The God Project (27 page)

“I suppose I could get away for a while,” Steve mused.

“That’s not what I meant,” Wiseman said quietly. “I think Sally needs to be by herself in an environment that’s structured for people with her kind of problem.”

Steve reluctantly met Wiseman’s steady gaze. “You mean a mental hospital.”

“I think it might be best.”

Steve shook his head. “She won’t agree to go.”

Wiseman’s fingers stopped drumming, and he picked up a pencil. “It isn’t always necessary that—well, that the patient agree.”

Steve swallowed hard, trying to dissolve the lump that had formed in his throat “I—I’m not sure I could do that.”

“If it’s best for Sally, I’m not sure either of us has a choice,” Wiseman countered.

Steve took a deep breath and shifted his weight forward in the chair. Surely, there was a better way. “Do we have to decide now?” he asked at last.

“This minute? No. But it shouldn’t be put off too long.
Unless Sally gets some help, I don’t know how far she might go with this thing. And I can’t tell you what effect it might have on your son either.”

It was the mention of Jason, coupled with the memory of the morning, that made up Steve’s mind.

“All right,” he said, his shoulders sagging with defeat. “Let’s go find her.”

   Sally paused in the corridor and took a deep breath. She had her control back, and no matter what happened, she must not lose it again.

Not in front of Wiseman, and not in front of Steve.

But who was left for her to talk to?

Her world, the world that only two weeks ago had seemed limitless, had suddenly narrowed to three people: Lucy and Jim Corliss, and Carl Bronski.

Three people she barely knew.

But three people who believed in her.

She moved through the corridor quickly, intent only on getting out of the clinic, getting to her friends. She was almost through the lobby when she suddenly heard her name.

“Mrs. Montgomery?” the voice said again. It was a familiar voice, but still Sally had to curb her impulse to run. She turned to face the speaker.

It was Dr. Malone, and his brows were furrowed with worry. He was watching her intently. “Is something wrong?” he asked, his voice solicitous.

Sally glanced at a window and caught a vague reflection of herself. Her hair looked messy and her face drawn. She made herself smile. “I’m fine, Dr. Malone. I was just on my way home.”

But Malone shook his head. “You’re not fine, Mrs. Montgomery. Something’s upsetting you. Won’t you tell me what it is?”

“I—” Sally’s eyes flickered nervously over the lobby. “I really have a great deal to do—”

“Does it have something to do with what happened on Monday?” Malone pressed.

Monday. Monday. Sally’s memory churned, trying to
sort things out What was he talking about? And then she remembered. Jason’s arm. “What about it?” she asked coldly.

Malone moved closer to her and Sally took a step backward. He stopped, sensing that she was on the verge of running. “You still think the burns were worse than they looked, don’t you?”

“Yes,” Sally admitted. “But nobody else does. Something’s going on, Dr. Malone, and I’m going to find out what it is. No one’s going to stop me. No one’s going to convince me that I’m crazy. So please, just let me go.”

Malone stood silently for a moment, wishing he knew Sally Montgomery better. Was she budding under the strain of losing her baby, or had she really stumbled onto something? He decided he’d better find out.

“I don’t think you’re crazy,” he said at last “I think things on Monday happened exactly the way you told it Burns and all,” he added, seeing the suspicion in Sally’s eyes.

“Thank you,” Sally breathed, moving toward the door. “I really have to—”

“I think we ought to talk, Mrs. Montgomery,” Malone said quietly. He watched Sally carefully, sure that if he said the wrong thing, she would bolt. “Could we talk in my office? I promise we won’t be disturbed. By
anyone.”
Sally still hesitated. “There’s a door from my office directly into the parking lot. Your car is right next to it That’s how I knew you were here.” He moved toward her, and again she backed away. “In fact, why don’t we go through the parking lot? Then if you still don’t want to come into my office, you can just leave.”

Sally was silent for a moment, then nodded her head in agreement. The two of them left the lobby and began walking along the side of the building.

“Something happened today, Mrs. Mont—is it all right if I call you Sally?”

She nodded, but said nothing.

“The same kind of thing happened again today, Sally. A woman brought in her son, and from what she said,
the little boy should have been dead. Not just burned-dead. But nothing was wrong with him.”

Sally stopped and turned to face Malone. She looked deep into his eyes. Was he telling the truth, or was it some kind of trap? Maybe he was just trying to delay her, trying to keep her here until—what? And yet, there was nothing in his eyes to suggest that he was lying to her. “Was the boy being surveyed by CHILD?”

Malone hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

They were near Sally’s car now, and she began fishing in her purse for her keys. “Then if I were you, I’d keep a very careful eye on that boy,” she said. “And I’d bet money that his mother hadn’t planned to have him, and that Dr. Wiseman was his mother’s doctor.”

Malone knew it was all true. He reached out and touched Sally’s arm. This time she didn’t draw away.

“Come in for a minute. Please?” He went to the outside door of his office, unlocked it, and went in. Through the window Sally watched him cross to the other door, turn the bolt, then rattle it to prove to her that it was locked. At last, conquering her fear, she went inside.

Mark Malone talked steadily for ten minutes, and when he was done, Sally sighed heavily. “And there’s no mistake? The Lysol should have killed him?”

Malone nodded. “If not, he should have been in so much pain that he would have been unconscious. He wasn’t He was mad as hops about the way he was being treated, but as soon as the lavage was finished, he was fine. And there was no mistake about how much of the stuff he’d drunk. He’d gone through it like root beer, and for the amount of damage it did, it might as well have
been
root beer.”

The intercom on Malone’s desk suddenly crackled, and the voice of Arthur Wiseman filled the room. “Mark, it’s Arthur. Have you happened to see Sally Montgomery anywhere around the hospital?”

Malone glanced quickly at Sally, who shook her head vehemently. “No.”

“Damn. Okay. If you see her, talk to her, and keep talking to her until I get to you.”

“Why? Is something wrong?”

There was a short silence, then he said, “She’s been having some problems, Mark. Her husband and I have decided she needs some help, but she doesn’t agree. I’m afraid we’re going to have to take the decision out of her hands.”

Sally was on her feet and at the door to the parking lot by the time the intercom fell silent.

“Sally?” She paused and turned back to face him. “If I’m going to help you, I have to know where you’ll be.” She stared at him, and he knew that even now she didn’t quite trust him. “Just a name,” he said softly. “Don’t argue, and don’t waste time thinking. Just give me a name and get out of here.”

“Lucy Corliss,” Sally said.

“I’ll be there tonight,” Mark promised. “We have a lot to talk about” But by the time he’d finished speaking, Salty was gone. He moved to the window and watched as her car skidded out of the parking lot and disappeared down Prospect Street. Only then did he unlock his office door and hurry down the corridor toward Arthur Wiseman’s office.

   Louise Bowen paused for a moment on the lawn of the Academy to watch the three boys playing some kind of game with a ball. Although she didn’t quite understand the point of the game, she could see that it was rough. The idea seemed to be to retain possession of the ball, but with the odds two against one, the game had the appearance of a constantly shifting wrestling match in which there could be no winner until all but one of the boys dropped in exhaustion.

Only Randy Corliss was not playing, and it was Randy in whom Louise was primarily interested.

She knew that what had happened yesterday afternoon was preying heavily on Randy’s mind. He had been quieter than usual at breakfast. Then at lunch, while the rest of the boys wrangled about how to spend the afternoon, he had remained completely silent, his expression blank, as if he were somewhere far away, in a
world of his own. And then, after lunch, he had disappeared. Now Louise was looking for him, determined to do what she could to assuage his fears.

Randy was in the woods. After lunch he had ignored his friends’ pleas for him to join in their game and gone off by himself.

But it wasn’t that he wanted to be alone.

He was looking for a way out.

For an hour he had worked his way along the fence, searching for a tree that had a limb extending beyond the strand of barbed wire that topped the barrier.

There was none.

All along the perimeter of the property the trees had been cleared away. Here and there a remaining tree that might once have had long lower branches showed the scars of some long-ago chain saw. But nowhere was there a place where the fence could be scaled without touching it. And then, when he had only fifty yards to go to the gate, he found it.

It was a stream flowing through a culvert that carried it under the fence. The pipe was small, but Randy was almost sure that if he hunched his shoulders together, he could get through. He scrambled down the bank of the stream and tried to peer through the culvert At the far end, he thought he could see traces of light.

Should he try it now?

He glanced around, wondering if anybody was watching him.

He wasn’t sure. At first, he had always felt the eyes on him, and it had bothered him. But after those first few days, he had grown used to the watching. That odd sixth sense had become dulled, and now that he needed to know if he was truly alone, he had no way of telling.

But one thing he was sure of. If he tried to run now and got caught, he wouldn’t have another chance. Reluctantly, he turned away from the stream and started back toward the main building. If he was going to try to escape, he would have to do it at night, and he would have to do it from the house. But the windows were barred, and there was always someone awake, watching.

He moved through the woods slowly, trying to figure out what he could do. As he stepped from the forest onto the edge of the lawn, he saw an answer.

On the slope of the roof there seemed to be some kind of trap door. Randy stopped and stared at it for a long time. Was it really a trap door? But what was it for? What if it wasn’t a trap door at all? What if it was just a skylight, and wouldn’t open.

He frowned, trying to puzzle it out. And then, in his innocence, he decided that it
had
to be a trap door, and it
had
to open. Otherwise there was no way out.

But once he was on the roof, what would he do?

A tree. All he had to do was find a tree that reached to the eaves of the three-story building, and he could climb down it. He was about to begin searching for the right tree when he heard his name being called. He recognized Louise Bowen coming toward him.

“Randy, I’ve been looking all over for you.”

“I was just off in the woods, messing around.”

She smiled at him and tousled his hair. “I was worried about you.”

Randy’s first impulse was to pull away from her, but he thought better of it. If he was really going to try to run away, he couldn’t let anyone know he might even be thinking about it Otherwise they would watch him. He slipped his arms around Louise and hugged her. “I was just thinking about what we talked about last night,” he said. His heart began pounding, and he prayed she wouldn’t see through the lie he was about to tell her. “And I decided God must have wanted Eric to die, and what happened to him isn’t going to happen to me.”

Louise patted him on the back. “Well, that seems very sensible,” she told him. “What made you decide that?”

Randy looked up at her, trying to hide the fear he was feeling. “I don’t know. But I’m not scared anymore.”

“Well, that’s good,” Louise said. But when she looked into his eyes, she saw something that told her he was lying. There was a look in his eyes and something about his smile that rang false.

He’s going to do something, she thought He’s going to try to run away.

“Do you think I could build a treehouse here?” Bandy suddenly asked.

“A treehouse?” Louise echoed. What was he talking about? One minute he was talking about dying, and the next minute he was talking about treehouses.

“You know,” Randy said. “A treehouse. All you need is the right tree and some boards and nails.”

Louse frowned, certain that somehow there was a connection. “Where do you think you might put it?”

“I don’t know,” the little boy conceded. “Over there, maybe?”

He pointed toward a grove of maples near the house, and as her gaze followed his gesture, her eyes wandered to the roof of the house. Clearly visible to her, and obviously to Randy too, was the trap door that allowed access to the roof. Suddenly she understood.

“Why, I don’t know,” she said. “Why don’t we go have a look?”

Pleased that she had fallen so easily into his plans, Randy skipped off toward the trees, with Louise Bowen slowly and thoughtfully following after him.

Half an hour later, amid much planning of an elaborate treehouse, both Randy and Louise knew which tree Randy would use when he tried to escape.

As they returned to the house, Louise Bowen tried to decide what to do. She knew she should report her conversation with Randy, as well as her suspicions, to Dr. Hamlin. And yet she couldn’t She knew perfectly well that to Hamlin, Randy was no more than an animal, and she suspected that he wouldn’t hesitate to lock the boy up like an animal. So, for the moment, she would say nothing. Instead, she would simply watch Randy very carefully. Then, when she knew exactly what he was planning, she would decide what to do about it.