“Callahan!”
He turned around to see Sam standing several yards behind them. He looked like hell, his hair unwashed, wearing the same clothes he’d had on yesterday. And he looked pissed.
“Sam, what are you doing here? You were supposed to call—”
“I figured you’d be with her. God, Max, she’s got you screwed up. You’re thinking with your cock, man. She’s part of this, and she’s twisting you around her finger just like all women do. Deceiving you. Manipulating you. They say blind women are better in bed, because they use their other senses. Is it true, Max? Come on, let’s hear the dirty details.”
“Olivia, keep walking. I’ll catch up with you.” He’d keep her in his sight. “Sam, what the hell is going on with you?” He didn’t smell any booze on him, but he sure sounded wasted. He’d obviously been awake all night.
“I tried you on your cell phone. It wasn’t working. I tried you at home, but you weren’t there. It wasn’t hard to figure out where you were.”
Max checked his cell phone and found the charge had fizzled out. He’d brought his charger, but forgot to plug it in.
He put his hands on Sam’s shoulders and leaned into his face. “What is going on? Did they find the girl?” It scared him to see the man he’d always looked up to acting like this.
Sam shoved him away. “My life’s falling apart. Annie threw me out last night. And I…” His eyes glazed; he wasn’t looking at Max, but at Olivia. “I tried to find you, but you were over here screwing our prime suspect. She’s going to ruin you, ruin your career and everything you’ve worked for.” He dropped down to one of the ornate benches, all the energy seeming to drain from him at once. “I don’t know what to do,” he said in an agonized whisper.
Max crouched down in front of him, surreptitiously glancing toward Olivia. “Talk to me, man. Why did Annie kick you out?”
He blinked, becoming aware of his surroundings and what he’d said. “It’s the case. That’s all, it’s just this case. It’s getting to me. You’re getting to me. I don’t know what’s going on with you. I’ve never seen you fall for a suspect. Don’t deny that you are. I’ve seen you watching her. And you’re being secretive. It’s not like you, Max, and you know it.”
Sam had effectively turned the conversation to him and Olivia. “First of all, she’s not a suspect. You busted your ass trying to prove she’s part of the scheme, and you failed. That’s because she’s not. Secondly, I believe her. I believe she’s psychically connected to the girl.” And thirdly, she was just about too far away. “Come on, let’s walk.”
“You’re willing to risk your career for her?”
“For Phaedra, I am. She’s our best chance of finding her.”
As they walked, Max told him what he’d learned so far, all of it.
“Now you know why I couldn’t tell you all of this. I shouldn’t even be on this case. But I can’t let it go now. We’ve got until midnight tonight. Will you work with me? It’s all we have to go on.”
Sam was watching Olivia as she released Stasia in the dog run. He had a hard, cold look in his eyes. Max wasn’t even sure he’d heard.
“Why do you have it in for Olivia?” he asked, jarring Sam out of his stare.
“She’s going to destroy you, Max. They all do.”
“I’ve got to pick up a hypnotherapist at the airport in an hour. We’re going to hypnotize Olivia and see if we can get anything out of her abduction memories. I’ll meet you at the station in a while and we’ll start on those missing child case files.”
“We haven’t even gotten them from all the different departments.”
“Then get on their cases.” He removed his key from his ring. “Go to my place and wash up. First see if you can find something to wear.” He wished they could discuss what had happened between him and Annie, but there wasn’t time.
Phaedra watched the bad man leave. He’d brought her breakfast, at least. She used to love McDonald’s and Burger King, but not anymore. She ate the food and carefully balled up the wrappers.
He’d told her she was dirty, that she needed a bath. But he hadn’t let her take one, and she didn’t want to anyway, not with him standing there watching her like he did when she went to the bathroom.
It was another one of his tricks. She was scared of what he’d do to her that night. The cut on her chest still stung, even though he’d treated it with salve that morning. He’d acted all nice, but she knew he wasn’t. He was a bad, bad man.
The tub was dripping, dripping, dripping. The sound was making her crazy. He was going to give her a bath tonight, that’s what he’d do. Her gaze darted around the room, trying to find some way to get out of that cage. She pushed on the bars again, though it had never helped before.
Crying in frustration, she curled up in the back corner, mindful of the piece of metal that scratched her sometimes. She was never going to see her mom and dad again. Just the thought of them was enough to make her cry.
The piece of metal still jabbed her. She’d bent it back so it didn’t stick inside the cage anymore. She turned around and ran her fingers along the edge of it. After bending it back and forth for a few minutes, it finally snapped off. She looked at it. Maybe she could stab him in the eye. Then she’d grab his keys and…
She sniffed. She was too small to do that. Then he’d really punish her.
She looked at the lock. Her friend’s brother had picked a neighbor’s lock on his shed once. She slid the piece of metal into the lock that held the door in place. It was awkward, but if she twisted just so, she could turn the metal inside the lock. It was an old lock, big and rusty. Maybe she could get it to unlock. She bit her lower lip and worked on it.
“Just relax, Olivia. Don’t put any pressure on yourself to remember, all right?”
She swallowed hard and closed her eyes. She was lying on her couch, and Dr. Marano was sitting on a chair beside her. They’d moved the coffee table and the end tables. Max was perched on the arm of the couch near her head. He’d brought a mini-cassette recorder to capture what she said.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“I’m not afraid to do this. Memories can’t hurt me.” She said it with such conviction, he could almost believe her—until she reached for his hand. Her fingers closed around his, and she settled more comfortably. “I’m ready.”
He couldn’t breathe for a moment. She’d reached for him.
Livvy.
It was all twisted inside him, how he’d felt about her when he rescued her, how he’d wondered about her. Now that he’d found her, she tugged on all his desires to keep her safe and warm and protected…and just keep her. She was the wrong woman to feel that way about. He was the wrong man to feel that way period.
It took ten minutes of Marano’s soothing voice to lull her into a hypnotized state. Max felt himself getting pulled in, too, and had to blink to wake himself. He needed one night of good sleep. He looked at Olivia with her eyes closed. He should have gone to her bedroom last night. Not to continue what they’d started in the living room. Just to hold her.
Marano took her back through the past to the day of her abduction. “What do you see, Olivia?”
Her voice took on a little girl’s sound. “I’m in the toy store. I’m mad at my mother. She promised we wouldn’t do another pageant until the spring. She promised! And she just told me we’re going to New York in January for another one. I hate being up there in front of everyone being judged. I hate smiling and singing for them. And if I don’t win, I hate going over and over each thing with Mother trying to figure out why. Was I poised enough? Pretty enough? Should she have used that glossy stuff on my hair that makes it all stiff? I hate it!”
“What happens next?”
“She’s talking to the mother of a girl who also does the pageants. Jasmine does commercials, too. I’m going to hide from Mother. Maybe if she gets worried about me, she won’t make me go to that pageant. A man is telling me that if I follow him, I’ll meet Santa Claus,
but I don’t believe in him anymore. I’m going to hide in the back room. She’ll never find me in there.”
Santa Claus. Could it be the same ruse Bobby had pulled with Phaedra? It was ingenious, really. Kids were taught not to go off with a stranger, but Santa wasn’t a stranger. It was a great way to disguise himself without standing out. He probably wore the costume into the store and changed out of it in the back room so kids wouldn’t swamp him.
Her eyes twitched beneath her closed lids. She tensed, squeezing his hand tight.
“What’s happening, Olivia?”
She rocked her head back and forth. “The man followed me. He’s pushing a cloth against my face, it smells terrible, and…” She stilled.
“Olivia, it’s an hour later. Maybe two. You’re waking up. What do you see?”
Her voice was low, almost a whisper. “Where am I? It’s a long room. There’s a dim light, but I can’t see much.” Her breath was coming in quick puffs now. “I want to go home. I want my daddy. Where’s Daddy?” Tears shimmered beneath her lashes. “I’m so scared. Somebody help me! Mother, where are you? There’s a cage…he’s going to put me in a cage!” She made struggling noises, and he knew she was reliving her fight with Bobby.
Max wanted to pull her out of that hell, just as he had when she’d connected to Phaedra. It took everything inside him to wait it out. Like she’d said, memories couldn’t hurt her. But what about the fear? She put on a brave front, maybe even for herself. He’d do anything to eradicate her fear, but how could he if she wouldn’t admit it?
She suddenly stilled. He remembered that Bobby had knocked her out.
Dr. Marano said, “Let’s move ahead to when you wake up.”
She moved her free hand as though she were trying to feel her way. “I can’t see. I can’t see!”
“The man is there. What is he saying to you?”
“He’s telling me not to make a sound, that if I’m quiet, he’ll take off the gag. I promise I won’t make a noise. He says I’m Rose. But I’m not Rose, I’m Livvy. He says he’s my father, but he’s not. He’s not!”
Max never thought it could be so painful to listen as she recounted her days of terror. So far, there hadn’t been any revelations. Not until she said, “He says he has to punish me on Christmas night. At midnight. He says I made my mother kill herself, but I know it’s not true! She didn’t kill herself!”
He blamed Rose for making his mother kill herself? But why on Christmas? Christmas, that was the key. He wrote a note to the doctor.
Dr. Marano nodded as he read it, then turned back to Olivia. “Did he say anything else about Christmas?”
She nodded. “He said something about leap year. Something about it being Christmas leap year.”
Max gently extricated his hand from hers and motioned to the doctor that he’d be right back. He left his cell phone on the charger and grabbed Olivia’s portable phone. He went out onto the balcony and made a call.
“Odette, it’s Max. Merry Christmas.”
“Oh, you too, Maxie. It’s so sweet of you to call me every year.” She acted as though he hadn’t talked with her yesterday.
“I care about you. I’m sorry if I upset you. Maybe I’m jumping to crazy conclusions. This case has me on the edge.”
“That’s okay, Maxie,” she said, relief in her voice. “Let’s not talk about it anymore.”
“I just have one question. It’s about my mother. Since it’s Christmas, I’ve been thinking about her.”
“Ask whatever you’d like about Marie.” She was glad he didn’t want to ask about Bobby, he could tell.
“When did she kill herself?”
“Christmas night, 1988, a terrible night to choose, don’t you think?”
“At midnight,” Max said, dread in his voice.
“Yes. How did you know?”
“Just a guess. Did my father blame Rose for her death?”
“He did seem angry at Rose for dying. If only she hadn’t sneaked out of the house. Marie never recovered.”
“I’ve got to go. Take care of yourself.”
He hung up and started counting backward. This was a leap year. Olivia was taken on a leap year. And…just as he thought, Marie killed herself on a leap year. He returned to Olivia and took her hand again.
“I’m so scared,” she was saying in the little-girl voice. “He cut me. I’m never going to see Mother and Daddy again. I…” Her mouth fell open.
“What’s happening, Olivia?” the doctor asked.
“The man left, just ran out. I don’t know what’s going on. And now…someone’s taking my hand, telling me to come with him. It’s an angel come to save me. His voice is so sweet, so gentle. He’s helping me to escape… We’re running… I fell down, but he helped me up. He’s calling for help. And then he tells me it’s okay, to stay right there… A nice family is there, and the angel isn’t anymore. The man is yelling at him. He’s yelling for Max.” She shook her head violently, tears glistening on her cheeks. “I don’t want him to go back. I don’t want the man to hurt him.”
Max squeezed her hand as the tears in her voice ripped at his heart. He stopped the recorder. “That’s enough.”
The doctor brought her slowly out of the hypnosis.
“How’d I do?” She groggily sat up.
He wanted to hold her, to make all those terrible memories go away. He swallowed hard. “Great. Leap year is the key. My mother killed herself on Christmas at midnight on a leap year. He blames Rose for her death. That’s why he keeps taking the girls and making them into Rose—to punish them, over and over. I’ve got to make some calls, get the other stations to narrow down their searches and get us those files.”
Dr. Marano said, “I’d like to talk with Olivia alone for a few minutes. Perhaps we can do that while you’re making your calls.”
Max grabbed his folder of notes. “I’ll be out on the balcony.”
CHAPTER 22
“I’m interested in exploring the cause behind your long-standing conversion disorder,” Dr. Marano told Olivia when they were alone. “I don’t think there’s a documented case where someone has sustained it for as long as you have. What do you think was the underlying cause of stress in your life?”
She felt Stasia nudging her leg and invited her up on the couch. “My mother. She wanted to make me into a doll. She entered me in beauty pageants despite the fact that I hated them. If I didn’t win, she’d be mad at me for days. Well, I perceived it that way. She was probably just disappointed. Even if I did win, I was never good enough. I felt that I had to be what she wanted in order for her to love me.”
She pulled Stasia closer and stroked her fur. “If my mother had taken me to see you sixteen years ago, would my vision have instantly returned?”
“It’s very possible, if it was strictly conversion disorder and not organic. If we catch these things right away, it’s quite miraculous. I’d like to work with you to see if we can restore your vision.”
“I’m not sure I want to see again.”
“Because you’re comfortable being blind. Because it’s part of your identity.”
“That’s part of it.” And because she was afraid that if she regained her sight, she’d lose her connection with Phaedra.
“Well, think about it. I’d like to speak with you again. Perhaps we can delve into your other issues, too.”
“I have other issues?”
“Well…yes. I am trained to pick up on subtle clues. I’ve been studying you since you picked me up at the airport, you and Max, listening to the two of you talk and watching you interact. Now that you’ve told me a little about your background, I see why.”
“Why what?”
“You have a wall around you. You built it long before the kidnapping, because you felt that if you didn’t live up to your mother’s expectations, she wouldn’t love you. If you didn’t need her love, then the lack of it couldn’t hurt you. Do you see what I’m saying?”
She nodded even as her mind tr
ied to get around it.
“The blindness stemmed partially from that,” he continued. “Conversion disorder always comes from something in the person’s life that is now disabled by the function that is no longer working.”
“I thought that was the pageants. The blindness certainly did get me out of them.”
“That was only part of it. The underlying problem was the perceived lack of love if you didn’t participate. If you didn’t win. By eliminating those pageants, you eliminated that expectation in hopes of earning her love for being yourself.”
“Then she paraded me around as an example of what can happen if you don’t watch your children carefully.”
“You were still in that situation. So you convinced yourself you didn’t need love.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“Do you need love, Olivia?”
She started to say No, an automatic response. “I don’t think anyone needs love, per se. It’s nice to have it, of course.” She paused. “I’d like to have it.”
“How many times have you loved someone?”
She shifted to a crossed-legged sitting position. “I love my father. We’ve grown very close in the last couple of years.”
“Do you need his love?”
An ache permeated her stomach. “When I was young, yes. But he wasn’t around a lot. So you’re right, I learned to live without that need. Now…I would like his love very much. And I have it when he’s lucid.”
“Lucid?”
“He has Alzheimer’s.”
“Ah, so it’s safe if he doesn’t give you that love, because he can’t always remember who you are.”
Her fingers tightened against Stasia’s back as she stroked down the length of her. “It’s not like that.”
“If you say so. But what about romantic love? How many men have you loved? I mean a true, I-must-spend-the-rest-of-my-life-with-this-person-or-I’ll-shrivel-up-and-die kind of love.”
She started to name a couple of men but faltered. She’d loved being with them, loved making love, but had she loved them like that? For a reason she didn’t want to explore, Max slipped into her mind.
Blindsight [Now You See Me] (Romantic Suspense) Page 27