The Long Sleep (12 page)

Even if somebody caught Evan fooling around,
with his charm and quick mind he could talk his way out of it.

If he had such a quick mind, why was he so
stupid? Why couldn’t he just move on?

As I waited for the elevator, my cell phone
rang. Quickly I silenced the ringer and answered it.

I felt a tiny leap at the sound of Rick’s
voice. “Madelyn? Are you home?”

“I’m at the hospital. Checking up.” I moved
away from the elevator so others could get on.

“How’s your car?” he asked.

“It’s fixed. I just got it back.”

“I need to see you. I’m not far away. Can you
wait for me there?”

I hoped not too long, or it would be dark. I
couldn’t stay with Hank for very long anyway. “I’ll be in the
lobby.”

I hurried up to ICU. The sight of that tube
down his throat made my own throat want to gag. I couldn’t help
remembering how he’d been only minutes before he was shot. So alive
and full of enthusiasm.

The nurse this time was a male. I had never
seen him before. His nametag said Ramon Abaya. I thought he must be
Filipino. And cute. I was glad it was someone who didn’t know me,
who didn’t see me come every day and just stand there. When he went
to tend to a patient, I looked straight at Hank’s window and
mouthed, “I love you.” I could see his chest moving rhythmically as
the machine pumped air into his lungs.

Did
I love him? It felt like it, even
though I hardly knew the guy. Maybe it was the idea of him being so
helpless. It made me fantasize.

I was turning to leave when Abaya came back.
He gave me a questioning look. I gestured toward Hank’s window and
asked, “Is that really living?”

“Beg your pardon?”

“I mean, if they need a machine to breathe
for them, is that really being alive? I—I’m working on an article
about it. I mean, a series.”

He thought that over for a bit. “It seems to
me they’re alive until they die.”

“Can
they die if they’re breathing
artificially?”

He blinked. No one had ever asked him that
before. “Sure.”

“But how can you tell, if it’s all done by
machine?”

“They stop functioning. Everything
stops.”

“That’s interesting,” I said. “I’ll have to
do more research. Thanks.” I hurried away, thinking of Rick.

Ramon Abaya. I wrote it down. He might be a
good person to interview. Or one of the other nurses, or all of
them. Someone who dealt with these things every day.

Rick hadn’t come yet. I sank into one of the
sofas, took out my notebook, and began writing questions. I could
see why Hank had been interested. There was so much to it. Poor
Hank never dreamed it would happen to him.

It might be an interesting field to go into.
As what? A doctor? Nurse? Studying for an MD would take forever.
And I would have to learn a whole lot of stuff I didn’t need or
want to know. Wasn’t that true of any field? Was there any such
thing as a specialist in coma, like a comatologist, that you could
do without being a doctor?

The outer door slid open and Rick came in. He
smiled when he saw me. I thought he would head up to the ICU.
Instead he sat down next to me and took my hand.

“It’s getting confusing,” he said, tracing my
knuckles with his fingertip. “I was hoping to pin something on your
ex-friend, something that would get him out of circulation, but
he’s slipperier than a greased pig.”

“That’s a good description,” I said. “The pig
part.”

“Don’t give pigs a bad rap. They’re not the
cleanest creatures but they mean well. My grandpa said at county
fairs they used to put grease on a small pig, turn it loose, and
people would try to catch it. That’s where the expression came
from.” He realized what he was doing to my hand, gave it a final
pat, and set it on my lap. Then he turned all the way so that he
faced me.

“I’ve been digging, Maddie. I found out where
Evan lives and I went to his home. The woman who answered said she
was his mom and insisted he’s still at Garson Academy. She got
indignant when I told her they said he wasn’t. First she accused me
of being mistaken, then decided it was the school’s fault.”

“How could they make a mistake like that?” I
asked.

“Lots of ways. Somebody entered the wrong
data. Or read the wrong line.”

“What do you think?”

“I’m confused.”

“She might be lying,” I said. “Maybe she
knows he’s evil and doesn’t want him caught.”

“Did you ever meet her?” Falco asked.

“No, he always came to my house. I never met
his family. He always had a reason. What’s she like?”

Rick sat back and tried to think. I wished he
had on his uniform. He wore dark brown corduroy pants and a leather
jacket.

“She’s got class,” he said. “All dressed up
in cashmere and pearls. Seemed a bit condescending toward me, a
mere police officer. She could have been lying about his
whereabouts, but she didn’t seem like the type.”

“What type is that?” I asked.

“Oh, you know. Lower class and sneaky. I’m
probably stereotyping.”

“Rick . . . are you some kind of snob?”

He snorted. “Me? What have I got to be
snobbish about?”

“Plenty,” I said. “You’re a great guy.”

“Thanks.” He smiled. Like Hank, he had
beautiful teeth. Also a dimple in his right cheek. It was
adorable.

He said, “I didn’t get a chance to ask, do
you know if there are any other kids in Evan’s family?”

“He never talked about any. Once he told me
he’d had an older sister, or stepsister, but she died.”

“When was that?”

“When she died? About ten years ago. She was
a lot older.”

“Stepsister,” Falco mused. “Yes, his mother
implied she’d had another marriage. She doesn’t go by the name of
Steffers.”

“He never really talked about his family,” I
said. “He doesn’t seem to have much warm feeling for them. But a
psychopath wouldn’t. Not for anybody.”

“That’s sad,” Falco mused. “Not even feeling
close to your own family.”

“From what I’ve read, psychopaths can be
lonely people and they don’t even know it. They don’t know there’s
any other way.”

Maybe I would study psychology. What can be
more fascinating than the human mind? Even though I’d have to learn
a lot of stuff, like statistics and things that I couldn’t care
less about.

But as I said, that would be true of any
field.

Chapter Ten

If what Glynis
surmised was true, that Evan had been expelled from Lakeside, he
wouldn’t be likely to hang around there. And the library stayed
open till five. I bypassed my own home and went on to the school,
which was only half a mile farther.

It was absurd that I’d had to change to
Southbridge when this one was so close. All to get away from Evan,
and apparently it hadn’t worked. But the big plus, as Rhoda said,
was that it saved my parents a huge stack of money.

I had my own plus. If I hadn’t changed
schools, I would never have met Hank.

Thinking of Hank gave me a warm glow. At the
same time, it made me feel wretched. If Evan had been the one who
shot Hank, then I felt as if it was my fault.

I knew Rhoda would say it was Evan’s fault.
That was true. But I was the one who had inflicted Evan, not only
on myself, but on everyone I cared about. When I first thought of
Evan being a psychopath, I had looked them up on the Internet.
There didn’t seem to be a lot of agreement on how they got that
way. Some thought it was inborn. Others thought it was lack of
love. I couldn’t get any answers from Rhoda, who treated people
instead of studying them. Rhoda never got a chance to treat someone
like Evan because people like Evan don’t think there’s anything
wrong with them. Anybody could see there was, but denial is part of
their problem.

At that time of day, the parking lot at
Lakeside was nearly empty. I wished I had a different car. People
would recognize my ancient red Chevy. Maybe I didn’t care.

Now for getting in. The library stayed open,
but only for people already inside the building. I’d hoped Glyn
could meet me there. But she hadn’t answered the voicemail I left.
I couldn’t help feeling betrayed, but Glyn had her flighty
moments.

I walked around to a back door, which was
actually closer to the library, and banged on it. After a third
round of banging, it opened.

As I’d hoped, it was Henry the custodian. His
face crinkled in a friendly smile.

“Maddie Canfield. It’s nice to see you again.
You can’t stay away from us, can you?”

“Not when there’re things I need to look up.”
I blew him a kiss and hurried on to the library.

Its door was open and Mrs. Keller, the
librarian, a thin woman in a gray sweater, was straightening the
shelves. She turned around and stared at me. Everyone knew I had
left the school. I gave her a friendly wave and hurried to the
yearbook section. Over the years my parents had paid mega sums to
that school for Ben and me. I had a perfect right to be there.

I took out several outdated books and carried
them to a table. Paula Welbourne had been sixteen, a junior, when
she lapsed into her coma. Only the graduating class had individual
pictures but I found her in several groups. She had long, wavy hair
and wore it clipped back in a ponytail. Like Cree’s, but not as
long. Nobody had hair as long as Cree’s. Paula had a pretty face
that never smiled, at least not in the yearbook. Was she an unhappy
person? Was that why she drank and took Valium? At sixteen she
shouldn’t have been drinking, but that didn’t stop people. I’d
tried it myself a few times. Never with Valium.

Only if Paula had been a senior would the
yearbook have given any details. She wasn’t, so all I could find
were those group pictures. At least now I knew what she looked
like. I could get a handle on the girl, but there must be more
information somewhere.

Mrs. Keller was back at her desk. I told her,
“I’m researching for a story on a former student. Actually, Paula
Welbourne, the girl who was in a coma. Do you know where I can find
more material?”

“What is this for?” she asked.

I hadn’t wanted to talk about the article,
but if I didn’t, I’d get nowhere. I couldn’t help remembering what
Mr. Geyer said about upsetting the family, even though it was all
past history. Paula had died ten years ago, after being in a coma
for eight. Maybe that didn’t seem so past to her folks.

“Um—it’s going to be in
The
Chronicle.
” I knew it would be because of the
Tiger
’s
Sunday page. Hank would be so proud of me. I’d gone through all his
material, having retrieved it from the police along with everything
else that was in my car.

The librarian led me to an obscure door at
the back and unlocked it. Inside the windowless room was a table
and several file cabinets. She pulled open a drawer marked W.

“Nothing is to leave this room,” she warned.
“If you want any of the information that’s in here, bring it to me
and I’ll copy it for you. You’re on your honor about that. And
don’t forget, we close at five.” She left the door open and looked
back twice, making sure I was going to behave.

I found it easily, marked “Welbourne.” Paula
had a whole file to herself. Most of its contents were newspaper
clippings and most were from
The Chronicle.
Curses, I could
have gone to the paper itself. I had an in with one of the
reporters, but I might have had to read it on microfilm. This was
easier, even if the paper showed its age.

I had to hurry. It was getting on toward
five.

Every mention of the Lakeside School was
marked in red ink. Paula had been at a party. That figured. She
left the party late with a young man from another school. No one
seemed to know who he was. The other partygoers were all from
Lakeside. Maybe that was why Lakeside had put in stricter rules
even for off-campus activities. Couldn’t blame them. Somebody had
to crack down.

Observers said Paula was drunk, but somehow
she got home. Luckily it was warm weather, because she was found on
the doorstep. No one noticed her until the newspaper deliverer came
by and woke the family. I saved that clipping to be photocopied,
and several more.

The last one showed the family walking away
from Paula’s funeral. Her father, stepmother, and
step...brother?

Evan?

Oh...my...God.

I was not going to interview Evan. But
what...

Oh my God.

* * * *

I tried again to reach Glynis. This just had
to be shared. I left another message. “
Call
me! It’s
important! I mean it’s interesting. It’s mind-boggling! So call
me.”

Cree had never met Evan, although she’d heard
plenty about him from me. She would be the next best recipient of
my news. But Cree didn’t have a cell phone. If I called her home I
would get her grandmother. She would be agog but didn’t know the
history, so she wouldn’t have a clue what I was talking about. All
I could do was go home and share it with Ben.

He looked up from his computer, annoyed at
the interruption. “Yeah?” he said, not even pretending
interest.

“Do you know what this
means?
” I
said.

“No. What does it mean?”

Darned if I knew. I fumbled. “It means—we’re
all connected.”

“The whole universe is connected,” he said.
“Aren’t we all in it together?”

How I wished I could talk to Hank. He didn’t
know Evan but he would be fascinated that I knew him. Maybe Hank
could put it all together and make it mean something.

In a fit of pique at Glynis, I pressed the
number again and left two words on her voicemail. “Never. Mind. ”
Glyn would know who it was.

I felt like visiting the hospital, but it was
late in the day, and dark. The ICU might be closed to all visitors,
even family. They might be feeding Hank through a tube. I didn’t
want to see that. Did they do it at the same time as regular
hospital meals? Or was it a constant thing like an IV drip?