41 Trip and Charlotte Visit Joy at the Hospital

A three-vehicle procession, two SUV's and one modest sized limo, made its way down the winding country roads that gave the hospital, their destination, its exclusivity. Trees shaded long stretches evoking for Trip the feel of driving toward his childhood summer camp. Maybe the same people ran it. Now that he thought about it the clientele overlapped. Trip and Charlotte sat with Jane in the back of the limo. Tom sat with the driver and the dividing window was closed.

"Are you going to tell her whom you engaged to housesit?"

Trip looked over towards Charlotte. "I think better not to rock that boat, not yet."

"Well, she's going to find out soon enough."

"Let's get some idea how far she's come before we decide that." Trip turned to look out his window and watch the pastures and hills roll by. "I told the doctor to get her off any medication. I want her clear headed."

"So how's this going to proceed?"

"Let's see what she wants to talk about, and if she seems ready I'll make her the offer. She needs a job and we can use someone like her for some of our private work."

"Poor woman. You know she got the worst of it."

"I know. I have no doubt that without her Tommy would be very dead and likely without her stubbornness in that interrogation, probably us too."

Jane said, "Maybe it's better if I don't show my face."

"I want her to see you and then you can exit and wait outside." He could see a question on her face. "If she sees you as a provocation, well, there are far worse back home waiting for her. Make sure Tom is just outside the door, no interruptions, including that doctor."

Charlotte said, "He's very curious about his patient."

"She just needed a break. She's not a really flexible personality and she got too much too quick thrown her way. Joy's not insane, she just couldn't quite handle reality, and then maybe the fact her daughter is undead."

"Sounds like a good working definition for insane to me. Or, just maybe, Trip, she sees things more clearly than any of us."

The procession neared the main gate. The hospital wasn't visible from the main road. And the sign out front didn't use the word hospital nor refer to its specialization on the care for its patients' mental health. The gate opened and they drove through and then down a long tree lined curving lane. The procession pulled in front of the main building lobby. Trip and Charlotte together with Tom and Jane entered. The other guards and drivers waited outside.

.

.

Dr. Steinman met them in the lobby smiling broadly. "Mr. and Ms. Hesburgh." He didn't like the armed guards and would have suggested they wait outside, but for the money they were getting for this special patient. "Joy's ready and eager to meet with you. She's doing very well."

Mr. Hesburgh said, "Glad to see you again, Dr. Steinman."

They shook hands. His wife smiled. These same four always came to visit together. "And glad to see you again." He paused. "Mr. Hesburgh, could we have a word, before I take you to see Joy?"

"Absolutely." Mr. Hesburgh looked at Charlotte, who he noticed shrugged communicating some meaning to her husband.

He led the way towards his office. On the way he arranged for someone to bring coffee, tea, and water. The male bodyguard stopped outside his office. The woman followed them in. He didn't want her there. He didn't want the wife either, but... "Could we talk...privately?"

Mr. Hesburgh considered this and asked, "Dr. Steinman, is this about Joy?"

He nodded. It seemed obvious.

"Then the three of us will be present."

He nodded and led the way into his office. He decided to guide them over towards a meeting area with a couch and chairs arranged around a small table. His assistant brought in the drinks, placed everything on the table, and left. He helped himself to tea. "Please, help yourself." The bodyguard watched him. She didn't move to take anything. He was sure if Mr. Hesburgh gave the signal she was capable of killing him on the spot. He had seen the type before, usually in a prison. This one seemed very intelligent, something which would make her very dangerous. She wasn't in prison because she was not impulsive, something also which would make her very deadly. Mr. Hesburgh took a bottled water and glass and his wife some coffee, black.

This whole situation was odd. Mr. Hesburgh had arranged for Joy to come for a rest here, but wouldn't allow normal treatment. And in any case the few times he had tried, despite that, out of professional concern for an obviously disturbed woman, Joy refused to tell him anything of significance. He still had no idea what she did or the circumstances that triggered her collapse. She had in fact, improved, but that was in spite of his withholding most normal care protocol. In all his years he had never run into a case like this in which he couldn't talk in confidence, of course, in confidence, with his patient. And all this secrecy. He had grown concerned that there was something very illegal that had transpired and that he was now deeply involved in some aspect of a cover up. He always kept things compartmentalized. That bodyguard was studying him. Her watching him like this didn't help matters. He was pretty sure she had lost track of the felonies she committed years ago. Something very illegal had happened he was sure. He had to be careful, but he had to take a stand somewhere. He couldn't let their activities taint his hospital's reputation, compartments were important, but he had to be aware of possible leaks.

"So Doctor, you wanted to talk."

He considered once again, and then pushed forward. "This situation is most unusual."

"What do you mean?"

"Joy, or Ms. Lass, is clearly in need of help, and yet, you've specified that I'm not to engage in the normal consultations that go on between a doctor and patient. And none of you are family. Sir, I'm a professional and anything she would say would be held in strictest confidence, even I might add, from you."

They exchanged glances. Ms. Hesburgh said, "We have the greatest respect and confidence in your professionalism and we came to you because we had heard only the best."

This would not do. "I have to ask...has some sort of crime been committed?"

Mr. Hesburgh said, "Absolutely not. However, the context of Joy's difficulties requires us to maintain a strict secrecy even from her doctor."

"That is most unusual."

"It is, but it is for her...and your protection."

There must be something illegal going on here. That was a threat if he ever heard one. "So, why did you want her removed from medication, if I may ask?"

"We want to assess whether she is ready to leave or not."

"You...you want to assess."

Ms. Hesburgh spoke up, "Doctor, we are well aware that she is not...ill, not really, she just became overwhelmed by events, had a break, and needed a rest."

If this were not so unusual he would be insulted. The bodyguard was in the know. These were very intelligent people and they knew some set of facts, and with those facts this would make sense. He had prepared for this. He needed to know what was really going on. He did not want to end up on the front page of the newspaper, or worse arrested as some sort of...OK. "Well, let's not keep Joy waiting."

They all walked together back through the first set of doors and down the right wing towards the private meeting area.

The connection with Mr. Hesburgh was unclear. It was obvious to him that he and Joy did not move in the same social circles. However, from the several visits Joy had received from the Hesburghs and then Joy's daughter and her companion, a police detective no less, there was somewhere buried a very important connection. He questioned the daughter and she deferred to Mr. Hesburgh and did not seem under any duress, at least that he could detect. For the life of him he couldn't figure it out though. If there had been some sort of crime, they were all calm about it. And a police detective was involved.

Each time they visited they followed the same pattern and that had given him an idea. There would be no recordings. But...

They stopped in an observation room outside the room in which Joy was waiting. They could see her through a one-way glass window that stretched the width from the door to the opposite wall. In this room on this side of the see through window were several chairs and a table. There was an alcove to the right with some sound equipment set up.

As before he entered the room with the Hesburghs, and this time the woman bodyguard. The other bodyguard stayed in the observation room. That bodyguard had brought a magazine and settled into his usual chair to wait. This, Tom, was not the brightest and he was counting on that.

"Hello, Joy. Your visitors are here."

Joy smiled with more than a little sarcasm directed his way. Joy caught sight of the third guest entering behind him and she glared at the woman bodyguard. "Jane. So good to see you again. Torture anyone today, maybe a little murder with mayhem thrown in?"

Mr. Hesburgh jumped in. "Jane why don't you wait outside?"

Jane, nodded, and left.

He said, "I'll wait right outside. Please let me know..."

"Thank you." Mr. Hesburgh dismissed him.

He left. In the observation room Tom was already into his picture magazine and paying no attention to him. 'Torture anyone today, maybe a little murder with mayhem thrown in?' That confirmed his worst fears about everything. The woman had left, perhaps to guard the hallway. He moved over to the sound station and sat down pulling out a folded report and pen. He started going through the motions of reviewing the report while holding the pen. With his other hand he put an earplug in out of Tom's the line of sight and then switched on the feed. He flipped pages while he listened in. Tom didn't notice.

.

.

Charlotte said, "Joy, Jane had to play along. She was waiting for George to show up."

"Don't call her that."

"Who?"

"George was my daughter's name. That...thing...is not my daughter."

Trip said, "Joy, you seem in high spirits."

"What a crock. I'm stuck in here getting drugged to the gills like I was crazy, and it's you and my daughter who are socializing with the Devil. You're the crazy ones."

"The Devil?" Trip and Charlotte shared a glance.

"Can't you see you're being pulled into something evil? Do you really think you can deal with...that thing...and not pay a price? What has it offered you? You've got money." She looked around and then paused studying them. "Ahh, it's Tommy. They fixed it so he has to stay with them and they'll keep him safe...and you always drawn in closer."

Trip glanced over to Charlotte. She said, "I've known your daughter, George..."

"It's not my daughter. Can't you see? Georgia died, and maybe it's using some part of what she was, but I saw, I was there, I saw what it became and what it did. It crushed the skull of that...criminal...granted he had it coming, but no human could do what that monster did to him. And then we all saw, you were there, you saw that black cloud thing take his soul...somewhere."

"Yes, Joy, I was there and I saw it all. I've also been talking to George. She is your daughter. She was devastated when you shot her."

"Really. It was devastated. It looked OK to me. What more proof do you need? Yeah can't kill something already dead."

Charlotte spoke up, "How do you think she feels? Joy, you emptied John's gun into her. We were all just playing Monopoly and you walked in and started shooting. You could've hit Reggie, or one of us, or Tommy."

"I saw it get her head blown off and then come back, get up and walk around like nothing happened." Joy shuddered. "I was there in the room when that corpse with the top of its head blown open, started moving, got up, and walked out."

"We were there too. We saw her get shot."

"So how can you play a game with it? It's not alive."

"She's undead, but she is your daughter. It's her Joy, Reggie knows her."

Joy put her hands to her face and shook her head.

Charlotte asked, "If you know you can't kill her why did you shoot her? I don't get that."

Joy sat with her hands in her face for a very long time. They waited. She said, "I want it to stay away from Reggie. And I want it to know exactly how I feel about it."

Trip said, "I spent some time..."

"I know you slept with it."

Trip looked up to the ceiling and then back down. "Joy." He waited for her to meet his eyes. When she did he said, "Joy, I've spent a lot of time talking to George. I've watched her and Reggie, and Mason, and Daisy and Tommy. I have had some long talks with Rube. I don't understand the power behind all this, the how or why she was brought back, I really don't. But I have come to understand that we do live on after we die. These bodies are just one phase on the way to something more...and I'll be the first to admit I don't understand the how and why, but I've been shown enough. These bodies are not the real us. We get a chance to live here in this dimension and then we, our souls, move on. After we die, it's our memories, our souls with our memories, that's the real us. And that undead woman you shot is your daughter. I know that for an absolute fact. The only difference is that some of us are selected to stay back and help people who die find their way over. That's it. It's her. Someday she, too, will move on. And what we do in this life matters as to what will happen in the hereafter."

Joy didn't answer. She looked down to her hands. Finally, without meeting Trip's eyes she asked, "What do you want from me?"

Charlotte blurted out, "Don't pull out a gun and start shooting in a room full of people."

Trip put up a hand and Charlotte looked away from Joy. He said, "Joy, we would like you to leave here if you feel you're ready."

Joy looked up, studied him waiting for the first shoe.

He continued. "We've gotten word that Dave is out of prison."

"How could he get out of prison? Didn't he get convicted for...how many murders...including your crazy sister?"

Trip winced at the crazy, but said, "He did and he's out anyway."

Joy put her face down into both hands. She looked up. "You saw what Reggie did? She murdered your sister, my daughter, shot your sister and smiled afterward. Look at what it's done to her already."

"Joy. My only regret is that I didn't do it myself and a lot sooner. I've had to face the hard reality that my sister is a psychotic cold blooded killer. And she would have killed all of us. And I'm pretty sure she's got the means to have another go at killing us all...including Reggie. And George is probably our first and best defense to survive what's coming."

Joy's eyes sparked. She was ready for another round. "Can't you see? Why did that thing let your sister's ghost get away? I was there. It set this up. It got Dave out of prison and has probably already brought Meigan and Dave together."

Trip asked, "Why would...it...do something like that?"

"That I can't tell you. But if you think you can outsmart the Devil you're only fooling yourselves."

"I kinda want to survive what I think is coming."

"Of course you do, so you'll do what it wants. Each step will seem logical and reasonable and you get to go to the next step, whatever that is."

Charlotte leaned forward and said, "So, Joy, granted that's all true, what do you want to do? Are you going to let them kill you? How about Reggie and John? Because that's what's coming."

"No. I want Reggie to have some chance at a normal life. But..." She put her hands to face again and started a quiet weeping.

They waited. Joy took a Kleenix and wiped her eyes. She reached a decision. She said again, "What do you want from me?"

Trip said, "We want you to leave here."

"And?"

"And come to work for us."

"Doing?"

"You know about that other side of things and we need someone with your attention to detail to handle certain confidential money transactions."

She frowned. "For example? Would these transactions be legal?"

"Legal, but as you know it's a death sentence for knowledge about those things to get spread to other people. You would know not to ask questions or tell anyone about the reapers."

"You want me to get in even deeper with...it?" She shook her head, smiled, and said. "What have you got in mind?"

Charlotte looked to Trip and said, "Well, we recently recruited a ghost."

Joy laughed and it shifted to almost hysteria. She settled down enough to chuckle, "You hired a ghost?"

Charlotte said, "He's a nice young man who wants to help his sister and mother. He will...perform services on our behalf and we will pay a monthly subsidy to his family."

"You're serious."

Trip said, "Deadly. And there will be more."

Joy smiled. "Of course there will."

.

.

Dr. Steinman pulled the earplug out. He had heard enough. They either were all insane...or what? The foundations underpinning his world were fast crumbling and the more his mind raced through the implications for everything he thought to be solidly anchored in reality… My God. His situation was worse than anything he could have imagined. He couldn't have imagined it at all.

.

.

In the limo on the return trip Charlotte asked, "Did you see the good doctor's face when we came out?"

Jane said, "Tom told me the doctor sat at the equipment console most of the time you were in there."

Trip's eyes were focused on the passing countryside. He said, "It's not a problem."

Charlotte asked, "Why not?"

Jane answered, "Remember what happened to James? And Harry didn't last an hour after he confessed according to John." She looked out at the hills and pastures rolling by and smiled. "Dr. Steinman is a self-liquidating problem."

Trip said, "And if he lives, he could become useful later."

The three of them each settled into their own thoughts.

Trip turned from the window. "Jane, I'm going to arrange for that Father Adair to go see Joy before we bring her out."