Stealing Shadows (41 page)

Bishop eased her back against the pillows and felt for a carotid pulse. It was so faint, he could barely discern it, and her skin was like ice.

"Cassie?" He slapped her cheek sharply, getting absolutely no response. Over his shoulder to the deputy, he snapped, "Call EMS."

"My God," Danny whispered. "Look at her hair."

"Get EMS here now!"

 

MARCH 10, 1999

"I've run every test I have." The neurosurgeon Ben had flown in frowned at his clipboard. "The MRI showed no tumor, no bleeding or swelling of the brain. There's no apparent injury or trauma, no disease we can detect. She's breathing on her own. The EEG shows brain activity, though of a kind I find unusual."

Bishop, who'd been standing on the far side of the hospital bed gazing out the window, turned to look at the doctor. "Meaning?" His voice was cool.

Dr. Rhodes shook his head. "I mean there's activity in an area of the brain where there is normally little or no activity, especially during coma."

"Is that good?"

"I don't know," the doctor replied bluntly. "Just like I don't know how that white streak could have appeared in her hair instantaneously. If anyone else had told me it just appeared like that – "

"I was there," Bishop said. "It appeared in a matter of seconds as she fell unconscious. Started at the roots and went right to the ends."

Almost to himself the doctor muttered, "The medical literature says that's an old wives' tale."

"Rewrite the literature," Bishop suggested.

"I may have to. On several counts. I just don't understand what's causing this coma. There's no medical reason to account for it."

Sitting beside the bed, Ben said, "So what you're telling us is that you have no idea what's wrong with her?"

"I know she's in a coma, Judge. I don't know what caused it. I don't know how long it will last. She may recover naturally." Rhodes clearly felt helpless. "I'm sorry. There just isn't anything we can do." He looked from one man to the other, then sighed and left the room.

"She won't recover naturally," Bishop said.

"You were her lifeline." Ben's voice was harsh. "Why did you let go?"

"If I had let go, she'd be dead." In stark contrast, Bishop's voice was calm, even mild.

Ben reached over to touch Cassie's cheek gently, his eyes fixed on her face as they had been too many long hours during the last week. Her terribly still face. "Then what the hell happened?"

"I've told you. She was trapped inside the mind of a maniac when he died. She wasn't strong enough to pull herself completely free of that psychic backwash of energy."

"Completely free? Where is she?" "Somewhere between."

A laugh escaped Ben, and it held no humor whatsoever. "Christ. That's helpful." "You asked."

"Look, if you're going to stand there spouting bits of information like Yoda, at least tell me something I can use to get her back."

"All right. If you want her back, go after her." "How? I'm not psychic."

Bishop moved away from the window and toward the door with a shrug. "Then she's gone. Have a memorial service for her and get on with your life." "Bastard."

At the door the agent turned and gave Ben one last, steady look. "You're the only one she's allowed to get close to her in more than ten years. The only one with a connection to her that is literally of the flesh. And you're the only one who can bring her back." He walked out the door.

Ben stared after him for a moment, then returned his gaze to Cassie's still, pale face. He was finally getting used to the stark white streak in the black hair above her left temple, but her utter stillness was killing him.

He had tried talking to her. Pleading with her. He had watched Rhodes and the staff try various loud and seemingly painful methods to wake her, all without success. Her heart beat. She breathed. And there was activity in her brain.

But she was not here.

"… aconnection to her that is literally of the flesh."

What was that supposed to mean? That because they were lovers they shared a bond? Ben wanted to think so. But during the endless week past, when he had sat there staring at her, talking to her, trying to reach her, there had been no response at all.

The white streak had made him think of her aunt, and so in desperation he had combed through Alexandra Melton's journals, searching for something he could do to help Cassie. He had found unexpected and astonishing information, including the fact that Alexandra had left a warning for her niece to stay away from him or be destroyed.

A warning Cassie had clearly ignored.

He discovered that her mother and aunt had quarreled over how to raise her, the mother insisting her child be imbued with a strong sense of responsibility to use her talents to help others while the aunt warned of a dangerous gift that could too easily destroy – as her own psychic ability had very nearly destroyed her.

Ben thought he might have found an answer there, thought Alexandra's survival after some kind of psychic shock must bode well for Cassie. But what he discovered was that Alexandra had survived simply because her shock had not been as extreme as Cassie's; she had been pulled from an insane mind, but not a dying one.

Her journals offered Ben no help. And precious little hope.

"Ben?"

He turned his head to see Matt standing in the doorway. "No change," he reported quietly.

Matt still felt guilty at the unwitting part he had played in what had happened to Cassie, and it showed. "Abby wants to come see her. I said tomorrow would probably be better."

"Yeah."

"She said to tell you not to worry about Max, he's doing fine with us."

Ben nodded. "Thanks."

"I told Mary I'd drive her home today, but Rhodes volunteered to do that."

Despite everything, Ben felt a rueful amusement. "Is it my imagination, or did those two take one look at each other and tumble?"

"Not your imagination." Matt smiled. "Rhodes seems to be completely smitten, and Mary's been telling everybody that Alexandra Melton told her a long time ago that because of her son she'd fall in love with a tall, dark man and marry him."

"Because of me. Well, I did fly him in from Raleigh." Ben looked back at Cassie. "I'm glad that worked out for somebody."

"She'll be all right, Ben."

"I know. I know she will." He had to keep saying it. Had to keep believing it.

Matt began to turn away, then hesitated. "I know you probably don't give a damn right now, but Shaw's finally talking. And we finally know why the coins." "Why?" Ben asked, not giving a damn. "Vasek. Part of his sadistic fantasy was the need to leavea token of hisaffection with a victim. He knew his usual paper roses would give him away to Cassie, so he came up with the coins. They actually came from his own father's collection, locked in a bank vault for twenty years. Traceable. It's the first tangible connection between Shaw and Vasek," "Good," Ben said.

"And we found out something else. About those kittens Cassie saw in Lucy Shaw's mind. It seems she had a cat she adored, and she was thrilled when it had kittens.

She came home from the store one day to find Mike sitting in the middle of the living room floor. Cutting the kittens into pieces with his Boy Scout knife. He was eight years old."

"Jesus Christ," Ben said.

"Yeah. Russell came home to find Lucy trying to… pick up all the pieces. And she's been trying ever since."

Ben gazed at Cassie's face and ached inside. Monsters. Dear God, how many stories just as horrible as that one were stored in her mind? And how incredible was it that she had still been able to walk into his office and volunteer her help in trying to stop yet another monster from terrorizing his town?

"Ben? Can I get you anything?"

"No. No, thanks, Matt."

"Okay. See you tomorrow."

"Yeah." Ben sat there for several minutes in the silence of the room, then got up and went to close the door. He returned to Cassie's bedside and his chair.

For a long time he thought about monsters invited resolutely into a tired and gentle mind, again and again despite fear. And then he thought about the walls a man built around himself as some kind of protection from a past that had been difficult but without real monsters. Walls that kept out the pain of memories but just as thoroughly kept out the healing spirit of the woman he loved.

Then he took Cassie's cool hand in his, bent his head over it, and began tearing down his walls.

 

EPILOGUE

MARCH 12, 1999

"I should have realized," Cassie said, shaking her head. "It was making me uneasy that the killer seemed to be blowing hot and cold, varying his methods and the way he left his victims. I should have remembered that was Vasek'sM.O."

Standing at the foot of her bed, Matt said, "Three thousand miles and months away, how could you? Besides, if he was telling Ben the truth, the bastard made damned sure you wouldn't think it was him."

"In other words," Ben said, "you are not and have never been to blame for Conrad Vasek's crimes."Let it go, he added silently, and when she turned her head to smile at him, he felt the warmth like a physical touch, and the bright shimmer of her amusement in his mind.

Bossy.

Never.

Admit it. You like bossing me around.

I love having you around. Big difference.

Cassie reached out a hand, and his fingers twined with hers. Aware of the sheriff's gaze, Ben didn't kiss her, but he thought about it, and Cassie's smile widened.

Oblivious of the mind-play, Matt said, "With Vasek dead, Mike Shaw has pretty much gone to pieces, and even his hotshot lawyer has admitted the only question is whether he gets the gas chamber or locked in a rubber room for the rest of his life. If my vote counts, I say I'd rather my tax dollars weren't spent on keeping him alive."

"You'll be in the majority," Ben said. "But I'm betting he won't be judged fit to stand trial."

Matt shook his head. "Then we'd better ship his ass someplace far away from Salem County. There's a lot of confusion about Vasek's role in all this, but everybody knows Mike was caught with his hands around Abby's throat." His face darkened with the memory.

Ben said, "Since we don't have a jail or hospital capable of dealing with him, I imagine he will be shipped away."

"What about Lucy?" Cassie asked Matt.

"She's finally getting the help she's needed for years. Faced with what his son has done, Russell had to finally admit it wasn't smart to keep some things in the family. He's lived all his life with the knowledge that the Shaws have had a strain of mental instability that apparently goes back several generations. He thought he could handle it, keep his mother safe and Mike from getting worse. And he might have managed it. If Vasek hadn't come looking for a tool."

Which is not your fault,Ben reminded Cassie fiercely.

/know. I know.

"Anyway, it's over now," Matt said. "Things are finally getting back to normal. And you'll be out of the hospital tomorrow. Which reminds me – Ben said you came out of this with all your psychic abilities fried."

"That," Ben said, "is not exactly how I put it."

"Well, close enough. So it's true, Cassie? You can't read me anymore?"

"I can't read anybody, apparently. Except Ben." The sheriff grinned at his friend. "So how does it feel to be an open book?"

Ben smiled at Cassie. "Actually, it feels pretty great." And deeply, unexpectedly satisfying.

Matt shook his head. "Better you than me. Is it permanent?"

Cassie said, "After reading through Aunt Alex's journals today, I have to say it probably is. At least, to all intents and purposes. She got back some of her ability eventually, but it took nearly twenty years and she was never as strong as she had been before." "Before what?"

"Before she was almost trapped in the mind of a madman. She didn't offer many details, but I gather that just before she quarreled with my mother, she was asked to help find a lost child. The kidnapper was totally insane, and she was adrift for a time in his mind." "Creepy," Matt noted.

"Yes." Cassie didn't reveal to him that she had already faced and was dealing with the knowledge that Conrad Vasek had found his way into her mind uncounted times without her awareness. "Aunt Alex came out of it changed. Emotionally. Mentally. And physically." Her free hand strayed up to briefly touch the white streak at her left temple.

"How about you? Any regrets?" "None at all."

Matt studied her. "I have to say, you look much more peaceful. I guess silence is golden, huh? I mean, except for Ben."

Cassie smiled at him. "You have no idea."