City of the Dead

by Eileen Dreyer

  “Dr. Stanton brought his wife here?”

  “She won’t come without him.”

  Chastity just kept feeling the need to blink. “When was the last time you saw her?”

  “My assistant spoke to her toward the end of May to say she had a new client. We’ve been expecting to see her for the last seven days. We’ve been worried sick.”

  “But she seemed all right?”

  “Why, yes. Why not?”

  Max had been here? Max had walked his wife into a place that auctioned off her eggs like farm equipment? A place that was under investigation? A place Faith might have been that last day?

  “Has Dr. Stanton been here asking about her?”

  “No, of course not. We’ve talked to him, of course. But he has no reason to come without her.”

  “Describe him for me,” Chastity said. “Dr. Stanton.”

  The nurse seemed confused. “Handsome man. Square jaw, lots of gray hair.”

  Now Chastity couldn’t even get a breath in.

  “How old are you?” the nurse asked, her smile growing.

  It took Chastity a full few seconds to pull herself back into the conversation. “Excuse me?”

  “You’re a natural, you know. Just the kind of genomes we’re looking for.”

  “No, thank you. I’m not interested.”

  “Not even for twenty thousand? I’m sure an auction could go that high. You’re a beautiful woman. And if you’re related to Mrs. Stanton…”

  It was Kareena who responded. “Twenty thousand? Dollars?”

  The nurse smiled again. “We don’t get many natural blondes anymore. I mean, I assume…”

  “No,” Chastity said, feeling this place crawl over her skin. “Really.”

  “You could at least think about it,” Kareena urged. “Think what you could do with twenty thousand.”

  Chastity turned on the nurse. “Faith got twenty thousand dollars for her eggs?”

  That was evidently one question too many. “I’m sorry,” Ms. Webster said, sliding behind her professional wall of secrecy. “That information is, of course, confidential.”

  And that was the last they got. Except for Kareena’s insistence that Chastity at least take a brochure.

  “Twenty thousand!” she caroled as they walked out the door. “We could go on a cruise somewhere. Shit, girl, we could go on a cruise everywhere.”

  “What do you mean we, Kareena?”

  Kareena’s smile was huge and unrepentant. Chastity was still just trying to breathe.

  James waited for them with the air-conditioning on. “Well?”

  “We need food,” Chastity said, slumping into her seat.

  “And alcohol,” Kareena added. “You notice that snotty bitch don’ want Kareena’s eggs? She got no taste, her.”

  “I’m sure your eggs are wonderful, Kareena,” James soothed.

  Kareena hooted in derision. “They gonna give Chastity twenty thousand for her eggs. Kareena, she probably end up payin’ them.”

  “Twenty thousand?” James demanded, stunned. “Why?”

  “Cause her collar and cuffs match, that’s why.”

  Chastity burst out laughing. “I promise, Kareena. If I change my mind, you’ll be the first one I invite on the boat. Now, can we go someplace where I can change out of my Faith suit? I feel like I’m stuck inside Mary Tyler Moore.”

  “And a jeweler to assess that stash you stole from your sister.”

  “I didn’t steal it. I borrowed it. I’ll bring it back right after we find out whether it’s real or not.”

  “Well, we better do it soon. All you need is for Miracle Max to go try on those pearls and find ’em gone. We gonna be wearing pretty orange jumpsuits.”

  Miracle Max.

  It only took mention of him to change Chastity’s mind. Suddenly she sat up a little straighten She sucked in a breath that wasn’t quite steady.

  “No,” she said, realizing she wasn’t going to change back into herself quite yet. “What I need to do is go to Max’s office. Where is it, Kareena? Do you know?”

  Kareena turned around to gape at her. “His office? You gonna walk into his office lookin’ like his wife?”

  “Yes. Yes, I think I am. I want to know why he didn’t tell me about the New Life Center.”

  Kareena shook her head. “And I bet you want me to go in there, too.”

  “Think of it as an adventure.”

  “I’ll think of it as my license, he get mad.”

  They went anyway. Kareena used the time to fill James in on what they’d discovered at the fertility clinic. Chastity sat in the backseat thinking about what she’d learned so far that day and feeling spun around all over again, as if she weren’t just underwater, but sucked down by a wave.

  Her sister had started selling her eggs. For a lot of money. To a place that was under investigation. Not only that, she’d been arranging this with her husband, who hadn’t bothered to mention it to Chastity. And then, with only half a payment in her pocket, Faith had disappeared.

  Faith had been afraid. Susan Reeves had been afraid. Of New Life?

  Chastity certainly hadn’t liked it there. She hadn’t liked Mary Webster’s pinched face or her aggressive behavior.

  “Did you see any cameras in there, Kareena?” she asked suddenly. “Tante Edie said Faith hated cameras.”

  “I didn’t see nothin’, girl.”

  “You don’t see cameras anymore,” James said. “You can put them in a button. Haven’t you seen that Oprah where the mother keeps track of the babysitter through the smoke detector?”

  Chastity just shook her head and focused on trying to breathe. She should never have gotten out of bed that morning.

  By the time she opened the door to Max’s office, Chastity wasn’t in the mood to be impressed. And she certainly wasn’t.

  Max’s office looked a bit utilitarian, decorated with uncomfortable chairs, pastel prints, and out-of-date magazines. And, of course, a receptionist who waited behind frosted glass.

  The receptionist’s eyes lit up when she slid that glass back to find Chastity standing there in her Faith clothes.

  “Why, Mrs…wait. You’re not Mrs. Stanton.”

  “No,” Chastity said, suddenly too impatient to be polite anymore. She’d been lied to, and she was going to find out why. “I’m not Mrs. Stanton. I’m her sister. And I need to talk to my brother-in-law. Right now.”

  “He’s seeing patients,” the woman bristled.

  “I imagine he is. He’s just going to have to squeeze me in between a couple. Tell him I’m here, please.”

  Propelled by the rather rabid look in Chastity’s eye, the receptionist fairly leaped to her feet and back out of her cubicle. Taking that as an invitation, Chastity opened the door into the inner sanctum and stalked through.

  “Are you sure this is a good idea?” Kareena asked, following right behind. “He mad at you, he can arrest you for those pearls.”

  “He’s not half as mad as I am,” Chastity assured her, outpacing the receptionist toward the back of the offices. “And I’m not sure he’s ever seen me mad before. I don’t think we need to worry about the pearls.”

  Max’s reaction was everything Chastity could have hoped for. His office was not only open, but empty of patients, so Chastity just walked on in. Max had been sitting at a big mahogany desk, his starched white lab coat gleaming in the halogen lighting. One sight of her in Faith’s uniform brought him right to his feet.

  “What are you doing?” he asked, his voice raspy.

  “Dr. Stanton, I’m sorry—” the receptionist gushed.

  “It’s all right, Nancy,” he said, never taking his eyes off Chastity. “Close the door, please.”

  Actually it was Kareena who closed the door, right before she took up her position in front of it. Chastity sat herself down in one of the press-board and metal chairs that faced Max’s desk.

  “I’m just about to ask you why you didn’t say anything to me about Faith
’s visits to the New Life Center,” she said.

  Max sank into his chair like a ship with a leak. “Visits? What visits? And what’s the New Life Center?”

  He was surprised, Chastity thought. But not confused.

  Chastity tilted an eyebrow. “It seems that ever since she retired from the Arlen Clinic, Faith has been auctioning her eggs to New Life Associates, a fertility center. In fact, she should be there right now to start her hormone regimen for a new client.”

  “Fertility center? That New Life?” He laughed, waving her off. “Don’t be ridiculous. I’d never let her go there. Among other things, they sell fertilized eggs to stem cell researchers without the clients knowing. Who says she went there?”

  “Why, they do, Max. That’s why I’m dressed for trick-or-treat. I wanted an honest reaction when I walked in there. For just a minute they thought I was Faith and chastised me for not meeting my responsibilities. Especially since they’d already paid me half my fee for this client. Ten thousand dollars, I think.”

  “Ten…”

  “That’s just what Kareena thought,” Chastity heard behind her. She didn’t take her eyes off her brother-in-law, who seemed perplexed and upset. And unbearably tidy.

  It suddenly made Chastity think of that locked door in his house. Everything important contained and locked away.

  “When she left Arlen, I was sure she retired,” he insisted. “You’re telling me she was going to the New Life Center instead? What could she be thinking?”

  Chastity was fast losing her patience. “Well, here’s the interesting part, Max,” she said, leaning forward. “Faith never went alone. The nurse at New Life seemed really impressed that Mrs. Stanton never came without her husband.”

  Max was on his feet like a shot. “What the hell are you talking about? I never would have allowed her to set foot in that place, much less taken her myself. I told you what I thought of it.”

  Chastity willed herself to stay calm. It was hard, but she kept her place. “Then how could the nurse describe you? ‘Handsome man. Square jaw, lots of gray hair.’ Sound familiar to you?” Now, deliberately, she climbed to her own feet. “You want to tell me why you forgot to mention it?”

  He glared. “Don’t be absurd. I told you I’ve never been there. They obviously made some kind of mistake.”

  Chastity glared right back, one eyebrow lifted. “I think it would be tough to mistake you, Max.”

  For a second, he simply stared. Then he gave her another shake of the head, but this time it was accompanied by a patient sigh. “Chastity, come on,” he said, “you’re not that dense.”

  Chastity saw the lifted eyebrow. Heard the sigh. She found herself bristling. “You’re not winning points, Max.”

  He sighed again. “It was your father,” he said. “You know perfectly well how much we look alike.”

  She’d meant to surprise Max. He’d just managed to turn the tables on her. In a heartbeat she lost her certainty. Her balance.

  Her breath.

  Suddenly she didn’t know what to say. She just knew she smelled Faith on herself and she couldn’t bear it. She had never considered her father. Truly, never. It was inconceivable.

  “No,” she said, hating the breathy sound of her voice. “You wouldn’t say that if you knew the whole truth. You couldn’t believe that Faith would let him that close. Would trust him that much.”

  Max smiled, and it was unbearable. “I know perfectly well,” he said, lifting a hand. “Of course I know. You think Faith would keep something that important from me? She forgave your father, Chastity. She moved on. I don’t think you have.”

  Chastity wasn’t sure she was going to be able to stay on her feet. She’d started to shake. She could feel sweat trickle down her back, as if she’d been running hard. She could feel the bile rise in her throat and wondered how much time she had before she disgraced herself. “You knew?”

  “Of course I knew.”

  “Why didn’t you say anything to me?”

  He shrugged, his focus still intent on her. “That was all behind Faith. I saw no reason to bring it up.”

  Chastity fought the urge to just laugh. She was losing ground here, too battered to think. Too stubborn to leave. She was foundering in old memories, and that wouldn’t find her sister.

  “Will you come with me to the clinic?” she asked, holding on to her purse like the last lifeboat on the Titanic. “Will you come talk to them with me?”

  Max lifted an eyebrow. “You should be asking your father that, Chastity.”

  “I’m asking you, Max. It’s the least you can do to find your wife.”

  He suddenly looked sad. “You have to face him sometime, you know. You also have to face what you did, or you’ll never move on.”

  “What I did?”

  How had they gotten so far off the track? How did she get them back on?

  “Well, yes, Chastity. You killed Hope.”

  “What?” Chastity managed.

  “What?” Kareena echoed more strongly behind her.

  Max never faltered, never looked away. “It’s true, isn’t it? Faith told me. You killed Hope.”

  And just like that, Chastity was swamped. Blindsided, when she’d thought she was making progress. Suddenly she was on her feet, reaching into her purse. She was rooting for her bag of shiny rocks, as if they’d help her.

  Finally, she couldn’t think of a thing to do but hold her bag of worthless stones and nod. “Yes,” she said. “I guess I did, didn’t I? Thank you, Max.”

  “Chastity…”

  But Chastity didn’t wait for more. She’d had enough, and she was still dressed like Faith, and she couldn’t breathe anymore. So she walked right past Kareena and out the office door.

  She might have made it all the way to the taxi, if the elevators had been quick. If she hadn’t been so anxious she all but ran down the four flights of stairs to safety. If she hadn’t been shaking so badly she lost her grip on her little bag. She tripped, and her gems scattered over the concrete steps like bright rain.

  She was shaking like a street sign in a high wind, and she couldn’t seem to stop. She was sweating again and trying to figure out why. All Max had done was bring up Hope. He’d done it before. Hell, she’d done it before. But she’d had one too many revelations, because she couldn’t keep the images of the past from flashing before her like bad movie previews.

  Water. Still, red water.

  Dull, unfocused eyes just beneath the water, watching forever.

  The flat, unbearable weight of inevitability.

  Chastity’s legs just gave out on her. That was okay, she thought, landing on one of the stairs. She had to rescue her gems.

  “Girl, you all right?” Kareena asked. “You all white and starey and shit.”

  Her attention on trying to pick up every last stone from where they winked in the harsh, unnatural light, Chastity gave a sharp nod. “Yeah. Gimme a minute.”

  “Here. Let me…”

  “No!” She actually shoved Kareena away, then gasped for breath again. “I need to do it myself.”

  Kareena backed away. Chastity carefully plucked each stone to safety, a precise exercise that let her calm. It took a minute, but her heart rate began to ease and her brain righted itself. She counted citrines and went over the scene she’d just played, and she suddenly realized that something had been wrong.

  Really, really wrong.

  The last small aquamarine in her fingers, she looked back up the stairs. “I never got an answer out of him.”

  Standing alongside, Kareena looked back up. “What?”

  Her stomach was lurching again. “I didn’t finish talking.”

  “Sure looked finished to me.”

  But Chastity shook her head, her gems safely back in the palm of her hand. “No. He distracted me. I asked him to go to New Life, and suddenly we were talking about Hope….”

  Chastity sucked in a deep breath, trying to bring order to her thoughts. She was chilling from the sw
eat along her back, and she couldn’t let loose of the gems. But all she could think of was that somehow Max had distracted her. That maybe he’d waved a red flag at her, and he’d done it on purpose.

  “Excuse me,” she said, and climbed unsteadily to her feet. “I have a conversation to finish.”

  Even with her heart racing like she was on meth, she stalked back through Max’s office without stopping. Fortunately for all concerned, Max was sitting alone at his desk making notations.

  “You never answered me,” Chastity said without preamble, her knuckles white around her purse. “Will you go to the clinic?”

  He stiffened. “You still don’t believe me,” he accused.

  How did she know that would be his response? Why was she suddenly so afraid?

  “Come with me, so there’s no question.”

  “I have a schedule here, Chastity. I can’t just leave.”

  “Will you call and give them permission to speak to me?”

  “I wasn’t with my wife this time. I have no right to give permission.”

  “They don’t know that.”

  “They will the minute they hear my voice. I told you. Talk to your father. Now, I have patients to see. I’ll talk to you tomorrow. We’ll go then. We’ll even pick up your father.”

  Chastity braced herself against the sharp panic that statement incited and nodded. “Do you know his address, Max? My father, I mean. Since he’s been over to your house so much.”

  He glared, but scribbled a quick note and handed it over.

  “You did know that fast,” she said.

  “It’s a rental property I own.”

  “You did that for my father?”

  “I did it for my wife.”

  Chastity had nothing else to say. She took the information and walked out, her legs still unsteady and her head aching.

  “You recognize this address?” she asked Kareena as they walked back down the stairs a second time.

  Kareena looked and whistled. “He ain’t doin’ your daddy no favors, girl. This up midcity, in the hood.”

  Chastity nodded. “Well, I certainly don’t want to go into a bad neighborhood. I’ll give this to the police and be done with it.”

  “We’re not goin’ to see your daddy?” Kareena asked, handing the note back.