Men Made in America Mega-Bundle

by Gayle Wilson, Marie Ferrarella, Jennifer Greene, Annette Broadrick, Judith Arnold, Rita Herron, Anne Stuart, Diana Palmer, Elizabeth Bevarly, Patricia Rosemoor, Emilie Richards

  “I don’t use magic. I talk to people, and they relax and start to feel good. Most of the time they shut their eyes, but they don’t even have to do that. They hear every word I say, and unless they don’t want to, they remember everything that happens.”

  “Papa Smurf didn’t remember.”

  “But you will, if you want to.”

  Laurie just stared at her.

  “There’s nothing inside you to be frightened of, Laurie. But sometimes we don’t want to remember something because we just don’t like the way it makes us feel. It’s the same if you’re hypnotized. If you don’t want to remember when you’re not hypnotized anymore, you don’t.”

  “Have you ever been hypnotized?” Laurie came to stand in front of Antoinette.

  “Hundreds of times. I hypnotize myself, and I’ve been hypnotized by other people, too.”

  “Why?”

  “Sometimes just to help me relax, sometimes to help me remember things. I even hypnotized myself to help me quit smoking.” She wrinkled her nose at the little girl in a conspiratorial grimace. “It didn’t help much.”

  Laurie giggled in spite of herself.

  Antoinette stretched her arm along the back of the sofa. “Would you like me to tell you about the time I found a missing diamond ring while I was hypnotized?”

  Laurie’s eyes brightened, and she nodded. She couldn’t resist the thought of a mystery. As if she realized that the story would be more fun to listen to if she were comfortable, she sat on the sofa, too, perching on the edge at the opposite end from Antoinette.

  Antoinette pretended to ignore the small victory. “Right before she died, my grandmother gave me a beautiful diamond ring that had been in my family for almost a hundred years. I was so happy to have it that I wore it everywhere. It was too big for me, and I kept thinking I ought to go to the jeweler and get the ring made smaller or buy a guard for it, but I kept putting it off. One day I was at work, sitting on this sofa, and I looked down at my hands. The ring was gone.”

  “Did you cry?” Laurie asked with interest.

  “I did.”

  “I cry sometimes,” Laurie admitted.

  “We all do. After I cried, I realized I was going to have to try and figure out where I might have lost it. But I was so upset, I couldn’t remember a thing.”

  “What did you do?”

  “I went home and searched my house and my car, but the ring wasn’t anywhere to be found. So I decided to hypnotize myself and see if I could remember when I last saw the ring and everything that happened afterward.”

  “Did it work?” Laurie’s imagination had been captured, and her rigid defenses were softening.

  “It did. I remembered having the ring on that very morning. I remembered seeing it while I was washing my hands after breakfast. So I went back to that moment and replayed everything I’d done before going to work. I remembered locking my house, getting into my car and driving to work. I remembered stopping by the side of the road to buy some vegetables from a man who parks his truck off Orleans Avenue. I remembered reaching for a head of lettuce and then drawing my hand back quickly because a fly landed on it. Then I remembered picking up the lettuce, transferring it to the other hand and paying the man.” She paused. “At that point I woke myself up, went into the kitchen and checked the lettuce. Right in the middle of the head was my ring.”

  Sam gave a long whistle. “There are insurance companies who could use your talents.”

  “You didn’t do anything bad,” Laurie observed.

  Antoinette followed the little girl’s train of thought. “No. Hypnosis is good. I couldn’t make myself do anything bad if I tried, and I couldn’t make you do anything bad if I wanted to.”

  “And if you hypnotize me, I’ll wake up like you did?”

  “You won’t even be asleep. Not really. If you were asleep, you wouldn’t be able to do what I ask you to do. You’ll just be very relaxed and comfortable. You’ll be very, very safe. Sergeant Long will be right here.” Antoinette played her trump. “You know he won’t let anything happen to you.”

  “Do you want her to hypnotize me?” Laurie asked Sam.

  Antoinette waited. Sam’s answer would make all the difference.

  “You’d be doing me a favor if you let Dr. Deveraux hypnotize you,” Sam said after a hesitation. “I really need your help.”

  Antoinette wondered if he had any idea how perfect his answer was. Enlisting Laurie’s cooperation was the key to success.

  “It would be a little like trying to find the ring,” Laurie said thoughtfully.

  “Yes, it would be,” Antoinette agreed.

  Laurie sat back against the sofa cushions and squeezed her eyes shut. “Go ahead and do it.”

  Antoinette caught Sam’s eye and smiled. Despite the encouragement he’d offered Laurie, he still looked concerned about what was to take place. His hand was gripping the arm of his chair, and she covered it with her own for a moment. Then she stood. “Sergeant Long, I’m going to need your seat. Why don’t you trade with me.”

  She waited until Sam was settled on the sofa before she pulled the chair in front of Laurie, whose eyes were open wide again. “Do you swim, Laurie?” she asked as she seated herself.

  “My girlfriend’s apartment has a pool. Her mom’s taught me a little.”

  “Do you float?”

  “I can float real good,” she said proudly.

  “And you like it?”

  “It’s fun.”

  “What we’re going to do might feel like floating to you. When you float in the pool, does someone stay near to help you?”

  “Becky’s mom.”

  “I’m going to be here to help you, so you can feel perfectly comfortable if you start to float. You can just let go and enjoy it. You’re going to like the way you feel.”

  “What if I don’t?”

  “If you don’t like it, then you won’t float.”

  “Really?”

  “Really.”

  “You’re not like Gargamel.”

  “Not at all,” Antoinette assured her.

  “Okay.”

  “Lie back against the sofa now and close your eyes,” Antoinette instructed. “I’m going to tell you a story. It’s a special story about a cottage deep in an enchanted forest. The story is special because if you listen hard enough and believe what you hear, then you can really go there.”

  Sam listened to Antoinette tell the story to Laurie. As he watched, the little girl seemed more and more relaxed until finally her face lost most of its rigidity. She was such a beautiful child. He rarely worked with children; there were few opportunities in his life to be with children at all. He hadn’t realized how easy it was to become attached to one. Adults were a different story; they made their own decisions. But a child was so helpless.

  Right now Laurie was especially helpless. There she was, sitting on the sofa, putting her trust in a woman she didn’t know. He’d asked Laurie to cooperate, but there was a feeling deep inside him that he’d made the wrong decision. He’d made the only decision a cop could make, but he wasn’t sure it was the best thing for the child sitting next to him. Now he could only sit quietly and watch Antoinette take her deeper and deeper into a trance.

  Antoinette seemed to know what she was doing. She looked perfectly calm and professional. No, that wasn’t quite true. She’d always be just a shade too beautiful to look completely professional. Today she was dressed in a suit—as she had been the other times he’d seen her—but it was a brilliant royal blue, and the blouse she wore with it was the brightest of whites with a high lace collar that caressed her throat. Her hair was pulled back in a simple knot at the nape of her neck, and his fingers itched to pull it loose and watch it settle like black satin over her shoulders.

  Antoinette had been on his mind entirely too often. It was almost as if she had used one of her trances on him. He never daydreamed, he never lost his concentration, and yet recently he’d found himself thinking of her when his min
d needed to be somewhere else. He’d never been able to understand cops who let their personal lives interfere with their jobs. He’d had a partner once who was going through a divorce, and the damned fool had almost gotten them both killed taking unnecessary chances during a high-speed automobile chase. All because he was angry at his wife.

  And now here Sam was letting a woman interfere with his job, too. He struggled to pull himself back to the business at hand. He was here to find out what Laurie knew. He wasn’t here to indulge in his attraction to the woman hypnotizing her; he wasn’t here to let his own sentimentality interfere with his job. He was just here to listen. Period.

  “We’ve drunk the water from the mystical spring and we’ve explored the enchanted forest. Now we’ve taken the path to lead us to that very special cottage where everything I tell you will happen just as I say it will.” Antoinette’s voice grew even quieter, almost droning the final words. “We don’t want to wait any longer to go there. As we come up over the hill, we see the cottage. Its door is wide open, and we hurry inside. We are finally there, at that special enchanted place in the enchanted forest, and now everything I say and everything I describe will happen just as soon as I have said it. As long as we stay here, even my words will seem enchanted.”

  Sam turned his attention to Laurie. She looked perfectly relaxed. Her eyelids had fluttered at the beginning of the trance induction, but now they were perfectly still. She looked comfortable and not at all unhappy. As he watched, Antoinette instructed Laurie to let her right hand float above her head. The hand rose as if it were weightless, hovering over her blond curls until Antoinette instructed her to let it drift back into her lap.

  “Laurie,” Antoinette continued, “after your long walk through the enchanted forest, you are feeling very tired. You want to rest and you see a sofa in the living room that looks very comfortable. It looks so comfortable that you know it’s where you want to sit and rest. You walk over to it and sit down. The sofa is very soft, it feels like you’re sitting on a wonderful cloud. You feel very good sitting on it, so good that you know nothing can hurt you as long as you continue sitting there. As you sit, you notice a television set across from you. It’s a magic television set. All you have to do is tell it to turn on and it will.”

  As Sam watched, Laurie smiled a little. He knew she loved watching TV. In fact, she had told him once that the thing she liked best about living at the Patterson’s house was the large color console in their living room. Obviously the image was one she would relate to with enthusiasm.

  “Now, when I tell you to turn on the set, you will. There is only one station that this television can get. And on this station is the story of a little girl, seven years old, whose name is also Laurie Fischer. You will be able to watch everything she does and tell me about it. You might even feel sad or happy for her, like you would for anyone on a television show. But you will not feel scared because the things that happen are happening to the other Laurie Fischer, the one on television. If you understand what I’m saying, will you please say yes?”

  “Yes.”

  Antoinette nodded as if Laurie could see her, although the little girl’s eyes were still closed.

  “All right, Laurie. Turn on the television set. The first picture you are going to see is Laurie Fischer getting ready for bed last night. She is at the Patterson’s house. Will you tell us what she is doing?”

  “She is getting her pajamas on. They aren’t hers, they’re Ginger’s, but Ginger doesn’t like them, so she gave them to Laurie. Ginger always wears Jonas’s T-shirt to bed. Laurie likes the pajamas. Ginger tells her she looks pretty and says she’ll brush Laurie’s hair. Laurie lets her. Then she has to go to the bathroom and brush her teeth, except there are already people waiting to get into the bathroom, so she has to wait.”

  “Can you tell us how she feels when she has to wait like that?” Antoinette asked after Laurie had been quiet for a few seconds.

  “She’s sleepy. She doesn’t want to stand in the hall, but she has to, so she does.”

  “After she brushes her teeth, what does she do?” Antoinette asked.

  “She goes to bed and starts to cry.” Laurie’s voice was matter-of-fact. “Mrs. Patterson comes in to tuck her in and strokes her hair and tells her that her mother will be coming to get her one day very soon. Then, when Mrs. Patterson goes away, Ginger crawls into bed with Laurie and hugs her. Laurie feels better and goes to sleep.”

  “That’s very good. You did a good job of telling us what you saw. Now we’re going to start watching a new show.” Antoinette took a deep breath. She realized she was feeling anxious about the next part of the session. She had faith in her own abilities; she believed that what she was doing was not going to hurt her little patient, but there was always that twinge of doubt that something could go wrong. Rationally she knew that Laurie was deeply in the trance and quite able to divorce her own feelings from what she saw on the television screen. Emotionally she wondered if she was taking even the smallest of risks by continuing. She caught Sam’s eyes, and for a moment his doubts were her own.

  Her experience and training won. She focused her gaze on Laurie once more. “The new show is about Laurie Fischer, too. You are still sitting on the couch and feeling very comfortable. You are looking forward to the next show because it’s about Laurie being rescued from a fire and you know it will be exciting. The best part is that you know Laurie is going to be all right, so you don’t have to be frightened for her. When you turn on the set, you will see Laurie and her mother. Laurie’s mother is putting her to sleep on the couch where Laurie’s mother works. Turn on the set now, and tell us what you see.”

  Laurie’s voice was as even and natural as if she were truly describing a show she was watching. “Laurie’s mom tells her to lie down on the couch while she cleans another office. Laurie likes the couch—it’s big and soft. She can hear her mother singing as she goes down the hall. Laurie doesn’t want to go to sleep, but she does.” Laurie stopped.

  Antoinette sensed Sam’s movement, although she didn’t take her eyes off Laurie. She knew this was the moment he’d been waiting for, and she guessed that he was listening intently.

  After a long silence Antoinette prompted the little girl. “Tell us about when Laurie wakes up.”

  Laurie sniffed. “The air is all smoky. Laurie can’t see.” She sniffed again. “She’s very scared. She starts to cry.” One sparkling teardrop trailed down Laurie’s cheek. “She shouts for her mommy, but her mommy doesn’t answer.”

  “This is a sad show,” Antoinette sympathized during Laurie’s silence. “Can you tell us what else happens?”

  “She starts to cough. It’s hard to breathe. She’s choking. She sits up, but she can’t see anything. The smoke makes her cry, and she starts to scream.” Another tear ran down Laurie’s face, followed by another. In a second she was overcome by her own tears, sobbing as if her heart was broken.

  Antoinette was so intent on watching Laurie that she didn’t even realize that Sam was standing until she felt his hand on her shoulder.

  “Bring her out of it right now,” he commanded in a whisper.

  Antoinette shook her head. “It’s all right, Sam,” she reassured him quietly. “She needs to feel the sadness, even indirectly.”

  “Bring her out of it!”

  Antoinette covered his hand with her own in reassurance. “Trust me,” she said softly. “Just trust me, please. We’re very close.”

  “I don’t want her hurt!”

  Antoinette could feel his fingers dig into her shoulder. She continued to cover his hand with her own, as much to stop him from moving toward Laurie as to continue to reassure him.

  “What is happening to Laurie now?” she asked the little girl.

  “She sits up,” Laurie said in a tone still choked with tears. “And then she stands. She tries to find the door, but she runs into somebody. He puts his arms around her and lifts her up and carries her like a little baby.” Laurie sniffed, but by no
w her tears were beginning to dry up.

  “Laurie, I want you to stop the picture. This is a magic television set, and it lets you stop anytime you want, just as it lets you start again when you’re ready. You are looking at the man who is holding Laurie. Can you tell us what he looks like?”

  Laurie frowned. “He’s big. Bigger than Laurie.” She stopped.

  “Good. Can you tell us anything else?”

  “It’s dark and smoky. Laurie can’t see anything.”

  Antoinette pushed down her disappointment. “Okay. Now the television picture is moving again. What happens next?”

  “Laurie is still crying and coughing, but the man doesn’t stop. He just keeps carrying her. The hall is smoky, too. She can’t breathe. The man opens a door, and then they’re going down. Everything is black.”

  Antoinette realized Laurie must have fainted at that point. “Tell us about the next thing Laurie sees.”

  “She’s outside now, on the sidewalk. She opens her eyes, and a man is bending over her. He starts to go away.”

  “Good. The television picture has stopped again. Can you tell us what the man looks like?”

  “He has black hair.”

  “Long hair or short?”

  “Short.”

  “A big nose?”

  “No.”

  “A beard or a mustache?”

  “No.”

  “Any moles or scars you can see?”

  “No.”

  Antoinette felt a pang of frustration, but she kept it out of her voice. “Anything else about his face that’s interesting or scary?”

  “No.”

  “What is he wearing?”

  “A dirty shirt and jeans.”

  Antoinette waited, but no more description was forthcoming. She didn’t doubt that Laurie had noticed more, but she knew that a seven-year-old’s power to describe what she’d seen was limited. There would be no vivid, incriminating descriptions of beaklike noses or beady eyes.

  “Bring her out of it now. This is futile,” Sam told Antoinette.

  Antoinette ignored him. “Laurie, I’ve asked you to tell us how the man looks. Can you tell us if he says anything?”