Hear the Children Calling (13 page)

“The water didn’t have time to boil,” Stuart said. “Thank God you’re okay. But I can see we better not leave you alone, Beth. Not if you’re going to be hurting yourself like this.”

“But I didn’t do it myself.”

Stuart ignored her protests. “I’m going to get our coats,” he said. “We’ll go out to dinner tonight. I think we all need a break.”

When he left the kitchen, Beth turned to her mother. “Mommy, we have to tell him,” she said.

“Daddy needs time to sort things out,” Natalie said. “He wants Peter alive as much as we do, but he doesn’t dare believe it.”

“It’s true,” Beth insisted. “My twin is alive, and we have to help him.” She frowned at her mother, her eyes seeming to ask why Natalie wasn’t helping bring Peter home again.

18

T
HE WAITING ROOM OF THE PARAPSYCHOLOGIST
’
S
office was darkly paneled, table lamps giving off a warm glow that was meant to relax nervous clients. Kate held fast to Danny’s big hand as they sat together on a comfortable wooden bench. To either side of them, end tables held scattered stacks of outdated magazines. Kate put her head on Danny’s shoulder and stared at the faded Houdini poster that decorated the opposite wall.

Danny gazed ahead himself, silent. Any protests he had about his wife’s seeing a parapsychologist had been used up in an argument they’d had the previous night.

When Kate had fainted in the crafts shop, another customer recognized her and called the garage where Danny worked as head mechanic. He arrived just minutes after she came to, and had insisted on taking her to their family doctor. The physician had found nothing wrong with Kate and attributed her collapse to nerves. He had recommended a mild sedative. Kate had refused to have the prescription filled.

“Drugs won’t solve my problems,” she said. “The only thing that can do that is finding our daughter.”

“Kate, you know in your heart our daughter is dead.”

“She can’t be,” Kate had argued. “The messages I’ve been receiving are too clear. She wants to contact me, but something is preventing her from coming through. So I know what I have to do, Danny. I have to contact her myself.”

She had gone to their overstuffed magazine rack,
pulling out issue after issue until she found an old article on a study being done at Boston University on paranormal phenomena. While Danny roared protests in the background, she called up Dr. Alec Tavillo and explained her situation. Intrigued, he had agreed to see her at once.

So now they were sitting in his waiting room, in a small building just off the campus, Kate twisting her fingers nervously and Danny trying to control his emotions. The opaque glass door opened and a young woman beckoned them inside.

“Make yourself comfortable,” she said to Kate as she led her into a small room. It was like a den, complete with an easy chair, family photographs on the walls, and a chess game set up on a pedestal table. There was even a kind of monitor that could have been mistaken for a television set.

Dr. Tavillo walked in a moment later. Kate was surprised to see how young he was, somewhere in that range between twenty-five and thirty-five when age is impossible to guess. She took a quick side glance at the diplomas on the wall and noted he had graduated from the Boston School of Psychiatric Medicine just four years earlier. He shook Danny’s hand, then extended his arm to Kate.

“I’m Alec Tavillo,” he said. “How are you, Mrs. Emerson?”

“I don’t know,” Kate said, honestly. “Scared.”

Alec smiled. “No doubt,” he said. “It isn’t every day one goes under hypnosis. In fact, I wouldn’t be jumping into it this quickly if Dr. Lee hadn’t explained the situation to me. The idea of your daughter trying to communicate with you is intriguing. Has she made contact with you, Mr. Emerson?”

“No,” Danny said simply. “I want you to know I’m here under protest. I don’t believe in this mumbo-jumbo, but if it will help Kate realize the mistake she’s making, I’m willing to go along for a while.”

Kate started to say something, but Dr. Tavillo spoke up first.

“Your attitude is common,” he said. “And understandable. I could give you arguments why it makes sense to believe the unbelievable. But we are here foremost to help your wife.”

Danny nodded, then took a look around himself at all the framed degrees on the walls. “I see you have a degree is psychiatry,” he pointed out. “What made you switch to parapsychology?”

“It’s something that has always fascinated me,” Alec said. “In med school, I studied the mind as we understand it. But, along with many others in my field, I believe there are mysteries just beyond our grasp. I’m a strong believer in the paranormal.”

“In the supernatural?” Kate asked.

Alec held out a hand, as if offering something. “If you want to call it that,” he said. “I’m hoping that studies will prove that these things are possible, and a time will come when they are no more unusual than the idea of the sun at the center of our solar system. But I’m rambling, and I know you are eager to begin.” He indicated the easy chair. “Please, sit down,” he said. “Mr. Emerson, if you’d take a seat back there on the couch?”

Kate climbed into the chair, her small frame somewhat lost in its big cushions. She let out a long, slow breath. Already, the comfortable furniture was making her relax.

“What will you be doing?” she asked.

“Nothing that will hurt you,” Alec insisted. “Since you have already communicated with your daughter through your mind, I’m hoping that hypnosis will break down any barriers that are keeping her from contacting you now. First, I’m going to take you back to the first time you saw Laura appear. There may be a clue as to why she chose this time to contact you. Then, we’ll go over each episode. I want you to look for details, anything that might help you find out where Laura is being held.”

“I feel,” Kate said softly, “as if I’m finally doing something constructive.”

“Are you ready?”

“I suppose,” Kate sighed.

“Kate, I’m going to help you relax totally,” Dr. Tavillo said. “Remember, I can’t force you to do or say anything that goes against your basic morals. Don’t be afraid of embarrassment. And most certainly, you will not feel any pain. You are only looking at images. Okay?”

“Okay.” Kate took one last look at Danny, who managed a slight smile for her. Then she turned and fixed her eyes on Alec’s.

“Close your eyes,” he said. “Good. Now, think about your toes, Kate. They’re going to start feeling tingly, and that tingling is going to go up into your feet.”

In a few minutes, Kate’s feet tilted away from each other. By the time Dr. Tavillo reached her neck muscles, her entire body had relaxed so much that it seemed she was in a deep sleep. He nodded to Danny, who leaned forward in amazement.

“How do you feel now, Kate?”

“Scared. So scared.”

The words were dull, monotone.

“You don’t need to be afraid,” Alec reassured again. “Kate, I want you to mink back to that first dream you had of Laura. Can you remember it?”

Kate nodded.

“Now, go back just a little bit more,” Alec said, “The dinner that night. What were you talking about?”

“Christopher’s birthday is coming up,” Kate said. “He wants a Galaxy Blaster.” She sat up, the same way she had straightened herself at the dinner table weeks earlier. “No, you can’t have that, Chris,” she said. “You can’t have everything you see on TV. Don’t whine. I will not have guns in my house.” She turned her head. “Danny, you talk to him . . .”

“Kate, come back again,” Alec said.

Kate settled back.

“Yes?”

“Did you talk about Laura at all that night?”

“We don’t talk much about Laura,” Kate said. She tilted her head, seeming to consider something. “Not that night.”

“Did you see a picture of her?”

“Pictures of her everywhere.”

“Tell me about going to bed.”

“I have a headache,” Kate said. She put her fingers to her temples. “Haven’t had such a bad headache in a long time. Must be my period coming up. And I feel cold, too.” She snuggled into the chair as if getting comfortable in bed. A few moments later, she was breathing evenly.

“Kate?”

No answer.

Danny asked, “Is she asleep?”

Alec held up a hand to silence him. “Kate, have you fallen asleep?”

“Yes.”

“Let’s move to the dream, Kate,” Alec said. “Are you there yet?”

“Walking Boston Blackie,” Kate said. Her eyebrows furrowed. “What on earth? What happened to the trees? Isn’t that a mesa over there?” She shook her head.

“Crazy. There are no mesas in New England. How can I be in a desert?”

“Tell me what you see?”

“Flat-topped mountains,” Kate reported. “Tumbleweed. It’s so hot! Oh, someone’s waving to me . . . ” She bolted upright, arms reaching forward. “Laura! Oh, my God, it’s my little girl!”

“Tell her to come to you, Kate,” Dr. Tavillo urged.

Tears started down Kate’s round cheeks. “She’s trying,” she said. “But she can’t. She keeps running, but she doesn’t get any closer.”

“Tell her to stop running,” Alec ordered.

“No, she wants me.”

“Tell her, Kate,” Alec commanded. “It’s doing no good. You have to talk to her. Ask her where she is.

Kate brought her fingers to her lips. “Oh, baby,
stop running,” she said. “You wait and I’ll come get you.”

“Where is she?” Alec pressed.

Kate froze suddenly, fingers still to her lips, leaning slightly forward.

“Kate?”

“She’s gone,” Kate said dully. She sank back into the chair.

“Think about her, Kate,” Alec said. “Think about the next time you saw her. What were you doing?”

Kate frowned, then nodded. “I was decorating the store window,” she said. “She was across the street.”

Suddenly, Kate’s eyes snapped open. She jumped from her chair and went to the window of the doctor’s office. But instead of the highway below, Kate saw the street outside the Baby Bear Boutique.

“Laura!” Her arms opened wide, and, unseen to Alec or Danny, a pumpkin smashed to the floor. “Oh, what a mess!”

“What happened, Kate?”

“Dropped a big pumpkin,” Kate said. She looked back up at the window. “Laura’s gone.”

Alec came to stand beside her. You saw her again at the crafts store.”

“She was in the next aisle,” Kate said.

“Reach out to her,” Alec said.

Kate turned toward a floor lamp and reached out. When she touched it, she screamed so shrilly that Danny jumped to his feet.

“What’s happening?” Alec asked.

“Oh, she’s back,” Kate cried. “My baby is back.” She wrapped her arms around nothingness.

“No, you’re not Jennifer,” Kate cried. “You’re Laura!”

Laura pressed her hands over her ears. She began to speak in a babyish tone that only Kate could hear.

“I not Jenny. I Loh-ra. I Lo-rah Em’son. I want my mommy!” She doubled over, screaming.

“No! Don’t you do that to me. No fire. It hurts. It hurts.”

“Laura, please! It’s Mommy! Tell me where you are so I can stop them!”

Laura calmed down, looking up at her with dull eyes. “I’m Jennifer,” she said. “My mother is Alice Segal and I don’t know you. I’m Jennifer.”

And then she was gone.

Kate sank to the floor, screaming.

Alec dropped down beside her.

“I’m going to bring you out again, Kate,” he said. “It’s over. Listen to me. One-two-three!”

The screaming stopped. Slowly, Kate straightened herself until she was sitting cross-legged. She looked up at Alec, then at Danny. Her husband had tears in his eyes and she knew he had come to believe as she did that Laura really was trying to reach them.

“I feel horrible,” she said softly, reaching up to her face. She felt tears and brought her hand away to look at them.

“You saw Laura again,” Danny said.

Kate nodded. “Yes—I did. But there was something wrong.”

She held up a hand. Alec brought her to her feet.

“Laura was so frightened,” she said, shivering. She rubbed her arms. “She said they were going to hurt her.”

“But she wouldn’t say where she was?” Alec asked.

“No,” Kate said. “She pulled away from me and kept insisting her name was Jennifer. Suddenly, she acted as if she didn’t know me.” Kate’s lower lip began to tremble, but she bit it hard.

“What now?” Danny asked.

“Most important, at least we were successful in contacting your daughter,” Alec said. “But someone is stopping her. We have to call her again, to let her know we can help.”

Danny came to put his arms around Kate. “My wife has been through enough today.”

“Danny . . .”

“No, your husband is right,” Alec agreed. “I
wouldn’t risk putting you under again. We may not even connect with Laura. Or Jennifer.”

Danny shook his head.

“Why Jennifer?”

“No doubt the name she was given after she was kidnapped,” Alec guessed. “For whatever reason these people took her, they wanted to erase the memory of her earlier life. That wouldn’t be hard to do with a child as young as three.”

Kate looked up at her husband.

“Oh, Danny,” she said. “I think they were going to burn her. She was crying about a fire.”

“Brainwashing,” Dr. Tavillo speculated. “It’s more effective when accompanied by die threat of physical harm.”

Danny’s teeth set on edge. “Those bastards,” he hissed. “I’m going to kill them.”

“First,” Alec pointed out, “you have to find them. Kate, next time Laura appears to you, you’re going to remain calm. You’ll ask her where you can find her. Most important, you won’t call her Laura. Apparently, she was threatened with severe pain if she used that name. Call her Jenny. Ask Jenny where you can find her.”

“I’ll try,” Kate said. “But I don’t know if . . .” She turned to hug Danny, not letting herself imagine the torment her daughter might be suffering at that very moment.

19

R
ALPH
C
OLPAN WORKED LATE MOST NIGHTS, HUNCHED
over a drawing table with one of the thousands of blueprints he’d created rolled out before him. Unlike other working drawings that might have depicted houses or skyscrapers, these prints did not carry easily recognizable numbers along the dimension lines. Everything on the print, from the material identification to the draftsman’s initials, had been written in a code known only to Ralph and his few immediate superiors. For this was the secret work of a project so immense, so potentially threatening, that only a select group knew of its existence.