After the Cure, Deirdre Gould [the beach read TXT] 📗

woman. It's extremely important. If you can meet me at the prison in half an hour I can almost guarantee it will be more than worth your while. I really need you to do this for me.” She hung up the phone and turned toward Frank. “Remember I told you I knew I'd seen Dr. Schneider somewhere before?”

The early spring sun made a weak, cold halo around him. “Of course,” he said, “You mean you saw her here?”

“I saw a film of her here. Sevita Das, the reporter who is covering the trial-” she paused.

“Yes, I know who she is,” said Frank.

“She's been my friend for a long time. Since the Cure began. She's always wanted to find Dr. Carton. It's been her obsession since the first day we administered the Cure. I don't know if she wanted to thank him or curse him for putting this burden of guilt on everyone. But she's always wanted to know. She’s tried everything to get him to agree to meet her, but she can’t find anyone who knows anything about him and so far he hasn’t answered the door. So in her spare time, she comes out here and films the house. She says that he has to get groceries from somewhere, he has to have contact with the outside world once in a while.”

“And she found something?”

“She thought she did. I mean, there's always the postman and the deliveries from the Farm, but they never go inside. There's an interior door that's always closed when the outer door is open. That's how deliveries are made.” She became embarrassed as he stared at her expectantly. “Sevita makes us watch hours of footage to make sure she doesn't miss anything. But this one time, about a month ago, she taped someone coming out. No one has ever come out before. At least that we saw. I'm almost positive it was Dr. Schneider.”

Frank shook his head. “What would she be doing there?”

“I don't know, but I'm going to find out before we run out of time.” Nella began walking toward the massive iron gate. Frank grabbed her arm.

“Wait,” he hissed, “we don't know anything yet. If you go pounding on the door you could alarm her. We can't afford to lose what little bit of a lead we have. Besides, you said no one answers the door. It can only make things worse. Let's at least go to the prison and see if we can get some more information first. You said your friend spent hours videotaping this place. Maybe she can at least point out all the exits in case Dr. Schneider is in there. I hardly need to tell you that we can't get the military police involved.”

“But what if she's in there right now? What if she's got the bacteria right there. What if today is the day it gets lost or released or stolen?”

“This isn't the place to argue about this.”

Nella reluctantly began walking back to the car with him. He took a deep breath.

“Maybe this is the day, Nella. Maybe this is the very last day. But what is banging on the front door going to do about it? You think they're just going to hand over the bacteria because we say please? There's a reason Dr. Carton doesn't want the world to know who he is. There's also a reason that Dr. Schneider was in there when no one else has been allowed. I'm not saying those reasons are questionable or honest or anything else. I'm just saying they exist. And until we find out what those reasons are, we're going to have to tread carefully.”

“I can't just wait around.”

“We're not, we've got a plan. Let's follow it. Someone will tell us something, and then we'll have to decide what we're going to do.”

Nella slid back into the car. She flexed her wounded hand after closing the door. It was stiff, and she had a heck of a hangover. She shut her eyes as Frank turned the car on.

“Have you thought about that?” he asked as he pulled the car back onto the tar.

“Have I thought about what?” she asked, her eyes still closed.

“What we're going to do once we know where Dr. Schneider is?”

“I guess that depends on where she is. You do realize that the chances of her remaining unfound in a Cured sector are pretty remote don't you?” she opened her eyes to squint at him.

“I've thought about it, yes.” He was quiet for a moment. “I'm not a soldier.”

“I know. I understand if you don't want to go with me. I can do it alone.”

“I just don't know if I could shoot someone. Not knowing they could be Cured. Not even to defend myself.”

Nella smiled gently at him in the mirror. “Well,” she said, “let's not borrow trouble. Let's just get through today.”

The prison was a flat, dull blotch. Nella felt her chest fill with lead as soon as she stepped out of the car. They walked toward the door silently. Nella reached for the handle, but Frank put his hand over hers to stop her. “No one can know, not even your friend,” he said.

“I know. She can be trusted, but she won't ask if I don't offer. I won't say anything.”

“I'll see you soon,” he said and let her go.

She hesitated for a second, not wanting to walk away into the madness of Ann's cell. She realized she was truly frightened. Nella became angry with herself and pushed herself forward through the heavy door. She forgot to say anything to Frank and she felt immediately guilty. But she didn't turn around. She had to be professional. She felt ridiculous instead.

 

 

What Ann Saw

Ann was calm and Johnson looked well-rested, even cheerful. “Good morning Doc,” she said.

“Good morning. Everything seems to be going well here. How is Ann?”

“Like a new woman. She let me brush her hair, and she hasn't tried to bite her hands at all today, I even took the straitjacket off.”

“That's wonderful,” said Nella.

“Yeah, and Wells got this idea to line the exercise room with old mattresses from the empty cells. We're going to see if she'll be okay out there for a change of pace. That is, if it's okay with you of course.”

Nella smiled, “I think as long as she stays like this, that will be fine. I'm going to post a standing order for sedative if she becomes unmanageable or can't sleep. That means you and Wells and her night guard are in control, not Mr. Grant, got it?”

“Do you think we can keep her this way if we do?”

“I do. I think she was only as bad as she was because she didn't have medication for so long. I'm going to order some tests though, with the infirmary. I don't think anyone's done a serious evaluation of what kind of damage she is really suffering. I'll be able to tell you in a few weeks whether she'll be able to adjust to less constant supervision or not.”

Wells came in, half out of breath. “Hey Doc, how's your hand?”

Nella smiled, “Much better, thanks.”

“It's almost ready,” Wells said to Johnson, “but I'm going to need a hand with the last few so we'll have to wait.”

“Oh,” interrupted Nella, “that's okay, I think I can handle Ann for a few minutes, if you both want to go.”

Johnson looked at her doubtfully. “Are you sure?”

“I think so,” said Nella, “I was going to ask for a few moments alone with her anyway, I need to ask some confidential questions for the trial.”

“Okay, but remember, if you need someone, press the green button and we'll all come running.”

The guards began walking reluctantly away. Nella didn't want to waste any time, so she didn't wait to see them out the door.

Ann was sitting on the floor of the cell making echoes with her voice and looking pleased. Nella sat down next to her. “Good morning Ann.”

Ann looked over at her in surprise, but it quickly faded out, and Ann lost her focus.

“How would you like to go out into the sunshine today?”

Ann closed her eyes and smiled. “The sun is coming back today? There hasn't been any warm sun since before the teeth. Before the beast room.”

“Yes Ann, warm, quiet sun outside. We can go see it, but first I need to ask you a few questions. Is that okay?”

Ann looked wary and her bandaged hands tapped nervously, but she still did not look toward Nella.

“We won't talk about bad things today Ann. I just want to know where Dr. Schneider lives.”

Ann wrinkled her brow. She shook her head.

“Did she ever have you send things from the lab? Or deliver things?”

“She wanted monkeys. But Robert said she hated the monkeys. She hurt them. So I didn't bring them.”

Nella could see Ann becoming agitated. “Okay Ann, we don't have to talk about the monkeys. I just need to know where Dr. Schneider's house was.”

“She had a boyfriend. Robert didn't like him. He said Dr. Schneider's boyfriend would steal.”

“Who was her boyfriend Ann?”

Ann looked at Nella as if she were an idiot not to know, meeting her eyes directly. “Dr. Carton was her boyfriend. Dr. Carton from Kingsfield. Robert says you shouldn't talk to him. He's a thief. But Robert didn't know-”

Ann trailed off and started her echo game again.

“What didn't Robert know Ann?”

Ann ignored her. “What didn't Robert know about Dr. Carton?” Nella sighed in frustration. Ann looked at her and smiled.

“I like you,” she said, “You don't hurt the monkeys.”

Nella smiled despite her worry. “No Ann, I won't hurt any monkeys.”

Ann looked up at the ceiling. “Robert didn't know that Dr. Carton took the vial. In his pocket. It shouldn't be in his pocket. Dr. Schneider said. But he took it. And Robert didn't know. I couldn't tell.” she clapped her hand over her mouth and shook her head at Nella.

“What was in the vial Ann?”

“I can't tell. Dr. Schneider will hurt the monkeys if I do. Burn us all up if I tell. She says Robert is slow, too slow. If he knows I smelled the vial he'll get mad. He'll get mad and maybe he'll hurt the monkeys too. Burn us all up to save the world. So I was quiet. Even when Dr. Carton stole the vial. But the monkeys died anyway. Maybe because the camera saw him take it. And Robert always saw what the camera sees. All the monkeys are gone.” Ann started to cry.

Nella hugged her, careful not to relax in case Ann became to agitated. “It's okay Ann, it's okay. Let's go see if the sun is out.” She helped Ann to her feet. Ann sniffled but shuffled obediently alongside of Nella. They walked out of the cell