'Where is your husband?'
'Taking a nap. He has to stay up all night with the singers. He wanted to sleep before going to get Rita.'
'We must go now,' Looks At Nothing said urgently.
'It's started.'
Wanda shook her head. Gabe had given her strict orders not to wake him up until seven. He had spent the whole afternoon dragging a stalled BIA road grader out of a sandy wash, and he had wanted to sleep as long as possible. Looking at the agitated old man, Wanda wondered if perhaps he was crazy in addition to being blind.
'No,' Wanda replied. 'Nothing has started yet. It's too early. The singers don't come until nine.'
Not the singers,' he snapped. 'The ohb. We must go quickly, or it will be too late.'
In Dr. Johnston's waiting room, Diana Ladd alternately sat and paced while Father John thumbed through a worn pet-food catalog. She berated herself for leaving Rita and Davy home alone, for being stupid about waiting for the dog, for not accepting Brandon Walker's offer of help.
When Dr. Johnston's receptionist got up to leave, Diana asked to use the phone.
The phone at home rang nine or ten times without anyone answering.
That in itself wasn't alarming. When Rita was out in her room, she and Davy sometimes didn't hear the phone ringing.
Just as Diana started to hang up, Rita answered. 'Hello.'
'Rita, it's me. Diana. Is everything okay there?'
'Okay?' Rita's voice seemed distant, hollow. 'Yes.
Everything here is okay.'
'Bone's still with Dr. Johnston,' Diana rushed on.
'We're waiting for him. We'll be home as soon as we can. Did Davy tell you he can go with you if you have to leave before I get home?'
'No,' Rita replied. 'He didn't tell me, but that's good.'
Diana hung up, too preoccupied to think it odd that Rita had answered the phone instead of Davy. Without leaving the desk, Diana decided to swallow her pride and call Brandon Walker. The least she could do was let him know what had happened and ask for his advice, but he wasn't in.
With a frustrated sigh, Diana sat back down. It was probably just as well. What she and Rita planned for Andrew Carlisle should be kept totally secret.
If she talked to Brandon Walker, she might accidentally let something slip.
Father John glanced at her. 'The dog's going to be fine,' the priest said reassuringly, misreading her agitation as concern for Bone. 'We got him here so soon after it happened that I'm sure he'll be okay.'
Diana nodded but said nothing. According to Rita, things were still all right at home, but with Andrew Carlisle on the loose, the dog was really the least of her worries. She sat there wishing she'd left the 45 at home with Rita.
'It's taking so long,' she said, glancing at her watch for the second time in less than a minute.
'Some things can't be rushed,' Father John replied.
Diana started to argue and then thought better of it. What Father John didn't know wouldn't hurt him. If he thought she was only worried about the dog, so be it.
Now that he was actually inside Diana Ladd's house, Carlisle felt downright invincible. His plans were working perfectly. Still holding the boy, Carlisle ordered the old woman to sit down on the couch. She did so at once. Her immediate compliance gratified him. Carlisle was sure that holding the boy hostage would work exactly the same magic on Diana Ladd. With Davy in jeopardy, she would have to submit to his every demand, give him whatever he wanted when and how he wanted it.
The phone blared, startling him so that he almost dropped the child.
He held the knife to Davy's throat. 'Answer it,' he growled at the old woman. 'Try anything funny and the boy dies.'
Clumsily, Rita heaved herself off the couch and hobbled over to the phone. Carlisle nodded with satisfaction at her curt answers. As far as he could tell, she made no attempt to pass along any secret messages.
'Who was it?' he asked when she put the phone back in the cradle.
'Diana Ladd?' The old woman nodded. 'What did she say?'
'She'll be back soon.'
'Good,' he said. 'We'll be waiting, won't we? Pull the cord out of the wall.'
The old woman hesitated as though she didn't understand him. He brandished the knife over the now fully awake boy.
Seeing the knife, the boy regarded him through terrified eyes, but he made no effort to fight.
'I said pull it out,' Carlisle repeated. 'No more phone calls.' Rita yanked the phone cord from its receptacle, and Carlisle smiled.
'Good.
Now, back on the couch.' He almost laughed aloud at the way the old woman jumped to do his bidding. He