killed. I am going to tell this man whatever he wants to hear, and I am going to stay alive and raise my son.
My son.
Jason. Was he dying? Or was that, too, a lie? For that question, only time itself would provide an answer.
Sally pulled herself into a sitting position and carefully smoothed the sheets over her torso. Then she made herself meet Paul Randolph’s eyes.
“Thank you,” she said softly. Thank you for coming here and telling me all this. You can’t know what it’s been like. “It’s been a nightmare.”
“One that’s over now, Mrs. Montgomery.” He paused. “Except for the children.”
“Yes,” Sally breathed. “Except for the children. What can we do?”
Randolph made a helpless gesture. “I wish I could tell you. Watch them. Love them. Try to make their lives as happy as you can. And hope.”
“Hope?” Sally asked. “Hope for what? You said none of them has lived to reach the age of ten.”
“And so they haven’t, Mrs. Montgomery. But we know practically nothing about this. Maybe some of them will live. Maybe your son, maybe Randy Corliss. All we can do is watch and hope.”
“Randy Corliss.” Sally repeated the name, then looked to Steve. “What’s going to happen to him?”
Steve shrugged. “I don’t know. He probably has relatives—”
“I want him.”
“Sally—”
“Steve, I want us to take care of him. I—well, I feel as though he almost belongs to us now. The way he is, and Jason. Oh, Steve, we’ve got to take care of him. We owe it to Lucy and Jim.”
“Sally, we’ve got to think about this—”
“No, Steve. We’ve got to do it. And if you don’t want to, then I’ll do it alone.” Her voice suddenly dropped to a whisper. “Besides, it’s only going to be for a little while.”
Steve swallowed hard, knowing he wouldn’t refuse Sally’s request And yet, even as he gave in, he began to wonder what was going to happen to him when each of the boys died. Would it be as it had been with Julie?
He had to talk to Sally about it, and he had to talk to her alone. He glanced up at Mark Malone, and the young doctor, reading the look, signaled to Paul Randolph. “I think we’d better leave these two alone for a while, Mr. Randolph.”
Paul Randolph rose. “Of course,” he said gently. He moved to offer his hand to Steve, but the gesture was refused. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m sorry to have had to tell you all this, but sooner or later, it had to come out.” Then, with Malone following him, he left the room.
As soon as they were alone, Sally’s eyes locked onto Steve’s.
“He’s lying,” she said. “He’s lying about everything.”
“Sally—”
She ignored his interruption. “It’s over, Steve. I’ve lost. There’s nothing I can do except take care of those boys and pretend nothing’s wrong. Otherwise they’ll kill me. Just like they killed Lucy and Jim and Carl.”
“And what about me?” Steve asked.
Sally avoided his eyes. “I don’t know, Steve. I don’t expect you to believe me. I know what Randolph said sounded reasonable. But I simply do not believe him.”
“Then we’ll do it your way,” Steve said. He sat down on the bed and gathered Sally into his arms. “Whatever happens from here on out, we’ll do it your way.” He drew her closer and felt her body stiffen. Then suddenly Sally relaxed. Her arms slid around Steve’s neck.
“Hold me,” she whispered. “Oh, please, just hold me for a minute.”
They clung to each other, wondering what pain the future held for them, and how they would cope with it.
Whatever it was, they would face it together.
Mark Malone led Paul Randolph into his office and closed the door behind him.
“They didn’t buy it,” he said. “At least she didn’t.”
“No,” Randolph replied. “She didn’t. But I let her know that she’ll never prove a thing, and I gave her Wiseman. There’ll be just enough doubt in her mind to keep her quiet.”
“Until Jason dies.”
For the first time that day, Paul Randolph smiled.
“That’s the most beautiful part of it,” he said. “Hamlin doesn’t think Jason Montgomery or Randy Corliss is going to die. It looks like the project’s a success, Mark.”
Mark Malone opened the bottom drawer of his desk and pulled out the thick stack of printouts that Sally had gleaned from the computer. He handed them to Randolph, his expression serious.
“You and Hamlin might be interested in seeing just how far Sally’d gotten,” he said. “Next time, I think you’d better make sure no