D’Agosta fell silent.
“Your mere presence imperils me. Judson is undoubtedly still around. He’s in high panic. He doesn’t know if I’m alive or dead. But if he sees you, particularly in the vicinity of this cottage…”
“I can help you in other ways.”
“Absolutely not. I almost got you killed once. Captain Hayward would never forgive me if I let it happen again. The best thing you can do for me, the onlything, is to return to New York, go back to your job, and not breathe a word of this to anyone. What I must do, I must do alone. Say nothing to no one, not Proctor, not Constance, not Hayward. Do you understand? I need to recover my strength before I can get Judson. And I willget him. If he doesn’t get me first.”
D’Agosta felt the sting of this last comment. He stared at Pendergast, lying in the cot, so weak in body, so fierce in mind. Once again, he was struck by the fanatical obsession lurking in those eyes. God, he must have loved that woman.
“All right,” he said with huge reluctance. “I’ll do what you say. Except that I’ve got to tell Laura. I swore I’d never deceive her again.”
“Very well. Who knows of your efforts to find me here?”
“The inspector, Balfour. Quite a few others. I’ve been asking around.”
“Then Esterhazy knows. We can turn this to our advantage. Tell everyone your search was fruitless, that you’re now convinced I’m dead. Go home, show all the outward signs of mourning.”
“If that’s really what you want.”
Pendergast’s eyes slid toward him. “It’s what I insist.”
CHAPTER 19
New York City
DR. JOHN FELDER WALKED DOWN THE ECHOING hallway of Mount Mercy Hospital, a slim folder under one arm and the physician in charge, Dr. Ostrom, at his side.
“Thank you for allowing this visitation, Dr. Ostrom,” Felder said.
“Not at all. I take it your interest in her will be ongoing?”
“Yes. Her condition is… unique.”
“Many things involving the Pendergast family are unique.” Ostrom started to say more and then fell silent, as if he’d already said too much on the matter.
“Where is Pendergast, her guardian?” Felder asked. “I’ve been trying to get in touch with him.”
“He’s a cipher to me, I’m afraid — comes and goes at the oddest times, makes demands and then vanishes. I’ve found him a somewhat difficult person to deal with.”
“I see. So you have no objections to my continuing visits to the patient?”
“None at all. I’ll be glad to share my observations with you, if you wish.”
“Thank you, Doctor.”
They reached the door, and Ostrom knocked lightly. “Please come in,” came the response from the other side.
Ostrom unlocked the door and ushered Felder in ahead of him. The room looked similar to the last time he’d seen it, except that there were more books in it — many more books. The bookcase that before had held only half a dozen volumes now had several times that many. Glancing at the titles, Felder noticed The Complete Poetry of John Keats, Jung’s Symbols of Transformation, the Marquis de Sade’s 120 Days of Sodom, Eliot’s Four Quartets, Thomas Carlyle’s Sartor Resartus. No doubt these were from the Mount Mercy library; Felder found himself mildly shocked that certain of these titles were allowed to circulate.
There was another difference, too: the room’s single table was now covered with sheets of foolscap, which were filled with dense lines of writing, punctuated by elaborate sketches, profiles, still lifes, equations, and Leonardo-like diagrams. And there, on the far side of the desk, sat Constance. She was in the act of writing, a quill pen in one hand, a bottle of blue-black ink on the desk beside her.
She glanced up at the two men as they entered. “Good morning, Dr. Ostrom. Good morning, Dr. Felder.” She stacked the sheets one on top of the other, then turned the top sheet over the rest.
“Good morning, Constance,” Ostrom said. “Did you sleep well?”
“Very well, thank you.”
“Then I’ll leave you two. Dr. Felder, I’ll have someone outside the door. Just knock when you’re ready to leave.” Ostrom stepped out. A moment later, Felder heard a key turning smoothly in the lock.
He turned to see Constance regarding him with her strange eyes. “Please have a seat, Dr. Felder.”
“Thank you.” Felder sat in the only vacant chair in the room, a plastic chair with steel legs bolted to the floor. He was curious about her writings but decided to address that issue another time. He placed the folder on his knees and nodded at the quill. “Interesting choice of writing instrument.”
“It was either this or crayons.” She paused. “I did not expect to see you again so soon.”
“I hope you don’t find our conversations disagreeable.”
“On the contrary.”
Felder shifted in the chair. “Constance, if you don’t mind, I wanted to speak with you again, briefly, about — about your childhood.”
Constance sat up slightly.
“First, let me make sure I understand. You state that you were born on Water Street in the 1870s, though you are unsure of the exact year. Your parents died of tuberculosis, and both your brother and older sister died within a few years as well. That would make you…” He paused to calculate. “More than one hundred and thirty years old.”
For a moment, Constance did not reply. She just regarded him calmly. Once again, Felder was struck by her beauty: her intelligent expression, her bob of auburn hair. She had far more self-possession than was natural for a woman who looked only twenty-two or — three.
“Doctor,” she said at last, “I’ve much to thank you for. You’ve treated me with kindness and respect. But if you’re here to humor me, I’m afraid my good opinion of you will suffer.”
“I’m not here to humor you,” Felder said, with sincerity. “I’m here to help you. But I need to understand you better first.”
“I’ve told you the truth. Either you believe me or you don’t.”
“I want to believe you, Constance. But put yourself in my place. It’s a biological impossibility that you’re a hundred and thirty years old. And so I seek other explanations.”
Again she paused briefly. “A biological impossibility? Doctor, you are a man of science. Do you believe that the human heart can be transplanted from one person to another?”
“Of course.”
“Do you believe that X-ray radiographs and MRI machines can take pictures of the internal structure of the body, without resorting to invasive procedures?”
“Naturally.”
“Around the time of my birth, such things would have been thought ‘a biological impossibility.’ Is it really ‘impossible’ that medicine could retard aging and prolong a life span beyond its natural length?”
“Well… perhaps prolong a life span. But to keep a girl in her early twenties for more than a century? No, I’m sorry, it’s just not possible.” As he spoke, Felder felt his own convictions wavering. “Are you saying that’s what happened to you? You were the subject of some kind of medical procedure to prolong your life?”
Constance did not reply. Felder felt he was getting somewhere, all of a sudden.
“How did it happen? What brought it about? Who performed this procedure?”
“To say anything more would be to betray a confidence.” Constance smoothed the front of her dress. “I’ve already said more than I should have. The only reason I tell you this is I sense you have a sincere desire to help me. But I can say nothing more. What you choose to believe is entirely up to you, Doctor.”
“So it is. I thank you for sharing this with me.” Felder hesitated. “I wonder if you would do me a favor.”