waking me up. Give me two shakes…” There was a quiet sound of a door shutting. “Craig, my first question is one I ask of all my married clients, and since I’m friends with both of you and Angela has been emailing me about the discord in your relationship, the answer needs to be clear. Do you want me sharing anything with your wife if she asks me?”
Craig considered this, weighing his pride against his love for her. He hadn’t decided how to tell her about Veronica’s most recent assault against him. Surely Angela had enough of her own trauma to deal with. Hell, he wasn’t even sure how he was going to tell the man on the other end of the phone about it. “Yes, if she asks. If she doesn’t, don’t volunteer anything. If there’s anything specific I don’t want shared, I will tell you.”
“Fair enough. Why have you decided to seek professional help?”
“Because I’m in over my head,” Craig admitted. “I don’t even know where to begin. I left because my father was injured, and even after he was home again…I don’t know if he’s ever going to walk again, Kevin. And the thought terrifies me. My wife was supposed to be safe here. I mean…crap, you don’t know.”
Kevin’s concern was evident. “Has something happened to Angela? My last email from her was a few days ago.”
“I can’t…” His breathing was just like his wife’s was prone to do when an anxiety attack was starting, and it wasn’t easing. “Angela thought I was cheating on her, so she took off…yesterday morning into our woods with her favorite horse. She was out there all Tuesday and overnight because some woman was tracking and hunting her. I don’t even know everything that happened yet, I just know the encounter was severe enough to cause my wife to miscarry our child. Her face…I almost lost Angela again.”
“Breathe, Craig.” Kevin sighed, sorrow in his calm voice. “You didn’t lose her. Whatever happened. She’s still there, right?”
“Upstairs sleeping.”
“Focus on that right now. Better, better…Now, take a deep breath.”
Craig did as he was told until the moment had passed.
“Now,” continued Kevin, trepidation in his voice. “In all her emails to me, Angela insisted she knew whoever was sending her pictures was just someone trying to mess with her, trying to get her to believe there was an affair happening in New York. What happened to change her mind about it?”
“We fought about the pictures. I…” Craig swallowed hard. “Katie kissed me, someone sent her a picture of it. I don’t know how, but my stepmother claimed she did it. Dad had been giving me a hard time about it, hell even my brother called me out about hanging with Katie and he shouldn’t have known anything about it. So, when Angela asked me about the pictures…I thought she doubted me too. I was cruel, Kevin. And I don’t know why. I love Angela, but in that moment, I was so angry. I told her I was going to cheat.”
“And did you?” His friend’s voice was soft, without accusation.
“Enough. I met Katie at a hotel. Got as far as second base and backed out.”
His friend’s disappointment was heard in his sigh. “You my friend, have a lot going on.”
“Yeah,” agreed Craig. “And it’s just the tip of the iceberg. I haven’t even gotten to what Veronica pulled in New York. Or how my wife hates herself, and I’m pretty sure it’s nothing new.”
“It’s going to take time, Craig. For both of you. We won’t be able to solve anything tonight. You sound like you should be in bed next to your wife. Let’s break for right now, it’s late on both our ends and I want to touch base with Percy. See if he’ll let me clear any of my schedule for you.”
“Yeah, it’s been a really long day. I don’t even know what time it is.” Craig sighed and looked at the time display on his laptop. “Oh my God Kevin, I’m surprised you answered.”
“I almost didn’t,” his friend admitted. “But I wasn’t sure what was going on, and it’s never good news at four a.m. At least…I don’t need to fly out and relieve you of any weapons, do I?”
Craig gave a wry chuckle. “No. I allow the ranch hands to carry weapons, and I carry when I go into the woods with Angela, but none of it’s kept in the house. Besides, I think I’ve done enough damage to my wife.”
“Good enough. Get some sleep, Craig. I’ll call you with a tentative schedule and care plan later today.”
“Thanks Kevin.”
The two disconnected.
Craig sat there for another moment. His mind was racing with things he thought he should do, things he wanted to do. Deciding to save everything else for the morning, he shut his laptop down. As he double-checked the locks on the doors and windows on the bottom level, he wondered if he would be able to get Princess away from his wife’s side for a nightly run.
But he wasn’t surprised when the dog met him at the bottom of the stairs. He disabled the security system and let her out the front door. As he waited for her, Craig breathed in the warm country air.
He was glad to be home.
49
P at Herschel sighed in contentment as she lowered her thin frame into her soft queen-sized bed. I
t had been a long day, although nothing had been accomplished with any of the patients she had seen. So many of them seemed to circle around their issues, almost dealing with them but not quite.
She thought about reading before turning the light out. She even lifted her copy of Nicholas Sparks’ latest romance off her bedside stand, but then set it right back down and pulled the chain on the bedside lamp, darkening the room. Romance novels were her one guilty indulgence. And tonight, she didn’t have the heart for it, even though she knew it would distract her from the stress of tomorrow’s appointment with Angela Moore.
Between Dr. Ryan’s medical report, and Craig Moore’s email, Pat was dreading the appointment with the unfortunate woman. At least Angela’s husband was home and she wouldn’t have to endure another session focused on his absence.
Pat shook her head and resolved not to worry about it tonight, even if she did have bad dreams tonight like usual. Morning would come soon enough.
Besides dreams were just dreams. They had no effect on reality.
She lay there in the dark staring out her small bedroom window. The stars were shining, and the distant glow of the waning moon brought her no comfort. The bare tree limbs outside her small country house rattled in a breeze. When had this tree died? She’d have to see to its removal. For the first time, Pat regretted living outside the city, so far from civilization. From people. If she were to die out here, who would notice?
Her fears followed her into her dreams.
Crazy dreams.
So much of it was just shadows and illusions. And so many of them featured her patients. She was failing them all, but how could she help them if they didn’t want to help themselves?
And then the dreams solidified, and Pat was in the dream she hated the most. Because she was terrified this one was more than a dream.
The small room was dark, the only light was moonlight coming through the barred window. She paced in front of the window, too scared to leave the only source of light. Where was he? Where was the Beast?
