Sleep No More

When Lily was in the bathroom before we made love, I walked over to look at her. She couldn’t see me. She was looking into the mirror like she hardly recognized herself. And then she twisted a lock of hair tight around one finger and pulled it out into a curl.”

Penn shook his head. “This is nuts. You think because Mallory twisted her hair, and because you saw Eve do it a few times, that Mallory’s soul is now in your wife?”

“I know you’re not open to-”

“I’ve seen Caitlin twist her hair a hundred times.”

Waters waited a moment before continuing, in the hope that Penn would really listen. “I’m sure you have. It’s a basic human gesture, okay? But in Mallory, it was a precursor to her cutting behavior. It’s called trichotillomania. She pulled it very hard. So did Eve. And now Lily.”

“Even in this fantasy universe of yours where the laws of physics are suspended, how could Mallory’s soul be inside Lily?”

“I told you how Eve said it worked. Through sex. Eve died while we were having sex, Penn. Or soon after. And the next day I was totally disoriented. I had blackouts I remember absolutely nothing about.”

“And that’s exactly what I’d expect from a man who believed he’d just committed murder.”

“That same day, I made love with Lily. She climaxed, and after that I was fine. But then she spent half the next day sleeping, and then started acting like a totally different person.”

Penn got up from the bench and motioned for Waters to follow him along one of the paths through the large garden area formed by his and Caitlin Masters’s yards.

“There’s one other option, John. I hesitated to mention it when we first spoke, but now…”

“This isn’t the time to pull any punches.”

Penn met his eye. “Remember you said that.”

“Tell me.”

“Lily could be involved in this thing. She could have been in it with Cole from the start.”

“What? That’s insane.”

Penn nodded and kept walking. “I’m sure you’re right. I thought I should mention it.”

“Why?”

The lawyer looked almost apologetic. “If you were to be declared incompetent by a court, or sentenced to prison for murder, Cole’s corporate power would be enhanced, but his ability to turn that power into ready cash would be limited.”

“He could sell a lot of equipment on his own.”

“Yes, but the real money in your company is in oil production. Correct? The monthly runs, and the reserves you hold. I assume those are worth millions of dollars?”

“Yes.”

“And I’m sure you’ve held on to a lot more production than Cole has.”

“Yes.”

“You see what I’m getting at?”

Waters did. “It would take Lily’s help for Cole to sell off my existing production.”

“I know this is a painful line of thought, but we have to look at the facts. Last night, Lily acted in a manner that furthered your belief that Mallory Candler has somehow returned to haunt you. What logical explanation could there be for that? Does Lily have any romantic history with Cole?”

“No.”

“She was three years behind Cole and me at St. Stephens?”

“She was a freshman when you guys were seniors.”

“Did she and Cole ever date?”

“Not at St. Stephens.”

“What about Ole Miss?”

Waters felt strangely uncomfortable. “They did have a few dates there. Two or three. We always laugh about it when it comes up. Lily despises Cole.”

“Let’s talk about Ole Miss for a minute.”

“There wasn’t anything to that, Penn. Nothing sexual, anyway.”

The lawyer didn’t look convinced. “Cole doesn’t strike me as the kind of guy who’d spend much time with a girl who didn’t put out in college.”

Waters felt his face coloring.

“I’m not trying to piss you off, John. I’m trying to make you look at things objectively.”

“I hear you. But I really think Lily would have told me if she’d slept with Cole.”

“Women are funny about their sexual pasts. So are men, for that matter. They say that when a man gives you his number of conquests, you should divide by three, and when a woman does, you should multiply by two.”

Waters tried to think about it without emotion. “Okay, what if they did sleep together in college? What you’re suggesting now is that they’ve revived that relationship, and they’re using their knowledge of my past to drive me insane or send me to prison. That’s crazy.”

“It may sound crazy. But you find yourself in extraordinary circumstances. So extraordinary that you’ve attributed them to a supernatural cause rather than face potentially painful facts.”

“We don’t have any facts. Only circumstances.”

“Highly suggestive ones.” Penn stopped beside a complicated wooden play set, reached over his head, and closed his hands around a horizontal ladder. “You have to be strong, John. Your freedom is at stake. Maybe even your life.”

“I know it is. I don’t want to lose my wife and daughter.”

Penn dropped his hands from the ladder, sat in a swing, and looked up at Waters with sadness in his eyes. “You’re still not grasping what I’m telling you. You may already have lost your wife. I want you to drop all your preconceptions and try to answer a truly terrible question.”

“I’ll try.”

“Is it possible that Lily hates you? Secretly, I mean.”

“What?”

“You heard me.”

Waters was stunned by the anger he felt at his old friend. Penn seemed to be trying to make him suffer as much as he could, and for no good reason. “You’ve got to tell me why you asked that.”

Penn swung slowly back and forth. “I’ve been trying to look at this situation without making any assumptions whatever. Just analyzing what’s happened so far. And I’ve tried to think like a woman. Perhaps a mentally disturbed woman.”

“You mean Lily?”

“Yes. Does Lily know about Mallory’s abortions?”

Waters thought about it. “I told her about the first one. To explain Mallory’s fixation, you know? Why she was a threat.”

“Could she know about the second one as well?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Did Cole know about both abortions?”

“Yes. What the hell are you getting at?”

“Your wife lost two children to miscarriages. One was very traumatic. I think it’s possible that Lily blamed you for those miscarriages. Not in some vague subconscious way, but very specifically. That she believed you caused them, and that she hates you for it.”

“Why would she blame me for that?”

“In a state of grief and clinical depression, she might be quite capable of deciding that her miscarriages were some sort of karmic payback for Mallory’s abortions. You basically forced Mallory to kill the children you conceived with her, and Lily might think you were owed some sort of divine punishment for that.”

Waters was outraged by the suggestion. “That’s the most twisted thing I’ve ever heard!”