InSight

like a good place to die—secluded and quiet.”
    Stewart got up, walked around, sat down again, fidgeted, tapped his foot, stopped. “I slept, and when I woke up, I realized I never took any pills, and a funny thing happened.”
    “You felt better.”
    “Yes. New, like another person. How did you know? My mind cleared up. Not for very long and not like before, but enough. That’s when I knew I had to talk to you. The time at the cabin—I wasn’t sure what would happen, but I knew I wouldn’t hurt you. Not like before. I knew that with all my heart. Do you believe me?”
    “Yes, I believe you.” Knowing what she knew now, she did. E very word. And she ached for him . Why was she feeling like this, like she was going to lose it? She needed to get hold of herself. Focus. “What happened the night you came to Luke’s house?”
    “Luke? Oh yes, the cop. I knew you were there. I watched you.”
    He stopped. Abby waited and he spoke.
    “I hated leaving that cabin. I felt safe there, but I figured you’d recognize the Saluda Grade. Nothing else like it, is there?”
    “No, I knew.”
    “I found a cheap motel. Then the hallucinations started. I thought my head would explode. I got scared and took a handful of pills and went crazy. I wanted to give myself up. I couldn’t keep running, but I couldn’t go back to Scanlon’s either. I didn’t know where else to go. I’m sorry, Abby. I shouldn’t have gone there. Shouldn’t have. Shouldn’t have.” He got up again, tipping over his chair.
    She heard Jeff at the door.
    “You okay?”
    “Am I, Stewart?”
    “Yes.”
    “I’m fine, Jeff.”
    “Just checking,” Jeff said. “I’ll be right outside.”
    She heard him leave, but from the sounds outside the room, he’d left the door open. She pictured him lurking outside, within a second’s reach. “Why did you leave the pills in the cabin?”
    “I don’t know. Maybe if something happened to me, someone would care enough to find out what they were. Do you know?”
    “They’re hallucinogens.”
    “Yes, I figured something like that.” He sounded sad, as if nothing surprised him any longer. “The medication they’ve given me here makes me think clearer.” Stewart sighed. “Sometimes.”
    “Do you remember what happened before Dr. Scanlon first gave you the pills? Did it have something to do with your father’s plane crash?”
    “My father’s plane crash?” Then, without hesitation and with words that seemed to shatter the air, he said, “They killed him, you know.”
    Abby wasn’t sure she heard right. “What? Who?”
    “My mother and that Collyer guy who worked for my grandfather. They killed my father.”
    Abby’s heart pounded; her stomach cartwheeled. “How…how do you know?”
    “I heard them.”
    But the next sentence startled her even more.
    “I told you, Abby. Don’t you remember? Before I got sick.” Stewart’s matter-of-fact words trailed off. “I thought I did. Maybe I forgot.”
    Abby strained to remember. Had she blocked this out? She barely remembered Mr. Gentry’s plane crash. Her stomach knotted. Perspiration sprouted on her skin. “No, you…never told me that. I…I don’t remember.”
    “Yes. We were going to tell the police. Did we ever do that?”
    The air inside the room thickened, as if she were breathing under water. “No, we never did,” she managed to say. “Why did they kill him?”
    “I don’t remember. Everything’s behind a closed door. Sometimes, in my dreams I pull on it, but I can’t make it open.”
    She had to get out of there before the screaming inside her head escaped. Other questions perched on the tip of her tongue, but she couldn’t concentrate. Not now.
    “I’ll be back, Stewart. Okay?”
    “Okay. I’ll be here, won’t I?”
    She reached out and found his arm, patted it. “Yes, you’ll be here.”
    She called Jeff and he came in. “We need to go. Now.” He took her arm and led her out of the building. On the way to the car, the nausea won and she threw up. Jeff was attentive, but he didn’t ask any questions. He’d heard everything.
    “I don’t understand what’s happening, Jeff. How could I have known and forgotten? We’re talking murder.”
    As soon as she said it, she knew Luke was in serious trouble. “Jeff?”
    “Yes, Abby. We’re going to Charleston .”
    She shut off her digital recorder.

Chapter Thirty-Four
    The Bluff from the View

    J eff drove as if he finally realized the danger of Luke’s