When Darkness Falls(64)

In the gleaming kitchen, Haley made an ice pack for her shoulder from ice cubes, a towel, and a plastic grocery bag and poured a glass of apple juice. Two years later and her life was more chaotic than before. Chaotic wasn’t even the word. Insane. But it would not help to feel sorry for herself. She needed to do something about it, and she’d come to the right place to do it.

Haley walked across the room, pulled the cord on the blinds, and watched them reel open.

Perfect.

It would be her safety valve. Before the encounter in front of the church, that had seemed like an unnecessary precaution, now she thought it vital.

Haley turned on the outdoor patio lights so she could see if anyone approached, shut off the interior lights so she would not be so easily seen, and called Dr. Richardson’s number. It was after eleven at night in Chicago, but it couldn’t be helped. She told the service it was an emergency.

Not too hopeful about a return call, Haley went through the house again, trying to evaluate how easy it would be to break in, though she had no experience from which to judge. But it kept her from thinking about seeing Devon pressed against Lydia’s body, his hand under her skirt.

Haley jiggled the window frame in the foyer. A normal person could not break through, but maybe Lydia could. The way Lydia had catapulted Haley against the wall was something Haley still didn’t understand. She could be on some type of drug, but Haley didn’t know enough to know what that might be.

Do you think it’s possible? That vampires could be real?

Haley pushed the questions she’d asked, and Cecily’s non-answer, away. If she started thinking like that, she’d become as crazy as Lydia and Devon. Maybe that would make her understand Devon, and he’d want her instead of Lydia, but it wasn’t worth the price.

Dr. Richardson called back, sounding tired and slightly impatient. Haley told her Devon had flown to L.A. to see a woman from his past who might be violent, and that under her influence, Devon had come to believe that in his sleepwalking episodes he had been attacking and killing women.

“Do you think that’s possible?” Haley said.

“The only reason I can talk to you at all is that your husband gave me permission to do so during that first visit. But that doesn’t mean I can diagnose or give opinions about how his condition might have changed without seeing him.”

“But did you see any sign that he was a danger to anyone?” Haley said.

“If I had, I would have told him that, and I did not. But I didn’t work with him long enough to form an opinion to any degree of certainty. You need to protect yourself. If you think he’s harmed people, it’s a law enforcement matter,” Dr. Richardson said. “And it’s foolish to take any risks yourself. If he’s unwell and dangerous, you won’t be able to help him yourself.”

“I’m safe. For now. But I need to ask you something.” Haley stared beyond the patio at the barren desert yard with the toolshed at the back of it. Anyone could hide behind it, or in it, though the moonlight would reveal a person crossing the yard. “If Devon were exposed to sunlight, could it really kill him? I know that the sun itself isn’t hurting him, but could being in the sun trigger a heart attack? Because of his panic?”

“I don’t see how this bears on whether he’s responsible for any crimes.”

“It’s too much to explain. But I need to know.”

“This is why you called me?” the doctor said.

“It’s the main reason, yes, but it does connect to Devon’s fears about committing crimes. And it is an emergency, though I know it doesn’t sound like it. Please.”

Richardson sighed. “His panic attacks are the reaction his body has to stimulus. It’s an intense fight or flight response, but it’s not a heart attack. Some people experience elevated heart rates for hours following panic attacks, but it doesn’t kill them. Not anyone who, like Devon, is otherwise completely healthy. That’s the entire logic behind desensitization and exposure. The individual sees that despite having the panic attack, he or she didn’t die, and no terrible consequences resulted.”

“You’re sure?”

“If his physical condition is the same as when I last saw him, the sun will not kill him. His heart will pound, he’ll sweat, get dizzy, and perhaps pass out if he hyperventilates. But he will not die, absent some other medical condition of which I’m unaware.”

Like believing he’s a vampire?

But Haley didn’t ask that. It would only lead Richardson to question her sanity or keep trying to persuade her to leave Devon. And this was enough. If things got out of hand with Devon, the sunlight would make him back away so he couldn’t hurt her, and she didn’t need to worry about it harming him in any lasting way. Any more than the holy water had harmed Lydia.

Haley knew it probably was hopeless, but she needed to try to convince Devon to come home. Her only trump card would be to threaten to leave him, not in L.A., but for good. Before seeing him with Lydia, she hadn’t been ready to issue or act on an ultimatum, despite the advice of everyone she’d spoken to. Because no matter how crazy Devon’s beliefs, Haley could not believe he would hurt her. Or anyone. And she loved him. She would always love him. But she didn’t see how he could explain away his relationship with Lydia, whatever twisted form it took. Haley needed to face that, despite that it made her feel as if her insides were being torn apart. If he wouldn’t return to Chicago with her, she needed to go back alone and try to put her own life back together.