by Polly Iyer
She reached out her hand and he took it. “Don’t leave.”
“I’m not going anywhere. I’m getting you to the hospital.”
“No. No, please. I felt nauseated and fainted. I must have hit my head on the tub. I’ll be all right. Really.”
Lucier considered the situation. Diana didn’t need another high profile incident to call attention to her. She’d endured enough of that. But he wouldn’t chance risking her health because of publicity. “What happened?”
She tried to raise herself up but collapsed on the bed. Lucier wedged a pillow behind her back and helped her sit. Her voice came out in a raspy croak. “I don’t know. I honest to God don’t know.”
“I’m going to phone a doctor friend of my father’s. He’ll make a house call for me.” Lucier called Dr. Reginald Haley and explained what happened over the phone. Haley promised he’d be there within the hour. Lucier got on the bed next to Diana and held her while she dozed. He hoped he was doing the right thing.
Dr. Haley arrived and performed the usual procedures: blood pressure―a little low, heart rate―a little high. Neither in the danger zone. He took a blood and urine sample, and bagged a sample for analysis of whatever she vomited to eliminate the possibility she’d been poisoned.
“She’ll be all right, won’t she, Reggie?” Lucier asked.
Before he could answer, Diana said, “I’ll be fine. Did you see the vomit?”
“Yes, what did you eat?”
“I don’t remember eating anything. Certainly nothing to cause me to vomit black liquid.”
Lucier and Haley exchanged glances. “There was nothing black in the toilet, Diana,” Lucier said.
“Ernie, I…I vomited something black. You saw it, didn’t you, Doctor?”
“I didn’t see anything unusual, Ms. Racine.”
“I swear it was black.” She tried to get up, but again fell back onto the bed. “It was black when I threw up. I’m not crazy.”
“Black vomit is usually associated with yellow fever, my dear, or with excess blood in your stomach. I feel certain you have neither. My guess is that you caught a virulent stomach virus. Those things can put you down and pass just as quickly once you’ve flushed out your system.”
“You were delirious,” Lucier said. “You probably thought you saw it.”
“I’m not crazy,” she said, tears filling her eyes. “I know what I saw.”
“I’m going to give you an antibiotic shot,” Dr. Haley said, “and I’m leaving you something to take for your stomach. You should feel better in a few hours. You have a low-grade fever and you’re slightly dehydrated from vomiting. I’ll send the samples I took to the lab as soon as I get back to the office and let you know if there’s anything to worry about. I doubt there is.”
“Thanks, Reggie,” Lucier said. “I appreciate you coming over so fast.”
“Nothing I wouldn’t do for the son of Remy Lucier. Your father was a fine doctor and a great man. I wish he were still around.”
“So do I.”
Lucier accompanied Haley to the door and returned to Diana’s bedside. She looked pale and confused. “I’m going to make you a cup of tea.”
“No, I don’t think I could hold it down.”
He took her hand. “Okay then, do you want to tell me what happened?”
She skipped the part about Lucier keeping her on a short leash. Compton had played her perfectly. “That’s just it, Ernie. I don’t know. I remember getting into Silas Compton’s limo at the Sunrise Mission, and that’s all I remember. I’m sure I gave him a reading, but I don’t remember that either.”
“Did you drink anything? Anything at all.”
“A Coke. He snapped open the can and poured the cola into a glass from the bar in back of the limo.”
“Do you remember arriving at his house?”
“I told you, everything’s a black hole.” She pinched the bridge of her nose and looked up as sad-eyed as a sick child. “How is that possible?”
“Have you ever heard of date rape drugs?”
“Yes, of course. You don’t believe Silas Compton drugged me, do you?”
“The three biggies, Rohypnol, GHB, and Ketamine, are virtually undetectable: tasteless, odorless, and colorless. The lab would have to run a special test to detect them. You’d be rendered unconscious but responsive. And guess what?” He touched his lips to Diana’s forehead. “Most likely, you wouldn’t remember a thing.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Nor do I.” Lucier called Reginald Haley on his cell and told him to run a test for any of the known date rape drugs and fast. He also asked him to return with a rape kit.
“You think Compton would be so stupid to drug and rape me?”
“I don’t know what to think any more. Men like Compton think they’re above the law, that they can do anything they want and get away with it. I sure as hell don’t want to find out you were violated, but if you test positive for one of those drugs or if you’ve been sexually penetrated, I’ll get a warrant to search Compton’s house so fast, he won’t know what planet he’s on.”
Even as he spoke the words, getting a judge to issue a warrant to search the house of a multi-billionaire wouldn’t be easy. And searching for what? Compton wouldn’t have anything incriminating in his house, especially on the word of a woman who didn’t know where she was the day before or who she was with.
Diana rubbed her temples. “There’s something else, Ernie.” She looked almost apologetic. “I had a dream. At least I think it was a dream. It might have been a memory.”
She told him about the red room, the eyes in black faces, the chanting, and the hands running the length of her body. “After I woke up, I got sick.”
Lucier pulled her into him. It sounded like stories he’d heard of satanic rituals, and the thought scared the hell out of him. Now he was more worried than ever.
“You’re not going anywhere alone from now on, do you hear me? And stay away from Edward Slater.”
“I’m sure Edward’s not involved. If Compton did what you think, he did it without Edward’s knowledge.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yes. I’m going to tell you a story, but you have to promise not to break my confidence.”
“Depends.”
“Promise or I won’t tell you.”
When he promised, Diana told Lucier the story of Edward Slater. She left nothing out except his oblique reference to his interest in her.
“Jesus,” Lucier said when she finished.
Chapter Twenty
Back into the Lion’s Den
“And how are our little ones today,” Silas Compton asked.
“They’re so beautiful and hungry, but Persephone is the hungriest of all, I think, don’t you, Nona?”
“Oh, yes. Look how plump she is.”
Wrapped in a pink blanket, the infant suckled at Brigid’s breast. Nona did the same to another baby, months older. Both women’s long hair fell over their bare shoulders. Neither wore blouses or bras and their breasts protruded full over slim midriffs.
Compton stroked each woman. “How flush with milk you are. These babies will never go hungry, my fertility goddesses.”
Brigid smiled. The compliment assured his approval. They’d do whatever he desired to make him happy. He was their god and it was their pleasure to serve him.
“Mr. Deems is no longer with us, and with the media attention and the interference of the police in our business, we will curtail our searches, for now. I know how difficult it is to find the perfect women to expedite our long-term plans, but you must stay away from the Mission. Do not see Brother Osiris or any of the women you befriended while working there. Of course, the house on Parkside Avenue is off limits forever. Too bad. It was the perfect location― close to Sunrise Mission and an excellent intermediary facility.” He cooed again at the newborns. “Needless to say, we can’t keep the babies here.”
“It was such a lovely house,” Brigid said.
“Yes, well…I must send you both to the compound to be on the safe side. I can’t risk having either of you recognized and picked up by the police.”
“Whatever you wish,” Nona said.
“Will the Goddess Diana be back?” Brigid asked.
Compton drank in the beauty of the two women. “Oh, yes, she’ll be back. She doesn’t know it yet, but she will. Unfortunately, we couldn’t keep her this time. Too much attention has been focused on our project because of Mr. Deems’s carelessness. Next time we’ll take the Goddess Diana to a higher level. I’m betting one of her progeny will have the same psychic makeup as the mother. Imagine, having a baby even more special genetically than the ones we have.”
“More special than yours?” Nona asked.
“All my babies are special, my loves.”
* * * * *
Later that day while Lucier was still at Diana’s house, Reginald Haley called. “The lab found no trace of semen or of any date rape drug. Doesn’t mean much, Ernie, Those chemicals leave the system quickly.”
“Thanks, Reggie. I figured as much. I’d appreciate if you’d kept this quiet.”
“Of course. Call me if anything changes, but I think Ms. Racine will be fine after she gets some rest. Make sure she has plenty of liquids. Ernie, do you mind if I ask what this is all about?”
“I’m not sure, and neither is Diana. The hallucination could have been a dream, or a memory of what really happened. I have no proof to follow up. The people involved aren’t the kind you make false accusations against. They’d slap me with a harassment suit faster than I could say sorry.”
Haley left with his question unanswered, because Lucier didn’t have one. He tiptoed into Diana’s bedroom. She appeared to be sleeping, but when he turned to leave, she called his name.
“Don’t go, Ernie.”
He claimed the edge of the bed and kissed her cheek. “You’re awake.”
“I couldn’t sleep with all those thoughts floating around in my head.”
“Are you willing to go over it again, from the time you got to the Mission?”
Diana nodded and began, answering his questions as best she could. She recounted the time with Slater without hesitation, but after the drink in Compton’s limo, everything went blank.
“The only thing I remember with any surety is the black night and the red eyes. Or was it the red night and the black eyes?”
“In your dream, how many sets of eyes did you see? How many people?”
“I called it a dream, but there was nothing dreamlike about it. More like a nightmare, where the red planets in the sky were staring down at me.” She closed her eyes, as if conjuring up a vision. “I’m not sure. There could have been a dozen or two dozen. I just don’t know.”
“I’ll tell you what I think. Your subconscious relived your experience in a dream or a nightmare, whatever, and I think you got sick from a knockout drug, which is a common side effect. Your hand turning black and the black vomit is a sign of evil only you can see because you’re highly sensitized to those things. How does that sound?”
“Scary as hell because I don’t think you’re far off.” She massaged her closed eyes with her fingertips, then kneaded her temples. “Where do we go from here?”
“Since you can’t remember anything, I haven’t got probable cause to get a warrant for Compton’s house. Not to mention he’s Silas Compton.”
“I could follow up on his reading.”
“No way. You’re out of this.”
She laughed. “You know that’s not possible. He’s targeted me. I’m Diana, Goddess of the Moon, for God’s sake. I don’t have to go there; I can call. He must know I don’t remember anything. That was the whole point of the drug. It’d be natural for me to question the reading, don’t you think?”
* * * * *
Just as Diana mentally prepped to make the call, one eye on a questioning Lucier, the phone rang. She mouthed Silas Compton with a waggle of her brows.
“Miss Racine. I hope I haven’t reached you at a bad time.”
“Not at all. How are you, Mr. Compton?”
“Well, thank you. My wife and I are having a few friends over for dinner this evening and would like to invite you and Lieutenant Lucier to join us. My friends heard about my reading yesterday and how on target you were. They’re anxious to meet you. Why, you might even contract to read some of them. I know it’s short notice, but I hope you can find time in your busy schedule.”
“The Lieutenant is here. Let me check if he’s free.” She covered the mouthpiece and relayed the invitation to Lucier. “It’s perfect. Say yes.”
“It’s too soon,” he said. “You’re not up to it.”
She knew he was right. “Really, I feel fine. Not perfect, I admit, but good enough. I’ll take another of Dr. Haley’s magic pills before we leave. I might not eat a lot, though.”
“I don’t like it, but it would be a good opportunity to get inside his house. Besides, what can he do in front of his invited guests?”
“Exactly.” She uncovered the mouthpiece. “Thank you, Mr. Compton, we’d love to come.”
“Nothing formal. About seven, for drinks.”
“We’ll see you then.”
“If you wish, I’ll send my car for you.”
Diana glared at the phone. As if! “No, thanks. We’ll drive. See you at seven.” She placed the receiver on the cradle. “He asked if we wanted him to send a car for us. No way. I’d walk to his house before getting in his limo. He spiked my drink, the bastard.”
“Beecher will know where we are. As far as I’m concerned, this is police business.”
“You don’t think he’d try anything, do you?”
“Honestly? I have no idea, but I don’t trust the man, with good reason.”
She took an extra long time to get ready to show Compton that whatever he gave her hadn’t put her under. “How do I look?”
Lucier nuzzled his face into her neck. “Good enough to forget about dinner at the Comptons. Sure you want to go?”
“Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
In order to conform to Diana’s well-known costume color code―black, white, with an occasional touch of red―she wore a black above-the-knee skirt with high-heel slingbacks, white silk blouse, and a red pashmina shawl embroidered in black over her shoulders. Around her neck hung a mother of pearl quarter moon pendant on a black silk cord.
He fingered the pendant. “Tempting the gods, are you?”
“I don’t want to disappoint. Besides, it’s much more apropos than pearls.”
“Well, at least you’re not wearing a satanic symbol around your neck.”
“Now would I do that?”
He smiled. “You know damn well you would if you owned one.”
She sighed but didn’t answer, because he was right.
When they arrived at Compton’s residence, the guards waved them through the gate without stopping them for identification.
“Guess we’re on the A-list now,” Diana said.
The burly weightlifter greeted them at the door, offering to take Diana’s shawl. She opted to keep it to provide a dramatic flourish, and the red added color to her more-than-usual paleness.
She’d noticed the magnificent Lalique cactus table in the foyer on her first visit. The one she’d seen in Paris some years before cost close to $100,000. Fitting it should grace the home of one of the world’s richest men. This time she stopped to admire its graceful lines.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?”
Diana was stunned by the speaker’s staggering beauty―smooth, translucent skin, clear blue eyes, ebony hair pulled straight back off a face that could have been painted by da Vinci, and the body of a porn star.
“Yes, I saw a Lalique at an exposition in Paris a few years ago.”
“So good to see you again, Diana.” The woman turned to Lucier and offered her hand. “I’m Selene Crane Compton, and you must be Lieutenant Lucier.”
Diana b
arely heard their exchange―Lucier saying to call him Ernie, Selene Compton extending the same permission―so bewildered by the comment that she and Silas Compton’s wife had already met. To her recollection, she’d never before set eyes on the woman.
Never.
Chapter Twenty-One
A Game of One-Upmanship
“Come, our guests are anxious to meet you.”
Selene wore a low-cut black knit dress that accentuated her reed-slim but curvaceous figure. Working Vegas, Diana had seen enough silicone to know Selene Compton’s assets were the real thing. They bounced, and she bounced them. Tiered strands of jade encircled her neck, cascading down the front of her dress, highlighting here exceptional cleavage. Diana assumed Compton kept the women in his life on the same tight leash he implied Lucier kept her. Selene Crane Compton was not a woman restrained.
She and Lucier followed her down a different hallway from the one that led to Compton’s home office. This one opened into a massive living room, tastefully furnished in shades of moss green and buttery gold. A hand woven silk Oriental rug covered the center of the dark wood floor, and a grand piano dominated the far right corner. Eclectic and expensive-looking accessories decorated tables and bookshelves. People Diana had never seen before occupied three large sofas that didn’t make a dent in the vastness of the room.
Silas Compton rose from one of them to greet the new arrivals. “How good of you both to come.”
All eyes centered on Diana. This is no different than standing in front of a sold-out crowd, Diana. She consciously made an effort to relax.
Selene began the introductions. “You all know the famous Diana Racine, and this is her friend, Lieutenant Ernie Lucier of New Orleans’ finest.” She turned to them. “Thank you both for coming on such short notice. May I introduce our other guests: Sophia and Fernando Reyes, Rhea and Jeremy Haynesworth, Anastasia and Martin Easley, my mother and father, Cybele and Phillip Crane, and my stepdaughters, Maia and Dione Compton.”
Even though his daughters were from his first marriage, they were every bit as beautiful as Selene. Diana felt almost boyish in the midst of a roomful of women who all looked like they descended from Aphrodite.