The Silence of the Chihuahuas (13 page)

“Actually, it should be my boyfriend, Felix,” I said, then wondered what Felix would do if he got a phone call saying I was in the loony bin. Maybe I should call him myself. I would do that and try to explain what was going on as soon as I was settled.

It took a lot longer than I thought. HIMBA left with a wink of his eye, an awkward hug, and a promise to check up on me the following day. There were endless forms to fill out and information to provide. They took away my phone because, as Dr. Lieberman said, “we want our patients to focus on recovery without having to worry about what's going on outside of Forest Glen.” They put a plastic arm bracelet on my left wrist with my name on it, I guess, in case I got so crazy I forgot my own name. I got increasingly agitated as I was thinking about Amber in the clutches of the kidnappers and Teri being hunted by men who were willing to kill a woman and her Chihuahua to get what they wanted. But finally, Dr. Lieberman gave me a little blue pill that he said would calm me down and had Lacey walk me over to Serenity.

Pretty soon I was feeling very tranquil indeed.

I woke up disoriented, lying on a bed in a strange room with a dim light filtering through the window. It seemed to be dusk, and I was covered with a soft chenille blanket, a bright blue color, the color of the Forest Glen employees' polo shirts. I was still wearing a wedding dress. I tried to sit up but felt surprisingly rubbery, as if my limbs weren't connected to my brain.

Pepe sat beside the bed, watching me with his big brown eyes. “Ah, finally, you are awake,” he said. “We have much to do!”

“Where am I?” I asked, gazing around the room. It was bare except for a bedside table.

“You are in the
casa loco
where you wanted to be,” he said. “But now we must get out of here.”

“Why?”

“Because your sister is no longer here.”

“What? Teri was here?”

“Yes, in this very room. We must get out there.” He wagged his head toward the door, which had a window in it. I could see light behind it. “Find out what happened to her.”

“So you are talking to me now?”

“As long as you are in the casa loco already, it will not matter,” he said.

I struggled to stand. It was a bit difficult, what with the wedding dress and whatever pill was making me feel so calm and happy. After the craziness of the last few hours, I appreciated it. Finding Teri seemed important, but I was confident I could solve all the problems of the world.

I noticed a call button by the bed and pushed it. Nothing happened for a while so I pushed it again. A few minutes later, a red-haired nurse, buxom and broad-shouldered, appeared in my doorway. She said her name was Joyce.

“I see you're finally awake, Miss Sullivan,” Joyce said, coming in and briskly rearranging the pillows on the bed. “Would you like some dinner? It was just delivered. We didn't know what you would like so we just ordered—”

“No!” I interrupted her. “I need some information about my sister. My dog tells me she was here. In this very room. Is she still here?”

Joyce looked alarmed. “Your dog talks to you?”

“Of course, I talk to her,” said Pepe. “We are partners.”

“He's my partner,” I said. “I'm a private detective.”

Joyce smiled a weak smile. “How very interesting,” she said. “So let me get your dinner—” She turned to go.

“No! You can't leave,” I said. “You have to tell me about my sister—”

“The one your dog said was staying in this room?” she said. An amused tone had crept into her voice.

“Yes, my dog is always right!” I said.

“Finally, you admit it!” said Pepe.

“How lucky for you,” she said with an even bigger smile. “Especially since he can talk.”

“I'm serious!” I practically shouted. “I've got to find my sister. If I don't find her, the kidnappers will kill Amber and even though she's about to marry my ex-husband—or maybe she's about to ditch him, I'm not sure—I can't let that happen!”

“Don't forget Party Girl,” said Pepe.

“And they've got Party Girl too!” I said.

The nurse's smile slipped a little. “Well, truly I am sorry these matters are troubling you,” she said. “Dr. Lieberman wrote up an order for more medication.” She looked at her watch. “I can give you something that will help relieve your anxiety.”

“I don't want my anxiety relieved!” I insisted. “I want to find my sister. Was she here? Teri Sullivan? Did she stay in this room?”

Joyce's lips compressed. “Even if she was here, I couldn't tell you that,” she said primly. “Confidentiality is one of our most prized commitments to our patients.”

I didn't give up. “We don't look that much alike. She's taller and skinnier and her hair is frizzier and has a slight reddish tone to it.”

I saw a shadow cross the nurse's face. “I'll fetch that medication for you, Miss . . . She checked the name on the door. Again I saw that something troubled her. “Miss Sullivan,” she said. She closed the door with a bang and I heard her footsteps hurrying away.

I tried the door, but the door was locked.

“Now what?” I said to Pepe, sitting down on the edge of the bed. “She knows something, doesn't she?”

“
Si
,” said Pepe, “and if you would be quiet, I might be able to hear what she is saying.” He had his head pressed down to the crack in the door. I tried to be patient, watching his ears twitch slightly. Finally I couldn't stand it any longer.

“What is going on?” I asked.

“You do indeed need to take an anti-anxiety pill,” said Pepe. “There is nothing either of us can do shut up in this room. We need to get out and roam about and to do so, you must stop acting
loco
.”

“You're beginning to sound like Cheryl,” I said, “and that is not good.”

“Ah!” said Pepe. “Already the treatment is working. You are getting in touch with the source of your problems with authority.”

“I don't have problems with authority,” I snapped. “I have problems with dogs who tell me what to do.”

“Do you realize how
loco
that would sound?” said Pepe. He looked around. “Suppose the room is bugged.”

I looked around too, although I didn't know what I was looking for. “Just tell me!” I pleaded. “And by the way, did I mention how much I appreciate the fact that you are talking to me?”

“No, you did not,” said Pepe gravely. “I am glad to know that.”

“So?”

“So the nurse was very concerned. She told someone else that you knew something about the previous patient, but she did not use Teri's name. She said there must be a leak.”

“Did she say where Teri is now?” I asked.

Pepe shook his head. “No, she did say it was a good thing that she was moved. I assume she was talking about Teri.”

“Moved where?” I wondered. “To another cottage?”

“She did not say,” said Pepe. “Perhaps you can bribe her. That always worked in Mexico with
la policia
.”

“But I don't have any money,” I said. I realized that I had surrendered my purse along with my cell phone when I was admitted.

“Then I think since they are so insistent on confidentiality that you need to get out of here and go mingle with the other patients who are eating dinner right now in the dining room,” said Pepe.

“Other patients?”

“Yes, there are at least four other residents in this cottage. Unfortunately, from what I can tell, they are all very crazy. But that may be good for us, as they can tell us things the staff will not.”

“But how do I—”

The door opened and Joyce came back in carrying a glass of water and a pill in a plastic cup. “Here's the medication I mentioned,” she said. “It will help calm you down. It sounds like you have had a stressful day.”

“I don't want to take a pill!” I said.

“Geri, remember our strategy!” said Pepe.

“But I will,” I continued. “I know you know what is best for me.” Obediently, I took the offered glass of water and pinched the pill up out of the cup. I tried to conceal it in my cheek and swallow the water without swallowing the pill, but I got confused and before I knew it, the pill was down the hatch too.

Joyce smiled.

What was in that pill? Would it knock me out for another twelve hours? If so, it would be too late for Teri. And for Amber. And for Party Girl. I needed to act fast.

“What about dinner?” I said. “I'm so hungry.”

“If you're feeling a little better,” Joyce said, “you can join the others in the dining room.”

“Mission accomplished,” said Pepe.

“But your dog can't go with you,” said Joyce. “And”—Joyce frowned at my attire—“you'll need to change out of that gown. Let me get you one of ours.”

She was back in a few minutes with a terrycloth robe in what I was coming to think of as Forest Glen blue. I noticed there was no belt, just Velcro fasteners. I wriggled out of the wedding gown, which was wet and stained, and Joyce bore it away, apparently fearing that I could harm myself with a wedding dress. I wasn't sure how. She returned with a pair of comfy blue slippers. I put them on and shuffled out to the dining room where I was introduced to the others.

Greg was a tall, pale man with bony joints and big haunted eyes. He didn't say a word, but he did look frightened when he saw me. Nicole was barely out of her teens. She had short, pink hair. She must have been anorexic because she was all skin and bones and she toyed with her food, moving it from one side of her plate to the other. Frances was her opposite, almost morbidly obese, with unhealthy-colored grey skin and rolls of fat around her chin. I saw her eyeing Nicole's food enviously. We each had a tray in front of us, which contained a hamburger on a limp bun, a heap of French fries, some carrot coins and a bowl of what looked like applesauce.

“Hi, everyone! I'm Geri,” I said. They looked up and then looked back down without saying a word. I sat down at the one empty place at the big round table. “My parents named me and my sisters Cheryl, Geri, and Teri so we would all sound alike,” I said, hoping the mention of the name Teri would spark a response. Nothing.

“Greg doesn't talk,” said Nicole helpfully.

“Ha! That's just like my dog,” I said. “He wasn't talking either. Until I ended up here—”

“They let you have a dog?” Nicole asked.

“Well, he's part of my problem,” I admitted. “I think he talks to me. Of course, he doesn't. Or at least that's what they tell me.”

“What kind of dog?” asked Frances.

“A little white Chihuahua,” I said.

Frances looked at Nicole and Nicole looked at Frances.

“What?” I asked. “Have you seen him?”

“A dog like him,” Nicole said. “Came into the cottage the other day and Carrie got all excited about it. Said the dog looked just like her sister's dog. Swore the dog talked to her.”

“Carrie?” I asked.

“Yeah, she was in the room you're in now, until—”

Nicole and Frances both shut up as Joyce came back into the room. “Nicole,” she said, “if you don't eat more than that, you're going to have to go back into the hospital. Try and see if you can at least drink the Ensure.”

“That's for old people,” said Nicole. But she picked up the can, which was on her tray and shook it, then popped the tab on the lid. She took a tiny sip then put it back down again.

“You need to drink more than that if you're going to meet your goals for this week,” said Joyce in a cheery voice. She turned to me. “I didn't get your paperwork yet from the main office. Do you have any dietary restrictions I should know about?”

“Well, I am a vegetarian,” I said, poking at the hamburger patty with my fork.

“In the future you can have a garden burger on hamburger days,” Joyce said in a happy voice. “For now, maybe you can just eat the bun.”

Frances grumbled under her breath. “They should be feeding us sirloin steak for the prices we pay to be here.”

“What is that, Frances?” asked Joyce in the sing-song voice of a kindergarten teacher.

Frances refused to repeat her comments.

Joyce hefted an extra tray of food from the rolling cart and sailed off with it.

“Where's that going?” I asked.

“There's one guy who never comes out of his room,” said Frances with her mouth full. “Nicole thinks he's a werewolf.”

“I saw him one day when the door opened,” Nicole said with relish. “He was totally naked and his body was covered with red scratches. Plus we can hear him howling at night.”

I shivered. I really wasn't prepared to be locked up with truly crazy people.

Nicole noticed my distress. “You know we are the most locked down cottage,” she said proudly. “We're the craziest of the crazy.”

I was starting to feel a bit floaty and woozy and I needed to get information fast. “So what can you tell me about Carrie?” I asked after sampling a few of the French fries. Although they were lukewarm, they were pretty good. I realized I hadn't eaten anything since breakfast.

“Totally nuts!” said Frances, waving one pudgy finger around her temple.

“Not like us!” Nicole cackled. She slid some carrots off her plate and into her napkin.

“What way was she nuts?” I asked.

“She thought someone was after her,” said Frances, leaning in and whispering, then looking all around. “Kept saying they were coming to get her. Jumped at every noise. Freaked out at the sight of strangers. A classic case of paranoid schizophrenia.”

“Like you would know,” said Nicole.

“Hey,” said Frances, “when you've been in here seven times like I have, you'll know what I'm talking about.” She turned to me. “She claimed a little dog came running in to give her a message.”

“What did the dog tell her?” I asked.

Frances gave me a pitying look. “Dogs don't talk,” she said.

“Right!” I said with a forced laugh.

“The sad thing is she couldn't accept the diagnosis. Kept insisting she was really in danger. Refused to take the medication.” Frances wagged her head toward the door through which Joyce had disappeared. “They don't like that here.”

“So what happened to her?” I asked. “Why isn't she here now?” My words came out slurred. My tongue felt so thick I could barely move it. I choked down a bite of the carrots.

“One day she was here. The next morning she was gone. No explanation,” said Frances matter-of-factly. She scraped the bottom of her applesauce bowl with her spoon, then swapped her empty bowl for Nicole's full one.