Gray's Domain: Purgatorium Series, Book Two (26 page)

Daphne’s heart seemed to stop.

“But seeing her here on the island,” Joey paused.

“Go on,” Hortense said.

Daphne looked at the doctor shackled across from her, and Hortense Gray stared back.

Joey said with a laugh, “She couldn’t stop hugging me.”

“And how did that make you feel?” Hortense asked.

“Great,” Joey said. “It made me feel great, like she’s forgiven me.”

“Do you think she blamed you for what happened to Kara?”

“Of course,” Joey said. “Why wouldn’t she?”

Tears streamed down Daphne’s cheeks.
But I don’t blame you, Joey. I don’t!

“You know the answer to that,” Dr. Gray said.
“Your illness. Many victims of schizophrenia have acted in ways outside of their control. It’s easier to believe you could have done something to prevent Kara’s death than to accept that you, too, were a victim.”

“Do you think Daphne sees it that way?” Joey asked.

“I know she does,” Hortense replied.

Daphne’s body shook with sobs.
Poor Joey. Her sweet brother thought she blamed him all this time.

Larry spoke up again, bringing Daphne from her thoughts. “The next excerpt comes from your father.”

Dr. Gray’s voice came again over the loud speaker: “Do you think she’s changed, then?”

“Yes,” her father replied.

“In a good way?” Hortense asked.

“Absolutely,” Joe said. “She’s more resolved and less resigned. I think that’s it in a nutshell. She’d become empty, and now she’s got a fire in her belly. I see the flames in her eyes.”

“Like she’s been resurrected,” Hortense said.

“Exactly.”
Her father’s voice cracked. Daphne could tell he was fighting tears. “Thank you for giving me my little girl back.”

Daphne’s throat went dry. She wished she could go back in time and erase her behavior after Kara’s death. She wished she could have been stronger, like she felt now. Yes, she
was
stronger
and
more resolved. She really felt she could take anything and fight back.

Larry lifted his finger and said, “The last excerpt comes from your mother’s debriefing. After this, you will be asked to judge.”

As soon as the recording came on, Daphne could hear her mother sobbing.

“I’ve got to stop wishing that,” her mother said.

“Yes,” Hortense said. “Once words are spoken, you can’t take them back. But you can forgive yourself, just as Daphne has forgiven you.”

“I know that now,” her mother said. “And I thank you, doctor. I can finally see it in Daphne’s eyes. I didn’t think…” her mother broke into more sobbing before she regained her composure and said, “I really didn’t think she would ever forgive me, or ever love me again. She pushed me away. She would rather die than be near me…”

Daphne collapsed onto her bottom.
Mama!
If it weren’t for the gag, she would cry out.

“But now you know differently, yes?” Dr. Gray asked.

“Yes. I can see it in her eyes. I really can. She
does
love me, and she
does
forgive me, and I really think, because of you, we have a chance to move on.”

Daphne closed her eyes and was racked with sobs. Someone removed her gag and unbound her wrists, and she covered her face and wept.
Her poor mama. Her poor, sweet mama. Daphne was glad her mother finally knew that Daphne did love and forgive her.

Larry brought her from her thoughts. “Now it’s time for you to make your decision, Daphne. Do these doctors get the bucket or the rose?”

Daphne looked around and noticed a crowd surrounded her. In addition to the regulars—both the young and older crowds—were her parents, Joey, and Brock. They were crying, too. Even Joey shed tears. He smiled back at her, and gave her a wave. She waved back.

She looked at the three buckets of water in front of her and the one pot with the three roses. Without hesitation, she climbed to her feet and, with trembling hands, took up the flowers and laid them at the feet of the three doctors.

Chapter Twenty-Two: Goodbye

Daphne felt uneasy as she, her family, and Brock ate dinner at the table with Hortense Gray and Arturo Gomez. She could feel the regulars watching them, and, at another table, Giovanni sat with Bridget eyeing Daphne with his looks of desperation.

Although Cam and most of her new friends were among the regulars at the table nearby, Gregory and Emma were absent. She wondered if they were off spending time together or if they were part of another exercise for someone else. In any case, she hoped for the opportunity to say goodbye to them. They hadn’t been at her mother’s
Limuw ceremony, and she hadn’t spoken to Greg since the night he had told her to get her family off the island.

“So be ready right after breakfast,” Dr. Gray said. “Roger and Stan will come by and give you all a lift to Prisoners Harbor.”

“The boat comes at ten a.m. sharp,” Arturo added. “You don’t want to be late.”

Daphne’s parents nodded.

“Of course not,” Joe said.

“I’ll come to San Antonio once every two months to check on Joey’s status,” Dr. Gray said. “Here’s my card with my contact information, in case you need to reach me in between visits.”

Sharon, who, unlike Daphne, wore her bald head exposed like a badge of courage, took the card from the doctor’s outstretched hand. “Thank you.”

Joe asked, “Do you have an office in San Antonio, then?”

“I make house calls,” the doctor replied.

Daphne’s eyes widened with surprise, not sure how she felt about Hortense Gray coming to her home, but she said nothing.

“That’s convenient,” Joey said, beaming.

“My fee is on the back of my card.”

Sharon turned it over and grimaced. “Yikes.” She handed it to her husband.

Arturo said, “You get what you pay for.”

“Still less expensive than that place in Houston,” Joe said.

Joey had been
living
there, so Daphne would
hope
the house call was less expensive.

“We’re just glad to have our Joey at home again,” Sharon said.

“And you’re always welcome to come back to the resort,” Arturo Gomez added. “Anytime. You don’t even have to make a reservation.”

“Especially if Daphne decides to volunteer,” Dr. Gray added.
“And Brock, too, of course.”

“Thank you,” Brock said.

He and Daphne exchanged looks. She wouldn’t mind returning and keeping an eye on Cam, Giovanni, and Emma, but she also wanted to spend some time with Joey. More importantly, she had decided she wanted to get her G.E.D. and maybe even enroll in college. Trinity University had offered her a swimming scholarship before she dropped out, just like the one Brock received. She wondered if there was any way that could be put back on the table.

As Daphne bussed her tray and prepared to head back to her unit with her family and Brock, Cam came up behind her.

“Hey,” he said.

“Hey.” She smiled back at him.

“
Me and some of the others want to give you a going away party on the beach tonight. It’s just the younger crowd—no offense, Mr. and Mrs. Janus.”

“None taken,” Daphne’s father said.

“That sounds like a nice idea,” Sharon added. “You two should go.” She meant Daphne and Brock.

“Joey, man, you should come, too,” Cam said.

“Okay,” Joey said.

“Sure,” Daphne added. “What time?”

“Sundown. About nine-thirty or so.”

“See
ya there,” Brock said.

“See
ya there,” Joey echoed.

A bon fire cast light and shadows on the beach below. From the boardwalk, Daphne could see most the regulars already down there, sitting in folding chairs on the sand, drinking, talking, laughing, and roasting marshmallows over one of the numerous flames bursting from a huge pile of scrap wood.

“What exactly are we going to do down there?” Joey asked, sounding as though he had reservations about joining the party.

“Just talk,” Daphne said.

“About what?”
Joey asked.

“Anything.
Nothing in particular.”

“It’s a party,” Brock said, leading the way down the steps. “Just relax and enjoy yourself. Have a Coke and make a s’more.”

“Okay,” Joey said. “It’s just that me and my good friend Judge William Clark never particularly enjoyed parties. I’m just not used to them.”

“Maybe you’ll enjoy this one,” Daphne said.

“Maybe.”

As they neared the group, the sound of music poured from someone’s radio, and Dave sang along to it in a loud tenor voice.

“Daph!” Cam called from the other side of Dave and Vince. He circled around the singer and greeted Daphne with a hug. “Hey, Joey.” Cam hugged Joey next. “Brock.” He shook Brock’s hand.

“What, I don’t get a hug?” Brock teased.

Cam blushed and hugged him. “No offense, man. I grew up with these two. They’re like family.”

“No worries.”

Bridget and Giovanni sat together on a log on the other side of the fire—a bit too closely, Daphne thought. She didn’t like the idea of Hortense baiting Giovanni with a pretty girl, especially one who was supposedly dating Cam. And Cam should have seemed concerned, but he didn’t. Instead, he led them over to a group of folding canvas chairs on the other side of Vince and Dave where Stan sat on top of an ice chest.

“Want something to drink?” Stan asked them.

“I’m fine,” Daphne said.

Brock took a Sprite.

Sitting on the sand on the other side of the ice chest were two girls Daphne hadn’t yet met, but Brock and Joey seemed to know them. They must have met while Daphne was asleep in the infirmary. Stan introduced them as Jeannette and Paula—new arrivals.

“Where are Emma and Gregory?” Daphne asked Stan.

Stan shrugged. “Probably making out somewhere.”

Daphne turned to Cam. “I haven’t seen either of them since before I tried to leave the island.”

Vince flashed a roasted marshmallow on a skewer in Cam’s face. “Want it?”

“Yeah, sure, man. Thanks.” Cam grabbed graham crackers and chocolate from a basket on the ground and eased the marshmallow from the skewer. He took a bite.
“Mmm. You guys gotta try one.”

“I’ll take one,” Joey said.

Cam pushed a new marshmallow onto the end of the skewer and handed it over to him. “There you go, buddy.”

Joey sat in one of the folding chairs and held the skewer over the bonfire.

Dave snagged Vince’s towel and took off running toward the shoreline.

“Hey!” Vince jumped up.
“Give that back!”

“Make me!” Dave shouted.

Vince chased Dave toward the water.

“Good,” Cam said. “More chairs.” He took the chair Vince had been sitting in. Then he picked up the radio and tried to find a different station.

Brock sat in a chair next to Joey, leaving an empty one between him and Cam for Daphne. Daphne didn’t take it, though.

She leaned closer to Cam and whispered, “Tell me the truth about Greg and Emma.”

“I honestly don’t know,” Cam whispered back. “I know he and his mom haven’t been getting along. That’s it.”

A shrill scream came from the water. It sounded like Vince. Daphne thought maybe Dave had thrown him in the cold sea, but when the scream was followed by another, and then by Dave shouting, she knew something was wrong—either
that, or a new game had begun, maybe for one of the new arrivals.

“Help!”
Dave shouted. “Over here!”

Daphne and Cam took off running. Brock caught up to her just as they neared Vince and Dave hunched over something washed up on the beach.

It was Emma.

Daphne fell to her knees in the wet sand as the last bit of a shallow wave swept up to her before ebbing back into the dark sea. It took with it some of the blood covering Emma’s limp, bruised body. The rest of the teens gathered around in shocked silence.  As they examined her battered body, which had clearly been pummeled, no one wanted to ask the questions they must have all been thinking. Did she jump from the bluff? And if so, did she intend to kill herself?

“Someone get Dr. Gray,” Stan finally said. “Vince. You’re the fastest runner. You go.”

Vince took off like a track star.

“Poor Kara,” Daphne said. Then her breath caught. “I mean Emma. Poor Emma.”

Her face blazed with heat as everyone looked at her. Brock wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulders.