Rachel Alexander 04 - Lady Vanishes

mesmerizingly beautiful. I let the heart fall into my other palm, feeling the weight of it in my hand, the chain, its clasp broken, hanging down. For all it cost, it wasn’t very heavy. But it was heavy enough, I knew, to keep me up all night wondering what this meant, wondering if David had seen the necklace and been attracted to its sparkle, had reached for it and clobbered Venus when she’d pulled away.
    Venus had told me to be careful around David. Had she failed to take her own advice?
    Sleeping, Jackson appeared normal. David did not. Even now, even with Dashiell tight against his back like a squeeze machine, he was so tense he was spastic, his face in a grimace, his knees pulled up to his chest, the hand I had robbed of its security object twitching.
    There was something else sparkly in the room. It was lying on the nightstand: a key chain with a gold-colored ball set with colored stones, faux rubies, emeralds, sapphires, and diamonds, but no keys. Why would this man need a set of keys?
    I held it up and watched the light dance off the metal and the stones, then lowered the ball into David’s palm and let go as his fingers closed around it, having neatly pulled a Dashiell. Sometimes, when there was something he knew he couldn’t have, something he wanted with all his heart, he’d make a trade, leaving one of his toys in the place the object he so coveted had been, as I had swapped the key chain for Venus’s necklace.
    Holding it in my hand, it was no longer the weight of gold and diamonds. It was the weight of obligation. David and Jackson could sleep, but no way could I, not until I understood what had really happened to Venus. To Harry. And to Lady.
    On the way downstairs, seeing the mark along the wall, the mark that Homer must have purposely neglected to clean away, I thought about her, about Lady, the missing dog, sliding along the wall as she traveled up and down to see her charges.
    Coincidence, all this happening at once?
    Or is that where this all began? Lady vanishes; everything goes downhill from there.

Chapter 27
    I Walked Back To Where He Was Standing

    On the way down the stairs, I heard Homer’s voice. Someone was frightened. Homer was soothing.
    I moved faster, heading for Eli’s office, to look for I didn’t know what.
    I knocked. Because you never know. Then I used Venus’s keys, letting myself and Dashiell in, closing the door, then flipping on the light.
    I didn’t think I had a lot of time, so I went straight for the files, quickly moving through the patient folders, hoping something would jump out at me, something telling.
    Dream on.
    There were several file drawers full of medical journals and articles on autism, new drugs, vitamin therapies, homeopathy, acupuncture, aromatherapy, you name it, it was there. Though traditionally trained, it seemed Eli was willing to investigate anything that might help.
    I was looking for personal things—his will perhaps, or
    Harbor View finances—but those were all in Harry’s office. Venus had a point. Why would someone think these men’s skills were interchangeable? The beauty of the relationship was that they were not, that each was an expert in his separate field, and that each was equally devoted to the small, damaged population at Harbor View. It was, it seemed to me, not a career but a calling. Sure, it took money and lots of it to keep this place going, but money wasn’t the point of it. And neither man, I thought, took out more than was needed to survive. Well, of course, Harry hadn’t taken money out. He’d put it in. Gobs of it.
    I flipped through the rest of the files quickly, stopping at David’s to read the overview that started each resident’s file, then stopping at Jackson’s to read his. I took the phone apart and found the bug, then shut off the light and opened the door, my heart pounding because I didn’t have a story ready this time.
    But the lobby was empty. Homer would be working his way down from the top. I listened for a moment, but I didn’t hear a sound. Eli’s office wasn’t the place to be. I went next door to Harry’s office, unlocking the door and letting Dashiell into the dark room first, then stepping inside after him, letting the door close and feeling his tail start to bang against my leg.
    What was he so happy about, just because he’d been here before, because it was familiar?
    I felt along the wall for the light, pushing up the switch when I found it, then sucking in my breath when I saw