“What if we try to teach music to brain injury patients? That might be good therapy. What do you think, Mr. Perless?”
“Just call me Kyle, please. It takes a lot of effort to organize that. And money too.”
“My uncle said he’d help. And don’t worry about the money; I’ve got plenty of that now.”
“Have you gone back to school yet?”
“No, but I’ve got a tutor. She’s been staying here actually. Don’t know where she is right now… Anyway, I might just get tutored through the end of the semester.”
“Will you be able to graduate that way?”
“I’m not sure. Probably.”
“That would be good. You need to graduate, right? Then what?”
“I’m not sure.” Amanda answers, then pauses a second, unsure about telling him. “I’ve become obsessed with the plane crash, and whether what happened to Kent is connected to it. I don’t believe what the cops say about Kent and fentanyl either.”
“What do you mean ‘connected’ to the crash?”
“I’m not sure yet, but I’m going to keep searching ‘til I find out.”
“Let me know what you find out.”
“Where are you going to put all these boxes?”
“In a big walk-in closet I have.”
“Are you sure you don’t want anything else? Furniture, pictures?”
I don’t have a place for it, so no.” Kyle pivots back toward the Bronco and gets in. Amanda stands on the front porch and watches the Bronco as it drives down the crushed stone driveway, sending little dust clouds up in the air.
Chapter 92
Passed Out
Britt and Amanda had exchanged several text messages. The hourly rate that Amanda offered her was too good to turn down, apparently, along with being able to stay in the master bedroom.
Britt turns up early Sunday afternoon, along with her minimal belongings and explains that she wants to spend several hours getting a feel for how to attack each class. Because there is so much to cover, only a methodical plan will have any chance of working.
Andy has hired the same security outfit that had worked the hospital, even though David is staying at the farmhouse until early Sunday evening. The guard has taken up post on the porch, but once in a while unobtrusively comes inside to use the bathroom.
The tutoring session begins uneventfully. Amanda works through several math problems set out at the end of the chapter. Britt is working forward in the textbook, reviewing things while waiting for Amanda to finish.Suddenly Britt stands up, takes one step, and crumbles to the kitchen floor.
"David! Get in here! Brittney just passed out or something." Amanda kneels down over Britt. Her eyes appear partly opened but roll upwards under her eyelids erratically.
"Hurry!" Amanda again yells. David runs in and crouches beside her.
"Brittney? Can you hear me?" He notices slight twitching movements coming from her arms but no other part of her body. She doesn’t respond.
"Call 911. Should we start CPR?" Amanda frantically asks David.
Just then, Brittney's eyes stabilize. She looks up at both of them, glancing back and forth.
"What? Wh-what happened?" Britt finally stammers out.
"Oh God, thank God!" Amanda says.
"You passed out, or had some kind of seizure," David says. "Have you ever had a seizure before?"
"I don't…I don't know. How long was I out?" Britt asks.
"Just a few seconds," David says, “but you should lie down."
Somewhere Amanda finds a washrag, runs freezing cold water over it, and they lay Brittney down on the great room couch. Amanda positions the cold compress on Brittney's forehead.
"Must’ve been a withdrawal seizure or something," Britt says to her in a near whisper.
"That would make sense," Amanda says, thinking about Brittney and her rehab at the clinic.
"Didn't they wean you off meth at rehab with the drugs they gave you?" David asks.
"I don't know. I'm sorry, I-I don't know what it was." Britt says haltingly.
After another 15 or 20 minutes, Brittney recovers and is again providing Amanda instructions on her math assignments.
“I guess math and meth are a volatile mix,” Amanda says looking up from a math problem.
“Not funny.” Britt replies.
After David leaves Sunday evening, Amanda and Britt crowd into the bathroom and Britt prepares Amanda's hair for coloring. She segregates the braided areas of hair to be colored, and with artistic precision, brushes in the product.
"We've got to let it set for about 30 minutes. Let's go into the great room and I'll lay a towel behind your head so we don't get the coloring on anything."
Britt gets the remote and turns on a reality show on Bravo about housewives living somewhere.
"Do you like the ‘Housewives of Orange County’?" Britt asks Amanda.
"Don't know that I’ve ever watched it," Amanda answers.
"Oh, yeah, forgot that.”
Before they know it, 30 minutes have passed. Brittney shows Amanda how to remove the protective covering from the braids and recommends a certain shampoo and conditioner to maintain the color as long as possible and keep her hair healthy.
A while later, Amanda showers, blow-dries her hair and admires her new look.
"I really like it, we kind of match now." Britt says, when Amanda finally enters the great room.
"Don't think we'd ever be taken for twins, but it definitely makes a statement," Amanda replies.
Chapter 93
Pletcher
Closing the bedroom door, Amanda puts on a vinyl record from Kent’s collection. She flops down stomach first on the bed. A familiar tone comes from the cell phone on the bed. It's David.
Need to tell you about computer research today. Can I come over?
Y not just call?
In person best.
K, come on over.
In the 30 minutes it takes David to get there, what’s left of the daylight fades. Finally she hears a tap on the screen door. As she opens the door, they exchange hellos and he walks into the foyer.
"So, what's up?"
David points with his finger up and around in a circular direction. He is indicating that he doesn't trust that their conversation will be private.
"It's David, he's here to talk to me about some school stuff," Amanda tells Britt. "We’re going to see the horses while we talk.” They head out the front door.
"When I got your text this morning, I realized you never really planned on coming back to school. You could’ve told me over the weekend."
Amanda looks down to the ground, refusing eye contact. "I'm sorry. I should’ve told you, you’re right. I just decided I couldn't go back.”
“Anyway, you won't believe what I found out. It's about that attorney, Pletcher, who filed your dad’s patent applications."
"What? You were investigating that again?"
"A vanishing application? National security? Of course I was."
"So what about him?"
"Brittney gave me a funny look when I got here. Have you told her anything?"
"I don't think so. She knows about my parents and that I’m still looking for answers. But I don't think I've told her anything about you and like, computer hacking or our patent office visit. Why?"
"Okay. Just don't tell her anything else."
"Listen, bad guys could have easily swooped in and killed me already. Don't you think you’re being paranoid?"
"Since Kent died, no."
"Let's get back to the patent attorney stuff," she says.
"Okay. I hacked into Pletcher’s computer and copied the entire hard drive remotely. He had notes and emails from somebody about organizing a meeting for your dad."
"Are you sure it was for my dad?"
"Well, yeah, it's pretty obvious when it has his last name, and it's about a meeting for licensing his patent."
"Licensing his patent? The one that was withdrawn that we co
uldn’t see?"
"I’m not sure. So, I went through Pletcher’s calendar. The day of the crash your dad had an appointment with him and a guy named Mikhail Chapikov."
"What’s so earth-shattering about that?"
"Well, Chapikov is Russian or at least it sounds Russian to me. So I searched for Mikhail Chapikov and found one in Moscow who is associated with a company called Russ-med Research.
"Then I looked more into this guy Pletcher,” David continues, “and figured out he’s a patent attorney in Manhattan. His office is on a floor with an international law firm that he is not actually a member of, but he is listed as ‘of counsel.’ I called number in his bio and got his voicemail.”
“Let’s call him again. I can tell him who I am and ask him about all of this.” Amanda says while they stand just outside the stables.
“He won’t return any phone calls. I’ve tried three times over the last couple days and he never takes my call or returns it. I told him I was your friend and we just wanted to ask about your dad and if he could help us. We need to go meet this guy face to face."
"I think I need to ask my aunt or uncle. They’ll probably freak out and say no, but I have to ask." Amanda says, flipping a gate latch back and forth on the side entrance to the stable. “Do you think this Russian company was involved in my parents’ deaths?"
"I don’t know. You know how the CSI detectives do it. They look for the last ones to see the victim alive. Pletcher should know exactly what they were trying to license, and that your dad never showed up for the meeting. If you’re an attorney with a good client who’s a no-show, and you find out his plane crashed that day, wouldn’t you call someone?"
"True. But how would we get there?"
"Talk to your uncle. Maybe he’ll take us and line up a meeting.”
Chapter 94
Passenger Seat
“Why do you sit in there?” Britt asks, leaning in through the sport car’s front passenger window. Amanda sits statue-like in her pajama bottoms and a t-shirt.
“I don’t know. I like the smell. It reminds me of him. Stuff we did together. Do you believe in karma? I mean that everything is already destined to happen whether you know it or not?”
Britt thinks a moment and straightens back up outside the window of the Spider. She has an old faded GW shirt on, shorts, dark-colored socks and a pair of worn slip-on flats.
“I guess I kinda believe in karma, but I also think we can change things. In other words, we have to think positively and seize each day. I don’t think it affects everything I do.”
“Did I ever tell you about my brother Justin?” Amanda asks, changing subjects suddenly.
“No. Why haven’t I heard anything about him or met him?”
“They all think I’m crazy. I mean about him.”
“Why’s that?”
“Dr. Lucent told me I just made him up or something. I really don’t know what to think. When I remember him we’re on a bunk bed, he’s shaking my car keys and won’t give them to me. I have to actually take them back. It’s that real. I see flashes of other things too. Some of them I know are real, others I’m not sure.”
“That must really bother you, huh?”
“Umm, sometimes, yeah. Did you come out here just to ask me why I’m sitting here?”
“No, I’m going for a run through the woods. Exercise’ll be good for me.”
Amanda looks Britt up and down. “You’re gonna run in those old flats?”
“I don’t have anything else, so they’ll have to do.” Britt takes a few steps away from the car and breaks into a jog. Amanda watches through the windshield as Britt takes off through the open field toward the tree line. She leans back in the passenger seat and closes her eyes, struggling to remember.
Are You My Mother? That’s it! That’s the book. Justin loved that book. He knew the crane machine wasn’t the baby bird’s mom!
Chapter 95
Unexpected News
Andy texts Amanda and makes arrangements to come over early Tuesday evening. He wants to talk to her about skipping school. Amanda braces herself for a showdown, but something else is keeping her from worrying about it as much as she would have normally.
The Wizard of Oz. Amanda has obsessively watched it since Britt bought it for her after she mentioned the NDE with the four Dorothys. Just maybe there is something in her memory that could be unlocked by watching it.
Britt is on the couch, along with David, who wants to talk with Andy too. Not about school, but about going to New York.
When he first arrived on Tuesday, David had walked through the entire house carrying a small handheld device Amanda thought was a phone. But he wasn't talking on it, he was holding it out in front of him.
Amanda finally asked, "What’re you doing?"
He held his index finger up in front of his lips, but never even said “shhh.”
“You’re so weird,” Amanda said, walking back to the great room. She sat next to Britt, who was reading a novel and occasionally looking up at the movie.
David finally sits in a chair beside the couch, and notices that Amanda had lit a scented candle on the coffee table.
“This is one of my favorite parts,” Amanda says to anyone listening, as the cowardly lion dashes through the castle hall and leaps, crashing out of the window. They hear a tap on the front door, and then a voice.
“Hello?” It’s Andy.
“Come on in, we’re watching a movie.” Amanda calls out toward the front. Maybe he won’t chastise me in front of the others, she thinks.
He sits in the chair opposite David, and notices the movie is The Wizard of Oz.
“Can you guys pause the movie so I can talk with Amanda a few minutes?”
David lifts the remote and finds the pause button. “Do you want us to leave you two alone?”
“No, it’s okay. Congratulations Amanda. It took a while for us to get it, since it went to your parents’ house first.”
“Congratulations for what?”
Andy hands her the envelope. “You’ve been accepted at UVA!”
“What? How?”
“We don’t know when you applied, but you’ve been admitted. Read it.”
Amanda’s eyes scan over the one-page letter signed by the Dean of Admissions.
Certain that her uncle was going to berate her for failing to return to classes at M.A., she can only muster an uncomfortable grin. She lays the acceptance letter down on the coffee table.
“How’d I get in? I haven’t even gone back to school.”
“You did really well on your SATs, and you were near the top of your class through your junior year. Apparently you applied to a few others too, including William & Mary, Georgetown, and UNC. Aunt Barbara and I are really proud of you.”
“You and your mom went to visit UVA and William & Mary. I do remember that,” David says.
“You got accepted to UVA too, right?” Andy asks David.
“Yeah, but I’m pretty sure I’m going to MIT,” he answers.
“Well Amanda, maybe you should re-visit UVA. It’s a beautiful school, and it’s only a two-hour drive down Route 29 to Charlottesville. Either myself or Aunt Barb can take you one weekend if you want to see it, again.”
“Maybe…”
“I’m surrounded by serious brains. I had no idea you guys were future scholars,” Britt interjects.
"Anyway, the headmaster from M.A. called me today, wondering why you haven’t come back." Andy finally gets to the thorny issue Amanda was dreading.
"I’m working with Britt, and she’s a great tutor." Amanda says, nodding in Britt’s direction. "Also, David and I are working on some things."
“If you don’t return now, when will you?” he asks.
“Can’t we talk to them? They know about my situation. Maybe if we keep paying tuition, I can study here and just take final exams for each class.”
“Mr. Michaels, if they provide the course curriculum I’ll do everything possible to have her rea
dy for exams,” Britt offers.
“I’ll talk to Barb and the headmaster and see what they say.” Andy says.
“Britt, we’d like to talk to Amanda’s uncle privately for a few minutes,” David says, getting up and indicating that he plans to leave the great room for this conversation.
“No problem,” Britt says.
“Let’s step out onto the porch,” David suggests.
Once the three of them are on the porch David says, “I did some digging, and I found the name of the patent attorney in New York who was reviewing the last patent application Amanda's dad filed. There's some strange stuff that we want to tell you about. And, uh, I don’t talk about this kind of stuff inside the house because I think it’s bugged.”
“Really? Why?”
“Well you know the hospital room was bugged. I have every reason to believe this place is too.”
“Whoa! Says who?” Andy asks.
“Mr. Michaels, I know what I’m talking about, my dad taught me a lot about security, bugging, how to detect it, all that stuff.” David assures Andy, then continues about Ron Michaels. “So, you know about your brother’s cancer tumor patent.”
"I know about the telomere cancer tumor application. But it was handled by an attorney here in the D.C. area, not New York." Andy responds.
"Well, there was another one. The application was filed but immediately withdrawn under a special federal law that can remove it from public access.”
"How’d you find that out?" Andy asks.
"I took Amanda over to the U.S. Patent Office and we met with a patent examiner who reviews those types of patents. I did some digging and found a reference to Ron Michaels’ application. It showed the patent attorney’s name and a box address. Then I dug some more and found a few pages from the original filing. The attorney's name is Robert Pletcher, and he's in Manhattan. But here's the really interesting part." David stops a moment and looks around the porch for something, but of course no one sees a thing.
Taming the Telomeres, a Thriller Page 29