Syndrome

for you. She's very worried about-'

'You're lying to me. You're trying to trick me and get me back.' She was breathing heavily, as though she'd just run a set of stairs.This is a person just barely holding it together, Ally thought. 'Anyway, Kristen is not my name. My name is Kirby. They wrote it down for me and … I'm very confused. I found a bracelet in my suitcase that had 'Starr' on it. Maybe that's my last name. It sounds right, but I can't remember-'

'You don't remember having a show on cable?'

'I. . I think I knew someone who had a TV show, but I don't think it was me.'

'Kirby. . or whatever your. . listen carefully. I think you were undergoing an experimental procedure for your skin. At a place in New Jersey called the Dorian Institute. The doctor was Karl Van de Vliet. You were in clinical trials for the National Institutes of Health. Then something happened and you left. Do you rememberwhyyou left? Or when?'

'No.' She stifled a sob. 'I can't remember anything.'

Ally took a deep breath, not liking the vibes she was getting. 'Do you want to talk about it?'

'No. I don't want to talk to you or to anybody. I got out of that place and-'

''That place'?' Ally asked. She was being passed by a huge bus and she could barely hear. 'You mean the institute?'

'You know where I mean. And don't come looking for me down here either, because I'm not going to be here.'

Jesus, Ally thought, what's with her?

'Kris-Kirby, I'm not connected with anybody at the Dorian Institute. I'm supposed to become a patient there myself. I'm just trying to find out what happened to you when you underwent your treatment there.'

'I can only remember little things.' She was moaning. 'There was this man. He said I could have anything I wanted. I trusted him. And now. . I see faces but I can't remember who-'

'Kristen-that's your real name, by the way-can we meet? I promise you won't be harmed. I just-'

'You don't understand do you? You don't know what's happening to me.' Her voice had begun to break. 'It's the Beta. I don't know how long it's going to be before-'

'Before what? What beta? What are you-Kristen, we've really got to meet. I mean it. I desperately need to talk to you. Maybe we could find another doctor, if that's what you need. Could I come down-'

'I have no idea who you are. You could be. . He says they're trying to help me, but I'm not getting any better.'

Ally was pulling onto the interstate, heading south. It was hard to concentrate on driving, but at the same time she wanted to push the speed limit. Kristen sounded like she was getting ready to disintegrate or flee.

Then she had another thought.

'Kristen, it's okay if you don't trust me. But could you tell me more about your. . side effects? Are they-'

'I think that's why he moved me. To that place. But then he …' She was growing even more agitated and impatient. 'Look, I really can't talk anymore.'

I'm losing her, Ally thought.Try to make her hang on.

'Kristen, would you please take my phone number? You sound like you could use a friend.'

'Oh Christ, I'm so scared. I don't-'

'Just take it. No harm. Then if something happens and you want to-'

'All right,' she said finally. “Tell me and I'll write it down.'

Ally gave it to her, then added, 'I run an interior-design firm. I actually did some work for you once, so we've met. You can call my office, so let me give you that number too. No way am I connected to the institute where you were.'

She said she was writing it down.

'You know,' Kristen went on, 'I think this is God's way of punishing me for wanting something nobody should have.' Then she began to sob again.

'How exactly-'

'I found a door that wasn't locked and I just came here. I don't know what guided me. And when I got to this street, I knew exactly which building it was. There was no name on my bell or anything, but I knew. I even knew who had my emergency key. It's like I have a sense memory of this apartment but I can't remember ever actually living here.'

'Your name is Kristen Starr,' Ally said again. 'Try to remember that. And will you please stay there till I can get there and talk to you?' Then she made what she immediately realized was a fatal mistake. 'There's a reporter, a sweet guy who's doing a book about. . a medical procedure at the clinic where you were. And he's dying to talk to anybody who's been part of the clinical trials there. Could he talk to you too? It sounds like you've got quite a story to tell.'

'You've got to be kidding. If they find me, I don't know what they'll do.' And the connection was severed.

'Shit, don't do this.' She quickly tried the cell phone number for Stone Aimes.

'It's me again. Listen, she's actuallythere. Kristen's in the apartment on West Eleventh Street. I just got off the phone with her. She's the one you want. But she's like a frightened rabbit. She said she was about to leave, but if you get there soon, you might be able to catch her.'

'Damn, we're stuck in traffic at Fifty-ninth Street. There was a fender bender on Lex. But I'll get there as soon as I can.'

'Okay, maybe get your driver to try Fifth.'

'Good idea.'

She clicked off and stared at the road. The George Washington Bridge was just ahead. If she broke the speed limit once she hit the West Side Highway, and caught the lights right, she might even beat Stone there.

Chapter 20

Wednesday, April 8

12:34p.m.

'W.B., we've got a problem,' Karl Van de Vliet said into the microphone. He was in his private office, on the scrambled videophone. 'Kristen's mother showed up just before noon with a pistol, demanding to know where she was. When I tried to take the gun away from her, she accidentally shot herself through the side. Fortunately, it was only a flesh wound, but it took us almost an hour to stabilize her.'

'Christ! Even Kristy thinks she’s crazy. Why did she-?'

'Kristen smuggled her a letter somehow. And she came looking for her.' He thought about how they shouldn't be having this conversation on any kind of phone, even one that was supposedly scrambled. But there was no choice. 'It gets worse. I just called Eight-Eighty Park and they checked her room and Kristen's not there. She was there when Roxanne brought up her breakfast at nine, but nobody's seen her since. They assumed she'd gone back to sleep. Nobody there has any idea where she went.'

'Shit. What am I paying them for? The staff is there for the sole purpose of making sure something like this didn't happen.'

'Well, W.B., that's your part of the show. I'm just trying to practice medicine. In any case, she slipped out somehow. So the thing now is, where did she go?'

'Well, she didn't come here. Or at least she hasn't yet. Depending on how much she can still remember, she might have gone to her old place down in the Village. Maybe she still has a homing instinct. That's probably the first location we ought to check. Jesus, if she gets recognized and starts acting crazy and then Cambridge Pharmaceuticals finds out-'

'W.B., the bigger problem now could be her mother, Katherine. You know her. She's unbalanced but she also still remembers how it all started. She was actually here a couple of times. If she sees Kristen, then God help