Sleep No More (33 page)

The door shut behind her.

Stella leaned back against the doorway for an instant as waves of satisfaction surged through her.

Power.

It felt heady and wonderful, and in the past hours she had made great strides. But it was only the beginning. Nelda Avery would throw open new and dazzling doors.

She slipped out of the gold robe and began to dress, humming softly beneath her breath.

“We will rock you…”

CHAPTER

15

“I’VE GOT IT,” NEWELL SAID
, when Eve answered her cell. His voice vibrated with intensity. “And it’s pretty damn nasty. I’ll meet you and Joe on the patio in fifteen minutes.”

“Should I wake Beth and bring her with us?”

“Hell, no. It’s going to cause big trouble, and she might split. We’ve got to handle this very delicately.” He hung up.

Eve looked at Joe. “It’s her right to know anything we know.”

“Newell’s not stupid. Listen, then tell her later if that’s your decision. You’re being a little overprotective at the moment.”

“She has a right to be protected.” Then she shrugged impatiently and headed for the door. “But I’ll wait and see what Newell has to say.”

Newell was sitting on the deck chair when they reached the patio a few minutes later. He looked pale and tired, but Eve was aware of that same air of excitement and tension she’d noticed in his voice. “You didn’t bring Beth. Good. I was afraid you’d ignore me.”

“I would have done just that,” Eve said. “Joe persuaded me to wait … for a while. I won’t keep anything from Beth.”

“Thanks, Quinn.” Newell reached into a briefcase on the ground beside him and pulled out a thick sheaf of papers stapled together. “Beth’s been through enough, and she doesn’t need a shock. Let it come gently.”

“Let what come?” Joe asked impatiently. “What was on that disc?”

“Nothing that could be clearly determined on most of them. Gelber took bits and pieces of her story, tore them apart, and concentrated on making Beth forget what he wanted her to block out. But there’s one session that gives us the essence of what happened that weekend at the lodge. I printed out two copies.” He handed the stapled documents to Eve and Joe. “I’m glad the son of a bitch is a corpse. I wish I’d done it myself.”

Eve dropped down in a chair across from him. “That ugly?”

His lips twisted. “That ugly.”

Eve hesitated and then started to read.

Gelber:
“Now you have to stop resisting, Beth. Our last session didn’t please me, and you know how important it is to please me. Say it.”

Beth:
“I—want to please you.”

Gelber:
“And you know that I’m the only one who tells you the truth. Someone has been telling you lies and making you believe them. You’re confused, but I’m going to straighten it all out for you. But you mustn’t resist me. It will hurt you. You know what happens. Every time you tell me one of the lies, your throat will tighten and your heart will pound and you won’t be able to breathe.”

Beth:
“No! Please. It scares me.”

Gelber:
“It’s not up to me. You’re the one who tells the lies.”

Beth:
“I don’t mean to lie. Keep it from hurting me.”

Gelber:
“I’ll try. Let’s go through it again. Open your mind. Trust me, Beth.”

“Trust him?” Eve lifted her gaze from the page. “You’re right, Newell. Gelber was a complete son of a bitch. He actually used torture?”

“He was a brilliant hypnotist. He used it as one of his tools. Diabolic. No evidence of what he’d done or marks on the body of the subject. But you can imagine the pain and panic of not being able to breathe.”

“I can imagine,” Joe said grimly. “And how eager that subject would be to avoid undergoing it after the first time.”

“There were many, many times,” Newell said. “I caught a glimpse of its use in several sessions. Beth was very stubborn. But they kept after her until they had what they wanted. She was almost there when she was in this session. Finish it.”

Eve didn’t want to finish it. It made her sick. But she had to go on. It wasn’t fair to Beth to avoid reading it if her sister had managed to survive it.

Beth:
“But if I don’t think about it, if I don’t talk about it, then I won’t lie. Won’t that be good enough?”

Gelber:
“You know it won’t. You have to believe it, Beth. Now tell me about the night before your accident. That’s where all the lies start.”

Beth:
“I don’t remember that night.”

Gelber:
“That’s not acceptable. Can’t you feel the pain start?”

Beth:
“Yes, I can’t—I remember. I do remember. I was so happy. Rick had called to tell me that he’d rented a chalet for a week. It was only about ten miles from the lodge, and he said that he’d be able to see me the next day. Maybe we’d even go skiing. He laughed and said that I had to take it easy when we were on those slopes together. I was getting too good for him.”

Gelber:
“You’re lying again.”

Beth:
“No, I’m not. I don’t feel any pain yet. That must mean I’m telling the truth.”

Gelber:
“No, it only means that the lies have to hit home first. Stop being defiant. Go on.”

Beth:
“I was so excited. I hadn’t seen Rick for over a year. I didn’t want to wait until the next day. I wanted to see him right away. I decided to go to his chalet and surprise him. But I didn’t have a car, and I had to ask Cara to take me.”

Gelber:
“Your friend, Cara Sandler.”

Beth:
“That’s right. But she wasn’t really my friend. She said she’d take me, but she wouldn’t just drop me off at his chalet. She wanted to come in and meet him. She’d heard about Rick from me, but she was more impressed by the stories about how he was going to be the next senator from South Carolina.”

Gelber:
“And you agreed to her terms.”

Beth:
“I wanted to see him.”

Gelber:
“What time did you get to the chalet?”

Beth:
“I’m not sure. A few hours later. Ten or ten thirty.”

Gelber:
“Tell me about it. You arrived at the chalet. What did you see?”

Beth:
“Rick’s car. He’d bought a new Mercedes the year before and took me for a ride in it.” Pause. “And another car, a black Cadillac with rental plates. I was disappointed. I was hoping Rick would be alone. But I was going to go knock on the door anyway. Cara parked down the road, a little distance from the chalet, and I unlocked my door.”

Gelber:
“But you didn’t get out of the car.”

Beth:
“The front door opened, and a woman came out. She was older and dressed in a fur coat with a hood. She hurried down the steps and turned to call to the man behind her. ‘Hurry, Rick. I have to get her to the hospital.’ Then Rick came out of the chalet. He was carrying a girl wrapped in a green blanket. She had long black hair, and I think she was Asian. She had her eyes closed, and one bare arm was outside the blanket.”

Gelber:
“Dead.”

Beth:
“I didn’t say that. I don’t know. If the woman was going to take her to the hospital, then she wasn’t dead. Right?”

Gelber:
“But you were afraid she might be.”

Beth:
“I didn’t know what to think. I was just confused and scared.”

Gelber:
“What happened next?”

Beth:
“Rick put the girl in the backseat of the Cadillac. He looked scared, too. He slammed the door of the car and stepped back. He said, ‘You shouldn’t have done it, Mother. Why did you hit her with that statue? It wasn’t her fault.’ She said, ‘No, it was yours. You know the rules. And it was only an accident, but I’ll fix it. She’ll be fine once I get her to the hospital. You just stay out of it.’ He nodded. ‘She’s only a kid. You take good care of her.’ She pulled away from the chalet. ‘Don’t I always take good care of everything? I’ll call you later, Rick.’ Then she started down the road.”

Gelber:
“That was when she saw you and Cara parked by the side of the road.”

Beth:
“Yes, her headlights were directly on us, and she saw us sitting there. I knew she saw us. She turned her head and stared at us as she passed. She looked … angry.”

Gelber:
“It was Rick’s mother. Did she recognize you?”

Beth:
“I don’t know. I recognized her from photographs though I’d never met her. Rick said she thought it best for me not to be around the family. People might guess the truth about me, and that would be awkward.”

Gelber:
“Did it make you angry?”

Beth:
“No, I think it hurt me, but I’d never be angry at Rick.”

Gelber:
“How fortunate. So did you go up to the chalet and ask for an explanation?”

Beth:
“No, I was going to do it, but Cara started the car and turned it around. I tried to stop her, but she wouldn’t listen. She said I should go back to the lodge and call Rick when I got there. He wouldn’t want to talk to me right now. I was angry. What did Cara know about Rick? He’d never been angry with me about anything. But she just ignored me and drove back to the lodge. I went to my room.”

Gelber:
“And called Rick?”

Beth:
“Yes, after I cooled down a little about the way Cara had whisked me back there.”

Gelber:
“Where was Cara?”

Beth:
“I didn’t know or care. She stayed in her car and was making phone calls.”

Gelber:
“To whom?”

Beth:
“I don’t know. I made her promise not to tell anyone about what had happened until I could talk to Rick. As long as she did that, it didn’t matter to me.”

Gelber:
“What did Rick say when you reached him? Was he angry with you?”

Beth:
“I told you that Rick was never angry with me. He loves me. He only said he wished I hadn’t gone to the chalet. His mother had called and told him that the girl was going to be fine and that she saw us up there. I asked what had happened to the girl and who she was. He said it was complicated, and he’d explain when he saw me tomorrow. He was going to come over in the afternoon and take me to town for dinner.”

Gelber:
“But he didn’t explain because you went skiing that morning and had an accident. You didn’t see him again. You’ve never seen him since.”

Beth:
“Not yet. But he’ll still come to see me. I know he will.”

Gelber:
“And what do you remember about the accident?”

Beth:
“It … wasn’t an accident. Some dumb kid played a trick and stretched a wire over the trail and tied it to two trees. I went flying face forward into the snow. Then something … the back of my head got hurt.”

Gelber:
“There was no wire, Beth.”

Beth:
“There was a wire. I saw it shining in the sunlight, but it was too late to stop.”

Gelber:
“No wire. You ran into a tree. You mustn’t lie. It will hurt.”

Beth:
“No, I saw the— Oh, God, it’s happening. I can’t breathe. Make it stop. Make it stop.”

Gelber:
“I can’t make it stop. You’re the only one who can do that. You have to reject the lies and accept the truth. You never saw Rick that weekend, you never went to his chalet, you never talked to him on the phone. You made it all up because you’re lonely and want his attention. Is your heart pounding hard?”

Beth:
“Yes … hurts.”