believed was going on. Of course. It made perfect sense.
"Baby Boy, I want to take you to the hospital - not this suspect place in Sausalito, just back to San Francisco General - ."
"Mamma," he said.
This was breaking his heart.
"I thought for a moment you thought I was the Man Wolf, Mamma," he said. He hated it, testing her like this, lying to her, but he couldn,t stop himself. He wanted to just take her in his arms, protect her from the truth, from everything. If only she weren,t Dr. Grace Golding.
"No, Reuben, I do not think you,re capable of scaling brick walls and flying over rooftops, and rending people apart limb from limb."
"That,s a relief," he said under his breath.
"But this creature, whoever he is, may be in the grip of a communicable madness, don,t you see? Reuben, please try to follow what I,m saying. Rabies is a communicable madness, do you follow me? You,ve been infected by something infinitely more dangerous than rabies, and I want you to go with me to the hospital now. Jaska says there have been other cases, with the very same extraordinary details. He says there is a real possibility of a corrosive virus."
"No, Mom, I can,t. I came here so you could see with your own eyes that I,m all right," he said. He was being as gentle as he could. "And now you,ve seen it, and I,m going. Please, Mom, move away from the door."
"All right, then stay here, in the house," she said. "No dashing off to the woods!" She threw up her hands.
"Mom, I can,t."
He moved her aside, handling her so roughly that he would never forgive himself for it, and was out the door before she could stop him, down the brick steps and down the street to his car.
She stood there in the doorway, and for the first time in his life he saw her as a tiny figure, a vulnerable figure, weak and frightened and overwhelmed - his beautiful mother who could save lives every day of her life.
Within a block of the house, he was in tears himself. By the time he reached the cafe where Laura was waiting, he was crying too hard to see. He gave the keys to her, and went around to the passenger seat.
"It,s over," he said as they headed for the freeway. "I,ll never be able to be part of them again, any of them. It,s over. God! What am I going to do?"
"You mean she knows."
"No. She knows things, and she can,t let go of those things. But no, she doesn,t really know. And I can,t tell her. I,d die before I,d tell her."
At some point, before they were even across the Golden Gate Bridge, he fell asleep.
When he woke, it was late afternoon and they had just turned off Highway 101 for the junction where they would pick up Nideck Road.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
SIMON OLIVER,S E-MAIL WAS BRIEF. "Bad news which may be good news. Call me ASAP."
That had come yesterday evening.
He rang Oliver,s home phone, left a message - that he was back online and at his phone. Please call.
He and Laura had supper in the conservatory, at the new marble-top table. They were in a grove of banana palms and small ficus. And the sight of the orchid trees inclining towards each other, and dripping those gorgeous pinkish-purple blossoms, filled him with happiness.
Just today, Galton had added a number of potted ferns and some white bougainvillea, and the room was surprisingly warm from the dim afternoon sun. Laura knew all about the plants, and suggested others that Reuben might love. If Reuben wanted, she could order plants for this room, and large trees. She knew where to locate very large trees. That would be wonderful, he said, the greener, the more full of flowers, the better. And she should buy the things that she wanted, the things she most loved. What she would love he would love.
Supper was a thick soup from the lamb dinner of yesterday that Reuben had concocted, and he thought the ingredients tasted better than before.
"Tired?" Laura asked.
"No, eager to search the entire second floor until we find an entrance into that secret space."
"Maybe there is no entrance, except through a hatch in the glass roof."
"I don,t think so. I think there are several entrances. Why have such a delicious secret space if you can,t get in it from any number of places? There have to be panels in those linen closets,