include the harvesting of the heart, and she didn't approve of that-she might even betray him if she knew about the heart. No, better to calm her and be rid of her. Tomorrow morning would come soon enough. 'Sit down,' he told her. 'Good. Can I get you something to drink? A pop? I want you to relax, calm down. You're with me now, you're all right.'
'She's pretty. More than pretty. Dark hair. Taller than me. Beautiful eyes.'
'A woman?' he asked stupidly. The idea that a woman had questioned her seemed so much less threatening to him than had it been a man. Why, he wasn't sure.
He knew how she hated pretty women. She felt betrayed by her weight problem, failing to see it as a disease, but instead as a weakness of character, an attitude that had been drummed into her by her inept parents. 'I have to interrupt here,' he said, doing so. 'Forgive me, please, but the details are quite unimportant to me. They didn't arrest you, did they? And there's a reason for that: They haven't got anything of any value on us. Suspicions is all. We've talked about this before, but what's important to remember with the police is that if you don't talk to them, there's nothing they can learn from you. It's hard, I know,' he said, reaching over and touching her knee. 'Terribly difficult. But true.'
'She mentioned the harvests. She said three of the donors had died from hemorrhaging.'
He couldn't catch his breath. Failure? Footsteps in the foyer, drawing closer. They wanted him at the table, no doubt. it suddenly felt as if the room were smaller, the walls closing in. Yes. He could feel the walls moving closer. Control!
A knock like a knife in his chest. Not now! He glanced toward the door, tried to lift himself from his chair, but couldn't move. Such helplessness was foreign to him: It was always the patient that was paralyzed, never him. Pamela rose effortlessly to answer the door, and this inspired Tegg's limbs to obey. He reached out and stopped her as he came to his feet, reminding himself that the sure sign of superiority is the ability to overcome. Performance- appearance-was everything.
When he opened the door he felt relief to find one of the waitresses staring back at him. He had somehow expected his wife and had no desire to face her at this particular moment. He could picture her at the end of the dining table, facing his empty place, crazed with rage and yet politely fielding conversation and graciously offering the bread basket to her guests. 'The soup is served, Dr. Tegg. Mrs. Tegg asked me to tell you.'
'Please have them start without me, would you? just a little business matter to clear up. I won't be but a minute.' It was an easy absence to explain. As the only vet in the clinic, he was constantly on-call. He responded at all hours to emergencies of every sort. It was perfectly normal for him to be summoned in the evening hours to handle an emergency. Tonight, rather than drag him downtown, when he was in the midst of an important dinner party, his assistant had had the good sense to seek his advice in person so as to occupy as little of his time as possible.
He shut the door and asked Pamela, 'Hemorrhaging? That's impossible! Must be some sort of trick, saying such a thing. Trying to rattle you.'
'I don't think so. She sounded serious.
She said the investigation is being run by Homicide.'
The word reminded him of Maybeck, of sending that package to the man. He regretted that now. He had regretted that only a moment after he had turned it over to the delivery boy. But it was done. 'Maybeck's fault,' he said, the idea taking hold, and coming as a great relief. 'If he mistreated the donors in any way … Once the patient is out of our control, out of our care, we can't be expected to monitor his or her every move, can we?
Of course not! The wrong activity too soon and something is bound to come loose. They were told how to take care of themselves. We can't babysit every last patient, now can we?' Pamela said flatly, 'She showed me a picture of a woman. Sharon, the same woman we did the kidney on last Saturday. I remember her name. I remember that night very-well, very clearly, as you can imagine I would. And I remember seeing a sponge, and her chest being damp, and now I have to wonder, with Betadyne? Was that why her kidney wasn't prepped? Was that why you did what you did to me, what we did, to distract me? She said that Sharon had disappeared, and that's not right for a kidney. It's a heart, isn't it, Elden? A13-negative, she said, and all I could think of was a heart.'
His own heart responded like a chorus of timpani. 'You don't need to answer because I know. How many times have you tried to convince me to do a heart? And just yesterday, you took that dog's heart. What's happening? Have you done it already? Have you?'
'This doesn't involve you,' he warned. 'Doesn't involve me?' she questioned. 'Where is that coming from? Get a clue!'
His anger surfaced but he contained it. She was just a child.
'We have talked about this. I don't accept your arguments. You know that. I have heard them a dozen times. What you can't face is that I might be right! Admit it!'
'I won't tell them anything. You know I won't. I owe you that. But I'm scared. For you. For me. I'm not sure what to do. They know about the trips to Vancouver. They know about all of it. We have to do something! They're not just going to go away.'
'You're missing the central point.'
'Which is?'
'Which is that if they had anything, you wouldn't be sitting here talking to me.'
Panic struck him. What if she had already cut a deal with them?
What if she were wearing a microphone, the police standing ready outside his door?
He stood and edged around his desk, taking a quick but useless look outside. It was rainy and dark. He couldn't see anything but a driveway full of cars. He approached her from behind then and stroked her hair. She liked it. She leaned her head back and looked up at him. He bent over feigning a kiss and ran his hand over her chest and abdomen, secretly searching for an unwarranted bump that might alert him to a wire or a microphone. He leaned her forward and massaged her neck and back, searching here as well. Nothing. Perhaps she was loyal to him after all.
He continued, 'If they had anything at all, they would be doing more than asking questions. They're nosing around, is all. They earn their living nosing around. Our tax dollars, mind you!' He was losing focus. 'Granted, they're obviously on the right track. I'll give you that. I'll concede that much. But where are the charges? Why haven't they questioned me? You see? They're tiptoeing around, is all. We mustn't give in to that. And besides, we've talked about this before, haven't we? Of course we have. We have even anticipated such a moment. Hmm? The lab at the farm can be dismantled in a matter of a few hours. We're prepared for that. No problem. Where's the evidence to come from?' It was true: If he dismantled the farm's surgical facility, if Pam remained loyal, what was left for the police? He said, 'I don't think this is nearly as bad as it looks, my dear. Hmm? Not nearly as bad as it looks. The important thing is to stay calm. With that in mind, stay where you are. I'll be right back.'
No matter what his plans, he needed Pamela sedated for the rest of the night. Out of the way. Incapable of fouling the waters.
He hurried out into the garage and rummaged through the veterinarian supplies he kept in the refrigerated insert in back of the Isuzu. The only sedatives he had on hand were for intravenous use, but he located an oral supply of Valium in dosages strong enough for a mastiff. He grabbed two capsules and hurried back to the study, carefully avoiding the dining room and his guests. 'There's nothing to worry about, I promise,' he said upon returning. He extended the pills to her. 'Take these, they'll help you relax.'
'No thanks.'
'Take them.
Go on.' He handed her his champagne glass. 'They'll put your mind at rest. There is a course through every storm. Go home. Put your feet up.'
She studied the pills. 'That's a lot of Valium.'
'Trust me.'
'I'd rather … 'Pamela, take the medicine!' She tossed the pills into her mouth and chased them down with the champagne. 'Drive directly home. Have you eaten anything?' She nodded. 'Good. Drive straight home for safety's sake, though you're unlikely to feel them for forty-five minutes or so. Take a hot bath. Relax. We'll talk in the morning. Okay?' He lifted her chin with his finger and looked her in the eye. 'It was smart of you to come here. I'm not mad at you at all. But it's important to keep perspective. Hmm? You must not speak with the police again. Not for any reason. They will only attempt to unsettle you. You mustn't allow that. Do you hear me, Pamela?'
She nodded again. 'Good. Any problems?' She shook her head.
