“What?”
“I think she’s better at it than she’s ever been. Maybe she’ll be giving both of us therapy someday,” I said, unable to hide my bitterness.
“I’ll be in touch,” Dr. Alexander said. “It’s out of my hands for the moment. The police are searching for Cedar Thomas. They’ll add Haylee’s name. My guess is he picked her up at your house late last night. It sounds like something they had planned.”
“And under your very eyes,” I said.
I hung up and looked at Irene.
“What was all that?” she asked.
“My sister had a boyfriend in the nuthouse, as she called it, and apparently, he escaped the day before yesterday. Dr. Alexander believes he probably picked her up last night.”
“Oh, my. Don’t mention it to your mother yet,” she warned.
I nodded, and we returned to be with Mother.
“Who called? Did they find her?”
“Not yet, Mother.”
Irene handed her the water.
She drank some and looked at me. “Well, who was that? Was it your father?”
“No, it was her doctor at the institution, Dr. Alexander.”
“Well, what does she think?”
I looked at Irene.
“What do you two know that I don’t? Tell me!” Mother cried. She was losing it quickly.
Irene nodded at me.
“It looks like Haylee planned an escape with a boy at the institution, Mother. He escaped two days ago. He must have a car, and he must have picked her up during the night.”
Mother looked like she was going to faint.
“I think it’s best that your mother lie down, Kaylee. I’ll remain until this is sorted out.”
“Yes,” I said. “Go on, Mother. I promise I’ll call you the moment we know anything.”
Irene helped Mother stand up and start for the stairway, practically carrying her.
I sat, thinking, reviewing everything Haylee had said to me to see if I could come up with something that might help find her.
Twenty minutes later, my father arrived. His face was swollen with rage. I told him what Dr. Alexander had told me.
“How’s your mother?” he asked.
“Devastated,” I said. “Irene is upstairs with her.”
“I can’t believe how well she worked me on the way over, how sweet she was, how grateful for this second chance. Something told me not to trust her. I swear, Kaylee. I could feel it twitching inside me, this distrust. She wasn’t much different from the way she had been during the time you were trapped in that man’s basement.” He looked like he wanted to slam his fist into the wall.
The doorbell rang, and we both went to answer it. Two policemen were there. They started to ask questions, and my father turned to me.
“She’ll tell you all she knows,” he said.