by Eric Bernt
Fenton could feel his shirt collar sticking to the back of his neck. He was starting to sweat. “I wouldn’t describe it as an argument. We were managing a patient crisis.”
“What kind of patient crisis?”
Fenton was quite certain Gunn already knew the answer. He was more interested in how Fenton answered than what he said. “A patient had fled the facility.”
“Which was Barnes’s job to prevent from happening.”
“It was among his responsibilities, yes.”
“So in other words, he had failed you.”
“Not him personally, but members of his staff.”
The agent in charge crossed his arms over his chest. “Barnes failed to return this patient to your facility, did he not?”
“In that regard, yes, he did fail.”
The AIC smiled ever so slightly. He was enjoying this. “Were you aware that your missing patient, Edward Parks, has been in the custody of Homeland Security since approximately midnight last night?”
Fenton gritted his teeth. “No, I was not aware. That’s very good news.”
The AIC glanced at someone approaching in the distance. All Fenton could see was a man in a suit. The senior doctor hadn’t brought his distance glasses, and couldn’t make out any further details.
The agent in charge asked Fenton, “Why did the New York Police Department bring you in for questioning last night?”
Fenton’s jaw tightened noticeably. “As best as I could determine, to harass me with inadmissible evidence.”
The AIC turned to the man approaching them, who was now close enough for the doctor to recognize. “Detective, was the purpose of your interrogation last night to harass this man with inadmissible evidence?”
Detective Butler McHenry shook his head innocently. “No, sir. Where did you get that idea?”
The agent in charge studied Fenton. “Doctor, what evidence were you referring to?”
CHAPTER 108
American Heritage Foundation, Alexandria, Virginia, May 28, 10:06 a.m.
Daryl Trotter stood behind the scientist as he worked Edward Parks’s computer inside the conference room. Bob Stenson and the other two American Heritage Foundation lieutenants looked on impatiently from the opposite side of the mahogany table. Harwood removed a pair of headphones and turned to Daryl. “I’ve gotten all I’m going to get out of it.”
Daryl nodded, then turned to his colleagues. “Okay, what I want you to do is listen to the difference between these two reconstructions produced from the same original wave fragments. I had him pick the file with the lowest amount of white noise, which was the interrogation of the kidnapping suspect. The characteristics of an interrogation room are ideal for this purpose, and the echoes are also the least decayed due to age.”
Stenson was growing annoyed. “Get on with it.”
“Right. Okay, this first one is the reconstruction that was already stored on Parks’s machine, presumably made yesterday.”
He nodded to Harwood, who hit “Play” on Edward Parks’s computer. The voices came through clearly, just as they had the first time the reconstruction was heard inside the Sixth Precinct.
SUSPECT: I swear to God, I don’t know where she is!
DETECTIVE LIEUTENANT VICTORIA DANIELS: Tell me where she is, Henry.
SUSPECT: I don’t fucking know! What are you, deaf?!
Stenson shook his head. “We’ve already heard this, Daryl.” The scientist stopped the playback.
Daryl nodded. “Right. I know. It’s important for the sake of comparison.” He turned to Harwood. “Now play the one you just made using the more recent version of Edward Parks’s program.”
The scientist again hit “Play.” The voices were completely inaudible. All that was heard was shrill screeching. Daryl hit “Stop” on the supercomputer. “Quite a difference, wouldn’t you say?”
Stenson shook his head. “What’s the point?”
“Unless something was overlooked, a newer version of a program should be more advanced than the one that preceded it. Revised software should work better, not worse.”
Caitlin McCloskey wasn’t following. “What is it, a glitch?”
Harwood shook his head. “No. Edward Parks doesn’t make little errors. Only big ones.”
McCloskey shrugged, still in the dark. Jason Greers was right there with her, but he wasn’t going to be so obvious about it.
Bob Stenson, on the other hand, suddenly saw the light. “Well, I’ll be damned.”
Trotter smiled. “Exactly.” He knew Stenson would be the first of the others to realize what had happened.
Caitlin couldn’t help herself—she blurted out, “Exactly what?”
“He saw it coming,” Trotter replied.
“Who?”
“Edward Parks.”
Stenson added, “Dr. Drummond must have given him the suggestion.”
Now Caitlin was getting frustrated. “Suggested what to him?”
The scientist now caught up with Trotter and Stenson. “That he regress his work. She realized Parks was going to lose possession of his device, so she had him revert his program to the previous version.”
Greers was furious. “He what?!”
Harwood struggled to fathom the brinksmanship. “It’s . . . it’s . . .”
Stenson completed the sentence for him. “Brilliant.” He said it in an ice-cold tone that made two things immediately clear: he had genuine appreciation for the fugitives’ unanticipated move, and Stenson was already certain what the American Heritage Foundation was going to do next.
CHAPTER 109
Philadelphia Office, Department of Homeland Security, May 28, 6:19 p.m.
Skylar had been served dinner inside the Homeland holding cell the same way she had been served breakfast and lunch. In silence. As if her very words could be wielded like venom. Which she found kind of flattering.
Skylar continued to eat every last bite of food she was given, because she knew eventually she would need her strength. They were going to have to talk to her sometime. And when they did, she wanted to be ready.
Still, Skylar was surprised when Kendricks, the humorless agent who had arrested her, appeared outside her door. “Approach me with your back toward me. Place your hands and wrists through the opening so I can cuff them.”
She did so. “Where are we going?”
“You’ll find out when you get there.” He locked the cuffs around her wrists and led her out of the building.
Skylar had never been to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia before, so she didn’t recognize the building until they pulled in front of its sign. Skylar knew she wouldn’t get an answer, but asked anyway. “What are we doing here?”
Kendricks didn’t say a word. He parked the car in a red zone, where he was met by the Homeland agent stationed outside the main entrance. He escorted them to the elevators, where they were instructed to go to the fourth floor. Stepping out of the elevator, they were met by an agent who escorted them to the end of the hall, where two more agents were stationed outside the door to room 423. These two studied Skylar with interest. She was too young and attractive to be the woman they were expecting. The shorter one, Ziggler, addressed her. “Dr. Skylar Drummond?”
“Why do you sound surprised?”
“I suppose I was expecting someone older.”
She was in no mood for flattery. “Why am I here?”
The two agents turned to Kendricks. Ziggler asked, “You haven’t told her?”
Kendricks answered matter-of-factly. “Weren’t my instructions.”
The shorter agent decided to make it clear exactly who was in charge. “Remove her handcuffs.”
Kendricks took out his handcuff keys and removed the restraints from Skylar’s wrists. She nodded to the shorter agent with appreciation. “Thank you.”
Ziggler felt three inches taller. “Would you like to see your patient?”
She momentarily forgot to breathe. “Eddie’s here?”
He no
dded. “Other side of this door.” She immediately moved toward it, when the agent stepped in front of her. “There’s something you should know before you see him.”
Skylar entered room 423 with great excitement and even greater trepidation. CHOP’s head of emergency medicine had been correct: there was no telling how long traumatized patients could remain “locked in.” Or what would reconnect them with the world again. The only thing Skylar knew was that she wanted to see Eddie. And touch him. And reassure him that everything was going to be okay, even if he couldn’t hear her.
She broke into tears upon seeing him. He was staring at the ceiling. “Eddie.” She placed her hand on his cheek, and kissed his forehead. He did not respond.
The shorter agent had followed her into the room. “Would you like a moment alone with him?”
She nodded gratefully. “Please.”
“Take as much time as you need.” The agent looked to the replacement nurse and motioned for her to leave the room as well. She made a note on her time chart, and exited into the hallway with her materials. Ziggler followed her, pausing in the doorway. “I’ll be right outside if you need anything.”
Skylar waited for the door to close, then pulled a chair up next to Eddie and continued to cry. All she could think was how helpless he looked. So docile. So innocent. He reminded Skylar of her brother, Christopher, who never did anything in his life to hurt anyone. Neither had Eddie. They weren’t capable of it. All Eddie had ever wanted was to hear his mother’s voice. Was that too much to ask? He had devoted his entire life to the pursuit of it. And now his only hope for that dream coming true had been taken away from him. The world cared nothing for him or his wishes. It only cared about his device, and what it could do. The mysteries it could solve. The answers it would reveal. And it was all her fault. Because she was just as guilty as everybody else. Right along with the rest of the world, Skylar had placed her needs above Eddie’s. She should have never taken him off Harmony House grounds. She would never forgive herself, just like she would blame herself for her brother’s suicide for the rest of her life. Tears slowly rolled down her cheeks. “Eddie, I’m so sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”
His eyes remained fixed on the ceiling, even as he whispered in a barely audible voice, “Why are you so, so sorry, Skylar?”
She stared at him in disbelief, certain that she must have just hallucinated. Until he slowly turned his head toward her and looked at her briefly. “Eddie, you spoke.”
“Yes, I did.” He sounded terribly sad and distant, and then he looked away.
She trembled with a mixture of excitement and confusion. “How . . . how is this possible?”
“In human beings, voicing occurs when air is expelled from the lungs through the glottis, creating a drop in pressure across the larynx.”
“They said you’d been traumatized,” she interrupted. “That . . . you were unable to communicate.”
Eddie nodded. “I became very frightened when the agents pointed their guns at me. I did not like when they did that.”
“I didn’t like when they did that, either. I was very scared, too.”
“I heard the doctor say I was unconsciously trying to protect myself. I didn’t know that’s what I was doing. But everyone was leaving me alone and I liked that so I decided to keep doing it.” His voice remained emotionally depleted. It reminded Skylar of how she must have sounded right after learning of Jacob’s death.
“Do you know what time it was when you first started being able to hear the doctor?”
“It was 3:17 in the morning. I know because there’s a clock on the wall.” He pointed weakly to the clock.
Skylar still couldn’t process what she was hearing. “So what have you been doing since then?”
“I have been lying here, thinking.”
“Thinking about what?”
“Birds. Lots and lots of birds. I thought about belted kingfishers. And green-winged teals. And common terns. And hermit thrushes. And swallow-tailed kites. And blue-winged warblers. I remembered how beautiful they sound. And how much better they make me feel. Birds don’t use expressions. They never expect me to interpret what they mean, so I never feel confused or embarrassed around them. I could hear them so clearly in my mind it was like I was actually hearing them. Do you ever do that, imagine something so clearly that it almost seems like it’s real?”
“Yes, I do.” She thought of Jacob. Then tried very hard not to. Skylar took a moment to consider that for the last seventeen hours, Eddie had managed to remain perfectly still while imagining birdcalls and nothing else. Zen Buddhists spent a lifetime in pursuit of such focus. “Incredible.”
Eddie smiled ever so slightly. “You were right, you know.”
Skylar didn’t follow. “About what?”
“That if I spent enough time outside Harmony House, I would lie, because everyone lies sometimes. Even you.”
She was astonished. “What did you lie about?”
“I let the doctors think I couldn’t answer them when I could have. It was a lie of omission.”
“I don’t know that I’d say you were lying. I’d say that you were acting, like the policeman who pretended to have a heart attack to help us.”
“He was still lying.” Eddie glanced around them, looking more like his old self. “I don’t like this room, Skylar. I don’t like the way it sounds. There are too many hard surfaces. I like my room in Harmony House much better. And I really don’t like the needle in my arm, or the adhesive stuck to my skin. It’s itchy and uncomfortable.”
All at once, she couldn’t stop the tears from streaming down her face again. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”
He studied her. “You’re crying.”
She nodded. “Happy tears.”
“I don’t know how to cry happy tears. Do you think you can teach me?”
“I’ll do my best.” Skylar did not actually intend to hold his hand at that particular moment. It just happened. She reached out and gently placed her hand in his. It would have been a completely natural gesture, were Eddie anyone else. But he was not anyone else. He was more special than anyone she’d ever known. Skylar was just about to apologize when she realized Eddie had not withdrawn his hand from hers. In fact, he had not flinched at all. He was letting her hold his hand. “Wow.”
He didn’t know what she was referring to. “Why did you say that?”
She was staring at their hands. “We’re holding hands.”
“I’ve never held hands with anyone before.”
“That’s why I said wow.” This was the most physical contact Eddie had ever voluntarily had in his life. It was powerful. And utterly pure. It was something she had always hoped would happen with her little brother, Christopher, but it never did. Skylar could not stop staring at their clasped hands. Which she soon regretted, because Eddie pulled his back.
He seemed lost in his own world. “I did not let them have the echo box, Skylar.”
She took a deep breath before she answered. “I saw them take it from you. There was nothing you could do to stop them.”
He looked at her with absolute sincerity. “You are wrong, Skylar. There was something I could do.”
He said it with such conviction that she almost gave him the benefit of the doubt. “What?”
His eyes darted around the room for a moment, as he hesitated. “This is just another one of those things that you’re going to have to trust me on.”
She couldn’t help but smile at his imitation of her. “I can do that.” There was a light knock on the door. Skylar quickly leaned down to Eddie. “I don’t want you to talk to anyone else. Do you think you can keep acting for a little while longer?”
“I can do that.” He said it just like she had. He smiled briefly, then turned his blank gaze toward the ceiling, just as the door opened.
Ziggler poked his head in. “Dr. Drummond, pardon the interruption, but there’s someone who would like to speak with you.”
Skylar stepped out of Eddie’
s room to come face-to-face with a man she recognized from watching the news. His name was Senator Corbin Davis. As the shorter agent made introductions, she struggled to connect the dots. What the hell is he doing here?
The senator turned to the agent. “I would like to speak to Ms. Drummond—excuse me, Dr. Drummond—privately.” The agent led them into the patient room adjacent to Eddie’s, which was vacant. The agent left them alone.
Davis studied her admiringly, just as most men did upon first meeting Skylar. “You’ve had quite a couple days.”
“Yes, I have.”
He paused meaningfully. “I’m sorry about what happened to Jacob Hendrix.”
“So am I.”
He nodded. “The man Homeland Security believes to be responsible for his murder was found dead early this morning.”
She bluntly asked, “How?”
“An explosion. It appears to have been an accident.”
“That’s what they said about Jacob.”
He nodded again, sounding almost apologetic. “We get it right eventually.”
“Nothing will ever make this right.” She paused, increasingly curious as to why the senator was there. “What’s going to happen to Fenton?”
“New York City Police have opened an investigation into his involvement in the crime, but it’s unlikely anything will come of it.” He did not take his eyes away from hers, but she didn’t flinch. “The echo box. It doesn’t work. But you knew that, didn’t you?”
No, as a matter of fact, she’d had no idea. It was working just fine last time she heard it, but she was not about to let the senator know that.
“It was quite clever making Fenton believe the technology was functional.”
She nodded almost imperceptibly. Why do they think it doesn’t work? Is this what Eddie was referring to? What did he do? “Am I still under arrest?”
“No, you are not. You’re free to go.”
Skylar now believed she understood why the man was here. Damage control. They were concerned about what she was going to do. Which meant there was an opportunity. “What about Eddie?”
“He will be returned to Harmony House.”