CHAPTER 70
MICHELLE SAT ON THE FRONT PORCH steps of Alicia’s cottage. Horatio had left and Viggie’s sobs could still be heard from inside the house. Finally, Michelle rose, stepped inside and spent a minute plunking a nameless tune on the piano. The sobs finally stopped. Michelle took a deep breath and headed up.
She didn’t bother to knock on Viggie’s door, she just went in. Viggie was lying on the bed on her stomach, her head underneath a pillow. Her body was still shaking with grief. Michelle gently lifted the pillow off. Now Michelle could hear that Viggie was reciting numbers, very long numbers.
Michelle thought to herself,
She sat down on the bed, put a hand out and laid it on Viggie’s back. The girl immediately tensed.
“Viggie, I am so sorry for what I did. I had no right to do it. I hope you can forgive me. I’ve, well, I’ve not been doing all that good lately. I have some issues, like we talked about before. Some days, well, some days are better than others. I guess this was just a bad day. But I shouldn’t have taken it out on you. I know you were just trying to help.”
Michelle was looking at the wall and didn’t notice that Viggie had turned over and was staring at her. When Michelle did see her she reached out and took the girl in her arms, sobbing almost as hard as Viggie had been earlier. Now it was Viggie who comforted her.
“It’s okay, Mick. I have bad days too. I… I get crazy sometimes. I can’t seem to understand anything, which makes me so mad.”
Michelle cried harder and Viggie tightened her grip on the woman. “It’s okay. I’m not mad at you. I… really like you. You’re my friend.”
Michelle squeezed Viggie and whispered in between sobs, “You’re my friend too, Viggie. I’d do anything for you. I will never hurt you again. I promise. I promise.”
When Sean got back home he found a red-faced Michelle sitting in the living room of the cottage.
“You okay?” he said quickly. “Anything wrong with Viggie?”
“She’s fine. I’m fine.”
“You sure?” he said doubtfully.
She nodded slowly as though talking required an energy she simply didn’t have.
He sat next to her. “Well, I’m not doing fine.” He relayed to her what had happened on the beach.
“God, Sean, he could’ve killed you.”
“He still could.”
“What do we do now?”
“Go to sleep. Something tells me it’s going to be a busy day tomorrow and a good night’s sleep will do us both good.”
Unfortunately, neither one of them would get it.
Michelle, always a light sleeper, slid her hand under her pillow and gripped her pistol as the door to her room slowly opened. Michelle eased her eyes to slit-wide until she could make out the person coming at her. Viggie was in a long T-shirt that hung past her knees. She was holding something in her hands.
She stood next to the bed for a moment and then slowly placed the item she was carrying on top of the bedspread. A few seconds later Michelle heard the door close. Moments after that Michelle heard Viggie’s door close.
She immediately sat up in bed and turned on the light on the nightstand. Grabbing up the item Viggie had left for her she saw that it was a large manila envelope. In it were two articles: a letter in a regular envelope and a photograph. She was so excited that she slipped out into the hall still wearing only what’d she’d been sleeping in, panties and a short tank top. She quietly knocked on Sean’s bedroom door. There was no answer. She rapped again, a little harder.
She pressed her lips against the door. “Sean? Sean?”
Finally she heard a grumble, some muttering followed by the squeak of a mattress. Then a light was switched on, footsteps came her way, and the door opened.
He was sleepy-eyed and wearing striped pajamas.
“What is it?” he demanded.
A smile twitched across her lips. “You wear pajamas to bed?” she said, staring at him. “For real?”
He said nothing for a moment as his eyes cleared and he focused on her half-naked body. “And you wear nearly nothing when
She appeared startled, looked down at herself and quickly put a hand across her chest, holding the manila envelope in front of her even more private areas.
Now
Michelle slipped past him and into his room, sat on the bed and motioned him to join her there. “Hurry up. I’ve got something to show you.”
“I can see
“I’m not horny, okay? I’m talking about something else. It’s important.”
He sighed, walked over and slumped down next to her. “What is it?”
She told him about Viggie’s visit and showed him the items.
All weariness was now gone from Sean’s features. He studied the letter and then the photo.
“Where did Viggie get these?”
“They had to come from her father. Wouldn’t they?”
“So Viggie gave them to you; the music and now this. Why?”
“She likes me. I saved her life. She trusts me.”
Sean looked at her curiously. “I think you hit it on the head, Michelle. She
“I’ll try.”
Michelle returned to her room, put on a bathrobe and went to Viggie’s room. Ten minutes later she returned to Sean’s room looking disappointed. “Not only would she not tell me anything else, she wouldn’t even acknowledge what she had given me.”
They spent the next hour trying to make sense of the letter and the photo.
Finally Sean said, “Okay, not that I mind having a nearly naked woman in my bed, but you need to get dressed.”
“What?” Michelle said, startled.
“You woke me up, now we’re going to wake Horatio up. I want his opinion on something.”
As she rose and left the room, Sean looked down at the envelope. Maybe this was finally the key they needed. He desperately hoped so, because they were running out of options. And he didn’t want their only remaining option to be going over the fence at Camp Peary.
CHAPTER 71
THE SUN WAS STARTING TO RISE as Sean and Michelle walked over to see Horatio in his room at the mansion. They checked in with the dour guard at the front security desk and then headed upstairs.
Sean had called ahead and Horatio opened the door immediately. The psychologist was fully dressed although he hadn’t bothered to put his hair in its customary ponytail with the result that it was curled upward like a wave about to crash on the beach.
