Hemlock Bay

that Lily Frasier was an artist, and that meant she was creative, probably very bright. Such folk usually went under very easily. She said in her soft voice, “You understand that I’m going to try to help you remember what happened last Wednesday evening. Do you want this?”
    “Yes, I want to know very badly what really happened. Just tell me what to do. I’ve never been hypnotized before.”
    “It’s nothing, really. I just want you to relax.” She lightly squeezed Lily’s hand.
    Lily felt more warmth flow through her, all the way to her bones, felt herself becomimg utterly calm. Those small hands of Dr. Chu’s, how could they make her feel like this?
    Savich pulled a chair next to Lily’s and took her other hand. A strong hand, she thought, strong fingers. His hand didn’t make hers feel warm, but it did make her feel safe. He said nothing at all, was just there beside her, there for her. Sherlock sat on a sofa behind Lily, quiet as could be.
    Dr. Chu said, “You will perhaps believe this a bit odd, Lily, but I don’t swing a watch in front of your eyes or let you lie on the sofa and chant this and that over and over. No, we’ll just sit here and chat. I understand you draw a cartoon strip. No Wrinkles Remus ? Such an interesting title. What does it mean?”
    Lily actually smiled. She felt the familiar pain of Beth’s death ease away. “Remus is a United States senator from the state of West Dementia, located in the Midwest. He’s very bright, utterly ruthless, completely amoral, has overweening ambition, and loves to pull fast ones on his opponents. He’s also known as ‘Ept Remus,’ as opposed to inept, because he’s so fast to come up with a new angle to get what he wants. He’s a spin master. He never gives up, just ignores what people say because he knows that soon enough they’ll forget, ignores what the truth is, and continues until he gets what he wants. What he wants now is the presidency, and he’s shafted a friend of his to get it.”
    Dr. Chu raised a thin, perfectly arched black brow and smiled. “An interesting character study, and not all that unfamiliar.”
    Lily actually chuckled. “I finished another strip just last week. His friend Governor Braveheart isn’t taking being shafted well. He’s fighting back. Although he’s tough as hell, he’s got one big problem—he’s honest. It’s good. At least I hope it is.”
    “Did you take it to your editor at the paper?”
    Lily paused a moment and closed her eyes. “No, I didn’t.”
    “Why not?”
    “Because I started feeling bad again.”
    “What do you mean by ‘feeling bad’?”
    “Like nothing really mattered. Beth was dead and I was alive, and nothing was worth anything, including me and anything I did.”
    “You went from feeling great and creative, from smiles and laughter to utter depression?”
    “Yes.”
    “In just a day?”
    “Yes. Maybe less. I don’t remember.”
    “On the day your husband left for Chicago, how did you feel, Lily?”
    “I don’t remember feeling much of anything. I was . . . just there.”
    “I see. Your husband called you the next day—Wednesday—and he wanted you to take some medical slides to a doctor in Ferndale?”
    “That’s right.”
    “And the only road is 211.”
    “Yes. I hate that road, always have. It’s dangerous. And it was dusk. Driving at that time of day always makes me antsy. I’m always very careful.”
    “It makes me nervous as well. Now, you took two more antidepressant pills, right?”
    “That’s right. Then I slept. I had terrible nightmares.”
    “Tell me what you remember about the nightmares.”
    Dr. Chu wasn’t holding her hand now, but still Lily felt a touch of warmth go through her, felt like it was deep inside her now, so deep it was warming her very soul. “I saw Beth struck by that car, over and over, struck and hurled screaming and screaming, at least twenty feet, crying out my name, over and over. When I awoke, I could still see Beth. I remember just lying there and crying and then I felt lethargic, my brain dull.”
    “You felt leached of hope?”
    “Yes, that’s it exactly. I felt like nothing was worth anything, particularly me. I wasn’t worth anything. Everything was black, just black. Nothing mattered anymore.”
    “All right, Lily, now you’re driving away from your house. You’re in your red Explorer. What do you think of your car?”
    “Tennyson yells every time I call it a car. I haven’t done that for