Brain Child

“That doesn’t surprise me,” Torres commented, concentrating on his pipe rather than Ellen. “I don’t mean this as anything against your husband, but a lot of doctors have a great deal of difficulty in dealing with me. In fact,” he added, his hypnotic eyes fixing directly on her, “a lot of people have always had difficulty dealing with me.” The barest hint of a smile crossed Torres’s face. “I’m talking about the fact that I was always considered something of an oddball.”

Ellen forced a smile, though she knew his words carried a certain truth. “Whatever you might have been in high school is all over now,” she offered. “You were just so bright we were all terrified of you!”

“And, apparently, people still are,” Torres replied dryly. “At least your husband seems to be.”

“I’m not sure terrified is the right word—” Ellen began.

“Then what would you suggest?” Torres countered. “Frightened? Insecure? Jealous?” He brushed the words aside with an impatient gesture, and his voice grew hard. “Whatever it is — and I assure you it’s of no consequence to me — it has to stop. For Alex’s sake.”

So this was what it was all about. Ellen sighed in relief. “I know. In fact, that’s exactly what I wanted to talk to you about today. Raymond, I’m starting to worry about Marsh. This thing with Alex’s intellect … Well, I hate to say I’m afraid he’s going to get fixated on it, but I guess that’s exactly what I am afraid of!”

“And,” Torres added, “you’re afraid that he might decide that I have served my purpose. Is that correct?”

Ellen nodded unhappily.

“Well, then we’ll just have to see that that doesn’t happen, won’t we?” Torres smiled at her, and suddenly Ellen felt reassured. There was a strength to the man, a determination to do whatever must be done, that made her feel that whatever happened, he would be able to deal with it. She felt herself begin to relax under his steady gaze.

“Is there anything I can do?”

Torres shrugged, seeming unconcerned. “Until he actually suggests removing Alex from my care, I don’t see that either you or I need to do anything. But if the time comes, you can be sure that I will deal with your husband.”

Your husband. Ellen repeated the words to herself, and tried to remember if Raymond had ever used Marsh’s first name. To the best of her memory, he hadn’t. Was there a reason for that? Or was it just Raymond’s way?

Suddenly she realized how little she actually knew about Raymond Torres. Practically nothing, really. A thought drifted into her mind: did he feel as strange about his mother working for her as she did? “Raymond, may I ask you a question that has nothing to do with Alex at all?”

Torres frowned slightly, then shrugged. “You can ask me anything, but I might not choose to answer.”

Ellen felt herself flush red. “Of course,” she said. “It … well, it’s about your mother. You know, she’s working for me now, and—”

“For you?” Torres broke in. Suddenly he put his pipe on the desk and leaned forward, his eyes blazing with interest. “When did that start?”

Ellen gasped with embarrassment. “Oh, God, what have I done? I was sure you’d know.”

“No,” Torres replied, shaking his head. Then he picked up his pipe and drew deeply on it. “And don’t worry,” he added. “There is a lot about my mother that I don’t know. Frankly, we don’t see each other that much, and we don’t agree on much, either. For instance, we don’t agree on her working.”

“Oh, Lord,” Ellen groaned. “I’m sorry. I should never have hired her, should I? I didn’t really think it was right, but when Cynthia absolutely insisted, I … well, I …” She fell silent, acutely aware that she had begun babbling.

“Cynthia,” Torres repeated, his expression darkening. “Well, Cynthia’s always had her way, hasn’t she? Whatever Cynthia wanted, she always got, and whatever she didn’t want, she always managed to keep well away from her.”

Himself, Ellen suddenly thought. He’s talking about himself. He always wanted to go out with Cynthia, and she’d never give him the time of day. But was he still holding an old grudge? Surely he wasn’t, not after twenty years. And then he was smiling again, and the awkward moment had passed.

“As for Mother, no, I didn’t know she was working for you, but it doesn’t matter. I’m quite capable of supporting her, but she’ll have none of it. I’m afraid,” he added, his brows arching, “that my mother doesn’t quite approve of me. She’s very much of the old country, despite the fact that she was born here, as were her parents and grandparents. She has yet to forgive me for my own success. So she supports herself by doing what she’s always done, and whom she works for is no concern of mine. If it helps, I think I’d rather have her working for you than for someone else. At least I can count on you to treat her decently.”

“I can’t imagine anyone not—” Ellen began, but Torres cut her off with a wave of his hand.

“I’m sure everyone treats her fine. But she tends to imagine things, and sees slights where none are meant. Now, why don’t we get back to Alex?”

Though Ellen would have liked to talk more of Maria, the force of Raymond Torres’s personality engulfed her, and a moment later, as Torres wished, they were once more deeply involved in the possible meanings of Alex’s experiences in San Francisco.

Alex opened his eyes and gazed at the monitors that surrounded him. The tests were over, and today, as he came up from the sedative, there had been none of the strange sounds and images that he had experienced before. He started to move, then remembered the restraints that held him in place so that he couldn’t accidentally disturb the labyrinth of wires that were attached to his skull.

He heard the door open, and a few seconds later the doctor was gazing down at him. “How do you feel?”

“Okay,” Alex replied. Then, as Torres began detaching him from the machinery: “Did you find out anything?”

“Not yet,” Torres replied. “I’ll have to spend some time analyzing the data. But there’s something I want you to do. I want you to start wandering around La Paloma, just looking at things.”

“I’ve done that,” Alex said. As the last of the wires came free, Torres released the restraints, and Alex sat up, stretching. “I’ve done that a lot with Lisa Cochran.”

Torres shook his head. “I want you to do it alone,” he said. “I want you just to wander around, and let your eyes take things in. Don’t study things, don’t look for anything in particular. Just let your eyes see, and your mind react. Do you think you can do that?”

“I guess so. But why?”

“Call it an experiment,” Torres replied. “Let’s just see what happens, shall we? Something, somewhere in La Paloma, might trigger another memory, and maybe a pattern will emerge.”

As his mother drove him home, Alex tried to figure out what kind of pattern Torres might be looking for, but could think of nothing.

All he could do, he realized, was follow Torres’s instructions and see what happened.

After Alex and Ellen left, Raymond Torres sat at his desk for a long time, studying the results of the tests Alex had just taken. Today, for the first time, the tests had been only that, and nothing more.

No new data had been fed into Alex’s mind, no new attempts had been made to fill his empty memory.

Instead, the electrical impulses that had been sent racing through his brain had been searching for something that Torres knew had to be there.

Somewhere, deep in the recesses of Alex’s brain, there had to be a misconnection.

It was, as far as Torres could see, the only explanation for what had happened to Alex in San Francisco: somehow, during the long hours of the surgery, a mistake had been made, and the result was that Alex had had an emotional response.

He had cried.

Raymond Torres had never intended that Alex have an emotional response again.