Hosts

by F. Paul Wilson

  "Kate!" Jeanette wailed, her voice a terror-laden plea. "Oh God, Kate, why haven't you done anything?"

  Her cry was so abrupt, so heartrending, that Jack nearly dropped the wine bottle. He stared at her agonized features and saw that her earlier remoteness was gone. The woman on the far side of the counter now was reaching out with her eyes, with her hands and arms, panic radiating from every pore.

  "Jeanette!" Kate cried, turning Jeanette to face her. "What is it? What's happening!"

  "I'm losing, Kate! I can't hold out much longer. Pretty soon there'll be nothing left of me! You've got to help me, Kate!" Her voice rose to a scream. "For God's sake help meV

  And then her knees buckled. As she fell against Kate, Jack started around the counter to help but Gia was already there.

  "Get her over to the couch!" Gia said.

  The three of them helped the barely conscious Jeanette across the room where they stretched her out. Kate placed Jeanette's ankles on the arm rest, positioning them above the level of her head, then took her pulse. Gia ran back to the kitchen and started running water over a dish towel. Jack stood back and watched, a little shaken.

  "This is what happened yesterday morning," Kate said. "Jeanette, are you—?"

  "What's going on?" Jeanette said, shuddering and starting to sit up.

  Kate tried to hold her down. "You had another one of those spells. Just rest for a moment."

  "No." She struggled to a sitting position. "That can't be. How did I get over here?"

  Jeanette was back to the remote woman Jack had met when he'd arrived; she seemed concerned but not as much as Jack thought she should be.

  "We helped you," Gia said. Her face was pale, she looked shaken. "You almost passed out."

  "This is the second time now, Jeanette," Kate said. "You can't go on like this. You've got to let Dr. Fielding check you over."

  "He's an idiot."

  "Then let's see someone else."

  "What for? I'm fine." She shook off Kate's hand and rose to her feet. "Everybody just give me some space."

  Kate and Gia stepped back.

  "Jeanette—"

  "Please, Kate, would you ask Jack and Gia to go. I'd like to be alone."

  Kate blinked. "Do… do you want me to leave too?"

  "No, of course not. This is your home too." She turned to Jack. "I'm sorry. It was nice meeting you both. I know we'll meet again soon."

  She turned and headed for a doorway at the far end of the room.

  "I don't know what to say," Kate said when the door closed behind Jeanette. "She did this yesterday morning, and now again…"

  "For a few moments there," Gia said, "she seemed like another person."

  "A terrified one," Jack added.

  Kate nodded. "I know. A true multiple personality disorder is so rare it's almost nonexistent… but I don't know how else to explain this."

  "And why does she refuse to see a doctor?" Jack said. "If I'd just become another person for a few minutes and didn't remember it, I'd be on the phone demanding an appointment yesterday."

  "Look," Kate said. "Why don't you two go on. I'm really sorry about this but—"

  "Not your fault, Kate. Why don't you come out and catch a bite with us?"

  "No. I should stay here in case she needs me. You two go ahead." She hugged Gia and kissed her cheek. "It was wonderful meeting you." Then she turned to Jack and hugged him.

  He wrapped his arms around his sister and held her close. Had he ever done this? He couldn't remember. If not, he shouldn't have waited this long. It felt good, and would have felt better if not for a nagging fear for her.

  "You're sure you don't want to come along?"

  She stepped back and nodded. "I'll be fine. Call me tomorrow."

  Jack didn't feel right about leaving her but didn't see any options. He opened the door.

  "Okay. I will. First thing. And you have my home phone number. If you need me, you call, no matter what the hour."

  In the kitchen the microwave oven dinged. The avocado dip was ready.

  9

  Jack and Gia took the stairs down.

  "Did you see how Jeanette changed?" Gia said. "Isn't that the strangest thing you've ever seen?"

  He knew they'd both seen stranger things, but…

  "Yeah. Pretty damn strange. Creepy."

  "I'll say," she said as they reached street level. She laid a hand on his arm. "And by the way, how come you never told me your sister was gay?"

  "What?" He was stunned. His big sister, the pediatrician mother of two, a lesbian? Was Gia nuts? "How can you even think that?"

  "Well, there may not be Melissa Etheridge posters on the wall, but there's a whole collection of Cris Williamson CDs in the rack, and if she and Jeanette aren't a couple, I'll remarry Richard when he returns."

  They both knew her ex was gone for good—as in dead and digested. But Gia was way off here.

  As they pushed through the front door into the night air Jack said, "Kate's not—"

  And then it all came together. Of course she was. Kate was a giving person, but Jack suddenly realized she'd never take a leave from her practice and her kids to nursemaid some old sorority sister. When she'd said she was seeing someone special but foresaw no wedding bells, it wasn't a married man, it was a woman.

  Jack turned and stared through the glass doors into the vestibule of the apartment building. "I didn't see it. How could I miss it?"

  "With any other pair of women I'm sure you would have, right off. But your brain wasn't offering you options for your big sister's sexual orientation. So unless Kate showed up on a motorcycle with a shaved head and 'Bitch On Wheels' tattooed on her arm, you weren't going to see it. Her being a lipstick lesbian just made it harder."

  "No wonder she seems to be walking on eggs when I'm around. Kate… I can't get over it."

  "Does it bother you?" Gia said. "Come on, Jack, talk. You keep things in and stew about them. Don't do that here. Talk to me."

  "Okay. Am I bothered? No. Anything Kate wants to be is fine with me. But am I shocked? Yes. Because I never saw it coming. I grew up with her, Gia. Never a sign, never a hint."

  "At least not that you saw."

  "Granted. I was a kid and I wasn't looking. But she always had boyfriends and… Gia, it's like the direction I always thought was north has suddenly become south. Should I go back and talk to her? Tell her I know and it's all right? Maybe that way she can relax around me."

  Jack was used to knowing what to do in most situations, but here he was foundering.

  "Since you asked," Gia said, "yes. Otherwise the two of you will go on dodging each other: she'll be hiding who she is and you'll be hiding that you know what she's hiding. But it's not my decision. And whatever you do, save it for tomorrow. Kate's got enough on her plate tonight, don't you think?"

  Jack slipped his hand around the back of Gia's neck and kissed her lips. What would he do without her?

  "Thanks."

  She brushed her fingers against his hair. "Not a good day for Repairman Jack, hmmm?"

  "Lousy."

  "Well, Vicky's sitter is good till midnight. We could go back to your place and maybe, just maybe, if we think real hard, we might come up with a way to help you forget your troubles."

  It had been a whole week. Jack felt more than ready.

  "I think that's a perfectly wonderful—"

  He noticed a woman standing across the street, staring. Not at them. Above them. She seemed to be in a trance. Something familiar about her face.

  "What's wrong?" Gia said.

  "Check out that blond woman over there. Do we know her?"

  "Never seen her before."

  Jack followed the line of the woman's stare and felt a stab of uneasiness when he realized she'd drawn a bead on the west corner of the third floor.

  Gia whispered, "She's staring at Jeanette's apartment."

  He looked at the woman again and now he recognized her. From the séance or whatever it was in the Bronx last nig
ht.

  "I don't like this," Jack said. Not with Kate in that apartment.

  "Look over there," Gia said, cocking her head to the left. "Down on the corner."

  Jack spotted the man immediately. Although Jack didn't recognize him—a number of people at the séance had had their backs to him when he'd peeked in—he felt sure he was with the cult. Because he too was staring up at Jeanette's apartment.

  How many more weirdos out tonight? he wondered as he scanned the block. He spotted none beyond these two.

  Jack stepped to the curb for his own look at Jeanette's windows and spotted a human silhouette standing in one of them. A Bates Motel chill rippled across his shoulders. The open-mouthed terra cotta head glaring down at him from atop the window arch frieze only added to his unease.

  Then the shadow disappeared from the window. Jack did a quick review of the apartment layout and decided it had to be Jeanette's study. Was she coming out to join the others?

  "Let's move over here," Jack said, guiding Gia away from the vestibule's light wash and into the shadows.

  Sure enough, minutes later Jeanette emerged. She crossed the street and joined the other two. The trio glided off toward Seventh Avenue.

  "This is creepy," Gia said. Jack could feel her shiver as she clutched his arm and leaned against him. "Like some of those movies you make me watch. Where do you think they're going?"

  "Looking for a cab to take them to the Bronx, I'll bet." But he didn't care about them. It was his sister who concerned him. "I've got to check on Kate."

  He stepped back to the apartment house door and pressed the button labeled J. VEGA. Three times. Finally Kate answered.

  "Yes?"

  "Kate, it's Jack. I just saw Jeanette leave. Are you all right?"

  "Of course." Even through the tinny little speaker Jack thought her voice sounded thick with emotion. "Why wouldn't I be?"

  "Can I come up, Kate?" He glanced at Gia for approval and she gave him a combination shrug-nod. "I'd like to talk to you."

  "Not tonight, Jack. Maybe tomorrow. It's been a long day and I'm not feeling that great."

  "You're sure you're all right, Kate?"

  "I'm fine, Jack. Fine."

  That last word, couched in a sob, tore his heart.

  "Kate…"

  But she'd broken the connection.

  Jack turned to Gia and slipped his arms around her. "I can't stand this," he said, pulling her close and resting his cheek against hers.

  She caressed his back and whispered, "I know. You're the fix-it man and you can't fix this."

  "I don't even know where to start."

  "Let's go home. Things may look different in the morning."

  "Yeah."

  But he doubted it.

  FRIDAY

  1

  Sandy found Beth in the kitchen making fresh coffee when he burst into the apartment with the morning edition.

  "Ta-daaaa!" he cried as he held up the front page.

  Beth shrieked and ran to him. She'd moved some of her clothes into his apartment yesterday; she was barefoot in tight little shorts and a T-shirt and she looked so good Sandy wanted to grab her and hug her, but she snatched the paper from him and held the tabloid at arms length, staring at the three-word headline large enough to read from a block away.

  THE

  SAVIOR

  SPEAKS!

  "'An exclusive interview for The Light by Sandy Palmer'!" she said, reading the italic refer running along the bottom. "Sandy! Your name's on the front page!"

  "I know, I know! Isn't it awesome!"

  "Totally! I've so got to read this!" She opened to page three. "'"Call me anything you want," the man known as The Savior said. "The one thing I'm not telling you is my name."'" She looked up at him and smiled. "What a great opening line!"

  While Beth stood there reading, Sandy wandered about the front room, unable to sit or even stand still. Every giddy nerve in his body was singing a joyful tune and his stomach tingled, almost to the point of nausea. Today was without a doubt the best day of his life, and the best moment of this day was when he'd stopped in front of the newsstand and gaped at that front page. For a full minute at least he'd stood frozen, couldn't even reach into his pocket for the change to buy a copy. And during that minute he'd seen one person after another pass up the Times and the News and the Post and go for The Light.

  Mine. My Light.

  He'd sure as hell earned it. Yesterday he'd thought he was home free after weathering an intense grilling by George Meschke and the other editors; then McCann showed up and put Sandy in the hot seat, firing questions from all angles, obviously hoping he'd contradict himself. He pushed Sandy almost to the breaking point.

  "Am I on trial here?" he'd finally shouted. "All I did was answer the goddamn phone! Since when is that a crime?"

  And that had brought Meschke to his rescue. He'd told McCann they were satisfied with the story's authenticity and were running it in the morning. McCann reluctantly backed off.

  "Well, at least we know he was a SEAL," the big detective had said. "Or at least he says he was. That's a boost. Only so many guys make it all the way through SEAL training. We'll get the Navy on this."

  He'd extracted a promise that the make and model of the Savior's pistol would not be mentioned, then stormed off.

  But beyond the front page, beyond the interview, was the fact that The Light, for the first time in its fifty-year history, was putting out a second issue in the same week. They'd contacted their advertisers, pulled out all the backlogged restaurant and book and theater reviews and packed them into the back pages to fill out the count. Then they'd contacted their distributor for delivery of a Special Edition that would be four times their usual run.

  All because of moi, he thought. I'm making this paper go.

  "Awesome!" Beth said, lowering the paper and fixing those big brown eyes on him. " 'We're all alive today because of a criminal act.' Totally, totally awesome!"

  "You like it? You think it was well written?"

  Sandy hung on her answer. Beth admired him, she made love to him, but he wanted her respect, too.

  "Absolutely! But it must have been so weird talking to him on the phone. I mean, he saved our lives. I wish 1 could remember what he looked like, don't you?"

  The question put Sandy on alert, blunting his high. He'd been dying to tell Beth about his meeting with the Savior, and a couple of times last night he'd caught himself just as he'd been ready to blurt it out. He was afraid he'd explode if he didn't tell someone soon.

  But he couldn't risk it. Not even with Beth. If she let it slip, he would come under relentless pressure. Maybe he could tell her later, after things cooled down a bit. Or maybe he'd save it for his book on the Savior; what a great hook to be able to reveal that he'd actually sat and talked face to face with the mystery man.

  "What would you do if you could remember?" Sandy asked.

  "You mean, like if someone hypnotized me and suddenly I could see his face?" Her eyes lit. "Hey! That might be something I could use in my film!"

  She jumped to the cluttered table he used as a home desk and jotted a few lines on a pad.

  "But if you could remember," he repeated, "what would you do?"

  She looked at him. "Tell you the truth, I'm not sure. Yesterday I would have told the world. But just a few minutes ago, while you were out, I was channel surfing and came across To Kill A Mockingbird. I love black-and-white films and I've seen it at least two dozen times. It was the scene where Scout and Jem are attacked in the woods, and then someone they don't see kills their attacker. Turns out it's Boo Radley, but Atticus decides not to tell anyone because it would ruin Boo's life. And it hit me: maybe the Savior is like Boo Radley—an otherwise harmless recluse who jumped in when he was needed, but whose life would be ruined by publicity."

  "This guy's not harmless," Sandy said. "And no way anybody's going to mistake him for a mockingbird."

  "Maybe not, but…" Beth shrugged. "What's he sound like?"
/>
  "Like a regular guy. No real accent I could identify." No lie there. He glanced at his watch. "I'm expected at the office."

  Sandy had decided to get down to The Light so he could bask in the buzz. He expected some of the other reporters, especially the older ones, to be jealous, but he hoped most everybody else would be happy for him. Another round of handshaking and backslapping would be in order. And this time, without an interview to write up, he could relax and enjoy it.

  And leaving now also meant he wouldn't have to tell Beth more lies.

  "Okay," Beth said. She gestured to his desk. "Do you mind if I use your computer to start the treatment for my film?"

  "Sure." Sandy considered the chaos of notes, newspaper clippings, envelopes, folders, and CD cases that littered the surface. "If you can find the keyboard."

  Beth giggled as she started to sift through the mess. "I'm sure it's in here somewhere." She lifted a manila envelope and peered inside. "This anything important?"

  "Yes!" Sandy said, louder and quicker than he wished. He knew that folder: the remaining Savior printouts. He tried to laugh it off as he reached out with forced casualness and eased it from her hand. "Notes for an article I'm planning. My editor'll kill me if anything happens to them."

  Beth looked mildly offended. "I wouldn't let anything happen to them."

  "Only kidding." He crossed his arms, trapping the envelope against his thudding heart. "The place is yours. Really. Rearrange that stuff any way you want."

  The Savior had been right. These printouts were a liability. Sandy's session with McCann yesterday had driven home how badly the detective wanted the Savior. If he got him, bye-bye exclusive.

  No question—the printouts had to go. He couldn't see any further use for them anyway. If he ever needed another copy all he had to do was call up the Identi-Kit file from The Light's system and print it out.

  Beth picked up the newspaper from the desk and stared again at the headline.

  "I still can't believe how lucky we were that a man with his training was on that train and in that car with us. I used to think I'd love to meet him—you know, give him a hug and say thanks—but after reading this I'm not so sure."