“Leslie Elowitz.” This from the last student, a woman. She said her name like a target shooter cracking a skeet plate in half. Quick, precise, and to the point. She was studying Walter with dark, skeptical eyes behind large round glasses.
Her thick curly brown hair had been unevenly chopped into a shortish non-style that would have been equally forgettable on a man or a woman. She wore no makeup and was dressed in baggy, androgynous clothes, including a frumpy tweed jacket that could have been the twin of Walter’s own beloved Norfolk.
“It’s good to meet you all,” Walter said. “And thank you for agreeing to participate in our experiment today. Time is of the essence in this particular endeavor, so I will get directly to the point.”
He looked over at Doctor Rayley, who winked and grinned.
“To begin, we will divide into four groups of three,” Walter said. “Each group will consist of two test subjects, who will ingest our special hallucinogenic formula, and one team leader, who will act as ground control, monitoring the subjects, communicating with other groups, and taking all precautions to ensure the safety of the subjects.”
Bell stepped up beside Walter.
“The first test group will consist of Walter and me,” he said. “With our associate, Nina Sharp, functioning as control. And, since Doctor Rayley knows you all much better than we do, I will be asking him to choose the members of the other three teams.”
“Ah, yes,” Rayley said. “Excellent. For starters, I would suggest May Zhang, Leslie Elowitz and Kenneth Van Hoften as team leaders.”
Walter glanced over at Kenneth, curious about Rayley’s decision to choose him over, for example, Payton Jarvis, who seemed to be a far more appropriate choice. But Rayley knew his students better than he did, and Walter was always the first to admit that he wasn’t the world’s best judge of character.
“Fine,” Bell said. “Leaders can I have you all here by me, please?”
“As for the rest of the teams,” Rayley said. “Gary and David, you’re with May. Simon and Judy, with Kenneth.”
“Hold on a sec there, doc,” Kenneth said. “I really think Susie should be on my team.”
Rayley shook his head.
“From what I’ve been told, we can’t have a preexisting relationship coloring the results,” he said. “Susan and Payton, you’re with Leslie.”
To Walter’s surprise, Susan gave a thoughtful nod, then walked over to stand beside Leslie. Kenneth looked stricken, as if his cat had just decided to go sit in someone else’s lap.
“Okay, listen up,” Bell said, once everyone had repositioned themselves in their assigned groups. He unfolded a map and spread it open on the table. “Here’s how it’s going to go.”
38
After Bell had finished outlining the basics of the plan to the students, he looked over at Walter, signaling him with a wordless nod.
Walter opened the little case he’d been carrying and looked at the small, stoppered vials that lay within. The individual doses of their special blend that he and Bell had prepared. Danger, death and madness lurked within the clear, innocuous liquid, but also salvation for those people in the park, and for all of Zodiac’s future victims.
Or so Walter hoped.
He looked up at Doctor Rayley and the gathered groups of students, and put on what he hoped was a reassuring smile.
“Here it is,” he said, setting the case on the table beside the rumpled map. “This is the mixture with which we have had all our previous successes, and which I hope will give us the ultimate proof we are seeking this afternoon.” He started handing out the vials as Bell cleared his throat and held up a cautionary finger.
“I want to make sure that we’re all clear on what we’re doing and where we are going,” he said. “Leaders, can you confirm your destinations, please?”
May spoke up first.
“Gary, David, and I,” she said, “will be in the middle of the Sharon Meadow, just north of the playground. We’ll pretend we’re having a picnic lunch, and keep the feedback machine in our picnic basket.” She poked at the map with a slender finger. “We will be there and set up no later than 11:45.”
“Payton, Susan, and I,” Leslie said, “will be in the parking lot of the lawn bowling club on Bowling Green Drive, also no later than 11:45.”
“Good,” Bell said. “Kenneth?”
“I still don’t see why the time is so important.” Kenneth shrugged. “I mean, there’s no real reason we can’t just take our time, is there? It’s an acid trip, not a bank robbery.”
“It is a scientific experiment,” Walter snapped. It made him feel sick to have to keep lying to the students, but it was imperative to impress the importance of timing upon them. “And we must treat it as one. If we do not want to be dismissed as a bunch of spiritualist phonies, our methodology must be precise, and our standards exacting. The experiment will begin at the stated time, the duration will be recorded to the fraction of the second, with all our impressions recorded immediately.
“Timeliness is of the essence,” he concluded.
Kenneth looked sullen.
“Whatever you say, professor,” he muttered.
Walter still wasn’t sure why on earth Doctor Rayley had chosen him as a leader.
Bell cleared his throat again.
“Kenneth,” he said. “Can you please give us your destination?”
Kenneth scowled, but nodded.
“We’ll be parked on Kezar Drive,” he said, “just north of the stadium.” Then he added, “At 11:45.”
“Good.” Bell nodded. “And our group will be here at the center.” He tapped the map with a capped pen. “Inside the burnt-out Sharon House. Walter?”
Walter inclined his head, then turned back to the students.
“Right,” he said. “Here we go. If the six subjects will ingest their doses now, along with Bell and I, and if the monitors would please record the time of ingestion, then we will be on our way.”
Walter handed Bell one of the vials and took the last one for himself. When he unstoppered it, so did the others. Some of the students grinned nervously.
“The things we do for science,” Simon said.
“To science,” Gary said, as if toasting friends in a bar.
And with that, they all tipped their heads back in unison and let the ounce of sugar water spill over their tongues. After they had all swallowed, they paused and looked around at each other.
“It will be precisely fifty-four minutes,” Walter said, “before you begin to feel any effects. So it is imperative that we all get ourselves settled in place within a forty-five-minute window, before initial onset.
“Now, I would ask the team leaders to please try to remember that the safety and peace of mind of the test subjects will be in your hands. Nina, May, Kenneth, Leslie, we are depending on you. Take good care of us.”
The four team leaders all gave a solemn murmur of assent, and Walter smiled.
“Good,” he said. “Now, if you’re all ready, lets get the cars packed and get underway.”
* * *
The lab phone rang as the students gathered their packs and jackets and started loading the biofeedback machines onto lab carts. Dr. Rayley answered it, then frowned, turning to Walter.
“Er, Doctor Bishop. It’s for you.”
Walter blinked. It couldn’t be for him. Nobody but the people in this room knew he was there.
He looked at Bell and Nina. They looked as scared as he felt. He stepped to the phone and reached for it like it was a live cobra, then brought it to his ear.
“Hello?”
“Bishop. Iverson. Listen to me. Latimer is coming for you. At the Institute. I wish I could have warned you sooner, but I was being watched. You have ten minutes at the most. You have to get out now.”
39
“But...” Walter stammered. “But how did he... I mean...”