section on possession: do you think you can remember now if Regan ever read it prior to the onset of the illness?'
She concentrated, fingernails scraping at teeth. 'Gee, I seem to remember her reading something the day before the shi---before the trouble really started,' she amended, 'but I really just can't be sure. But she did it sometime, I think. I mean, I'm sure. Pretty sure.'
'I'd like to see it. May I have it?'
'
'It's yours. It's overdue at your library. I'll get it.' She was moving from the study. 'That tape's in basement, I think. I'll look. Be right back in a second.'
Karras nodded absently, staring at a pattern in the rug, and then after many minutes he got up, walked slowly to the entry hall and stood motionless in the darkness, stood without expression, in another dimension, staring into nothing with his hands in his pockets as he listened to the grunting of a pig from upstairs, to the yelping of a jackal, to hiccups, to hissing.
'Oh, you're there! I went looking in the study.'
Karras turned to see Chris flicking on the light.
'Are you leaving?' She came forward with the book and the tape.
'I'm afraid I've got a lecture to prepare for tomorrow.'
'Oh? Where?'
'At the med school.' He accepted the book and the tape from her hands. 'I'll try to get by here sometime tomorrow afternoon or evening. In the meantime, if anything urgent develops, you be sure that you call me, no matter what time. I'll leave word at the switchboard to let your ring through.' She nodded. The Jesuit opened the door. 'Now how are you fixed for medication?' he asked.
'Okay,' she said. 'It's all on refillable prescription.'
'You won't call your doctor in again?'
The actress closed her eyes and very slightly shook her head.
'You know, I'm not a GP,' he cautioned.
'I can't,' she whispered. 'I can't.'
He could feel her anxiety pounding like waves on an unknown beach. 'Well, now, sooner or later, I'm going to have to tell one of my superiors what I'm up to, especially if I'm going to be coming by here at various unusual hours of the night.'
'Do you have to?' She frowned at him worriedly.
'Well, otherwise, it might look a little bit odd, don't you think?'
She looked down. 'Yeah, I see what you mean,' she murmured.
'Do you mind? I'll tell him only what I have to. Don't worry,' he assured her. 'It won't get around.'
She lifted a helpless; tormented face to the strong, sad eyes; saw strength; saw pain.
'Okay,' she said weakly.
She trusted the pain.
He nodded. 'We'll be talking.'
He started outside, but then hung in the doorway for a moment, thinking, a hand to his lips. 'Did your daughter know a priest was coming over?'
'No. No, nobody knew but me.'
'Did you know that my mother had died just recently?- 'Yes. I'm very sorry.'
'Is Regan aware of it?'
'Why?'
'Is she aware of it?'
'No, not at all.'
He nodded.
'Why'd you asks' Chris repeated, her brows slightly puckered with curiosity.
'Not important.' He shrugged. 'I just wondered.' He examined her features with a faint look of worry. 'Are you getting any sleep?'
'Oh, a little.'
'Get pills, then. Are you taking any Librium?'
'Yes.'
'How much?' he asked.
'Ten milligrams, twice a day.'
Try twenty, twice a day. In the meantime, try to keep away from your daughter. The more you're exposed to her present behavior, the greater the chance of some permanent damage being done to your feelings about her. Stay clear. And slow down. You'll be no help to Regan, you know, with a nervous breakdown.
