“How about some for instances?”
He could tell she didn’t want to humor him. “Well, for instance, you might think you actually see her, or you could even see someone else and think she looks just like Mandy.”
Eloise’s eyes focused—on him. Oh, good grief.
He looked away from her and spoke into the phone, “What exactly makes you think I would see something like that?”
“Dane?”
“Dane?” said Shirley.
“What?” he asked Kessler as he looked in Shirley’s direction.
Kessler said, “You have someone there with you now, don’t you?”
Shirley, Ron, and Steve were watching Eloise look at Dane. Eloise was staring as if trying to make sure who he was. Dane gave her a weak little wave and smiled. He couldn’t see her smile through the oxygen mask, but her eyes smiled with relief and she sank back against her pillow.
Kessler asked, “Who does she look like?”
Dane studied Eloise’s face. “She looks … What the heck kind of question is that?”
“Does she look like Mandy? Be honest.”
“I don’t think this is a good time—”
“This is a very good time. It gives you a chance to see exactly what I warned you about.”
They were taking off the oxygen mask—he’d lived with that image, but this time she was young and alive, not burned and dying. She and the medics were talking.
“Dane? Can you hear me?”
“I need to get off the phone.”
“What’s her name?”
Okay. Kessler had crossed the line. “That is none of your business.”
“Dane, she isn’t Mandy. You have to realize that.” She didn’t sound as if shebelieved it. “She doesn’t even look like Mandy. You just think she does. Did you hear me?”
Gal, either you’re crazy or … I think it’s you.“I’ll call you later.”
He hung up.
“No! No hospital!” Eloise said with a moan, still under the heavy influence of whatever it was.
“We just need to be sure you’re okay, just get you checked over,” said Ron.
That upset her more. “Oh, no you don’t!” she muttered, her eyes barely open, her neck like a rag doll. “I know who why yam! I’m Meloise Kramer and I’ve live here all my life and you cann take me to da hosp’al!” She groped about blindly, trying to find something. “Where my wallet?”
Dane stepped up while Shirley handed Eloise her coat. “She’s Eloise Kramer. She works at McCaffee’s, that little coffee shop in Coeur d’Alene.”
“Has she taken any drugs?” Ron asked.
Eloise dug out her wallet and flashed her driver’s license at them. “I’m Meloise Kramer. Says so ride ’ere.”
Ron checked her license and told Steve, “She’s nineteen.”
Steve gave a nod of acknowledgment.
Dane asked Ron and Steve, “Is she all right?”
Ron answered, “Her vitals are fine, but she’s doped to the gills on something.”
“Booze?”
Ron shook his head. “Some kind of sedative. That could be a needle mark on her neck. Did yougive her anything?”
Well now, how was that for a blunt question? Dane could feel himself bristling, but he held himself in check. “No. I wouldn’t know what to give her. She was like this when I found her.”
“Found her where?”
“Outside in my pasture.”
“How’d she get there?”
“She ran. Some guy—”
“No!” said Eloise, waving dazedly in Dane’s face. “Doan! Doan lettem take me.”
Don’t let them take me.The look in her eyes broke him open, her fear knifed through him as if it were his own, as if she could have cried those words the last time but no one listened; as if he should have cried out for her but didn’t because Dr. Kessler and her white coats knew so much better, controlled everything, pronounced her dead, and wheeled her through a door that closed between them forever.
He’d never known the man he was right here and now, never felt this kind of anguish. He suspected that seeing her face and hearing the echoes of Kessler’s voice could be making him irrational, but in this moment he wasn’t about to trust a doctor or a hospital. He leaned, lifted her chin with a fingertip, and met her eyes. “Eloise, you do not have to go to the hospital if you don’t want to.” He looked at Ron and Steve. “Isn’t that right?”
They were hesitant to say it, but they both did. “That’s right.” Then Ron added, “But this could be a matter for the police.”
“No!”Eloise was even more vehement about that. “No police! Doan call ’em, I doan want ’em!”
“Easy, girl, easy,” said Shirley.
Dane asked Shirley, “Can you stick around a little while?”
She nodded with a half shrug.
He told Ron and Steve, “Thanks, guys. Really appreciate it. Looks like we’ll need to talk to her for a while. Is she out of danger?”
“As near as we can tell,” said Ron.
“Okay. Thanks, we’ll keep an eye on her. Shirley’ll be right here.”
They weren’t happy about it. They gave in, but didn’t leave before pulling Shirley into a private discussion outside the door. Dane could imagine the subject matter. “Eloise?”
She turned her head just enough to see him.
“You are nineteen, aren’t you?”
“Uh-huh.”
Ron was sneaking sideways glances at Dane through the door’s window. Well. This would all have to resolve in its own good time.
Shirley came back inside. Dane pulled a chair closer for her, then another for himself. Eloise tried to sit up, but her eyes rolled and she rested on her pillow again. She groped and touched Dane’s hand. “Thank you.”
Shirley arranged the blanket under her chin. “You warm enough?”
Eloise nodded.
Dane asked, “I suppose you’ve met Shirley?”
Eloise looked at Shirley and nodded.
“Shirley works for me. She takes care of the place.”
Eloise seemed glad to know that. “’Ello.”
“Hello, Eloise,” said Shirley, patting her hand.
“Cute girl, isn’t she?” Dane asked.
Shirley gave Eloise a smile. “Oh, yes.”
“You like her shoes?”
Shirley looked quizzical, but checked out one shoe poking out from under the blanket. “They’re okay. Nice.”
Dane craned to look. “What kind of shoes are they, anyway?”
Shirley leaned. “I don’t know. Running shoes.”
“Silver and gray? Nice color choice.”
“Uh-huh.”
“And what do you think of her hair? Cut kind of like yours.”
Shirley examined Eloise’s simple, short hairstyle, definitely not looking its best at the moment. “Well, kind of. Her hair’s straighter and there’s no frosting.”
“Brown, and yours is …”
“Brown with blond highlights.” She put her hand to her hair, playfully showing it off. So far she seemed to think he was just making calming conversation. Good enough.
He asked Eloise, “Who cut your hair?”
“Rhea,” she answered. “A girl frien’.”
“Nice color.” He told Shirley, “It sets off her brown eyes.”
Shirley gave him a look. “Her eyes are blue.”
Dane took a second look and feigned enlightenment. “Oohhhh … excuse me.”
“So,” said Shirley, “are we gonna talk about what happened?”
Eloise tried to sit up and slurred, “I havuh go to the bathroom.”
Dane helped Shirley get her up, and Shirley took her around the corner and down the hall.
Got to make sure, got to make sure.Dane made a quick circuit around the living room. He found a vase of dried flowers knocked over but not broken. A stack of magazines on the end table had slid off onto the floor. The celestial globe he kept against the window next to his telescope had hopped off its stand. So he did hear real noises down here. He replaced everything with little time to wonder about it before Shirley returned with a towel and started wiping down the couch.