Sleep No More (8 page)

“Don’t bullshit me, Nelda,” George said. “I’ve never felt good about this, but I just let you do what you wanted because I love my son. But it’s getting dirtier and dirtier, and I don’t like being in this deep.”

Because he was a coward and couldn’t see that you had to risk everything if you wanted to reach your goals. “You say you love Rick. We have to fight for him, don’t we? He can climb so high. That’s what we both want for him. How many parents can give the Oval Office to their sons? But we have to protect him.”

George wearily nodded his head. “Yes, I guess we do. I’ll meet with this campaign person.”

“I knew you would.” She gave him a brilliant smile. “Don’t worry, I’ll do most of the talking. You’ll only have to deal with him on a minor level.” She left the room and headed for the carriage house.

Ken Spoder, Rick’s bodyguard, was lying in a lounge chair by the pool and smiled at Nelda as she approached. Muscular, tanned, and completely assured. “Good morning. You don’t look as if it’s a good day for you, Mrs. Avery. Maybe I can brighten it up for you. The town-hall meeting went great last night. Everyone loved Rick.”

“Everyone always loves Rick,” Nelda said. “That’s not one of his problems.” She paused. “How has he been, Ken?”

“Good. I told you that I could take care of it. I don’t let him make any missteps.”

Because she paid him a small fortune to make sure that he watched Rick like the proverbial hawk. “You’d better not. I wouldn’t like that. I haven’t come this far to have him brought down now.” She met his gaze. “I’m not pleased about a situation in California. I may need someone I can trust to take care of it.”

“Trust. You? I’m flattered. But I can’t watch Rick from California. Since his wife took off for Florida a few weeks ago, I’m the only one who can keep him … stable. And we both know that it would only take a few hours to blow everything.”

He was right. Rick was the most important part of the entire equation. She thought about it. “It might not take long, and I can control Rick if I’m with him. I’ll have to see if I think—”

“Mother, what are you doing here?” Rick strolled out of the carriage house. He was dressed in bathing trunks and looked fit and handsome, and his smile was as bright and warm as the sunlight. She felt a surge of love as strong as it was fierce as she gazed at him. He had been the center of her life since the minute he had been born. And George was quibbling about everything they had to do to realize the potential that Rick possessed? “I thought I wasn’t going to see you until dinner tonight.” He gave her a kiss on the cheek. “You look wonderful. That suit has to be from Paris.”

“New York.” Nelda smiled. “We have to have everything made in the U.S.A. The time of Jackie Kennedy and her Camelot doesn’t resound in this climate.” She took his arm and drew him a few yards away from Ken Spoder. “I just wanted to tell you that everything is going well with poor Beth. She’s safely back at the hospital.”

Rick smiled with relief. “That’s good. I was worried.”

“But you let me take care of everything.” She added meaningfully, “And that’s why things turned out as they should. If you’d gone out there as you wanted, it would have ruined everything. After all, there was no reason. You haven’t even seen Beth since the accident.”

“You told me that she wouldn’t even know me.”

“That’s right, and it would have upset her.” She put her hand on his arm. “And she’s much worse now, Rick.”

“I know.” He shook his head. “Sad … she means so much to me, Mother. I didn’t get to see her very much when she was little but later I grew to know and love her. And I think she loved me, too.”

“And we’re going to take care of her just as we always have.” She kissed him on the cheek. “Now go in for your swim. Ken tells me you were wonderful last night. You’re so good with handling people.”

“It’s fun. The speeches are almost the same every time, but most of the people who attend those rallies are pretty cool.” He was still not smiling. “I’ve been thinking about Beth a lot lately. I’m glad that she’s safe.”

“I know you are. But you have to forget about her now. We have too much to do.” She stepped back. “Bye, Rick. Have a good day.”

She was halfway back to the house when she heard a splash as he dove into the pool. A moment later, she heard him laugh and say something to Ken. Hopefully, she had stopped him from dwelling on the Beth problem. Thank God he was usually easy to distract. Though he had been very stubborn about Beth, and she hadn’t been able to budge him, dammit.

Beth had been a problem for years, and Nelda had always known she could be a threat to her plans for Rick.

She wouldn’t allow it.

If Pierce had bungled it, she would take care of eliminating that threat herself.

Seventeen Mile Drive
11:40
P.M.

IT WAS RAINING AGAIN.

She was wet to the bone, Beth realized as she ran down the beach toward the big house. It had been raining hard all day, and that wasn’t bad as far as she was concerned. This was California, where rain was probably not that common, and people tended to stay inside, not tempted to ask questions if they saw her on the road or beach.

She liked the rain on her face. It felt good. She had never been permitted to go outside when the weather was nasty or threatening. The doctors had to keep her well and free from germs or disease. Why? Why be so careful to keep her well, then try to kill her?

Don’t think. Just keep moving. She could puzzle everything out later.

Now she was climbing the dunes toward the house on the hill. All she had to do was reach the front door and enter the security code. Billy had given her the code, and there weren’t supposed to be any guards on the beach side of the property at this hour. She’d go inside and dry off and be safe for a little while.

But only for a little while. Billy had told her that she couldn’t trust anyone, that she had to figure out things for herself once he got her away from the hospital.

She felt a tingle of fear. Figure out things for herself? No one had let her think at all during these years. It was like a cripple learning to walk with no one standing beside her to hold her up if she fell.

But she wasn’t a cripple. She would not fall. Memories were coming back to her all the time about her life before the hospital. She had not been weak then, and she would not be weak now. Billy had told her she was to take this time to remember and find the answers he couldn’t give her.

“Hey, there! This is private property. You’re trespassing.”

A man in a security uniform was coming toward her! Dammit, Billy had told her there would be a guard, but she’d forgotten.

She whirled and stumbled back down the dune toward the beach. Go away and hide and come back later.

She heard his shout behind her. “Wait. What are you doing here? I want to talk to you.”

He was skidding down the dune behind her.

No!

Run.

Keep on running.

He was cursing.

Was he gaining on her?

Run …

*   *   *

RUN.

The phone on Eve’s nightstand was ringing as she struggled out of the depths of sleep and the tentacles of the dream …

Joe. She had been expecting him to call all evening. “What’s happening, Joe?” She tried to control the harshness of her breathing. “I thought you were going to call me before I went to bed.”

“Sorry. I’ve been on the phone most of the afternoon and evening. I wanted to know more before I filled you in.” He paused. “You okay? You sound kind of blurry.”

Rain and sand and a security guard chasing her down the beach.

“I’m fine. You woke me. Why have you been on the phone?”

He was silent. “Because I don’t like what’s going on here. When I went to the local police station this morning, I was told that the case was closed. Beth Avery had wandered back to the hospital last night during a rainstorm and was now safe in the hands of Dr. Pierce and his staff.”

“Just what you said you hoped would happen. But it’s a curious coincidence. Beth wandered away and just wandered back?” She added dryly, “That’s a lot of ‘wandering.’”

“It could have happened. But I went to the hospital to check it out and see Beth Avery. I saw Piltot, the human resources manager, I saw Dr. Pierce, but I didn’t see Beth Avery.”

“Why not?”

“According to Pierce, she was exhausted and disturbed and was to be kept in seclusion for the next few days until she recovered.”

“They wouldn’t let you see her?”

“They showed me a woman huddled in a bed, obviously drugged and out of it. They said to come back on Friday, and they’d see about letting me talk to her.” He paused. “But that wasn’t Beth Avery unless she’s changed beyond imagining. When I got back to the hotel, I called the records office of the private school she’d attended in Geneva and got them to send me a photo of her. I’ll forward it to you. Yes, she was younger and vibrant back then, but other than the dark hair, I couldn’t see any resemblance to the woman in that hospital bed. I’ve been calling that detective, Herman Dalker, but I haven’t been getting an answer. I’m trying to track him down.”

“And I’m going to call the school and see what I can find out about Beth. I want to talk to someone who knew her before she went into that hospital.” She added grimly, “And I want to know what happened that led her to run away from it.”

“I’m going to give you the answer that the hospital or a psychiatrist would give you: imaginary fears, schizophrenic delusions, or some other mental problem. And we couldn’t argue, Eve. We don’t have the facts.”

Heart pounding, sand beneath her shoes, rain on her face. Don’t let them catch me. Figure it out. Why …

“Speak for yourself. I can argue,” Eve said fiercely. She hadn’t even known the words were tumbling out until they were said. “You may have to have the facts because it’s your practical nature. I think she ran away because she was afraid. And not imaginary fear, Joe. She doesn’t know why, but she knows they want to kill her.”

He was silent. “Would you care to explain?”

“I don’t have an explanation. Not a reasonable one. I just think…” She drew a deep breath. “That dream the other night? I think it was Beth. It was the night she ran away from the hospital. I think I was running away with her. There was an ocean, a hospital … I was a part of her, feeling what she felt. I know it doesn’t make sense. Or maybe it does. I didn’t even know Beth existed when I had that dream. But perhaps she wasn’t meant to be alone any longer. Maybe God or fate or someone else decided that Beth deserved a break and needed a little help.”

“Someone else?” He paused. “Bonnie?”

“It’s possible.” Even probable. She could see the loving spirit of her Bonnie trying to arrange Eve’s life to suit herself. “Bonnie’s come to me in dreams before.”

“I know she has. From about a year after you lost her.”

Yes, Joe knew and accepted the fact that the ghost of Bonnie was still with Eve, which was a blessing beyond price. “It could be she just gave me a little push in Beth’s direction. Oh, I don’t know, dammit.” Her hand tightened on the phone. “But I was dreaming about Beth again when you called tonight. She was still running, but she was on the beach. There was a big house where she thought she’d be safe…”

“You’re sure it was Beth?”

“Yes, it was much clearer than the other dream. I know all this is weird as hell, Joe.”

“A little. But we’ve gone down that road before and survived. I trust you. If you believe it, then I’ll go along with you.”

“I believe it. Beth was thinking about someone named Billy. Billy had given her the security code to the house.” She was thinking. “So this Billy will know where we can find her. Someone at the hospital?”

“If I can get the password, I can check the personnel records on the computer without letting the staff know.”

“Which won’t be easy.”

“Not for us. But I know someone who might be able to get it for me.”

“If they can get into the personnel office.”

“That goes without saying. But if I can convince her to take the job, I’ll worry about access later. She can be stubborn as hell.”

“She?”

“Kendra Michaels.”

“A detective?”

“No. Yes. Sort of,” he said. “She kind of writes her own ticket.”

“But we need her?”

“We need her. She’s unique.”

“Then we’ll get her,” she said grimly. “I’m taking the next flight out.”

“I thought that would be your reaction. But take that flight to San Diego. That’s where she lives and works. I’ll meet you there.”

“San Diego,” she repeated. “I’ll let you know which flight. Bye, Joe.” She hung up and, a moment later, heard the ping as the photo Joe had promised her was transmitted. She accessed the photo of Beth Avery.

She felt a ripple of surprise.

“Vibrant,” Joe had called her. That was an understatement, the face of the girl in the photo was glowing and eager and so alive that it was like an electric shock. A thin, triangular face with full lips and brown eyes beneath winged dark brows. Her shoulder-length hair was also dark brown and wildly curly.

Like my Bonnie’s hair, she thought. Not red-brown, like her daughter’s tousled curls, but it looked to have the same shining texture and wild buoyancy. For some reason, she had not expected to see any family resemblance in Beth Avery. Eve still couldn’t think of Beth in that context. She saw no likeness to either Sandra or herself, but that cap of curly hair had given her a start.

And that vibrance and sheer love of life in Beth’s expression had touched … and angered her. No one who loved life that much should have it taken away from her.

Cool it. She was jumping to conclusions. She couldn’t be absolutely sure that Beth had been a victim of anything but a terrible accident. Because Eve had believed she’d shared the thoughts of that woman in those crazy dreams didn’t mean that those thoughts were sane and coherent.

Bullshit. Don’t back away now. There had to be some reason that she’d had that first dream of Beth. Some reason that Sandra had come to them with her confession about Beth at just this time. Life wasn’t always fair or kind, but she’d learned from Bonnie that there was an order to it that couldn’t be denied.