She covered his feet with kisses and let herself be lifted off the floor. He rummaged around the cabinet for a while and found a bottle of Scotch. He decided that they both could use one, so he poured two drinks. Then, he helped her bathe and he put her to bed. She had just about stopped crying by that time and her eyes were huge and swollen.
He stayed by her bed until he heard the sound of her regular, steady, breathing, which assured him that she was asleep. He got up and went into the kitchen. As he listened to the slow, measured breathes that she took, Hank stared intently out of the kitchen window, oblivious to the seething city below him, lost deep in his own thoughts.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Blair Eldridge was turning over in his soft, wide bed as the phone rang and shattered his early morning slumber. Reaching groggily for the phone, he looked at the time and when he saw that is was only six-thirty in the morning, be swore silently to himself.
"Hello?" he mumbled thickly.
"Mr. Eldridge?"
"Yeah, what?"
"This is Hank Stone. I can't go into all the details, but your secretary, Valerie hasn't been feeling very well. I suggest you call her in a little while, or better yet, come over here!"
"What? What are you talking about?" Blair hissed, fully awake now.
"I'm sorry I can't explain things to you a bit better, but I can't. She needs you, Mr. Eldridge."
"Hello? Hello???" said Blair as he heard the person on the other end put the receiver down.
"Who was that honey?" said his wife as she rolled over.
"No one. Go back to sleep."
Blair was awake and puzzling over the phone call. He decided that he had better get over to Valerie's place as soon as he could. Telling his wife that he had to be at the office very early, he slipped, outside and found a cab.
After Hank had called Blair, he left Valerie's apartment, being very quiet so as not to wake her. He didn't want her to wake up and be alone, so he had called Blair and then waited a while, giving him time to get over to the apartment.
Blair arrived and since Valerie had given him her key, he was able to slip in quietly. He found her in bed, asleep. He was shocked to see her battered body and her cropped hair. He thought of Burt, angry that he had been too sleepy on the phone to really pay attention to the caller's voice. He had to restrain himself and not cry out.
Drawing a chair close to the bed, he flipped through a magazine, every now and then peering anxiously at Valerie's sleeping face. Presently she opened her eyes and looked around. When she focused on Blair, she looked blankly for a moment and then she asked in a crazy, intense whisper, "Where is he?"
"Who darling?" Blair answered.
"Him!"
"Val, who are you talking about?"
"Don't pretend you don't know! Where is he?" she said, her voice raised to a scream.
"Valerie, I really don't know what you mean!"
"You do! You're lying! Goddamn you, get out! Get out of here!"
"Valerie, what's come over you?"
"Get out! Get OUT! I want my master!!!" and she burst forth into pitiful sobs.
Blair was truly perplexed by her behavior. He knew Valerie to be a sensitive woman, who was sometimes prone to being moody, but he had never seen her like this. She seemed to be out of her mind. Blair quietly went over to the phone to call the hospital then, he dialed the number that information had given him for Hank Stone.
Valerie spent the next few days under heavy sedation at Bellevue. Hank Stone had called her doctor and given him a brief outline of what had gone on between them the week-end before.
Dr. Kenneth Bendiner, Ph.D., sat in his office at Bellevue reviewing the case of Valerie Jones.
After intensive psychotherapy, she just might be able to return her to some semblance of normalcy. Right now, she raved on and on about her master and was positively violent when another man walked into the mom. Dr. Bendiner decided to try hypnosis.
His next scheduled appointment with Valerie was at two that afternoon. He walked quickly to her room and knocked on the door. The nurse told him to come in. He was glad to see that Valerie looked a little better. Her boyfriend had paid for a hairdresser to come and see her in the hospital and he had shaped the frazzled hair to a sleek, sophisticated style. Her wounds were fading and she had slept well the night before, so her eyes lost a little of their black, hollow look.
"You can go now," he said to the nurse.
"Yes doctor."
"Good afternoon, Valerie, how are you today?" he said, turning his attention to his patient.
"All right."
"Good, very good."
"Do you know what happened to him?"
"To whom, Valerie?"
"You fucking liar! You know who I meant Master!"
"Well, actually, if you want to know the truth, Valerie, I have come here to talk about your master."
"You have?" she said, instantly growing calm.
"Yes, I have. But first I want you to relax a little bit, OK?"
"Good. Now listen to me very, very carefully. I want you to take deep breaths, very slowly. Yes, that's it. Good. Keep breathing. Now I want you to start to feel your whole body relax. First, the tip of your scalp is growing cool and calm and light and comfortable…" Dr. Bendiner's voice kept on with its steady, melodious rhythm.
Soon, Valerie was in a deep hypnotic trance. Her eyes were closed and her breathing was steady and deep, as if she were asleep. She was still able to hear the doctor and still able to respond to his suggestions.
Dr. Bendiner really had to go on instinct in this particular case. He had virtually no information from the woman, or either of the two men about her early childhood and her father in particular. He was just going to have to guess.
"Valerie!"
"Yes?"
"Tell me about your master."
"My master is wonderful. He is very, very big…"
"Go on."
"And very, very strong…"
"Continue, Valerie."
"He's beautiful. He's tall and when he takes me in his arms he…"
"Beats you!"
"He has to!"
"Why does he have to?"
"Because!"
"Valerie, why is it necessary that he beat you?"
"It just is! Don't ask me any more!!" she said and started to cry.
Dr. Bendiner decided that she had had enough for one day. He had taken careful notes on what she had said. Now, he would go back and study them.
Dr. Bendiner worked with Valerie three limes a week for about three weeks. He had found that the hypnosis was very useful and a lot of information had come out about the woman's early childhood and her life with her parents.
Dr. Bendiner had learned that Mr. Jones, Valerie's father, had been much older than his wife and had married late in life. He was forty when Valerie was born, she had been her parents only child and they paid her a great deal of attention.
As a child, Valerie had worked hard in school, but with little success. She was not stupid, but she didn't have the natural brilliance that her father seemed to think she should have. He was a real perfectionist. Having never gone to college and gotten the kind of education he had wanted, he was determined that Valerie should have it. Her grades had not proved good enough, however and she enrolled in a secretarial course, figuring that her skills might help her get ahead, even if she was no great brain.
Mr. Jones had been, by turns, very loving and sweet, doting oh his daughter, or fiercely harsh and brutal with her. Dr. Bendiner began to understand what drew Valerie to men like Hank Stone, who were alternately cruel and loving. But the doctor still felt that he was lacking some crucial element in the story. He was determined to find it.
The next time had had an appointment with Valerie, he decided that he would peruse this thing until the very end. He just didn't see any other way for her to get better.