service, as she suspected. She put it on mute anyway and quickly put it under the chest of drawers, display side down, and stood up to meet whoever was coming to get them.
Chapter 49
Diane was sitting on the bed with Kingsley when the door opened. She could see that it was two people but the light behind them kept her from seeing anything but silhouettes. She waited as they walked in. One was the kid; the other was a woman. The woman turned on a battery-operated lantern and put it on the table. It was a dim light, but Diane could see them clearly. Clymene.
She looked at Diane and Kingsley as if they were interesting specimens and nothing more.
‘‘And why did you bring them here?’’
She was dressed in a simple white cotton sundress with a small embroidered jacket. Banks carried a bucket that he set down on the floor. Diane saw that it had toilet paper and a bottle of something in it.
‘‘I saw him,’’ Banks said. ‘‘I was going to Jeeters and there he was coming out the door. I couldn’t believe it. I had to do something.’’
‘‘Why did you bring them here?’’ she repeated calmly.
‘‘I didn’t know what else to do. Now he’s shot. It wasn’t my fault; it was theirs. Do you think she’ll get mad at me?’’ he asked.
‘‘Let me tell her about this, okay?’’ she said.
Listening to their conversation, it suddenly occurred to Diane that this was not Clymene. The ‘‘her’’ they were talking about was Clymene. ‘‘Are you Lily or Rose?’’ she said.
The woman looked startled.
‘‘Rose. How bad is your companion?’’ she said.
‘‘Bad enough. I’m concerned about his temperature. I’m afraid the bleeding will start up again. He’s recovering from a car accident he had a few days ago, and now this. He needs to see a doctor,’’ said Diane.
‘‘You are a doctor,’’ said Rose.
‘‘I’m not that kind of doctor,’’ said Diane.
‘‘You know anatomy. I’m afraid you will have to do. Do you need dressings?’’
‘‘No. If I change them, he’ll start bleeding again,’’ said Diane. ‘‘You know it’s not a good idea to keep us here, don’t you?’’
‘‘Yes, I do,’’ she said. ‘‘He shouldn’t have brought you here. But what’s done is done.’’
Diane had been watching Rose and the guy she thought was Bobby Banks. They favored each other.
‘‘Is he your son?’’ asked Diane.
‘‘My son?’’ She looked startled again. ‘‘No. Joey’s my brother.’’
Joey. Diane could see him as a baby kangaroo.
‘‘You will have to stay in here while I sort this out,’’ she said. ‘‘In the meantime, do you need food?’’
‘‘They just ate,’’ said Joey.
‘‘Did they? Well. I guess we won’t prepare anything for them,’’ said Rose.
The two of them left and locked the door.
‘‘At least they left the light,’’ said Diane.
A new wave of fear swept over her. She ignored it and looked inside the bucket. There was one roll of toilet paper and a bottle of hand sanitizer. Well, you couldn’t say the Delaflotes weren’t good hosts. She wished she were MacGyver. She was sure he could do something with hand sanitizer. Maybe blow open the back wall or something. Diane went to the door to see if there was a crack or hole where she could wedge some tool she hadn’t found yet between the boards and pry them open.
‘‘Splitting them up may get us somewhere,’’ Kingsley said.
Diane walked back to the bed and put a hand on his head. It seemed warm. She untied his hands.
‘‘I’ll just tell them that since we are locked up and you are sick, it won’t make any difference if your hands are untied and you will be more comfortable,’’ she said. ‘‘Less strain on your injured shoulder.’’
‘‘It is more comfortable.’’ He rubbed his wrists.
‘‘How do we split them up?’’ said Diane. ‘‘Jacobs said they are probably inseparable.’’
‘‘He’s right, to a point. The key, I think, may be with the boy. He’s what, eighteen or nineteen going on thirteen? I’ll bet he was born after Clymene was gone. I don’t know where his mother fits into this, if she’s alive, but it was Rose he went to get. He sees Rose as a mother figure. I’ll bet she sees him as more of a son than a brother. I think Rose and Lily raised him. When did Clymene come back into their lives? We don’t know, but her two sisters had already bonded with him. To Clymene he is just a kid. I’m just guessing.’’
‘‘It sounds reasonable . . . but how do we exploit it?’’ asked Diane.
‘‘I don’t know. Just seize an opportunity when it presents itself. We know he screwed up big time and he’s concerned that ‘she’ will be mad. I’m betting that the ‘she’ he’s concerned with is Clymene and he is afraid of her. She’s laid all these careful plans and this little runt comes along and screws everything to hell. Rose was concerned enough to tell Joey that she would be the one to talk with Clymene. If we can make Clymene attack him and get them to defend him, we may be able to separate them enough that they will want to save themselves and the boy and sacrifice Clymene. It’s a thought.’’
