“I’m going to tell Anita about this, and if she doesn’t go to the IRB, we will. But I think she’ll volunteer to go. You know what kind of person she is.”
“And Ansel…” As much as she personally didn’t click with Ansel Shaver, she could not imagine he’d do something to deliberately put students in harm’s way. “This is like a… a serial killer who’s using the anonymity of an academic study to hunt for victims. Find out their greatest fear, figure out how their brain works, and then use that information against them.”
“But how?” Baxter propped himself up. “That’s what I can’t figure out. Hypnosis can be done without a subject’s knowledge, but with results like this?”
“It seems improbable.”
“But not impossible,” Baxter said. “Like you.”
“What do you mean?”
“All your new abilities. Improbable, but clearly not impossible.”
“Right.” She scooted down in bed. “I should go to sleep.”
“You need to. You’re still healing that knee and ankle.”
“I know.”
“And you get very cross when you’re not sleeping enough.” He yawned widely. “Good night.”
“Good night.” She rolled over, kissed him softly, and lay on her back. “Thank you for believing in the improbable.”
“You’re very welcome.” He reached for her hand under the covers. “Now sleep.”
She tried but she failed. She kept circling around Baxter’s question.
How?
Using the study to hunt for victims made sense, but for what mind game? What were they looking for? Was it about power? Advantage? Was it personal?
Isn’t it always personal?
She opened her eyes. Isn’t it?
Katherine closed her eyes and made a mental timeline. Sarah Jordan, Justin McCabe, Abigail Chung, Kaylee Ivers.
Sarah to Justin had been months. Justin to Abigail had been weeks. Abigail to Kaylee… days.
Whoever was playing this game, the time line had accelerated. What that meant for future victims, Katherine had no idea.
Chapter 24
The knock came at their door at nine o’clock the next morning. Katherine was drinking coffee and still trying to elevate her leg, so Baxter went to open it.
“Anita.” She could hear the shock in his voice. “Come in.”
“I’m so sorry to bother you at home, but I am just at a complete loss.” A statuesque woman with braided steel-grey hair and broad shoulders walked into the entryway. She was wearing a blue-green wrap that Baxter took from her and hung on a hook near the door. “I don’t know what is happening. In thirty-five years, nothing like this has ever happened to me before.”
She paused when she saw Katherine at the table. “Katherine.”
“Anita.” Katherine smiled. “Would you like some coffee or tea?”
“I’d love some coffee with milk if you have it.”
“I’ll get it.” Baxter motioned to the table. “Please sit down. Katherine knows about the situation, so we can speak freely. She’s the one who realized the connections between the incidents with Sarah Jordan and Justin McCabe.”
Anita sat across from her. “Of course. You were at the gym.” She glanced at her knee. “Is this injury from that?”
“No. Unrelated.”
Had Kaylee told anyone about her involvement on the roof? It seemed like Anita was unaware of the incident, so Katherine kept quiet.
“Baxter approached me after his graduate student, Abigail Chung, had the violent outburst that injured her partner and herself. I was shocked and horrified of course, but also quite skeptical that anything related to the biofeedback study we did would have had any detrimental effect on a participant. I had to check the identities of the students myself to be sure they participated, and I cannot dismiss the connection. With three different students, a coincidence is too improbable.”
“That was my thinking as well.” Katherine held her mug out as Baxter refilled it. “Thank you, Baxter.”
“Of course.” He set the carafe down and sat next to Katherine at the end of the table with his mug of tea. “I knew I could speak to you in confidence, Anita. As for reporting these—”
“As soon as I confirmed with Ansel Shaver that all three students were involved, we called Professors Bernal, Rodriguez, and Kraft. We’ll be submitting our suspicions about the study to the IRB on Monday and turning over all our results for review. As Baxter requested, I’ve kept both of you out of the report entirely. There’s no reason for them to know you’re involved, in my opinion. You stumbled onto the information and came to me directly.” Her eyes were anguished. “I simply don’t know how anything we did in the study could have caused this violence. I’m still at such a loss.”
“Can you explain it to us?” Katherine said. “I’ve spoken to some of the students involved about their mental state. I’m curious to hear what you have to say.”
Anita glanced at Baxter, who nodded.
“The study participants were screened quite strictly. We were specifically looking for students living with anxiety who were already medicated and under the supervision of a doctor.”
“Like me,” Katherine said. “I was diagnosed with social anxiety years ago and I have a regular prescription. I can’t say I never have a flare of something unexpected—”
“But I imagine you have various coping mechanisms.”
“I do.”
“I also imagine you’ve had to change medications over the years as your body chemistry has changed and different treatments become available.”
“Yes. Tinkering happens. I think that’s pretty universal.”
Anita took a sip of coffee. “Baxter, this is excellent.”
“I’m glad you think so; I don’t touch the stuff.”
“Oh no. You’re a tea drinker, aren’t you?”
Katherine smiled. “It’s really his only fault as a husband.”
Anita smiled back, and Katherine was glad to see a little of the heaviness in her eyes alleviated. “When Ansel proposed this study, he kept the focus very narrow, which I appreciate. The only thing we wanted to test was if established biofeedback therapies used for other conditions would be useful to alleviate some of that tinkering you talked about.”
“So you were going to try to keep participants from building up
