Part 14 (1/2)

All she could do was stare at him. Inez. ”You think she was the one who-?”

”It could depend on where she got the prescription filled.”

Holly looked out the window at the pa.s.sing town, remembering how Inez had asked last night if she'd taken her pill. How Inez had insisted she go back to Evergreen. How Inez had planned to fire Slade.

”The other day when I was at your sister-in-law's, someone buzzed at the gate,” Slade said, not looking at her as he drove. ”It was obvious Inez didn't want me to know who it was. But eventually, she answered the intercom. It was a Dr. O'Brien from Evergreen.”

Holly felt sick to her stomach. She had to fight back tears of anger-and pain. For the last year, Inez had been her only family. As difficult as Inez had been, Holly had trusted her.

”I feel like a fool.”

”You shouldn't,” Slade said. ”The pills are identical to Xanax. You had no reason to believe they were anything but what they said they were on the bottle.”

”Still...”

”I think your memory started coming back when you came to Dry Creek and forgot the pills in Pinedale,” he said. ”Maybe you did that on purpose.”

Was it possible that on some subconscious level she'd suspected the pills weren't really helping her?

”I talked to a friend of mine last night,” Slade was saying. ”He said these kinds of drugs are used in conjunction with hypnosis.”

Hypnosis?

”You said you felt as if someone was manipulating you,” he reminded her. ”Drugs and hypnosis have been used in mind-control experiments.”

Hypnosis. She tried to grasp it, her thoughts scattering like bits of paper in the wind. She'd seen a hypnotist once in a bar in b.u.t.te. He'd made grown men hop around and cluck and flap their arms like chickens. No, not like like chickens. The men had appeared to believe they chickens. The men had appeared to believe they were were chickens. chickens.

”Did Dr. Parris use hypnotism on you at Evergreen?” Slade asked.

”I don't remember ever being hypnotized.” She did remember, however, that a hypnotist, through hypnotic suggestion, could wipe out all recollection of a person ever being hypnotized. Case in point: the chicken/men at the bar. They'd gone back to their stools, confused by the laughter and applause, believing the hypnotist had failed to put big, strong men like them ”under.”

At the time, it had seemed silly. Now it was disturbing. ”This drug I've been taking, would it make it easier for me to be hypnotized?”

Slade nodded, his gaze seeming to access how hard she was taking this. ”I have a feeling you were also programmed to take the pills.”

The words she'd heard in her head this morning echoed now. It's time for me to take my pill. It's time for me to take my pill. Dear G.o.d. ”So it is possible someone Dear G.o.d. ”So it is possible someone has has been controlling me?” been controlling me?”

”I'd say it's a whole h.e.l.l of a lot more than possible.”

Still, Holly hadn't really accepted the ramifications. Inez had given her the pills. Inez thrived on control. But Allan had written the original prescription. And when she'd met Allan, that's when it had all begun.

”But why? It has to be more than just the baby,” she said, watching the dense snowcapped pines blur by as the pickup snaked up the narrow old two-lane road toward the summit of the pa.s.s-and Evergreen Inst.i.tute. She hadn't seen another car for miles and had forgotten how isolated it was out here. ”My memory lapses go back a whole year,” she pointed out.

”I wish I knew,” Slade said. ”Unless they'd had something planned for you that far back.”

”You mean-” She glanced over at him. ”You don't think they purposely got you and me together?”

”No. For what purpose?”

”The baby?” she said. ”Like you said, that's all they appear to have gained.”

He drove in silence for a moment. ”How could they know we would have a baby together?”

She stared at him. ”Because they know everything about us. Once they were in control of my mind...they could control you as well.”

He smiled over at her. ”They couldn't make me fall in love with you.”

”Maybe they hadn't planned on that.” Hadn't planned on her going back to him this Christmas Eve for help. Hadn't planned on the bond that had drawn her to him. She wanted desperately to believe that. To believe she and Slade had the upper hand. It gave her hope that they could find their baby and get her back. ”Just as they hadn't planned on my memory coming back and me coming to you for help,” she said, hoping he'd agree.

He looked over at her and smiled. ”I'd like to think we're one step ahead of them.”

His smile warmed her to her toes. ”Thanks,” she said, feeling almost shy. She was changing, wasn't she? She felt stronger. Just knowing that she wasn't losing her mind helped. That it had been the pills making her feel that way and that someone had been unconsciously forcing her to keep taking the pills. All of it made her angry-and more intent on foiling their plans.

A thought struck her. ”No one knows I've quit taking the pills or how much of my memory is coming back.” The thought pleased her immensely. ”How long do you think we have before they know?”

Slade slowed the pickup, turned into a paved, pine-lined driveway, bringing the pickup to a stop before an ornate locked steel gate.

”That all depends on whether Dr. Parris is in on it,” he said as he rolled down his window and reached out to buzz the intercom of the Evergreen Inst.i.tute.

Chapter Eleven.

Dr. Parris seemed genuinely pleased to see Holly. He came from one of the long hallways, his footsteps echoing through the ma.s.sive stone foyer as he moved toward the reception desk, a tall man with graying hair and long arms and legs that appeared almost disjointed. He reminded Slade of a marionette.

”Holly,” Parris said, greeting her with a smile. ”How are you?”

”That's what I hope to talk to you about,” she said. ”I'm sorry I didn't call for an appointment.”

Parris waved that off, then looked to Slade, his smile still firmly in place. On closer inspection, Slade could see that the doctor seemed disheveled. His pale-blue smock was stained from the leaky pen stuck in the breast pocket and his name tag was askew. He didn't look like a man who could control anything-certainly not Holly's mind.

”This is a...friend of mine,” Holly said. ”Slade Rawlins.”

The doctor offered his hand. ”Pleased to meet you,” he said, sounding as if he meant it. ”Rawlins? Why does that name sound so familiar?” he commented more to himself than to Slade. ”Come on down to my office.”

Slade and Holly followed him down a long, wide marble hallway. The place looked like a palace. Outside, Slade had glimpsed a horse barn, a covered pool and indoor tennis courts. He had seen no patients and hardly any staff. He figured it had something to do with that wonderful scent of food he kept picking up. Not school-cafeteria-type food. A gourmet lunch from the smell of it, served somewhere deep in all this luxury.

The doctor's office was large but filled. The huge desk had long disappeared beneath an avalanche of papers and books. He had begun to stack books on the floor around his desk like a wall.

Slade watched him close the door behind them, then rush to uncover two chairs for them. ”I usually don't use my office for therapy sessions, as Holly knows,” he said by way of explanation to Slade.

”I have been concerned about you,” he said to Holly when they were all seated. ”I heard about your recent loss. I'm so sorry.”

Slade found himself listening to the doctor's words and watching Holly's reaction. If she'd been hypnotized, hadn't Charley said that a catchword or phrase could be used to control her? But to his relief Holly seemed to have no reaction to Dr. Parris or his words other than grat.i.tude.

”Thank you,” she said and looked over at Slade.

”That's partly why we're here,” Slade said, introducing himself as a private investigator. The doctor seemed a little surprised but not overly. ”Holly has been experiencing some memory loss. I'm looking into the missing parts for her.”