Gil and Logan both looked up when she walked into the room.
The plot thickens, Logan said as he switched off the TV.
Yes, Im crazy and youre dead, she said jerkily. They want to make it hard for us to make any move at all.
Not hard. Impossible, Gil corrected her. Were you really at Lakewood?
Ask Logan.
Logan shook his head. I didnt get that morsel of information. I guess Novak was saving that to sell to Timwick.
You knew he was dealing with them?
I suspected the possibility. Novaks ambitious. He paused. But the question is how valuable is that piece of information to them. How long were you at Lakewood?
Three weeks.
Who committed you?
Joe.
Christ. The authorities. Not a good image.
It wasnt the authorities, she said fiercely. It was Joe.
Quinn was with the FBI at the time.
They didnt know about it. Nobody knew about it. Not even my mother.
Shes next of kin. She would have had to know.
Eve shook her head. Lakewood isnt a public in-stitution. Its a small private hospital in South Georgia. Joe admitted me under another name. Anna Quinn. He told them I was his wife.
And you went in voluntarily?
She smiled crookedly. No, Joe can be a power-house when he chooses. He bulldozed me into it.
Why?
She didnt answer.
Why, Eve?
What the hell. Hed find out anyway. The night Fraser was executed, I took an overdose of sedatives. I was staying at a motel near the prison and Joe came to check and found me. She shrugged. He made me throw up several times and walked me around that damn room until I was out of danger. Then he took me to Lakewood. He stayed there with me for three weeks. At first they wanted to sedate me, but he told them that wasnt why he brought me there. He made me talk to every shrink in the place. He made me talk about Bonnie. He made me talk about Fraser. He made me talk about my mother. Hell, he even made me talk about my father, and I hadnt seen him since I was a baby. She grimaced. But he didnt think I was opening up enough with the good doctors, so after three weeks he checked me out and took me to Cumberland Island and kept me there for another week.
Cumberland Island?
Its a wild island off the coast. One hotel, but Joe didnt check us in there. We camped out and Joe ad-ministered his own brand of therapy.
And did you open up with him?
Joe didnt give me any choice. Her lips twisted ruefully. I told you, he can be a powerhouse. He wasnt about to let me go crazy or kill myself. He wouldnt have it. So I had to cope.
Quinn must be pretty impressive, Gil said.
Oh, yes. No doubt about it. Theres nobody like him. She walked over to the window and looked out at the surf. I fought him like a tiger. He wouldnt let me go.
I wish hed buried the Lakewood records deeper.
So do I. In the neighborhood where I grew up there were a lot of crazies, but you were really bonkers if you had to go to an asylum. But Joe doesnt think like we do. Hes very direct. If somethings broken, you get an expert to fix it. He didnt see any stigma about staying at a mental hospital. That didnt scare him.
Did it scare you? Logan asked.
She was silent a moment. Yes.
Why?
She said haltingly, I was afraid I belonged there.
Ridiculous. You had enough stress to give anyone a nervous breakdown.
And how close is a nervous breakdown to going over the edge? You never realize what a tightrope we all walk until you almost slip into the chasm.
But you fought back.
Joe jerked me back. She crossed her arms over her chest. And then I got mad as hell and disgusted with myself. I wasnt about to let Fraser take anything else from me. Not my life and not my sanity. I wasnt going to let him win. She turned to face Logan. And Im not going to let Timwick and her win either. The question is how are we going to keep them from making everyone think Im nuts.
We cant. Not now. Were on the defensive, Logan said. We cant do anything until we have a weapon to launch an offensive.
