The Visitor(84)

I hesitated. “I need to study it through a viewer first.”

He knelt and closed the compartment while I stored the card in my backpack. As we hurried through the cemetery gate, Papa’s warning rang in my ears, and I couldn’t help but wonder about the consequences of breaking yet another of his rules.

Take nothing, leave nothing behind.

*

All the way to the hospital, I kept picturing Dr. Shaw lying prone in a hospital bed, pale, unconscious and hooked up to all manner of wires and tubes. Instead, I found him sitting up in bed in a private room with a single IV connected to the vein in the back of his hand.

“I’m sorry to have worried you,” he said. “I’m still undergoing some tests, but the main culprit seems to be dehydration.”

“That’s nothing to take lightly,” I said. “I’m glad Nelda was there to call an ambulance.”

“Yes, she was quite distressed. Please let her know that I’m fine.”

“I will.”

He leaned back against the pillow and closed his eyes. “Tell me about your morning at the cemetery.”

“I’ll tell you all about that later, but right now you need to rest.”

He nodded weakly. “I am very tired.”

“Then, sleep. I’ll be right outside if you need me.”

I found Devlin—phone to ear—pacing in the courtyard off the waiting room. He looked agitated and angry, but a mask descended as soon as he saw me. He put away the phone as I approached. “How is he?”

“The doctors are still running some tests, but they think he’s suffering from dehydration, probably from all the hours in the sun over the past couple of days. He’s not used to the heat. He’s feeling better but still pretty weak. I’d like to stay here with him just to make sure he’s okay.”

Devlin nodded. “That sounds like a good idea. I wish I could stay, too, but something’s come up. I have to get back to Charleston.”

I noticed the worry lines across his brow then and the shadow that darkened his eyes. “Is everything okay?” I asked anxiously.

He glanced away as he seemed to gather his thoughts. “My grandfather has disappeared.”

His calm manner of delivering the news was almost as disturbing as the revelation. “Disappeared? From the hospital?”

“No. He talked his doctor into releasing him yesterday afternoon, and he insisted on going back to the beach house. Apparently, when his assistant went to check on him this morning, he wasn’t in his room. She and the others searched the house and grounds before calling the police.”

“Why didn’t they call you?”

“I doubt I’m high on his contact list.”

“No one has any idea why he left? Or where he might have gone?”

“There was no sign of a struggle and no reason to suspect foul play. The best anyone can tell, he got up this morning, walked out the door without being detected and vanished.”

“What about his car?”

“None of the vehicles are missing, nor was his driver notified. It’s possible he called a taxi or had someone pick him up. It’s also possible this could be another of his manipulations. He hasn’t had much luck getting me to come around to his way of thinking, so he could be trying a different tactic.”

“You don’t really believe that, do you?”

“If you knew my grandfather, you wouldn’t ask that question,” Devlin said. “But in any case, I have to go.”

“Of course. You’ll let me know as soon as you hear anything?”

“Yes. And when I come back...” There was a slight hesitation before he said, “We need to talk.”

My heart turned over at the look on his face. After everything he’d seen and heard since his arrival last night, I couldn’t blame him for needing answers or for questioning my sanity. I wanted to assure him that all would be well, but I had my own doubts so I merely nodded.

Devlin was still staring down at me. “What you said earlier in the cemetery is eerily reminiscent of the things my grandfather has been saying lately. Yet the two of you have never met.”

“What do you mean?”

“Ghosts. Demons.” He shook his head as his gaze deepened. “I still can’t give credence to any of it, but I also can’t deny that something strange is going on. Until I can figure out what he’s up to, I need you to promise me you’ll be careful. I’ll be back as soon as I can, hopefully by nightfall. In the meantime, just sit tight. Don’t go back out to the cemetery or to Rose’s house alone. It’s not safe.”

I nodded vaguely as my mind churned with more questions. What had his grandfather told him about ghosts and demons? And how could any of it possibly be connected to me?





Forty-Seven

Dr. Shaw was dozing when I came back into his room. I slipped quietly into the chair beside his bed and opened the paperback novel I’d found in the waiting room. Perhaps it was the sleepless night I’d spent or the pressure I’d been feeling for days, but I found myself growing drowsy as I tried to make sense of the story. Twice I nodded off only to jerk myself awake. The second time I opened my eyes, I found Dr. Shaw watching me.

“I thought you’d gone,” he said.