Kill Her Again

9

Anna wasn’t sure if what she’d just heard constituted a genuine threat or were simply the mutterings of a grieving father. Professionally, her inclination was to take Pope seriously, but what did it matter? The chances of his ex-wife winning an appeal were virtually nonexistent.

Still, there was an intensity in those eyes that was hard to ignore. She could imagine Pope standing here every morning, staring out at that prison complex as he quietly plotted, positioning himself in his mind, weapon ready, waiting for those front gates to open…

Pure fantasy, she decided. No matter how wronged this man had been, she didn’t sense the killer instinct in him. Couldn’t see him pulling a trigger.

Of course, she’d made that mistake before, and had a nice little reminder of that fact every time she looked in the mirror.

All she really knew about Pope was what she had seen on CNN and read in the papers. She knew the bureau had had some involvement in the case, but the investigation had been handled by the Vegas field office and seemed a world away from her life in San Francisco.

Her first memories of it were the photos on Headline News. A fragile-looking freckle-faced kid, smiling for the camera. Benjamin Pope, five years old. He had been missing for two days, victim of a carjacking by a large Hispanic man-or so his mother had said. There were daily press conferences and hourly briefings and wild speculation by often-misinformed news media, focusing more and more on the parents, whom police refused to name as possible suspects in the disappearance.

She remembered Pope’s pleas for the kidnappers to return his child and the not-so-quiet rumors that had accompanied those pleas. The talk around the San Francisco Field Division watercoolers was that the press conference was a sham, cover for a man who had murdered his own kid.

The rumors grew into angry accusations when the burnt-out shell of the family station wagon was found in the desert, less than a mile from Ludlow, California.

The charred remains of Benjamin Pope were found inside.

None of the evidence collected pointed to a carjacking, and an autopsy revealed that Ben might well have been dead before the fire. Within a day of the discovery, Susan Leah Pope had broken down and confessed to torching the SUV. It turned out that she had been poisoning Ben for months and it had finally caught up to him.

Those less educated about such things believed that Daniel Pope had somehow used hypnosis to force his wife to do the unspeakable. Both CNN and FOX had devoted entire hours to this harebrained theory, but such accusations were quickly quashed by an FBI psychologist, who patiently explained that hypnosis was not mind control.

If anything, Pope was a casualty. The victim of a severely disturbed woman. Just like his son.

How he had wound up here in this hotel room, or why he had chosen to take to the stage and put himself out there as a target for the crackpots and the rubberneckers, was a mystery Anna doubted she’d ever be able to solve.

And she couldn’t begrudge the man his fantasy, no matter how dark it might be.

There was a knock at the door. Pope crossed to it and pulled it open to reveal a cute but overly perky girl in a hotel uniform holding a tray with two cans of Coke, a small carton of milk, and what looked like two apple muffins.

“How’s this for service?” the girl asked, smiling the kind of smile that, to Anna’s mind, indicated more than friendship. When her gaze fell on Anna, however, the smile momentarily froze, then abruptly vanished-along with her perkiness.

Pope took the tray from her. “Thanks, Kel, I’ll see you later.” Then he closed the door and turned. No good-byes. No explanations. No apologies.

Anna didn’t know what to make of this, but then it wasn’t really any of her business. As Pope carried the tray to the dresser top, she glanced around the room again, surprised to discover that there were no photographs or keepsakes or mementos to be found. Just a generic, run-down hotel room that told the visitor nothing about the man who occupied it.

She was pondering the significance of this when the bathroom door opened and Evan stepped into the room, fumbling with his zipper, having trouble zipping it back up.

He looked so small, framed by the doorway, his face pale and gaunt, reminding Anna, oddly enough, of her mother during those last few days. It was enough to break your heart. And her reluctance to put him through this grew even stronger.

He finally finished zipping, then looked up at her. “Can we go now?”

Pope was the one who answered. “We haven’t had our drinks yet.”

“I’m not thirsty anymore.”

“Okay… but I think Agent McBride is.”

He threw Anna a glance and she immediately caught on-although, if pressed, would have agreed with Evan. She just wanted to leave.

Thinking of the missing girl, however, she said, “I could definitely go for something cold and wet,” then moved to the dresser and grabbed a can of Coke. “Can we hang around for just a few more minutes, kiddo?”

Evan looked at her again and shrugged. “I guess so.”

Pope patted the bed. “Have a seat. I want to show you something.”

As Evan reluctantly climbed back onto the mattress, Pope crossed to his nightstand, opened the drawer, and took out a black velvet drawstring pouch. The boy’s gaze immediately shifted to it and Anna thought she saw a tiny spark of curiosity there.

She was curious herself.

Pope returned and crouched next to Evan, offering him the pouch. He hesitated before taking it.

“Go ahead,” Pope said. “Open it up.”

Evan did as he was told, loosening the drawstring with his small fingers. Reaching inside, he pulled out a black plastic box, about the size of a Rubik’s Cube.

Evan stared at it, looking disappointed.

“Turn it over,” Pope said.

Evan turned the box over to reveal a hole cut into the opposite side, the word Metamorphosis written in gold paint above it. Inside the hole was what looked like a golf ball made of mirrors-a miniature disco ball-surrounded by several LED lightbulbs.

Pope reached over and flicked a switch at the top of the box. The LEDs came on and the ball began to spin, its tiny mirrors reflecting the light across Evan’s face.

Evan stared at it, eyes shining, and Anna thought he might be showing just a hint of a smile.

Pope flicked the switch again, turning it off. “They sell these in the gift shop downstairs,” he said. “Pretty neat, huh? After we’re done here today, you can take it with you.”

“Really?”

“Definitely. But first we’re gonna use it for a little experiment. Is that okay with you?”

Evan shrugged. “I guess.” He paused, working something over in his head. “Are you a doctor?”

“Not really,” Pope said. “I’m a hypnotherapist. A hypnotist. Do you know what that is?”

Evan thought about this a moment. “You mean like Kaa?”

“Kaa?”

“From The Jungle Book. He’s a snake.”

“Ahhh, right,” Pope said. “The one who put Mowgli in a trance and tried to swallow him. My son used to watch that movie. But what you see in cartoons isn’t quite the same as real life. There’s nothing scary about hypnosis. It doesn’t hurt. It’s just a way to help you relax, so you don’t feel all tight inside. You understand?”

Evan nodded. “I think so…”

“Let me show you,” Pope said, then took the box from the boy’s hands and patted the bed again. “Lie down for a minute.”

Evan hesitated, then did as he was told, but his body looked stiff and uncomfortable.

“That’s good,” Pope said, then held the box up.

He hit the switch again and the ball began to rotate, light flickering across Evan’s face.

“Now all you have to do is watch and keep watching-don’t look away. Pretty easy, huh?”

“Uh-huh.”

Anna watched also, suddenly aware that those mirrors reminded her of something, but she wasn’t sure what.

Something from the crime scene?

“Now just let your body sink into the bed,” Pope said. “Let your arms and legs get really, really loose. Can you do that?”

“Yes,” Evan said again, keeping his gaze on the spinning ball.

“Good. Now pretend you’re sinking deeper and deeper into the mattress, like you’re on your own little private elevator and it’s taking you down, down, down…” He paused. “Can you feel it?”

“Uh-huh,” Evan said, and blinked a couple of times. They were slow, lazy blinks, as if he was having trouble concentrating.

“It’s okay to close your eyes if you want to.”

Evan fought his drooping eyelids for a moment, then finally closed them.

“That’s good; keep letting your muscles relax. And as the elevator finally stops, its doors open and all you see are beautiful white clouds. You feel your body starting to float now, as they carry you away.” Pope stopped the spinning ball and quietly set it aside. “Are you floating?”

“Yes,” Evan said, his voice soft. Barely a whisper.

“Attaboy, you’re doing great. Keep lying there for a minute, okay? Just let your body float.”

“… Okay.”

Pope waited a moment. Then he said, “I’m gonna count backwards now. And as I do, you’ll feel more relaxed than you’ve ever felt before. Are you ready?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Okay. Five… think about your feet; let all of the tightness in them drain away. Four… now your legs are relaxing, the muscles loosening up, melting into those clouds. Three… concentrate on your stomach and arms now; let the tension go. Two… loosen your shoulders, your neck, your head. And one… just let yourself float away…”

Pope gently took hold of Evan’s right wrist and raised his arm slightly. “When I let go, relax your arm and let it float, like it’s on its own separate cloud. Okay?”

“Okay.”

To Anna’s amazement, when Pope released the arm, it stayed in place. Just seemed to be floating.

Pope waited another moment, then turned to Anna. “He’s under.”

“That quick?”

“Kids are more receptive than adults. Better imaginations. More open-minded.”

“Except for the arm, he looks like he’s sleeping.”

“He can hear everything we’re saying, right, Evan?”

“Uh-huh,” Evan murmured.

“All we’re dealing with here is an altered state of consciousness. If you’ve ever meditated, you’ve pretty much put yourself into a hypnotic state.”

“I’m not really a whole grains and falafel kind of girl,” Anna said.

Pope smiled. “Okay, how about this? You ever fall asleep watching Leno?”

“Sure.”

“You know that feeling when you first start to drift off? You’re still aware of what’s he’s saying, you may even be laughing at his jokes, but you feel removed from the whole thing-like you’re detached from the real world?”

Anna stiffened. Pope had just described what had happened to her in Royer’s car, and at the crime scene this morning-what had been happening to her with increasing frequency ever since she woke up in the hospital.

Detached from the real world.

Even when those awful images flooded her brain, she was always vaguely aware of what was going on around her, as if she were trapped between dueling realities.

“Did I say something wrong?”

She was suddenly aware that Pope was staring at her with those intense eyes. She may as well have been standing there naked.

She felt flustered. “No, not at all.”

“You sure? You lost a little color for a moment there.”

Covering her discomfort with a dismissive flick of the wrist, she said, “Let’s concentrate on Evan.”

Pope nodded and turned back to the boy. “What do you say, Evan? Shall we concentrate on you?”

Evan kept his eyes closed. “Okay.”

“Good. Go ahead and let your arm float back down again.”

Evan lowered his arm.

“Now what we’re gonna do,” Pope said, “is help you remember some stuff. If you start to feel uncomfortable, if your body starts to get tight again, just let me know. And don’t worry, Agent McBride will be here the whole time, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Good,” Pope said, then looked up at Anna as if asking her for permission to continue.

Still slightly flustered, Anna had to wonder: Was this really the only way to proceed? Was putting Evan in a trance and risking further trauma truly worth it? Or was it one of those choices you’d look back on with regret?

None of these questions could be answered, of course. Not by her. Not with her history. Not the shape she was in.

Detached from the real world.

The way things were going, she figured she was probably one vision away from basket case.

Yet despite her reluctance, she quietly nodded.