The Lucky Ones(88)

But deep down, Allison knew Thora wouldn’t lie to her.

Allison had just begun digging through the first filing cabinet drawer when the closet door opened behind her.

There stood Dr. Capello.

He didn’t look mad. He didn’t even look all that surprised.

He gazed down at her—she was tall now at twelve but not as tall as him—and held out his hand.

“Come on,” he said. “Let’s talk about it.”

With a hand gentle on her shoulder he led her from the closet to the sofa in his office. He sat facing her and gently smiled.

“What’s going on here, doll?” he asked.

“I read your files,” she said. “When everyone was at the park Sunday. Roland was outside. He didn’t know what I was doing.” Thora had taken a risk by telling her the truth. She wasn’t about to pay Thora back by getting her into trouble.

“I see,” he said, nodding. “How did you get into the closet?”

Thankfully Thora had told her that part.

“You lock your keys in your top desk drawer,” Allison said. “But you can get in the desk drawer from under the desk with a coat hanger.”

“Smart kid,” he said. “I knew you were smart from the day we met.”

Even then, she wasn’t afraid of him. There was no reason to be afraid of Dr. Capello. It was Roland she had to fear.

“Have you told anyone?” he asked.

“Nobody.”

“This is why you’ve been so upset?” he asked.

Two hot fresh tears ran down her face, answer enough.

Dr. Capello opened a drawer in his desk. He took out a bottle of pills, opened it and shook two pink ones out into his hand. He got up, went to the small half bath in his office and came out with a paper cup of water.

“Here, take these,” he said. “You’ll feel a lot better very soon.”

“What are they?” she asked.

“They’ll help you relax. You’ve been crying so hard you’ll get sick if you’re not careful.”

She took the pills. They were little and it wasn’t hard to swallow them. She would have swallowed anything he’d given her if it came with a promise to make her feel better. Dr. Capello sat down on the chair next to her. He faced her and smiled.

“What did you read in the file?” Dr. Capello asked her.

This, Allison didn’t know. They’d been interrupted before Thora could tell her anything else about Roland.

“Just that...that he killed Rachel.”

“He did kill his sister, Rachel. Yes. That’s true. But you don’t have to be afraid of him or anyone else in the house,” Dr. Capello said. “It was just an accident.”

“It was?” she asked, instantly relieved. Why had Thora scared her like this if it had been an accident?

“It was. And he feels very bad about it. And if you start talking about it you’re going to upset him and everybody in the house. And we don’t want that, do we?”

A simple question. Allison knew what answer he wanted from her.

“No.”

“Good. I’m glad we’re on the same page.”

“Are you sure?” she asked him. “I don’t think...I don’t think it was an accident. It wouldn’t be a big secret if it was an accident.”

Dr. Capello sighed heavily and nodded his head.

“Too smart,” he said. “You’re just too smart.” He tenderly patted her cheek, still wet with tears.

“I want to go home,” Allison said.

“This is your home, doll. You leave and it’ll break everybody’s heart.”

“I don’t care. I don’t want to stay here anymore. You’re all liars. You and Roland and—”

“Shh...” He touched a finger to his lips. “Calm down. We’ll talk about this, okay? I need to go check on something. I’ll be right back. You just lie down on the sofa and rest. Then we’ll figure it out. Together.”

She wanted to figure it out. And she didn’t really want to go home. How could she? She didn’t have any other home except maybe her aunt in Indiana.

“Okay,” Allison said. “I promise.”

He stood up to leave, then bent over and kissed her on the forehead.

“You poor thing,” he said. “This is what we call a much ado about nothing. Just rest now. You have to be so tired.”

He left her in the office and shut the door behind him. Maybe it was the pills and maybe it was that she hadn’t slept much the night before or the night before that, but she did lie down on the couch facing Dr. Capello’s desk. Her eyes grew heavy and yet she refused to close them. She was afraid to close them, though she didn’t know why. She locked her gaze on the drawing of the skull map hanging on the wall behind the desk. She wondered why there were little dragons in the center of the skull. When Dr. Capello finally came back into the room she asked him.

“Why are there dragons in the brain?” she said.

“You still awake?” he sat next to her on the sofa and brushed her hair off her forehead.

“Almost.”

“You should sleep,” he said. “When you wake up, you won’t remember anything that’s happened the past few days. I promise. Won’t that be nice?”