The Man Who Wasn't All There by David Handler (book recommendations website TXT) 📕

to put the kettle on as a Volvo station wagon came up the driveway and parked. I heard footsteps on the gravel followed by a discreet tap on the front door. Merilee returned and opened it.

Standing out on the front porch wearing a hooded duffel coat and tight jeans was Dr Annabeth McKenna, who was clutching two large Tupperware containers. ‘Merilee, you’re back!’ she exclaimed in delight.

‘Indeed, I am. Mr MacGowan put out a distress call and I got here as fast as I could. It’s so good to see you, Annabeth. Come in, come in.’

Annabeth deposited the Tupperware containers on the coffee table before she took off her duffel coat to reveal a tight sweater that did her lean, taut figure no more harm than those jeans did. ‘I’m incredibly relieved that you’re back. I was so afraid that this helpless man would be fending for himself that I made him a gallon of my chicken noodle soup.’

‘From scratch?’ I asked as Lulu watched her carefully. Like I said, she’s very protective of me when it comes to any attractive female not named Merilee Nash.

‘You have to make it from scratch,’ Annabeth lectured me. ‘Otherwise it has no curative powers.’

‘You’re a medical doctor. You don’t really believe that old wives’ tale, do you? Besides, I have a concussion, not croup.’

She shook her rich, chestnut mane at me. ‘You’re not only helpless, you’re hopeless. Old wives’ tales are never, ever to be doubted. Sit still, I want to have a look …’ She came around the sofa to examine my head wound. ‘Bandage is nice and clean. That’s good.’ She fingered it gingerly. ‘My God, you must have a dozen staples holding your skull together. That is some laceration. Any dizziness?’

‘Yes, but I just took a long nap and feel a lot better.’

‘Still, it must ache terribly.’

‘Only when I breathe.’

‘Are you taking anything for it?’

‘Just Tylenol. My doctor wants to examine me again in the morning.’

‘Good, good. You’re doing everything right. Plus you have the world’s best nurse,’ she said, smiling at Merilee. ‘Mind you, I still think of her as “Our Closer.” You should have seen the final speech she delivered at the meeting of the Selden Cove Waterfront Development project. She started in on how it was our sacred duty to preserve this special place that has nurtured countless centuries of wildlife and within thirty seconds she had tears streaming down her face and every developer and lawyer in the room hanging their heads in shame. Some of them even started crying. How did you do that, Merilee?’

‘She can weep on cue. Show her, Merilee.’

My ex-wife glared at me sternly. ‘Hoagy, I am not some cheap novelty act. And I didn’t fly all of the way here in the middle of the night from Hungary to … to perform parlor tricks for … for …’ She broke off as the tears spilled from her eyes and began streaming down her face.

‘Remarkable,’ Annabeth gasped in amazement.

‘That’s why they pay her the big bucks. She can also act a little.’

Outside, the Hardy Boys had started hanging the heavy yellow pine storm windows, thudding them into place.

‘Join us for a cup of tea, Annabeth,’ Merilee said, dabbing at her eyes with a tissue.

‘Love to, but I can’t stay. I was literally just going to drop this off and …’ She broke off, suddenly at a loss for words. Or something.

‘You must feel totally adrift now that Austin’s gone,’ I said.

She considered her reply for a moment. ‘I do feel a bit disoriented. He’s been such a huge part of my life for these past seven years. But mostly I feel racked by guilt.’

‘Why do you say that?’

‘Because I was responsible for Austin’s care once Michael’s team delivered him to me at his sanitarium. And I screwed up. I’d been anticipating that he’d be difficult to control, so I’d fully intended to knock him out with a five-milligram intra-muscular injection of Haldol. But after he’d had a shower and shave, put on a pair of pajamas and climbed into bed, he seemed quite calm and composed. Submissive even. So I made the medical decision to opt for a maximum ten-milligram dose of Zolpidem, a powerful, immediate-release sleeping pill they’ve been using successfully in Europe since 1988. It was just introduced in America this year under the brand name Ambien. My regular nurse, Kate Novak, was visiting her mother in Oregon so I had to use her sub, Eileen Baker. I’ve used Eileen before with Austin and she’s perfectly competent – but not as familiar with how devious he could be. He bamboozled her. Never swallowed the pill. Just spit it out after she’d locked him in his room. When she looked in on him thirty minutes later she reported to me that he was fast asleep, which he wasn’t. He was play acting.’

‘You say you’ve used this substitute nurse before?’

‘Eileen? Yes. She felt terrible about what happened.’

‘Is she a local person?’

‘Lives up in East Haddam, I think. Why?’

‘Just curious.’

Annabeth let out a sigh of genuine remorse. ‘I was responsible for his care, and I blew it. This is my fault. All of it.’

‘I think you’re being too hard on yourself. If you want to blame anyone, blame the state police for delivering his tricked-out cruiser right to his house, keys in the ignition, instead of impounding it. How stupid was that? And how about that crack team of ex-Green Berets that was stationed in the living room, complete with a guard dog? Heck of a job they did. They let him sneak out of his room, collect his clean clothes and loaded weapon from the laundry room and waltz right out of there. My God, it’s almost as if they purposely let him get away.’

Annabeth blinked at me in disbelief. ‘They wouldn’t actually do that, would they?’

‘They do what Michael tells them to do. Maybe Michael wanted Austin to escape and wreak havoc. Who knows what goes on in that man’s mind?’

‘You’re