Clark stood up and stretched as the final bell rang. A week ago he
wouldn't have thought he would ever have missed cramming his six-foot-plus
frame into the tiny desks at Smallville High, but he had. Even a pop
geometry quiz hadn't fazed his good mood.
His parents had finally caved and let him go back to school, along with notes excusing him from just about everything Martha and Jonathan could think of that might cause exertion. So for once he had to sit on the bench and watch as everyone else ran laps. But that was a small price to pay for getting his life back to normal.
As he stepped out into the crowded hallway one of the jocks clapped him on the back.
"Way to go, Kent," the guy smirked.
"Uh, thanks, I guess." Clark frowned. That was the third time today someone he barely knew had done that. Surely they hadn't noticed he'd been out all week?"
He spotted his best friend at his locker and trotted up to him.
"Hey, Pete. What's going on?"
Pete stuffed away his books. "What do you mean?"
"Jimmy Cage just said, 'Way to go, Kent' and slapped me on the back. Tom Russo and Will Martin did the same thing in gym class."
Pete seemed to be trying to conceal his head in his locker, and Clark frowned.
"Pete? Talk to me, man."
"Uh, well, you have to promise you won't get mad. And that you definitely won't tell Jenna."
"Jenna?" Clark was puzzled, but he nodded anyway. "OK, fine. So what's up?"
"Well, news kinda got around school that there's a girl staying out at your place."
Clark shifted his backpack to his other arm. "So?"
Pete looked offended that Clark was so obtuse. "A girl? A college girl? Long legs, red hair.?"
"Uh oh-Pete, what have you been telling people?"
Pete slammed his locker shut.
"Nothing, I've been keeping my mouth shut and that's the problem. People have kind of jumped to their own conclusions."
Two members of the football team passed them and shot Clark the thumbs- up sign.
Clark groaned.
"Oh, God. I'm totally humiliated."
"Hey, Clark, it's not that bad. At lunch I heard some of the guys on the swim team saying they wanted to give you a parade."
"I'm never going to live this down."
"Live what down?" Chloe appeared behind them, a pile of freshly printed Torch newspapers in her arms.
Clark looked at his best female friend seriously.
"Chloe, you don't believe what people are saying, do you? Jenna's just a friend."
Chloe shrugged. "It's none of my business, Clark."
"Her dad's staying will us, for cryin' out loud!" Clark nearly wailed.
"People will forget about it pretty quick once the next scandal comes along, Clark," Pete consoled. He grabbed the stack of papers. "I'll get this out in the bins, if you guys want to go back to the office." Pete rushed off down the hall before Chloe could protest.
"So," Clark started.
"So," Chloe said at the same time.
They both laughed.
"Look, Chloe, I know you must still be mad that I went to Metropolis and found Jenna without you. That totally wasn't fair of me."
Chloe looked at him with her frank blue eyes.
"No, it wasn't."
"But if you're not still too angry with me I'd really like to fill you in on what she told me. I'll even buy you a soda." He looked at her hopefully. He wasn't sure why Chloe was so angry with him, but her body language made it obvious she was.
Chloe thought for a moment, and then seemed to relax.
"Throw in a candy bar and you've got a deal."
As Chloe gnawed at the Snickers bar Clark had purchased from the vending machines, the two of them sat on the couch in the Torch office. Chloe listened silently as Clark told her what he knew. Not about Jenna, or about the moonlight chase across the rooftops, but about Jack Williams and his possible connection to Ryan James.
"Wow," Chloe said finally as she tossed the now-empty wrapper in the trash. "That's heavy stuff."
"But we still don't have enough, do we?" Clark sighed.
"No, I don't think we do, not for a legal case. Someone would have to testify about what Garner is doing."
"And neither Jack nor Ryan can do that now. Garner made sure of that."
Chloe stood and crossed the room to her computer.
"Jenna said Jack had checked himself into Metropolis General for a psychiatric evaluation before his disappeared, right?"
"Uh huh."
Chloe typed away at her keyboard. "Then someone must have signed him over to the Summerhill Institute. Or else they broke about a million state laws and just handed him over."
Clark leaned over her shoulder as she worked.
"So?"
"So, the hospital should have a record of the patient transfer. Or, if they don't, we know it was done illegally. I think the next thing to do is to check missing persons reports for the last few years and see how many other people have 'disappeared' from local hospitals."
"Garner must have contacts who let him know when an interesting patient checks in," Clark speculated.
Chloe nodded. "Probably. I wonder if any of our meteor freaks have gone missing lately?"
Clark smiled. "I'm glad you're back on the case, Chloe."
The girl shrugged.
"Yeah, well, you'd be lost without me, right? Now let's make some phone calls."
***********************************
"Hello, Lionel."
Lionel Luthor glanced up from where he was pouring himself a cognac. "Robert. Sit down. You're probably the last person I expected to see here."
Dr. Iverson chose one of the leather club chairs.
"I'm here against my better judgment, I'm afraid. But your son was rather persistent."
"Well, Lex isn't back yet, so why don't the two of us catch up."
Iverson sighed. "What could we possibly have to talk about, Lionel?"
Lionel sat down opposite him, crossing his legs casually.
"Oh, I'm sure we'll think of something." He took a sip of his drink. "I have to say, my old friend, you're not looking too well. I don't think being retired agrees with you."
"On the contrary, I enjoy it very much."
"Then perhaps it was all of those years spent teaching ungrateful plebeians in a public university." Lionel smiled. "I never figured you'd give up the laboratory for the classroom."
"I supposed I felt I had more important things to do."
"Really. Such as?"
"Raising my daughter, for one." Dr. Iverson stood and glanced around the room. "This is all quite impressive, Lionel. Sixteenth century, isn't it?"
"This section of the house is," Lionel nodded. "You English always know your architecture."
"Yes, well, considering we have a cathedral on every corner and a mansion on every block I daresay we would." Iverson looked out the window at the garden for a long moment. "I wouldn't think there would be much in a town this size to hold your interest."
"Oh, Smallville is much more than an ordinary town. But of course you know all about that."
"The meteor mutations? I've read the reports. I'm not sure how much of it I believe, though. Much of it sounds more like tabloid fodder."
"Weren't you the one who always said that anything is possible?"
"I also always said that mutations are far more complex and much more difficult to cause than Hollywood makes it seem. If you'd paid more attention in our labs you'd have remembered that."
Iverson sighed. "But of course your mind was always far away from the everyday trivialities of lab work. You always said you were going to conquer the world. At the time I don't think any of us believed you, but here you are."
"Yes, here I am. But, forgive me, I should have asked if you'd like a drink? Or do you still never indulge?"
"I still never do." The doctor looked at his old classmate thoughtfully. "But it can't just be the meteor mutations that keeps you here."
"What do you mean?"
"This way you have your son close by. I've always regretted that Jenna decided to go to school so far away."
"My son," Lionel repeated. "Perhaps," he finally shrugged. "I suppose Jenna looks like her mother?"
"I was wondering when you'd bring up Elizabeth. Yes, she does."
"That must be nice for you, to have something to remember her by."
"Lionel, I have no intention of rehashing this with you. Elizabeth was a grown women, entitled to make her own decisions. I can't help it if the decision she made wasn't the one you wanted."
"Yes, she always did know her own mind, didn't she?" Lionel carefully swirled the amber liquid in his glass. "I've never met such a determined woman. That was one of the many things about her I loved."
"If you'd loved her you would have been faithful to her, and not driven her away."
"If I drove her away it was right into your arms, so I don't think I deserve your recriminations. If anything I think you should be thanking me." Lionel set down his glass and stood. "Of course, if she'd married me she might still be alive."
"That's a very cruel thing to say, Lionel. But of course I'd expect no less from you."
"No, I supposed you wouldn't."
When Lex opened the library doors a second later he found the two men standing there, staring each other down.
"Dr. Iverson, I'm so glad you could come."
"The two of us were just catching up on old times," Lionel told his son. "Weren't we, Robert?"
"In a manner of speaking."
"I have some contracts to review in my office. Lex, I want to speak to you later."
Lex nodded. "Of course, Father."
As Lionel left the room Lex studied his guest. His father had been known to reduce people to tears on occasion. Iverson looked slightly pale, but otherwise he seemed to have held his own against Lionel.
"I apologize for being late and leaving you to my father's care. He isn't known for his people skills."
"No, but then he never was."
"Well, then, perhaps we should go in to lunch. I've ordered my chef to begin serving as soon as we get there."
"Fine."
As Lex led his guest down the hall to the dining room he couldn't help but wonder what his father and Dr. Iverson had been discussing so intently. Unfortunately, since Lionel seldom chose to tell him anything he doubted he'd ever know.
******************************************
Clark was surprised to find Jenna's borrowed black BMW waiting for him in front of school as he left the Torch offices. He was even more surprised to see his father sitting in the passenger seat.
Jenna reached around and unlocked the back door for him.
"Get in, Clark."
He tossed in his backpack and slid onto the leather seat.
"What is it? What's happened?"
As Jenna pulled away from the curb and headed for the highway Clark looked at his father.
"Dad, what is it?"
"Jenna got a phone call this afternoon, son. Jack Williams broke out of the State Hospital sometime last night."
Startled, Clark remembered the vacant eyes, the slumped figure.
"Broke out? How is that possible?"
"It isn't," Jenna told him. "I think he was broken out and then taken away."
"Someone must have known we went there looking for him," Clark realized.
"That's what I'm afraid of, Clark."
From his vantage point in the backseat he could see Jenna's knuckles gripping white on the steering wheel.
"We decided we had better go out there and see if we can get a straight story from anyone," Jonathan added.
Jenna smacked her hand against the wheel. "I can't believe it took them almost a whole day to notify me. God only knows where he might be by now."
"What about his family?" Clark asked. "Would they.?"
"No," Jenna said firmly. "The administrator of the hospital told me they were the first people he talked to. His parents said they hadn't seen him, and they didn't want to see him."
Jonathan shook his head.
"It's hard to believe any parents could be so heartless."
"Believe it, Mr. Kent."
"Dad, what about Mom? Is it safe to leave her alone?"
"My dad's still over at the Luthor mansion but I left a message on his cell phone. He'll go straight from there to your house and wait until we get home," Jenna explained.
Clark leaned back on the seat. "Good."
His father glanced over his shoulder.
"I still don't want you to overdo it, son. You rest on the drive in."
"I can't rest, Dad-I have to tell you guys what Chloe found out." He quickly filled them in while the cornfields zipped by. "So according to Chloe's source Metropolis General's records say they transferred Jack directly to the State Hospital. But we know he didn't actually turn up there until months later. So somebody is fudging the paperwork. We also found records of five more people who went A.W.O.L. from some of the hospitals in the area. Only three of them have turned up since-the other two are still officially missing."
"That doesn't mean Garner's got them," Jonathan frowned.
"He might have had them and then sent them on somewhere else. Believe me, since Jack couldn't tell anyone who he was it looks me months to locate him. It a city the size of Metropolis it's pretty easy for one patient to slip through the cracks."
"That's terrible," Clark shook his head. He didn't want to think about how close he had come to being one of those patients.
He dozed on and off on the long drive back into the city. He hadn't realized how worn out he was after a full day of school but the next thing he knew his father was shaking him awake.
"Clark? We're here. Maybe you should stay in the car."
"No, Dad." Clark got out and followed his father and Jenna to the front of the hospital. Several police cars were parked out front, and a distressed-looking man with a thin moustache waved his arms at Jenna frantically.
"Here she is, here she is," he told the cops. "She's the only visitor Mr. Williams' ever had. If anyone knows where he might have gone."
One officer, a thick-waisted man whose badge read "Tibble," squinted at them.
"What can you folks tell us?"
"Not much." Jenna quickly explained Jack's condition, that he wasn't on good terms with his family, and that she couldn't think of any place he might want to go.
The man with the moustache-clearly an administrator-nodded along with the story.
"She's quite right, officers," he finally added. "I just don't see how it would be possible for Mr. Williams to go anywhere under his own power. He had been in a catatonic state for months."
"Do you know how he got out? Or how someone else got him out?" Clark's father asked.
The other officer, whose badge read 'Jenkins,' scratched his head.
"That's the hell of it, sir. Come on around and have a look, and see if you have any ideas."
The two officers and three visitors walked around the side of the old brick building. Tibble pointed to a window on the third floor, which Clark reckoned must be the same room where he had first met Jack.
The windows over the bars had been bent out at an almost a ninety- degree angle from the wall, as if the bolts had been partially unscrewed. There was more than enough room for someone to slide out around them, but then there was the small matter of the three-story drop.
Clark glanced over at Jenna but she looked just as stunned at the sight as the rest of them.
"Are you sure that was done from the inside?"
"Looks like it, ma'am," Jenkins told her. "Unless someone levitated up there."
Jenna let that comment go. "I just can't believe this. Are you out looking for him?"
Tibble looked mildly offended. "Of course. We have an APB out on him. The hospital is going to offer a reward, and the DA's office might do the same."
"The DA's office?" Jenna frowned. "Why?"
The two cops exchanged a look.
"Dr. Farmer didn't tell you over the phone?"
"No. What?" Jenna demanded. Jonathan laid a restraining hand on her shoulder to keep her from surging forward. "Tell me."
"One of the orderlies was killed last night, ma'am."
Clark couldn't help sucking in his breath.
"Killed? How?" He asked.
"Neck was broken. But so far we haven't found any fingerprints."
"Broken? In a fall?" Clark's father asked.
"No, sir. The body was found on the floor of that room." Jenkins pointed to the broken bars. "No other signs of struggle."
"You must be wrong. I know Jack. He isn't capable of hurting anyone," Jenna said, desperation and fear making her voice husky. "You have to believe me."
"If you have a more logical explanation for what happened we'd love to hear it," Tibble said.
Jenna opened her mouth as if she wanted to speak, but no sound came out.
Clark took her hand and squeezed it.
"She doesn't."
He exchanged a worried glance with his father.
"But we'll let you know if we think of anything that might help."
His parents had finally caved and let him go back to school, along with notes excusing him from just about everything Martha and Jonathan could think of that might cause exertion. So for once he had to sit on the bench and watch as everyone else ran laps. But that was a small price to pay for getting his life back to normal.
As he stepped out into the crowded hallway one of the jocks clapped him on the back.
"Way to go, Kent," the guy smirked.
"Uh, thanks, I guess." Clark frowned. That was the third time today someone he barely knew had done that. Surely they hadn't noticed he'd been out all week?"
He spotted his best friend at his locker and trotted up to him.
"Hey, Pete. What's going on?"
Pete stuffed away his books. "What do you mean?"
"Jimmy Cage just said, 'Way to go, Kent' and slapped me on the back. Tom Russo and Will Martin did the same thing in gym class."
Pete seemed to be trying to conceal his head in his locker, and Clark frowned.
"Pete? Talk to me, man."
"Uh, well, you have to promise you won't get mad. And that you definitely won't tell Jenna."
"Jenna?" Clark was puzzled, but he nodded anyway. "OK, fine. So what's up?"
"Well, news kinda got around school that there's a girl staying out at your place."
Clark shifted his backpack to his other arm. "So?"
Pete looked offended that Clark was so obtuse. "A girl? A college girl? Long legs, red hair.?"
"Uh oh-Pete, what have you been telling people?"
Pete slammed his locker shut.
"Nothing, I've been keeping my mouth shut and that's the problem. People have kind of jumped to their own conclusions."
Two members of the football team passed them and shot Clark the thumbs- up sign.
Clark groaned.
"Oh, God. I'm totally humiliated."
"Hey, Clark, it's not that bad. At lunch I heard some of the guys on the swim team saying they wanted to give you a parade."
"I'm never going to live this down."
"Live what down?" Chloe appeared behind them, a pile of freshly printed Torch newspapers in her arms.
Clark looked at his best female friend seriously.
"Chloe, you don't believe what people are saying, do you? Jenna's just a friend."
Chloe shrugged. "It's none of my business, Clark."
"Her dad's staying will us, for cryin' out loud!" Clark nearly wailed.
"People will forget about it pretty quick once the next scandal comes along, Clark," Pete consoled. He grabbed the stack of papers. "I'll get this out in the bins, if you guys want to go back to the office." Pete rushed off down the hall before Chloe could protest.
"So," Clark started.
"So," Chloe said at the same time.
They both laughed.
"Look, Chloe, I know you must still be mad that I went to Metropolis and found Jenna without you. That totally wasn't fair of me."
Chloe looked at him with her frank blue eyes.
"No, it wasn't."
"But if you're not still too angry with me I'd really like to fill you in on what she told me. I'll even buy you a soda." He looked at her hopefully. He wasn't sure why Chloe was so angry with him, but her body language made it obvious she was.
Chloe thought for a moment, and then seemed to relax.
"Throw in a candy bar and you've got a deal."
As Chloe gnawed at the Snickers bar Clark had purchased from the vending machines, the two of them sat on the couch in the Torch office. Chloe listened silently as Clark told her what he knew. Not about Jenna, or about the moonlight chase across the rooftops, but about Jack Williams and his possible connection to Ryan James.
"Wow," Chloe said finally as she tossed the now-empty wrapper in the trash. "That's heavy stuff."
"But we still don't have enough, do we?" Clark sighed.
"No, I don't think we do, not for a legal case. Someone would have to testify about what Garner is doing."
"And neither Jack nor Ryan can do that now. Garner made sure of that."
Chloe stood and crossed the room to her computer.
"Jenna said Jack had checked himself into Metropolis General for a psychiatric evaluation before his disappeared, right?"
"Uh huh."
Chloe typed away at her keyboard. "Then someone must have signed him over to the Summerhill Institute. Or else they broke about a million state laws and just handed him over."
Clark leaned over her shoulder as she worked.
"So?"
"So, the hospital should have a record of the patient transfer. Or, if they don't, we know it was done illegally. I think the next thing to do is to check missing persons reports for the last few years and see how many other people have 'disappeared' from local hospitals."
"Garner must have contacts who let him know when an interesting patient checks in," Clark speculated.
Chloe nodded. "Probably. I wonder if any of our meteor freaks have gone missing lately?"
Clark smiled. "I'm glad you're back on the case, Chloe."
The girl shrugged.
"Yeah, well, you'd be lost without me, right? Now let's make some phone calls."
***********************************
"Hello, Lionel."
Lionel Luthor glanced up from where he was pouring himself a cognac. "Robert. Sit down. You're probably the last person I expected to see here."
Dr. Iverson chose one of the leather club chairs.
"I'm here against my better judgment, I'm afraid. But your son was rather persistent."
"Well, Lex isn't back yet, so why don't the two of us catch up."
Iverson sighed. "What could we possibly have to talk about, Lionel?"
Lionel sat down opposite him, crossing his legs casually.
"Oh, I'm sure we'll think of something." He took a sip of his drink. "I have to say, my old friend, you're not looking too well. I don't think being retired agrees with you."
"On the contrary, I enjoy it very much."
"Then perhaps it was all of those years spent teaching ungrateful plebeians in a public university." Lionel smiled. "I never figured you'd give up the laboratory for the classroom."
"I supposed I felt I had more important things to do."
"Really. Such as?"
"Raising my daughter, for one." Dr. Iverson stood and glanced around the room. "This is all quite impressive, Lionel. Sixteenth century, isn't it?"
"This section of the house is," Lionel nodded. "You English always know your architecture."
"Yes, well, considering we have a cathedral on every corner and a mansion on every block I daresay we would." Iverson looked out the window at the garden for a long moment. "I wouldn't think there would be much in a town this size to hold your interest."
"Oh, Smallville is much more than an ordinary town. But of course you know all about that."
"The meteor mutations? I've read the reports. I'm not sure how much of it I believe, though. Much of it sounds more like tabloid fodder."
"Weren't you the one who always said that anything is possible?"
"I also always said that mutations are far more complex and much more difficult to cause than Hollywood makes it seem. If you'd paid more attention in our labs you'd have remembered that."
Iverson sighed. "But of course your mind was always far away from the everyday trivialities of lab work. You always said you were going to conquer the world. At the time I don't think any of us believed you, but here you are."
"Yes, here I am. But, forgive me, I should have asked if you'd like a drink? Or do you still never indulge?"
"I still never do." The doctor looked at his old classmate thoughtfully. "But it can't just be the meteor mutations that keeps you here."
"What do you mean?"
"This way you have your son close by. I've always regretted that Jenna decided to go to school so far away."
"My son," Lionel repeated. "Perhaps," he finally shrugged. "I suppose Jenna looks like her mother?"
"I was wondering when you'd bring up Elizabeth. Yes, she does."
"That must be nice for you, to have something to remember her by."
"Lionel, I have no intention of rehashing this with you. Elizabeth was a grown women, entitled to make her own decisions. I can't help it if the decision she made wasn't the one you wanted."
"Yes, she always did know her own mind, didn't she?" Lionel carefully swirled the amber liquid in his glass. "I've never met such a determined woman. That was one of the many things about her I loved."
"If you'd loved her you would have been faithful to her, and not driven her away."
"If I drove her away it was right into your arms, so I don't think I deserve your recriminations. If anything I think you should be thanking me." Lionel set down his glass and stood. "Of course, if she'd married me she might still be alive."
"That's a very cruel thing to say, Lionel. But of course I'd expect no less from you."
"No, I supposed you wouldn't."
When Lex opened the library doors a second later he found the two men standing there, staring each other down.
"Dr. Iverson, I'm so glad you could come."
"The two of us were just catching up on old times," Lionel told his son. "Weren't we, Robert?"
"In a manner of speaking."
"I have some contracts to review in my office. Lex, I want to speak to you later."
Lex nodded. "Of course, Father."
As Lionel left the room Lex studied his guest. His father had been known to reduce people to tears on occasion. Iverson looked slightly pale, but otherwise he seemed to have held his own against Lionel.
"I apologize for being late and leaving you to my father's care. He isn't known for his people skills."
"No, but then he never was."
"Well, then, perhaps we should go in to lunch. I've ordered my chef to begin serving as soon as we get there."
"Fine."
As Lex led his guest down the hall to the dining room he couldn't help but wonder what his father and Dr. Iverson had been discussing so intently. Unfortunately, since Lionel seldom chose to tell him anything he doubted he'd ever know.
******************************************
Clark was surprised to find Jenna's borrowed black BMW waiting for him in front of school as he left the Torch offices. He was even more surprised to see his father sitting in the passenger seat.
Jenna reached around and unlocked the back door for him.
"Get in, Clark."
He tossed in his backpack and slid onto the leather seat.
"What is it? What's happened?"
As Jenna pulled away from the curb and headed for the highway Clark looked at his father.
"Dad, what is it?"
"Jenna got a phone call this afternoon, son. Jack Williams broke out of the State Hospital sometime last night."
Startled, Clark remembered the vacant eyes, the slumped figure.
"Broke out? How is that possible?"
"It isn't," Jenna told him. "I think he was broken out and then taken away."
"Someone must have known we went there looking for him," Clark realized.
"That's what I'm afraid of, Clark."
From his vantage point in the backseat he could see Jenna's knuckles gripping white on the steering wheel.
"We decided we had better go out there and see if we can get a straight story from anyone," Jonathan added.
Jenna smacked her hand against the wheel. "I can't believe it took them almost a whole day to notify me. God only knows where he might be by now."
"What about his family?" Clark asked. "Would they.?"
"No," Jenna said firmly. "The administrator of the hospital told me they were the first people he talked to. His parents said they hadn't seen him, and they didn't want to see him."
Jonathan shook his head.
"It's hard to believe any parents could be so heartless."
"Believe it, Mr. Kent."
"Dad, what about Mom? Is it safe to leave her alone?"
"My dad's still over at the Luthor mansion but I left a message on his cell phone. He'll go straight from there to your house and wait until we get home," Jenna explained.
Clark leaned back on the seat. "Good."
His father glanced over his shoulder.
"I still don't want you to overdo it, son. You rest on the drive in."
"I can't rest, Dad-I have to tell you guys what Chloe found out." He quickly filled them in while the cornfields zipped by. "So according to Chloe's source Metropolis General's records say they transferred Jack directly to the State Hospital. But we know he didn't actually turn up there until months later. So somebody is fudging the paperwork. We also found records of five more people who went A.W.O.L. from some of the hospitals in the area. Only three of them have turned up since-the other two are still officially missing."
"That doesn't mean Garner's got them," Jonathan frowned.
"He might have had them and then sent them on somewhere else. Believe me, since Jack couldn't tell anyone who he was it looks me months to locate him. It a city the size of Metropolis it's pretty easy for one patient to slip through the cracks."
"That's terrible," Clark shook his head. He didn't want to think about how close he had come to being one of those patients.
He dozed on and off on the long drive back into the city. He hadn't realized how worn out he was after a full day of school but the next thing he knew his father was shaking him awake.
"Clark? We're here. Maybe you should stay in the car."
"No, Dad." Clark got out and followed his father and Jenna to the front of the hospital. Several police cars were parked out front, and a distressed-looking man with a thin moustache waved his arms at Jenna frantically.
"Here she is, here she is," he told the cops. "She's the only visitor Mr. Williams' ever had. If anyone knows where he might have gone."
One officer, a thick-waisted man whose badge read "Tibble," squinted at them.
"What can you folks tell us?"
"Not much." Jenna quickly explained Jack's condition, that he wasn't on good terms with his family, and that she couldn't think of any place he might want to go.
The man with the moustache-clearly an administrator-nodded along with the story.
"She's quite right, officers," he finally added. "I just don't see how it would be possible for Mr. Williams to go anywhere under his own power. He had been in a catatonic state for months."
"Do you know how he got out? Or how someone else got him out?" Clark's father asked.
The other officer, whose badge read 'Jenkins,' scratched his head.
"That's the hell of it, sir. Come on around and have a look, and see if you have any ideas."
The two officers and three visitors walked around the side of the old brick building. Tibble pointed to a window on the third floor, which Clark reckoned must be the same room where he had first met Jack.
The windows over the bars had been bent out at an almost a ninety- degree angle from the wall, as if the bolts had been partially unscrewed. There was more than enough room for someone to slide out around them, but then there was the small matter of the three-story drop.
Clark glanced over at Jenna but she looked just as stunned at the sight as the rest of them.
"Are you sure that was done from the inside?"
"Looks like it, ma'am," Jenkins told her. "Unless someone levitated up there."
Jenna let that comment go. "I just can't believe this. Are you out looking for him?"
Tibble looked mildly offended. "Of course. We have an APB out on him. The hospital is going to offer a reward, and the DA's office might do the same."
"The DA's office?" Jenna frowned. "Why?"
The two cops exchanged a look.
"Dr. Farmer didn't tell you over the phone?"
"No. What?" Jenna demanded. Jonathan laid a restraining hand on her shoulder to keep her from surging forward. "Tell me."
"One of the orderlies was killed last night, ma'am."
Clark couldn't help sucking in his breath.
"Killed? How?" He asked.
"Neck was broken. But so far we haven't found any fingerprints."
"Broken? In a fall?" Clark's father asked.
"No, sir. The body was found on the floor of that room." Jenkins pointed to the broken bars. "No other signs of struggle."
"You must be wrong. I know Jack. He isn't capable of hurting anyone," Jenna said, desperation and fear making her voice husky. "You have to believe me."
"If you have a more logical explanation for what happened we'd love to hear it," Tibble said.
Jenna opened her mouth as if she wanted to speak, but no sound came out.
Clark took her hand and squeezed it.
"She doesn't."
He exchanged a worried glance with his father.
"But we'll let you know if we think of anything that might help."