A Harmless Little Plan (Harmless #3)(35)

“Actually, she did speak last night. One word. One of our nurse’s aides was in the room after she woke up from a nightmare,” Dr. Higgs says.

Monica’s eyes goes wide and she asks with excitement, “What did she say?”

“The aide thinks she said the name ‘Drew.’” Dr. Belzan looks at me.

My heart starts doing a dance in my chest, a flood of relief and warmth flowing through me.

Attagirl.

She’s coming back to me.

“That’s it?” Harry asks, his face carefully neutral. “Is the aide sure?”

Dr. Higgs shakes his head. “No. He’s fifty-fifty on it. She was a mess when she woke up, but she opened her mouth and she tried to say something.”

“Silas Gentian heard it,” I interrupt.

Harry just nods.

“Has she spoken since?” Monica asks.

“No.” Dr. Belzan clearly doesn’t want to say that word, but she has no choice.

“Is this something we need to worry about? She was only home for a week or so after spending four years at a...at the Island,” Monica whispers, eyes wide. She and Harry exchange a look that makes it clear they’ve already talked about the issue.

I harden inside.

I know what comes next.

“Are you thinking about sending her back?” Dr. Belzan asks.

Perceptive.

“We want what’s best for Lindsay,” Harry announces.

They want what’s best for his presidential campaign.

I shuffle in my seat and face Monica square on. “For God’s sake, you said it yourself, Monica – she’d only been home for about a week before those bastards kidnapped her, degraded her, abused her – on national television -- and worse. She was party to a murder in front of an audience of millions. We damn near lost her. Give her time to heal. At home,” I say pointedly.

“I told you we shouldn’t have him here,” Monica says, not even bothering to lower her voice.

“So I was the savior a few days ago and now I’m a gadfly?”

“You’ve always been a gadfly, Drew,” she responds flatly.

“You’re looking for any excuse to send her back. You can’t, you know.”

“If she’s not competent, we’re her next of kin. We absolutely can.”

I look at Dr. Belzan. “Is she incompetent?”

She shakes her head. “I see no signs of legal incompetence. She’s capable of self care. She’s just choosing not to speak.”

“That’s a sign of mental illness in and of itself. Who would choose not to talk when they can?” Monica insists.

“Someone who is extremely traumatized.”

“If she’s that traumatized, she needs intensive psychiatric help! The kind we can’t give her!”

“You mean the kind you won’t give her, because you’ve placed Harry’s ambitions above your own daughter’s well being,” I snap.

I expect to be slapped. Maybe I deserve it. Instead, Monica stands and walks out of the room. She looks back at Harry. It’s clear she expects him to follow.

He doesn’t.

She slams the door as she exits.

“You’re right, Drew, but do you have to be so damn blunt about it? She’s a grieving mother,” Harry grouses. His normally commanding presence is being ground down by exhaustion.

And probably by spending so much time with Monica.

“Grieving? Is that the term your PR folks have decided polls best?”

His look hardens.

But he doesn’t argue.

Throughout the exchanges, the doctors stay quiet. They’re clearly uncomfortable.

I’m done with feeling anything.

I’m done with allowing Lindsay to be treated like a thing. A pawn. They’d be horrified by the analogy, but what Monica and Harry are doing is no different than what Nolan Corning did.

The degree of abusiveness is the only difference. It’s a big one, sure.

The general principle is the same: they’re all using Lindsay without any regard for her wishes.

I am the keeper of her volition.

If she has any.

I’m assuming she still does, no matter how buried it is.

I’d better be right.

My entire life hangs on the assumption that I’m right.

Which means I’m damn invested.

“Drew, we’re all on the same side,” Harry says with a sigh.

“I don’t think that’s true. I’m on Lindsay’s side and you’re on the Oval Office’s side.”

“I’m not having this argument with you.” The look he gives me adds the word again, though he won’t say it in front of the doctors. “We’re her parents. We’re her next of kin.” He looks at Higgs, then Belzan. “At what point do we determine our next step?”

“She’ll be healed enough to go home in three days or so. I’d say a psych eval in two days, and we go from there,” Dr. Higgs replies. “If she does need long-term inpatient psych care, they need to have physical therapy and occupational therapy rehab facilities.”

Harry gives him a sour look. “Lindsay will have everything she needs.”

“We’re not there yet,” Dr. Belzan objects. “She’s getting better day by day.”