A Quill Ladder (26 page)

It was Dr. Ford
’
s voice. Mark recognized it now.

He reached out and touched the stapler. It was wedged tightly between the handles, but if Mark pushed hard enough and jimmied it out on an angle, he could probably remove it. If he wanted to. Was Dr. Ford
’
s company and assistance better than nobody
’
s company and assistance? Mark wasn
’
t sure.

He glanced back over his shoulder, expecting Ian and the dogs to explode in on him at any second, but the hallway remained empty.

The voice in the cupboard had changed to wheedling.
“
If you let me out, I
’
ll tell you where the map is.
”

This decided Mark, and he pried the stapler out from the handles.

The door flew open and Dr. Ford sprang out, his body contorted into some sort of taekwondo pose. Blood spatter covered his white shirt and khaki pants.

He dropped his stance when he saw Mark.
“
Oh, it
’
s you. Who are you here with?
”

“
I would like the map,
”
Mark said.

Dr. Ford darted a look at the wall that once housed the missing map.
“
Well, as you can see, it
’
s gone, and there
’
s nothing that can be done about it.
”
He paused and scanned Mark
’
s hands and pockets.
“
Where would I find those maps that I loaned to you just two days ago?
”
Dr. Ford looked expectant, as if Mark could say abracadabra and the maps would appear
—
the maps that were currently crumpled and stuffed down Mark
’
s shirt. Mark felt the telltale rustle of paper against his skin as he inched a few steps back from Dr. Ford.

“
I
…
I have them at home on my desk. They are very pretty,
”
Mark said, offering what he hoped was the guileless, toothy grin Dr. Ford probably expected of him.

“
Right then. Well, I need them back. A bit of an urgent matter. What do you say we take a little drive over to the Sinclair residence and collect my maps?
”
Dr. Ford looked out the door as he spoke.
“
You didn
’
t happen to see my dog, did you? She almost never leaves my side. Is she out in the hall?
”

Mark tried to determine the potential consequences associated with explaining that Dr. Ford
’
s dog had just been in a fight with two Egyptian dogs.

He decided he would just shake his head.

“
You haven
’
t seen her then?
”

Mark shook his head again. Dr. Ford started feeling around in his own pockets and withdrew a set of keys. Mark noticed that there were a few dried specks of blood on Dr. Ford
’
s forehead.
“
Well, no matter. She
’
ll show up. Let
’
s go get those maps, shall we?
”

The crinkling of the maps underneath Mark
’
s shirt sounded thunderous in his ears. He couldn
’
t go with Dr. Ford. He racked his mind for something to say to prevent what seemed like their imminent departure.

“
Sandy
—
your daughter
—
is looking for you,
”
he ventured.
“
Here.
”

“
Sandy is here, you say? That
’
s nice. I
’
ll see her later at home. Let
’
s be off.
”
Dr. Ford started walking toward the door of his office, forcing Mark to either turn and go as well, move aside, or risk having Dr. Ford get too close to him.

Mark opted to step aside. Outside his office, Dr. Ford turned with his hand on the door and looked at Mark, who remained in the office.
“
Come on, now. We don
’
t have all day.
”
Mark noticed that Dr. Ford was glancing over his shoulders from side to side in the hallway with some degree of uncertainty. (As if he were being watched, potentially.)

Having no other clear options, Mark made his way toward Dr. Ford, trying not to move too suddenly so that the maps in his shirt didn
’
t make too much noise.

On the way out, Mark glanced in the recycling bin. It was filled with white pieces of paper with shapes drawn on them. Circles, squares, triangles.

Odd.

Out in the hall, he, too, swiveled his head from side to side, looking for the Egyptian dogs.

*****

Caleb was panting when he arrived in the hallway where Abbey sat huddled.

“
Are you okay?
”
he said.

“
I
’
m fine. Where
’
s Sandy? Why were you running?
”
Caleb wore such an uncharacteristic look of concern on his freckled face that Abbey almost wanted to hug him.

“
Sandy took the dog to the vet. I said we could take the bus home. She had to hurry. Sanome did
not
look good. So I told her to just go, and then I ran back here.
”

“
Did you see the dogs?
”

“
I think they
’
re gone. I came in the other door
—
the one by the library
—
but everything was quiet.
”

“
What about Mark?
”

“
I have no idea where he is. We better go look.
”

“
Did you see Jake, Selena, and Damian?
”

Caleb
’
s eyebrows rose and he scratched his forehead.
“
No. Were they here?
”

Abbey dragged him over to the edge of the balcony, where the Madrona was visible. She heard Caleb
’
s sharp intake of breath.
“
They were looking for something. Jake was helping. Or they were making him help. He said he couldn
’
t
feel
anything. I don
’
t know what that means. They also said Mom planted
‘
deeks
’
everywhere. Then Selena got really angry and said she was going to chop the Madrona down.
”

Caleb looked at the tree.
“
Deeks
…
Decoys,
”
he said.
“
What if the trees mark the places where the stones are, or the docks?
”

“
But there wasn
’
t one in the desert.
”

“
There was in the lab building.
”
Caleb shook his head.
“
I don
’
t know. We should find Mark and get going. Mom and Dad are going to be home with Simon soon, and Mom
’
ll freak if we
’
re not there.
”

They traipsed down the hall together. Abbey peered out each window for signs of the dogs, but the campus seemed hushed and empty. Caleb chattered about how Sanome looked when they found her, but his descriptions seemed to contain a lot of references to Sandy, and how Sandy did this and did that. Abbey tuned him out. They passed a stairwell and Abbey glanced down at the floor.

There was another droplet of blood, and then another, and these ones were fresher, bigger, and redder than the ones they had seen in Dr. Ford
’
s office.

She grasped for Caleb
’
s arm.

“…
so, I think we should show Sandy the list, get her input. She seems to know what
’
s what,
”
Caleb was saying.

“
Caleb, look down,
”
Abbey interrupted. Caleb shifted his gaze to the floor and stopped talking abruptly. The droplets continued on down the hall for a few more meters before vanishing into a men
’
s bathroom. Abbey and Caleb stood outside the bathroom door, staring at each other.

“
Well, I guess I better go in,
”
Caleb said.

“
What? What if there
’
s someone or something dangerous in there?
”

“
Or there
’
s someone hurt in there, who might need help.
”

Before Abbey could say anything, Caleb stepped forward and pushed the door open.

She heard the hollow echo of his voice in the room.
“
Hello? Hello? Anyone in here?
”
Then the door opened again in a rush and Caleb
’
s face, very white now, poked out.
“
You better come in here, Abs.
”

“
What? I can
’
t. It
’
s the men
’
s room.
”

“
There
’
s nobody around. I need your help. It
’
s Sylvain.
”

Sylvain leaned against the wall of a bathroom stall, his face pasty, and his hand bundled in wads and wads of blood-soaked paper towel. Caleb pumped the towel dispenser, assembling a pile of towels, presumably to replace the completely crimson one that Sylvain clutched in place.

“
What happened?
”
Abbey said.

Sylvain
’
s eyes flicked open.
“
Just a little disagreement. Someone felt the need to separate me from my finger.
”

“
They cut off your finger?
”

“
No. No they didn
’
t. Not for lack of trying, though. I still have it. It was a little better attached before, though.
”
Sylvain tried to stand up straighter and careened back against the stall with a thud. Abbey rushed to his side and tried to prop him up. Sylvain leaned against her more heavily than she
’
d expected.

“
We have to get him to the hospital,
”
Caleb said, trying to form the pile of paper towels around Sylvain
’
s hand.
“
Shouldn
’
t we take off the old ones first?
”

“
Believe me, my boy, you do
not
want to see what
’
s underneath these paper towels.
”
Sylvain took the new towels and wrapped them as best he could around his hand.

Abbey frowned.
“
We should call an ambulance and let the paramedics take him to the hospital.
”

“
No,
”
Sylvain insisted.
“
They
’
re still here. An ambulance would draw all sorts of attention. We can take my car.
”

“
Who
’
s driving?
”
Abbey asked. She did contemplate asking who was still here, but that seemed obvious, or at least potentially easy to narrow down, and the issue of nobody being able to drive seemed more immediately serious.

“
I
’
ll drive,
”
Caleb said.
“
I
’
ve been going out with Dad and Simon when they practice out at the old drive-in. Dad let me try it out for a few minutes last time. I know what I
’
m doing.
”

“
Yeah, right,
”
Abbey said.
“
You
’
ve driven in a grassy field, not in traffic. You
’
re not driving. We should call Mom and Dad. And we need to find Mark.
”