William stood and started toward the bathroom. “I will.”
She turned to look at him. “Okay, but what if you don’t?”
“I will.”
“This is different. This isn’t my broken vase, this is a person. A person we made. What if you don’t find him? What do you expect me to do?”
“I screwed up and I know that.”
She shook her head and looked back out the window.
“I have to meet with Dean Waters. I need to get ready.”
William threw his clothes into the hamper and took a shower. When he walked out to get dressed, Eve was gone. He didn’t see her on the way downstairs and left without saying goodbye.
In his office, William put down his work bag and rearranged a few things the police had misplaced. He heard his phone in his bag and pulled it out. It was a text from Liling. It was just an address followed by, “Go up.”
He searched the address on the computer. “Forsyth Chinese Christian Church.”
He dialed Liling, but the call went straight to voicemail. William walked to Dean Waters’ office and was ushered into the inner office by the dean’s assistant.
“Good morning, Dr. Wiseman.”
“Good morning.” William took a seat.
Dean Waters threw up his hands. “Well, Dr. Chang is in deep, and now, thanks to him, the school is all over the news.”
William blinked. He had been so engrossed in his own thoughts that he hadn’t even listened to the radio on the way to work. “I hadn’t heard.”
The dean looked surprised. “Homeland Security took him into custody this morning. What in the hell happened? How did you get involved with this?”
“Sterling Austin from IT showed me some inventory papers. Apparently, Dr. Chang was charging equipment to my account. When I found out, I… took it upon myself to see if the equipment was in his house.”
“Why on earth would you do that instead of coming to me?”
William took a page out of Agent Roswell’s book. “Professional courtesy?”
Dean Waters looked dubious.
“As you know, Dr. Chang and I have known each other for several years. We became friends and I felt I owed it to him to keep this quiet. Maybe if I found the equipment and he could justify why he had it, we could have put the whole incident behind us without stirring up anything.”
“Dr. Wiseman, you should have come to me.”
William nodded. “You’re right.”
Dean Waters’ chair squeaked when he leaned back. “Did you have any idea that Dr. Chang was…?” He made a swirling gesture next to his head.
“No. I just figured he was working from home and there was a good explanation,” William said. “The girls were a complete surprise.”
The dean’s assistant knocked on the door, then poked her head in. “Sir, the press conference is in twenty minutes.”
Dean Waters checked his watch and sighed. “Okay, thank you.” He waited for her to close the door. “Is there anything else that I need to know?”
“About Dr. Chang?”
“About him, about you, or anything else. The last thing I need is to be blindsided with cameras and microphones pointed at me.”
“No. That’s it.”
“Okay, good. How are you holding up?”
“Fine. I’m still processing.”
Dean Waters stood and reached for his overcoat. “We all are.”
“Is there anything else you need from me?”
Dean Waters shook his head. “No. If anything changes, I’ll let you know.” He gestured for William to exit. “Oh, and please don’t make any personal comments to the press.”
“Of course.”
William left, feeling slightly relieved. It was a great weight off his shoulders to know Dean Waters wasn’t holding him solely accountable for this disaster. He dialed the number to the Foreign Languages department as he walked across campus.
“Hello?”
“Demetri? Hey, it’s William.”
“Oh my God, man. Are you okay? Your face is all over the news.”
William turned the phone away from the wind so he could hear. “Yeah, I-”
“You know, I always thought Dr. Chang was creepy. I told you. Didn’t I tell you there was something off about that guy?”
“Yes, you said that.”
“Holy cow. The news said there were body parts in an incinerator. What the hell? I mean, think about it. You worked with this guy almost every day and he was going home and hacking up people. That just blows my mind.”
“Demetri, you aren’t really helping.”
“Sorry.”
“I’m calling to see if you can do me a big favor.”
“What is it?”
William checked to make sure he was alone. “I’m thinking about going to the hospital tonight and talking to some of those girls they got from Dr. Chang’s.”
Demetri laughed. “What? Are you serious?”
“Yes.”
“Can you do that? I mean, aren’t they under watch or protection or something?”
William shrugged. “I don’t see why they can’t receive visitors.”
“I don’t know...”
“You speak Lao, right?”
Demetri hesitated. “Yes.”
“Can you help me out this evening? Say around six?”
“Uh, yeah… okay.”
“Great. Let’s not broadcast this, okay?”
“Sure, sure.”
“Thanks. I’ll call when I’m on the way to the hospital.”
William tried to have a normal work day, which was pretty much impossible. His students and colleagues all wanted to know more about Dr. Chang. Periodically, he tried Eve’s cell phone, but she never answered.
It was three o’ clock before he could get away from the office. He programmed the address Liling sent into the GPS. He followed the directions to a somewhat deserted looking street and parked at his destination. The Forsyth Chinese Christian Church’s parking lot was vacant. William got out and tried the front door, which was locked.
He walked around the small building and found a side entrance, which had two pieces of yellow caution tape draped across it in an “X.” He turned the knob and it gave.
“Well, at least this isn’t breaking and entering,” he mumbled. He poked his head in. “Hello?”
When no one answered, William snaked through the caution tape and walked in. His footsteps across the hardwood floor broke the stifling silence. He stood at the doorway of the sanctuary and took in the worn, wooden pews and the dusty pulpit before walking down a hallway toward the vestibule. There wasn’t anything very welcoming about this place and he wondered if it was abandoned. The embellishments William was used to, like a stack of bulletins or a big floral arrangement, were missing. The beige carpet was stained and torn in places. No one seemed to be working. No secretary, no janitorial staff.
William checked the men’s room, then walked back out to the hall. He looked behind a couple of doors that appeared to be classrooms, although all the chairs were missing. A few characters remained on the boards, but there was no chalk.
He read Liling’s message again. “Go up.”
He wandered around the building, looking for stairs. He found himself in the sanctuary for the third time. There was a door behind the pulpit. It led to a storage room where he flipped on a light switch.
He looked up and saw an attic cutout in the ceiling. He reached up only to realize the string was missing. Stacks of chairs and several rolled-up posters lined the wall. William took one of the chairs from a stack and stood on it, but he was still a few inches shy, so he stacked another chair on top of the first and teetered on the two chairs until he finally could reach the door. He pried it away from the ceiling with his fingertips. The attic access dropped down and he prepared to pull down the stairs, except there were no stairs.
“Great.”
He jumped down from the chairs, shed his overcoat and blazer, and searched
the room. In a dark alcove, William found a rusty, rolling ladder. The wheels squeaked and protested as he pushed it under the attic opening. He tested the first step. The ladder rocked a little, but held his weight.
William walked up carefully and stepped into the attic. A blue light in the corner caught his attention. William blinked. It was the pod. He scrambled over and looked inside the globe. He heard the familiar hum of the inner workings of the pedestal and opened the door to the viability exchange unit, checking the gestation counter.
“Thank God.”
Thirty-two days and counting.
CHAPTER TEN
William’s phone rang while he was trying to figure out how to get the pod to the car.
“Hello?”
“Hey.” It was Demetri. “I just remembered that I have to be free by seven-thirty. Can we move up the hospital visit? It’s date night and if I cancel on my wife again, I’m going to be in the doghouse.”
“Can you go tomorrow?”
“No. PTA at my daughter’s school.”
William didn’t have time to get the pod out of the church and still make it to the hospital; plus, he hadn’t actually thought about where to take the pod. The barn was too cold and he couldn’t risk his office again. He’d have to come back to the church later.
“Okay. I’m on my way. I’ll meet you at the main entrance.”
Demetri was waiting by the information desk. William expected some resistance from the desk attendant, but she was surprisingly cooperative. She told them only one of the victims, Iris Meesang, was well enough for visitors.
“That was easy,” Demetri said as they rode the elevator to the eighth floor.
“Almost too easy,” William said.
They walked down a corridor. William tugged at the lapel of his coat and cleared his throat before knocking on a door and opening it.
Iris was sitting ramrod straight in the bed, craning her neck to see who was at the door and clutching the sheets. Seeing her frightened expression, William stopped mid-stride. It was the girl he remembered from the basement.
“Tell her who I am.”
Demetri peeked over William’s shoulder and spoke. She looked back and forth between William and Demetri. After Demetri spoke again, she nodded.
“She said it’s okay for us to come in.”
William and Iris watched one another carefully. William pointed to a chair near the bed and she nodded.
“Thank you for agreeing to talk to us,” William said.
Demetri translated. William sat, taking care not to disturb the IV and heart rate monitor.
“I was told your name is Iris.”
She nodded.
“I… knew the man who did this to you. If you don’t mind”
She spoke.
Demetri leaned against the window sill. “She seems to understand a little English at least. She wants to know how you know him.”
“We worked together,” William said, “at a school.”
“Was he your friend?” Demetri translated.
“I thought he was.”
She nodded and looked down at her hands. Her black hair was matted and William could see scratches on her emaciated arms.
“If you don’t mind, may I ask what happened? How did you get here?”
Demetri spoke. She glanced at William with watery eyes before returning her gaze back to her hands and speaking.
“They brought me on a stretcher,” Demetri said.
William shook his head. “Not the hospital. Here, to America.”
“It’s hard to remember now,” Demetri translated. Iris pointed to multiple puncture wounds on her arm. “I couldn’t stay awake. I was in a truck for a while, I think.”
“What happened in the basement?”
Iris shook her head and pressed her lips together.
William motioned toward her arm. “Did he put that number on you?”
Iris rubbed her arm, nodded, and spoke.
Demetri frowned, saying, “We all had them.”
William struggled with his next question. “Did he… did he…?”
“Cat got your tongue?” Demetri asked.
William shot him an exasperated look. “Can you ask her how Dr. Chang hurt them?”
Demetri made a face, but asked Iris the question.
Iris placed a hand on her abdomen and bit her dry, cracked bottom lip. “The doctor here says that… I will never have children.”
“I’m sorry, Iris.”
“But you saved us.”
Had he saved her? Or was it because of him that she was down there in the first place?
“Your family must miss you,” he said.
Iris cast her eyes down.
“No?”
“My parents died a long time ago.”
William knew what it was like to lose both parents. “How old are you?”
“Nineteen.”
“And you live alone?”
“No. With my mother’s sister and my cousins.”
William nodded. “I’m sure you will see them again very soon.”
Iris frowned.
Demetri raised his eyebrows. “Looks like someone might not want to go back home.”
Iris looked up. “It’s safe here now, right? He’s dead. Jake said he was dead.”
William wasn’t quite sure what Iris meant by “here” or who Jake was. “Dr. Chang, the man who did this, is still alive, as far as I know.”
After Demetri translated, Iris looked horrified and her heart monitor beeped. William held up his hands and made a calming gesture. He waited until the beeping subsided.
“But Jake said he was buried under the jail.” Demetri paused, then looked at William. “I think someone told her they were putting Dr. Chang under the jail.”
“Oh,” William said. “Iris, that’s just an expression. It means he’s in very big trouble and he will stay in prison for a long time.”
Iris looked crestfallen.
“Why don’t you want to go home?” William asked.
Demetri translated clearly, but Iris made no attempt to answer.
“Did you go to school?” William asked.
“I worked,” she said to the sheets.
“Did you know any of the girls before?”
“No, I met them in the dark place,” Demetri translated.
She looked at Demetri, speaking English for the first time. “I do not want to go back.”
Again, William wasn’t clear of her meaning. Back home? Back to the basement? She started to cry. “Please don’t make me go back.”
William heard someone’s throat being cleared at the door.
“I think that’s enough, gentlemen.”
Agent Roswell was standing just inside the room. William stood and Demetri straightened from his relaxed stance at the window.
“Hello, Agent Roswell,” William said.
Agent Roswell nodded at Iris. “Is there any particular reason you’re here making my witness cry?”
“I didn’t mean to. I just wanted to talk to her.”
“Why?”
“Why wouldn’t I? I wanted to know what went on in that basement and if the girls were okay.”
“You could have asked me.”
William glanced at Iris who was wiping her eyes with a corner of the sheet. “It was not my intention to upset her.”
Agent Roswell gestured to Demetri. “And who’s your translator?”
“This is Demetri Papadopoulos.” Demetri gave a small, awkward wave. “He works at the university.”
Agent Roswell gave Demetri a head-to-toe once over.
Demetri tapped his watch. “William, I need to go. My wife…”
William nodded. “Thanks. I’ll see you later.”
Demetri started toward the door when Iris said something. Demetri stopped. “William, she wants to know if you are coming to see her tomorrow.”
William looked at Agent Roswell, but his expression was neither discouraging nor encouraging.
“Would you like for me to come back?”
She nodded.
“We’ll work out something,” Demetri said. “Gotta go.”
Agent Roswell watched Demetri leave before turning his attention back to William. “Is there anything you want to tell me, Dr. Wiseman?”
“No.”
“Mmm.”
“Are you planning on sending these girls back to Laos?”
“They aren’t U.S. citizens.”
“I know, but,” William lowered his voice unnecessarily, as he knew Iris did not understand him, “I don’t think she wants to go back.”
“That’s not for you to decide.”
“I suppose not.” William made his way to the door. “Goodnight, Agent Roswell.”
“Mmm… ‘night.”
William was only a few feet away before the agent spoke again.
“Oh… let me ask you something.”
William braced himself. “Yes?”
“You ever do any work on restoring mobility?”
“What?”
“Like helping wheelchair-bound people… or people who have nerve damage... or whatever.”
Or whatever? What was this man talking about? “Not really.”
“But you probably could, though, right?”
William was terribly confused. Did this have something to do with Iris? Was Agent Roswell trying to catch him in some sort of clever way?
“I’m not sure what you mean, but I’ve got to be going,” William said.
When Agent Roswell did not object, William hurried past the nurses’ station and waited impatiently for the elevator. He walked quickly to his car and had to make a conscious effort not to speed through the parking deck as he tried to put more and more distance between Agent Roswell and him.
He was desperate to get back to the church, but didn’t know how safe it was. He checked his rearview mirror every few minutes to see if any cars were tailing him. Instead of heading straight back to the church, William took a detour that delayed him a half an hour and was completely out of the way just to make sure he wasn’t being followed. He stopped at a mom and pop hardware store and purchased a tool kit, then drove back to the church.
This time, he parked near the back of the building and closer to the door he entered before. When he tried the knob, he found it locked. William cursed and jogged back to his car.
Mark of the Wiseman (The Wiseman Series Book 1) Page 8
