Jack was awake off and on during the afternoon, and by evening he was hungry. As they ate pizza around the kitchen table, Jack said, "Before I have to take another pain pill, I want to say something. We have unfinished business. We never found out what I told Tiffany that made her scream. I want to know that and so do you, Landry. But the crucial thing is to prove I didn't kill Tiffany. We were working on that when Empyrion pushed us out the window. Dr. Little has to put me under one more time. If not, I'm headed to prison."
CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR
It took only forty-eight hours to bring everyone together this time. The trustee had granted permission only after Shane Young promised him there would be police at the session. He assured the lawyer there would be no problems this time, although he had no real way to guarantee it.
The plan was to take Jack two places only. Dr. Little would regress him ten days and learn what he'd told Tiffany during her own session that started her screams. That was the easy stop. The other was the night in 1837 when Prosperine LaPiere killed Caprice. If they could recreate that scene as Jack had seen it earlier, it would show Detective Young who killed Tiffany.
Dr. Little took Jack back to Tiffany's hypnosis. He told Jack they were in this same courtyard.
"Do you see Tiffany lying on the recliner?"
He nodded. In slurring words, Jack recounted showing up drunk, seeing Tiffany and going to her side.
"You're leaning in close," the psychologist said. "You're whispering in her ear. What are you saying to her?"
"Uh, I'm saying..." He began, but then his voice changed. This was no drunk talking. The words were clear and cold. "Caprice, I am your master. Heed my words, child. You're going to die because of what you saw. Some day when you let your guard down, Madam will kill you!"
Little paused and then took Jack to 1837. The hypnotist worked for thirty minutes trying to make something happen, but Jack's memory bank was blank. He tried segmenting the year into months and the months into weeks, but Jack remained still and silent throughout.
At last Dr. Little stopped. He told Jack to rest and turned to Landry. "Here's why I think this isn't working. According to Jack's vision the night Tiffany died, he was playing the part of Lucas, but he was already dead. We know he died in 1832. That night Madam LaPiere saw him before killing Tiffany, who was playing Caprice. But she too said he was dead and buried beneath the stones. We're getting nothing because we took him to a time when Lucas has been dead for five years."
Separating live persons from the dead ones they played was complicated, but Landry agreed with Dr. Little. He paced the courtyard for a few minutes and returned.
"I don't know what we were thinking! How did we both miss the obvious?"
"And that is..."
"We must go to the night Tiffany died a little over a week ago and recreate the murder scene Jack witnessed."
Over the next half hour, Dr. Little guided Jack through the events of that evening. He ate at Acme, went to an AA meeting and started home. Instead, something drew him to the building. As he spoke, his voice changed. He became Lucas, and the girl on the balcony was Caprice.
Landry felt a tingle of excitement as the same shadowy mist swirled through the courtyard. He glanced back and saw Detective Young shooting phone video. Phil's camera was rolling too — everything was being recorded.
Through his eyes, the group saw what Jack had witnessed. They saw Caprice and Prosperine fight as Lucas struggled to intervene. Caprice said something as Prosperine lifted her up. Just as she fell, she uttered more unintelligible words.
Afterwards Prosperine spoke to Jack as her husband, Lucas, and they heard her say he was dead and buried under the stones by the fountain.
"I held Tiffany," Jack cried in his trance. "She heaved and groaned and pushed, and all I could do was hold her head in my lap until she was still."
Landry perked up. This was new. Mortally wounded, her last death throes were spasms? Was that part of the dying process or something else?
Those watching shed tears too as Jack heaved with convulsive sobs while describing her last moments. Dr. Little guided him on — Jack simulated using his phone to call Landry, and he looked up from the recliner toward the hallway as he and Cate arrived in the trance.
Landry whispered instructions to Dr. Little, who said to Jack, "I want you to think a moment about what Caprice said when Prosperine was about to throw her over the railing. Did you hear her words?"
"No, I couldn't hear her."
"And did you see Charles standing in the bedroom behind you and Prosperine?"
"Yes. She said something in her language, and he backed away."
The session was finished, and within five minutes Jack was awake. He sat up, asked for a bottle of water and said, "Was it a success this time?"
“It couldn’t have gone better,” Landry replied. “Now I have to talk to Shane Young about what happens next."
CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE
That afternoon Phil Vandegriff summoned Landry and Jack to the cutting room, where he was editing footage from Jack's session. "I've got something interesting for you," he said, flipping switches as he told them to watch a monitor.
Through the mist, Prosperine LaPiere and Caprice were visible on the balcony. The older woman yelled, "It's your turn to die, Caprice!" and lifted the much smaller girl off her feet. Caprice
