The Dream Machine: Book 6, The Eddie McCloskey Paranormal Mystery Series (The Unearthed) (25 page)

Deanna was right. When I stood up I nearly fell right back into the chair. She grabbed my arm to steady me. The machines monitoring Manetti continued to beep. I gave her one last look as the nurse guided me out of the room.

“She has to live, Deanna,” I said.

“She’s fighting.”

Slowly we made our way to what looked like a storage area. There was an access door propped open. Deanna led me to it. I tried not to lean on her too much but couldn’t really help it. Lightheaded was an understatement.

“I’ve got water and juice and snacks down here for you. You need to fill up. And you should probably lie down.”

I had other plans.

She helped me down the stairs into a basement with a low ceiling and a lot of extra supplies. The test subjects were massed together in one corridor, while the research staff, Zane included, gave them their space. Alison was sitting with her back to the wall, head down, not really talking to anybody. The security team was down to three guys, all of them wearing dark expressions.

“I’ve got you set up over here.” Deanna pulled my arm in the other direction.

“I have to talk to the guards for a moment.”

“Are you going to be difficult the entire time?”

“Probably.”

“Eddie—”

“I’m going to find the guy that shot my partner and killed two security guards. But only if I talk to these guys right now. Come on, Deanna. He’s getting away.”

She sighed. “Okay.”

She helped me the whole way. The nearest guard perked up at my arrival. He was young, the only one of the bunch that didn’t have grey hair.

“How’s your partner?” he asked.

“Not good. I’m Eddie.” I shook his hand.

“Brandon.”

I nodded at the group. “Somebody call out today? You guys seem light.”

Brandon shook his head. “We had to adjust because of the hurricane. Couple people called out because of the storm.”

“Sorry about your colleagues.”

“They were both good guys.”

I stepped away, Deanna still by my side.

“I have to talk to Alison right now.”

“Make you a deal. I’ll sit you down next to her only if you promise to eat and drink what I bring you right away.”

“Deal.”

We shuffled over. Once we got near, Alison’s eyes came to life and she watched me approach with a guarded expression on her face. Before I even sat down, she shook her head.

“I told you I’m not feeling well today,” Alison said. “I can’t stand any questions right now. I’ve got a raging headache.”

Deanna squeezed my arm. “Can’t this wait, Eddie?”

Alison saw she had an ally in the nurse. “I nearly seized earlier. I could do without an episode today.”

“Alison, you don’t realize it, but you might have information that could help us find White. Agent Manetti is hanging by a thread. He killed two security guards. Don’t you want to help?”

Alison closed her eyes like she was in serious pain. “Fine. Let’s get this over with.”

Deanna gave me a look to reemphasize I could only have a few minutes with Alison. I smiled at her like I was agreeing to that limitation. I had other plans, though.

As the nurse helped me get into a seated position next to Alison, I saw the driver on the other side of the basement. Our eyes met and he gave me a silent nod.

The floor was hard and cold but it felt good to get off my feet. Deanna left us alone while she went to get me drinks and snacks. Alison gave me a withering look, but I didn’t start talking. I didn’t want the nurse to interrupt us once I got going. I still couldn’t believe what I was thinking. It made no sense. But it was a working theory and literally the only thing I had to go on at the moment. And Alison already hated me, so it wasn’t like I’d be making an enemy out of her. I already had one.

“Is she going to die?” Alison asked.

I looked at her. “Probably.”

Alison nodded. “Sucks.”

Deanna returned with a bottled water, orange juice, a large bag of pretzels, and a snack-sized bag of chocolate chip cookies.

“Drink and eat all of this. You need the volume, salt, and sugar.”

I put the drinks and snacks down next to me and flipped her a salute. “Let me know how Manetti’s doing, okay?”

She nodded and left us alone again.

I uncapped the water like I had all the time in the world, when I was really burning to ask Alison what I wanted. My throat was parched and the water was refreshing.

Putting the bottle down, I turned to Alison.

“White told me everything.”

Alison said nothing. But her eyes sort of twitched before steadying on me.

I knew I had latched onto something, but still wasn’t quite what that was or how everything fit together. But my hunch was correct.

Alison still hadn’t answered.

I pointed at her. “You can’t remember your dreams, can you?”

She had completely locked up. Not one muscle in her body moved.

“And White taught you how to lucid dream.”

Her bottom lip began to quiver. She bit it and looked away.

“He asked you to dream about Melanie Crawford getting raped.”

“Who?”

“The rape victim.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She still wouldn’t meet my eyes.

I knew I had her. “Goddamnit, Alison. Two people are dead and Manetti might join them.”

She buried her face in her hands. “He wasn’t…”

She didn’t have to finish her sentence. Those three words devastated me. This very confused, very sick, and very dying girl might have gotten Manetti killed.

“He wasn’t what?” I was yelling now. Heads turned in my direction. But I didn’t care.

“Nothing. I’m not feeling well. I’m dying. I’m not making sense. Can’t you leave me alone?”

“Just tell me why,” I said. “And I’ll leave you alone. Why would you help him?”

“I don’t know what you’re saying,” she muttered miserably. “You’re not making any sense.”

“I read your emails,” I sort of lied. “I know he sent you the pictures of Melanie and her bedroom. You received those a few days before you dreamed about the rape.”

“Oh God…” She began to sob. “…I don’t know what…oh God…oh God…”

Deanna hurried back over. “What are you doing to her, Eddie?”

“I’m going to—I’m going to—I see—” Alison stopped babbling and locked up. Without much warning, her body shook and she slumped over onto me.

“Damnit, Eddie! She’s seizing!”

“Is it for real?” I wasn’t about to put it past her at this point.

“Yes!”

I’d pushed her too far. But at least now I knew. Alison and White had worked together to come up with the rape dream, which somehow meant Alison was probably complicit in his escape. I still didn’t have all the pieces, but I could see the through-line to this story.

I called Pater while Deanna and another nurse got Alison situated. They’d brought her a pillow and shifted her on top of a blanket. Deanna jabbed a needle into her arm, no doubt some kind of sedative that probably calmed her brain down.

“How’s Agnes?” Patterson asked, his voice cold.

“Hanging in there. I need Detective Villanueva’s number right now.”

“What the hell happened?” Pater said. It was unusual for him to curse or let any real emotions show.

“The prisoner escaped. He had help. I’m still tracking that down but I’m getting there. We pursued him outside and he shot Manetti in the back.”

“How did he get behind her with you there?”

How to explain this one? “Alison had a vision of me and Manetti…”

Another piece fell into place. The dream about Melanie Crawford had been in black and white, as had the dream about Manetti and me.

Alison had
intentionally
dreamed up that scenario where I killed Manetti. If she knew White was going to escape during the storm, then she’d dreamed up that vision to set us up. To throw us off. To give us something else to worry about, so White could get away. Either we’d kill each other or White would get a chance to bump us off while we were arguing about whether the dream was real or not.

“What is it, Eddie?” Pater asked.

“It was all a set-up. Alison can lucid dream. She was in control of several of these so-called visions and led us down a path. She set us up.”

“I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

I went over it for him. Pater listened quietly, not interjecting until I came up for air.

“Why would she do this?”

“She was working with White.”

“Why?”

I looked over at her inert body. The seizure had been a long one, at least it seemed as much to me.

“I don’t know. Because she’s jaded or because she’s getting something out of White in return.”

“But what?”

“I don’t know yet…” It made no sense. Maybe her many diseases and terminal diagnosis and unfortunate family situation had turned her irrationally vindictive. Maybe this was her way of getting back at the universe, trying to inflict pain on other people. “She’s out for the count right now. Seizure.”

“You need to get her to talk,” Pater said. “Figure out a way.”

“What the hell do you think I’m going to do?” I’d been pacing but had to sit down. My head still felt like it could float away. Everybody else in the basement was watching me nervously, even the guards regarded me warily.

“Why do you want Villanueva’s number?” Pater asked.

I told him why and hung on while he got it.

He read the number off to me and closed with, “We’ll be on the ground as soon as the storm permits. You’d better have a bead on this asshole by the time we get there.”

He hung up.

***

Villanueva picked up on the third ring.

“Villanueva.”

“Detective, this is Eddie McCloskey. We met earlier today.”

“Yeah.”

“Look, this isn’t going to make any sense to you…” And I told him what I could. Which wasn’t much of anything. Almost everything I shared was a lie or a stretch. “The prisoner that broke out of here is buddy-buddy with Melanie Crawford’s ex, who spent some time up the river. There might be a connection here.”

Villanueva paused. “What’s White’s goal here? If he wanted the guy caught, he would have told you it was going down. If he wanted to punish the woman, he wouldn’t have dropped the tip.”

I hadn’t told him that White tipped us off, but I also couldn’t argue with his logic. “He wanted it to look like there was a rape but he didn’t want anybody getting in trouble…”

“That’s what I’m saying,” Villanueva said. “It makes no sense.”

I puzzled over that. “How about you ask Melanie about White? Say we got a tip from him and see how she reacts?”

“She’s been through a lot, Eddie.”

I decided to play a flyer. “Maybe she hasn’t.”

“The rape kit came back positive.”

“How positive?” I knew I was pushing it, but I had nothing to lose now.

He was quiet for a moment. “It’s enough for me to believe her, let’s put it that way.”

“But if there was evidence to the contrary, would be it be enough by itself?”

He didn’t answer that. “How about you let me in a little more? With what you’ve given me, I don’t feel comfortable challenging a rape victim’s story.”

I decided to go for it. I cared more about finding White and besides, Alison was complicit in all this somehow. I no longer gave two shits about Zane’s research on her. If I was right and she’d learned how to lucid dream, his testing on her would be meaningless anyway.

Fuck it.

“You’re not going to believe what I’m about to tell you, and it has to stay between us. You can’t use it. Understood?”

“Alright, McCloskey. You have my word.”

And I told him.

I was feeling better, less light-headed now. Still I made my way pretty slowly over to Alison and Deanna.

“I need to speak to her. When do you think she’ll come to?”

Deanna gave me a scornful look. “Are you out of your mind, Eddie? I’m not letting you anywhere near her when she wakes up. You did this to her.”

“You don’t understand what’s going on here. She might have helped White to escape.”

She opened her mouth to argue, but my words stopped her cold.

“She might know where he is, or where he’s going. I have to talk to her. As soon as possible.”

“That doesn’t make any sense.”

“I know it doesn’t. But it’s still true. She had a hand in this, I’m pretty fucking sure of it. Which means she has blood on her hands. Those two guards are dead, Manetti’s on her way, and every minute we stand around talking about it is another minute White gets farther away from us.”

Deanna regarded me with a pained expression on her face. “She’s not going to wake up till tomorrow.”

I checked my phone. It was a few minutes shy of midnight. “You mean in a few hours, or you mean tomorrow morning?”

“More tomorrow morning.”

“Can’t we just wake her up?”

Deanna shook her head. “I had to give her something. You set off an electrical storm in her brain. It was a bad seizure. It would have progressed to something even worse if I didn’t knock her out.”

“Give her something to wake up.”

Her eyes narrowed. “I’ll do no such thing. I’m responsible for her well-being, no matter what she’s done.”

I pointed at her. “She might have information, and every minute that information gets a little less useful to us.”

Deanna folded her arms. “Absolutely not. I will not wake this girl up to subject her to a grand mal…I’d never be permitted to practice medicine again.”

“People are dead because of this girl.”

“You said she
might
have helped White. So you don’t even know for sure. I’m not going to take a huge risk on a maybe, Eddie.”

“Goddamnit! I need her to answer my questions right now, or we’re going to lose this guy!”

Deanna got right in my face. “And I need her to
sleep
right now.”

“When’s the earliest we could w…”

Deanna gave me a strange look. “What?”

“You need her to sleep right now…”

“That’s what I’m saying, Eddie.”

I nodded. “Okay, don’t go anywhere.”

“Eddie!”

I turned and scanned the crowd. Thankfully, Dr. Nareev was in the basement. As I made my way over, everybody parted.

“Doctor, I need your help.”