InSight

minute. “Maybe I should say drugging hell into him. We can’t do anything tonight anyway. We can wait till morning.”
    “If you’re sure that’s what you want to do. I’ll cuff him to the day bed in the study. Maybe tomorrow he’ll tell us more.”
    Abby felt pity for the demise of the Stewart she knew so long ago. The fun-loving, talented, wonderfully idiosyncratic Stewart. “Why have they done this to him? Killing him would have been easier and less painful than turning him into this.”
    “There’s a reason, and Stewart’s the key. We just have to find out to what.”
    * * * * *
    D aisy nuzzled into Abby’s body in the middle of the night. What was going on? She listened and heard Stewart’s pleading cries. Trembling, she poked Luke awake. She turned on the lamp and told a sleepy Luke that Stewart was ranting and delirious, begging them to take off the cuffs, begging them to help him.
    “I don’t know what to do to calm him down,” she said.
    “What about your psychiatrist friend?” Luke asked, now fully awake. “Couldn’t he give him something?”
    Abby fingered her watch. “It’s four-thirty in the morning. If I bring him in on this he’d be bound to report it, and I wouldn’t ask him not to.”
    But Stewart continued to rant out of control. After agonizing what to do, she gave in and called Don Weston, apologizing for the middle of the night interruption. She referred to Stewart as a patient who’d lost it and sought her help. Weston said he’d come as soon as he could. Luke gave Abby directions to his house, and she relayed them. Abby knew the story sounded hokey, especially since she wasn’t at home. Weston didn’t ask how the patient knew where she was, and she didn’t go into it. But at five in the morning, it was the best she could come up with. They removed the cuffs from Stewart’s wrists.
    When the psychiatrist arrived, Abby said as little as possible. “This is over my head, Don.”
    “I’ll give him a shot,” Weston said. “Do you want me to call an ambulance and check him into the hospital?”
    Abby hadn’t thought of that and hesitated. “I’d…I’d rather not. He’s a patient, but also a friend. I don’t want him busted if he’s on something.”
    Don Weston knew Abby’s history, and if he made the connection after seeing the remnants of Stewart’s face, he didn’t let on. Stewart almost convulsed when he saw the needle, and it took both men to hold him while Don injected him. He left pills with instructions and said it would take time for them to kick in.
    “Anything else I can do?” Don asked.
    “I think we’ll be okay,” she said. “I can’t thank you enough.”
    “If he becomes unmanageable, call me and I’ll administer another shot.” He left, leaving the deception intact. Abby knew he had stretched his ethics because he had to know she lied.
    Luke fastened the cuff to the daybed again, and they went back to sleep. Stewart slept like a hibernating bear until noon on Sunday. When he awoke, he acted like a different person. Unfortunately, he didn’t have a clue who that person was.

Chapter Twenty-Eight
    The Seeds of Evil

    “W hat does he look like?” Abby asked, standing at the door of the study.
    “Confused.”
    Abby switched on the digital recorder.
    Stewart made a long ummm sound and said, “Abby?”
    “Yes, it’s me. You came here last night,” she reminded him. “Do you remember?”
    “I think so. Yes. I had to see you. Could I have something to drink, please?”
    “I’ll get some water,” Luke said. He ran his hand across her shoulders as he left the room, returning in a heart’s beat. He whispered to Abby that he was giving Stewart one of Don Weston’s pills. She nodded. “Take this with the water.”
    After a long pause, Stewart said, “This isn’t my pill.”
    “No, but it’ll make you feel better,” Luke said.
    “I don’t want to take any more pills. I don’t, Abby.”
    “This one will help, Stewart. A doctor friend left some for you.”
    He paused again as if thinking. “If you say so.” He gulped the water then asked for more. Abby wondered when he’d last eaten. “Are you hungry?”
    “Not really.”
    “Have you eaten?”
    “I don’t know. I think I ate a hamburger a day or two ago. What day is this?”
    “Sunday. Tell me about the pills.” Abby hoped to keep him on track. “Did Dr. Scanlon give them to you?”
    At the mention of Scanlon’s name, Stewart grabbed her arm and pulled her