Woman (17 page)

     "No, right here,"
he replied. "I don't know what she had in mind—especially since I wasn't
here this afternoon."

     "She wants your
attention," Liz said. She clenched her teeth, groaning softly again.
"And my absence."

     "Well, it isn't going
to happen," he said firmly. "She simply isn't thinking
straight."

     "God knows how she
thinks," Liz replied.

     He grunted, nodding, and
moving quickly to the kitchen, he opened a cupboard drawer and took out a clean
dish towel. He began to wet it at the sink. "You want to try an ice
pack?" he asked.

     "No," she said.
"Just. . .go and come back as fast as you can."

     "I will."

     He wrung out the dish towel,
started to leave the kitchen, then turned and moved to the refrigerator. Putting
the dishtowel on the counter next to the refrigerator, he took a cup out of the
cupboard and held it under the ice cube dispenser.

     When Liz heard the noise of
the ice cube maker, she called out, "No! Just
go,
David."

     "Okay." He put
down the cup and moved back into the living room. Liz had stretched out on the
sofa, a pillow under her head. Folding the damp dish towel, he laid it across
her forehead, making her twitch and open her eyes.

     "Thank you," she
said then. "Come back as soon as you can."

     "I will." He
turned quickly for the bedroom, went into the bathroom and pulled open the
cabinet door. The pill vial wasn't in it. He was about to call to Liz, then
looked down and saw the empty prescription vial in the wastebasket.

     He picked it up and dropped
it in the pocket of his jacket, then returned to the living room and crossed
toward the door.

     "Fast," she told
him.

     He stopped and looked back.
"Liz," he said.

     "What?"

     "I'd rather not ask you
to do this but, if it'll help to reassure you, why don't you put the chain on
the door after I leave?"

     "Good idea." She
started to push up, the movement making her groan again. David hurried over and
assisted her to her feet, grimacing at the look of twisted pain on her face.
"I'm so sorry," he said.

     "It's all right,"
she mumbled.

     He helped her across the
living room and opened the door. "If you see her in the hall or outside
the building, come back," she told him in a labored voice.

     "I will."

     "We
do
know she doesn't live in this
building," she said.

     "She doesn't, that was
a lie," he told her.

     She looked on the verge of
tears again. "Jesus Christ, how many lies
did
she tell us?"

     "I don't know,
sweetheart," he said gently. "Just lock the door and put on the
chain. I'll be right back."

     "David," she said
when he had almost closed the door. He looked at her. She was trying to smile
despite the pain. "I believe you," she murmured.

     He smiled and picked up her
right hand to kiss it. "Don't worry now," he said. "We'll get
through this."

     He closed the door.

* * *

     After David had left, Liz
locked the door, checking and re-checking to make sure the lock was working.
Then she put the chain in place. Obviously, Ganine had somehow managed to
unlock the door without a key. The chain would stymie her though, she thought
with grim satisfaction.

     Returning to the sofa, she
laid down carefully, groaning as she did. She picked up the fallen dish towel
and laid itacross her forehead. Like a band-aid for a fucking fractured skull,
she thought, managing a tight smile.

     She had barely closed her
eyes when the telephone rang. "
No
," she murmured, then with a heavy sigh, reached over her head
and picked up the receiver. "Yes?" she muttered.

     The voice on the other end
of the line was garbled, indistinct. "I'm sorry, I can't hear you,"
she said.

     The voice was slightly
clearer but still distorted. "Who
is
this?" Liz asked. In another moment I'm hanging up, she
thought.

     Now the voice was clearer,
the garbling had been hysteria. Suddenly, she recognized the voice.
"Candy?" she said.

     Candy's voice was
incoherent.

     "Candy, slower,
slower," Liz instructed her.

     "It's
Val!"
Candy cried, her voice
frenzied. "It's
Val!"
she repeated.

     Liz felt herself shudder,
feeling suddenly very cold. "What
about
him?" she asked.

     "He fell apart!"
Candy yelled, making Liz grimace, the pain in her head erupting again.

     "What do you
mean?" she said, but Candy was already interrupting her. "He
screamed! He hit me! He came to pieces!"

     "You don't mean
literally
he came to pieces, do
you?" Liz's mind demanded. It was too insane to consider. "Where
is
he?" she asked.

     "He screamed at me! He
hit me and he broke things!" Candy ranted.

     "Candy, where
is
he?" Liz demanded.

     "He screamed
and—!"

     "Where
is
he, Candy?!" Liz cried, the
effort making the headache flare again.

     "In the hospital, the hospital!"
Candy said, frantically. "The hospital! They had to put him in a
straitjacket! He tried to kill them! They injected him!"

     "Oh, God," Liz
muttered.

     She managed to get the name
of the hospital fromCandy, then said, "I'll be there as soon as I
can."

     Candy kept speaking
hysterically.

     
"Candy,
I'llbe there as soon as I can,"
Liz said.

     She hung up on Candy's
continued raving. Jesus Christ, she thought, was this Ganine again? She began
to feel a sense of total helplessness. If Ganine had done such terrible things
already, how much
more
could
she do?

     She struggled to her feet, tiny
sounds of pain in her throat. Am I going to
make
it? she wondered. She had to though. Val needed her. She was sure
of it.

     She moved, stumbling into
the kitchen and turned on the coldwater faucet in the sink. It was agony to
lean over and splash water in her face. I'm not going to make it, she thought
in fright. I
have
to though,
she vowed. I have got to go to my brother's side. He
needs
me.

     She dried her face. Oh, God,
I could use some more pain pills, she thought. Well, there was no way she could
wait for David to return. She moved with effort to the telephone, dialed
information and asked for the number of the nearest Yellow Cab garage.

     The information voice had
just begun to speak the number when there was a knock on the door. She jerked
her head around, crying out weakly as the pain in her head increased sharply.
It couldn't be, she told herself, not so soon.

     She moved haltingly to the
door. "David?" she said.

     "Can I come in, Mrs.
Harper?" Ganine's voice asked timidly.

     Before Ganine was halfway
through her request Liz felt herself go rigid, the head pain beginning to
pound.

     "Mrs. Harper, can I
come in?" Ganine sounded like a little girl pleading.

     Liz couldn't speak. She had
never felt so helpless in her life. Go away, a voice begged in her mind.

     "I have to talk to
you," Ganine said.

     Liz tried to say something
but couldn't make a sound.

     "Mrs. Harper,
please."
The little girl's pleading
sounded pathetic now.

     Suddenly, words flooded out.
"Get away from here"
she said.

     
"Please,
Mrs. Harper," Ganine said. The door handle turned. "Let
me in. I have something I have to say to you."

     
"Get
away,"
Liz ordered in a strained voice.

     "But I have to
apologize." Ganine answered.

     
"Get
out of here,"
Liz told her.

     "I can't. I have
to—"

     Liz cut her off, her voice
abruptly rabid. "Get out of her, I said!" she cried.

     
"Please,
Mrs. Harper."

     Liz sobbed. "Goddamn
you,
leave!"

     She backed away with a sound
of dread as she heard a noise in the door lock. "No," she murmured.
"No."

     The door lock clicked loudly
and the door began to open.

     
"Jesus
Christ,"
Liz mumbled. It sounded like a plaintive
prayer.

     Her mouth fell open and she
made a noise as though all breath was being sucked from her lungs.

     The chain was moving by
itself.

     
"No,"
Liz whined. She shook her head despite the pain. This couldn't be
happening.

     "Why did you put on the
chain?" Ganine seemed to scold her. "I only want to apologize."
Liz could see her through the partially open doorway. Ganine's expression was
one of distress as though Liz's use of the door chain was a cruel insult to
her.

     Liz's cry was like the
bleating of an animal as she saw the head of the chain pop its restraint and
the chain drop loose. She backed away, her face a mask of shocked fear as
Ganine pushed open the door and came in. She was smiling happily. "I can
do that," she said, sounding almost proud.