Chapter 26

Lindsey woke to the sound of the telephone ringing. She assumed one of her brothers was calling with a relationship problem, not remembering the time difference between Chicago and Gull Island. Instead, she heard Pastor Robbins say, “I’m sorry to wake you, Lindsey, but I’m worried about Max.”

“Did something happen?”

“It’s almost time for the early service and he hasn’t shown up yet. I’m not sure what to do.”

“I’ll see if I can track him down. In the meantime, maybe you could use one of those tapes you made for him.”

“Or we might have to go a capella this morning.”

“Right.” It was too early for her to banter with the pastor. She hung up the phone and then dialed Midway House. After Mrs. Garnett screeched a hello, Lindsey said, “I’m looking for Max. Did he oversleep this morning?”

“I’ll check his room!” While Lindsey waited, she took the phone into the kitchen as she made a pot of coffee.

She’d stayed up until three looking for articles that might help with Max’s case. This Sarah he’d talked about must be someone imaginary, created by his mind for a reason Lindsey had yet to understand. Was “Sarah” a way to placate Lindsey so Max could duck his responsibilities of reintegrating into society while appearing to make progress?

Mrs. Garnett came back on the line, startling Lindsey. “He’s not in his room! His bed doesn’t look slept in! No one has seen him in at least two days!”

“Two days?”

“Should I call the police?”

“No, I’ll handle it. Thank you.” She hung up on Mrs. Garnett and then ran into the bedroom to change out of her nightgown. How could he have disappeared for two days without anyone noticing?

She thought back to their last session. Max had come in dirty and smelling like fertilizer. When she asked him if anything was wrong, he said, “I’m sorry. I tripped outside.”

He had lied to her again. After pulling on a shirt and pants, she went out to the table where all her notes on Max were spread out. When she found him, she would have no choice but to recommend he be taken back to Gull Island Psychiatric. She sighed at the thought of Max going back there, under the care of that ass Dr. Lee. Maybe she could still find a way to get through to him, but she needed to find him first.

She didn’t have any idea where Max would go to hide. With no friends or family on the island, there was no one to shelter him. Holy Redeemer didn’t pay much in the way of salary, making it hard for him to rent a motel room for very long. And with his knowledge about the island twenty years out of date, he would have a hard time finding a place to hide.

Then she thought about all the exploring he’d done under her supervision, which at the time she’d attributed to a curiosity about everything he’d missed. What if all their trips around the island had been a cover so he could mastermind this escape? She didn’t think Max capable of such deception, but maybe that was the greatest deception of all.

She supposed by now he could have already left Gull Island. His blindness gave her an advantage, though, since it left him with limited means of escape. She dashed into the living room for the telephone book and looked up the Islander Taxi Company. “Oh yeah, I remember Max. All our drivers love him. Doesn’t say much, but he’s a good tipper,” the dispatcher said.

“When was the last time you saw him?”

“Not for a couple weeks.”

“Where did he have you take him?”

“You a cop or something?”

“I’m sort of like his parole officer. He’s missing and I need to find him. So, where did you take him?”

“Let me check my records. I’ll call you back.” Lindsey looked over a map of the island while she waited for the dispatcher. At least she could rule out the cab company as a means of escape. He could still have taken a bus to the ferries going to Seattle. She found the numbers for the three ferry companies and called each one. None of them remembered a blind man wanting passage.

Chances were good that Max was still on the island, unless he hitchhiked or bought passage on a fishing boat. In which case, she should call the police to get an APB out for him. As soon as she did so, all hope of dealing with this quietly went out the window. She might even lose her license when the board found out she’d misplaced a patient.

The phone rang again and the cab dispatcher said, “I got the addresses you wanted.” She dictated a string of addresses, most of them in Fishtown, which Lindsey wrote down. She thanked the dispatcher and then ran out to her Explorer.

She stopped at the first address, a house with ‘Winchell’ on the mailbox next to a burnt-out shell surrounded by yellow tape. Lindsey went up the front steps of the Winchell house and knocked on the door. A woman about Lindsey’s age and even heavier answered the door, clad in only a black bra and panties. “Who are you?” the woman said.

“I’m Lindsey Perry. I’m looking for a man named Max Caldwell.” She held up a picture of Max taken from his files. “Have you seen him?”

“I haven’t seen anyone like him. I wish I had. He’s cute.” The woman coughed up a wad of phlegm at Lindsey’s feet. “Let me check with Ma. Is this guy your husband or something?”

“No, he’s a friend.”

The woman shouted for her mother and then leaned against the doorway to scratch herself like a cat. “Is your name Sarah?” Lindsey asked.

“No.”

“Sorry, my mistake.” At least he didn’t come here to fuck this Winchell woman, unless she was lying. For all she knew, Max was hiding upstairs, waiting for the woman to come back and remove the bra and panties.

“Cindy, can’t you put some clothes on?” an older woman’s voice said. Cindy spit another ball of phlegm before waddling into the living room. The old woman who came to the door squinted through bifocals for a moment before saying, “Oh, hello, I’m sorry about my daughter. Are you here to sell something? Why just yesterday I had this nice black woman at my door trying to sell me magazines. I told her I don’t have any use for more magazines. I got enough already. Before long they’re going to take over the house.”

“Actually, I’m just looking for this man.”

“I remember him. Such a nice boy. I think he and Cindy would get along like peas and carrots.”

“Ma, quit trying to fix me up with every man who walks down the sidewalk!” Cindy shouted from the living room.

“She’s a little shy,” Mrs. Winchell said.

“I noticed.” Mrs. Winchell gave no sign of picking up on the sarcasm. “What did you and Max talk about?”

“Let me think. Oh yes, he wanted to know about Sarah.”

“Sarah?”

“My neighbor. She lived next door until almost three months ago when her house burned down.”

“What happened to Sarah? Did she die?”

“No, I don’t think so, at least not that I know. I haven’t been to visit her in the hospital in a while, though. I can’t stand hospitals—”

“Thank you, ma’am,” Lindsey said. She raced back to the SUV and spun it around in a U-turn. Along the way back to the hospital, she tried not to think about why Max would claim to have a relationship with a woman in a coma. Scientists withheld making judgments until they had all the facts. Just this once, she needed to act like a scientist.

As soon as she burst through the front doors of the hospital, she asked the front desk if there was a patient named Sarah in a coma. The nurse gave her directions and Lindsey hurried down the corridor at the fastest, most dignified walk she could manage.

A set of doors opened and she saw a black woman look up from a fashion magazine. “Dr. Perry, can I help you?”

“You have a coma patient named Sarah Gladstone?”

“Yes, she’s in that room over there.”

“Has this man been to visit her?”

“Max? He’s come by almost every day. Spends hours just sitting with her, keeping her company. Do you know him?”

“He’s my patient. When was the last time he was here?”

“Not for a few days.” The nurse put down the magazine and rubbed her jaw as she thought. “The last time he started acting a little strange. I told him visiting hours were over, but he didn’t want to leave. I thought I would have to call security to take him out of there.”

“You haven’t seen him since then?”

“No. Is Max in trouble?”

“I’m afraid so. If you see him, let me know right away.” Lindsey took out a business card to give to the nurse. “Don’t tell anyone else, understand?”

“No, of course not.” As Lindsey started towards the door to Sarah’s room, the nurse said, “I hope he’s not in too much trouble. He’s such a nice guy.”

“I know.” Lindsey opened the door and gasped. Machines surrounded the woman lying in the bed and IV tubes dripped medication and nutrients into her system. The left side of Sarah’s face was a moonscape of angry red scar tissue. Her hair was cut so close Lindsey couldn’t see it until she leaned in for a better look. Then she collapsed into the chair next to the bed and put her head in her hands. She had no choice about what to do now.