She sighed and shifted position.
"Well, there's the first compartment that holds my special makeup, makeup I use only on rare occasions."
"Tell me about the second."
"My children. I have their letters, their photographs, things I treasure. I have Sasha's first baby tooth and I have..."
"Tell me about the third box. What's in there?"
"My jewelry, all the pieces I am most fond of, the most precious pieces. There is an emerald and diamond clip and a bluebird made of sapphires and—"
"Go to the next box. Open the next box."
"Sleeping tablets, pills. I have them all listed."
"You make a lot of lists?"
"Yes, yes, lots of lists."
"Go to the next... open the next box."
Vebekka's hand clenched.
"Go to the next box."
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because it's private."
"Please, open it. Or does it frighten you to open it?"
"No, it's... just personal, that's all."
Franks waited; she was breathing very deeply. "Open it, Vebekka, and tell me what is inside."
"Rebecca."
Franks looked to the two-way mirror, and then turned to Vebekka.
"Rebecca?" he asked softly.
"Yessssssssss, she's in there."
"Do you have any more boxes?"
Vebekka was more agitated now, chewing her lips.
"Go to the next box, Vebekka... tell me about the next box."
"No... it is not a box."
"What is it?"
"Locked, it is locked, I can't open it."
"Try... why don't you describe it to me?"
"It's hard, black, it's chained, I don't have the key." She began to twist her hands. "Rebecca won't open it."
Franks talked to her softly, saying he was there to help her and whatever was in the box, he would deal with — all she had to do was open it.
"It's not a box."
"Whatever is there, we'll leave it for a while. No need to be upset, if you don't want to open it then we won't... but tell me about Rebecca, who is Rebecca?"
Her breath hissed, she seemed exasperated. "She guards it, she protects it, so nobody can open it, nobody must know."
"Know what?"
Franks could feel her strength, it astonished him. She was fighting his control. She began breathing rapidly, her eyelids fluttering, she was trying to surface, trying to come out of the hypnosis. Franks changed the subject.
"Vebekka, tell me about Sasha."
Vebekka relaxed and began to tell Franks about her daughter, that she liked to ride, had a pony. She described Sasha's bedroom, and her clothes, giving Franks a clear picture of the little girl.
"Tell me about Sasha's toys? Her dolls?"
Vebekka described the different dolls, where they had been bought. How many were for birthdays, for Christmas.
"Why did you destroy Sasha's dolls, Vebekka?"
"I did not."
"I think you did... you took all Sasha's dolls, you took their pretty frocks off, and you stacked them up like a funeral pyre, didn't you? You set fire to them, you burned them..."
"No... She did that!"
"Who? Who burned the dolls, Vebekka?"
She tugged at the blanket, her body twisted. "Rebecca."
"Who is Rebecca?"
Vebekka vomited, her whole body heaved and she leaned over the couch. Franks fetched a bowl and a towel. He rang for assistance, and Maja entered. She went to Vebekka's side as Franks put down the bowl.
"I am so sorry." Vebekka turned to face him, and then she looked away.
Franks checked her pulse, helped her to lie back on the cushions. He drew up his chair. She smiled and whispered again she was so sorry, then she closed her eyes.
Franks touched Maja's shoulder, whispered for her to clean up the room, and he slipped out. He joined the baron and Helen Masters.
"First... I must tell you I have never experienced this before, someone able to move into the waking cycle on their own. She provoked the vomit attack; her will is quite extraordinary, I had quite a hard time hypnotizing her... usually it's a matter of seconds, but she took much longer, did you notice, Helen?"
Helen looked at the baron, and then asked if she could speak to him privately. Franks seemed slightly taken aback, and then said by all means, he would wait in the corridor. Helen turned to the baron and said that, considering what Vebekka had related during the session, she felt they should tell Franks about the photograph.
Helen went to Franks, told him about the photograph, and gave him the black-and-white snapshot. He studied it, turned it over to read the inscription, then asked if Vebekka was aware of its existence. Helen was sure she was not. The baron came out into the corridor. Franks looked to the baron. "I must ask if you are sure your wife has had no hypnotherapy treatment before..."
"None that I know of."
"I ask because I feel that she is very aware, and I did not take her too deeply. But now, now I would like to try."
The baron gave a shrug of his shoulders. "You are the doctor, I will go along with whatever you suggest."
Franks returned to Vebekka. Helen and the baron took their seats in the viewing room once more. She whispered: "He was trying to find out if this is a case of a multipersonality. He took her via the boxes through various internal protective layers."
He sat tight-lipped, irritated when Helen added softly, "I was right, Vebekka is Rebecca!"
Vebekka sipped the iced water, resting back on the cushions, and Franks checked her pulse again. She was very hot; he removed the blanket. Returning to his seat he paused a moment, before he began to hypnotize her again.
"Longing, repeat the word to me, Vebekka."
She did, but it was hardly audible, and she did not resist him.
"So you feel a longing... yes?... Listen to me, Vebekka. Just listen to my voice, don't fight my voice, just listen... You feel very relaxed, you feel calm and relaxed. You know no harm will come to you, and the feeling of longing... longing..."
She was under again. This time her eyes were closed, and she breathed very deeply, as if sleeping. Franks waited a few moments before he asked if he could speak to Rebecca, would Vebekka allow him to speak to her? She sighed.
"You don't understand!" She sounded irritated, as if he had asked her something stupid.
"Then help me, let me talk to Rebecca."
"I am Rebecca," she snapped.
"I'm sorry, you were right, I didn't understand."
"Oh that's all right, you wouldn't like her anyway. She's not very nice, she has very bad moods, very dark moods and a very bad temper. She is ugly and fat, always eating, always wanting sweet things. Rebecca is not nice."
"But you said you are Rebecca?"
Again there was the irritable sigh, as if his incomprehension of what she was telling him annoyed her. Her voice became angry. I was Rebecca, but I didn't like her. Don't you understand? I am Vebekka, I am not Rebecca anymore."
"I see, so which of you would you say was the strongest? Rebecca or Vebekka?"
She hesitated, then gave a strange sly smile. "Rebecca was, but not anymore."
Vebekka went on in a low unemotional voice, describing how she had made the decision to shut away Rebecca because she did not like her. She left home, left her parents and went to live in New York. Nobody knew Rebecca there, so it was very easy; she created a new person, someone she liked. She lost weight, became slim, and joined a modeling agency as Vebekka.
"How did Rebecca feel about this?"
"Oh, she couldn't do anything about it. I locked her up, you see, I shut her away."
Franks began to try to pinpoint dates and times, discovering that the change of name or personality occurred when Vebekka was seventeen. Subsequently, she did not want any connection with her old self, and as she became successful in her career, she started to travel on assignments, eventually securing work in Paris.