Justin’s new criminal defense attorney, David Nowak, was tall, thin, well-dressed and distinguished-looking. That was the greying hair at his temples. Looking at his face, though, Karen figured he was probably younger than he looked, maybe in his mid- to upper-40s. That was fine with her. As long as he got Justin out of jail while they waited for the cops to finish their investigation, he could have looked like a troll and been as old as Methuselah.

Leigh chose the one woman out of the three lawyers Mark had recommended, Adele Vance. She was about 5'6", blond, and dressed as nicely as Nowak. But instead of the calm, distinguished demeanor that Nowak exhibited, Vance had an aura of fierceness about her that gave Leigh the impression that no one would fight harder to get Reg off completely.

Leigh called her and told her that she’d meet her at Reg’s room that afternoon, as soon as Reg was conscious and able to talk with her. “Have the police spoken to him yet?” Vance asked Leigh.

“Not that I’m aware of. There is a uniformed officer posted outside his room, though.”

“That’ll be my first official duty, then. I’ll be calling the Livonia department and making it clear that they are not to talk to him without my being there.”

Frank had made himself scarce as soon as the Livonia cops let him go the day before. He wanted some uninterrupted time to find out all he could about Thomas A. Anderson and what he’d been doing for the past year. But he kept his ears open and kept track of what the others were doing, as well.

The first interesting thing he found was that Mr. Anderson’s Social Security number belonged to a dead man. Not surprising that someone with Reg’s computer skills could pull that off. There had been no credit cards issued to Mr. Anderson; he cashed his paychecks at one of those payroll-advance places, and his cell phone was a pre-paid disposable. All the out-going calls appeared to be to businesses, mostly take-out food joints. So unless he was leaving coded messages in his take-out orders, it was pretty innocuous. And nobody called him.

Leigh had gotten to Reg’s room a few minutes before the lawyer, so she went in to sit with him. When Vance got there, she showed the cop her ID. “I’m here to talk to Mr. Morrison.” He opened the door and let her into the room. Reg was just waking up.

“Hi?” he said, looking up at Leigh. “Where am I?”

“Mr. Morrison? I’m Adele Vance. Mrs. Sorenson has hired me to defend you. Is it OK if I talk with you in front of Mrs. Sorenson?”

“Leigh? What happened?” Reg asked.

“Like I told you the last time...Weeping Sparrow will be OK. You took a scalpel to her,” Leigh told him.

“Um, I guess from the handiwork...” Reg said, looking down at his chest, “...Justin?”

“Yes.”

“That’s why I’m still alive.”

“We didn’t want you taking a scalpel to anyone else. I’ve hired Ms. Vance to defend you.”

“I assume I’ll be facing criminal charges, then?”

“Assault with intent to commit murder, most likely,” Vance told him. “Or maybe attempted murder. The presence of the scalpel shows some intent. On the other hand, you didn’t track her down or go to her house. I expect there will also be charges in the case of one Running Elk.”

Reg looked to Leigh for an explanation. Leigh looked surprised that Vance even knew about that. She must have really done her homework in the hours since Leigh had hired her. “You, uh, stabbed him, too,” Leigh told him.

“What do you need from me?” Reg asked the lawyer.

“Start at the beginning.”

“I’ve been having blackouts. I’ve lost about 10 and a half months total, so far. The blackout periods last anywhere from a few days to the 9 and a half months of the first one.”

“What are the last things you can remember?” Vance asked him.

“I remember leaving my sister’s house on Boxing Day. I was heading for the Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas. Then nothing certain until I woke up in here.”

“You don’t remember being at Justin and Karen’s house Wednesday night?” Leigh asked.

“Vaguely. Weeping Sparrow was there, too, wasn’t she?”

“Does the name Thomas A. Anderson mean anything to you?” Vance asked him.

Reg shook his head.

“You’ve been working on and off here, in the hospital kitchen, for most of a year. Mostly off, but you’ve been on for the past 3 weeks.”

Reg looked up at Leigh, panic in his eyes. Leigh’s eyes had gone cold, almost dead.

“What are you saying?” Vance asked, looking from Reg to Leigh. “That wasn’t a very subtle exchange just now.”

The two said nothing, exchanging another glance.

“People who lie to their attorneys do not have very effective defense.”

“You may up and leave,” Reg warned her. He paused and she sat there waiting patiently. “I may have been involved, during these blackouts, with procuring, cooking and serving...human flesh.”

“Do you have any physical evidence to prove this?” Vance asked calmly.

“The soup he was cooking yesterday was thrown on the floor,” Leigh told her.

“So it’s cleaned up and gone.” Vance sighed. “What makes you think this is what’s been happening?”

“That’s more Weeping Sparrow’s area. She’s kind of sensitive, psychically-speaking....”

“I doubt I’ll get you off completely, given the evidence and witnesses against you. But I think a nice quiet place will be better than Jackson.”

Leigh had been shifting anxiously in her chair ever since Reg mentioned serving human flesh. Now she leaned forward earnestly and said, “It may have something to do with what happened last summer. I was visiting an archaeological dig that a friend was running in the UP, and a student there may have been killing people and cooking them, and serving them to the dig crew.”

“Why haven’t I heard about this case?” Vance asked her.

“Because it was kept quiet, because it was so strange.”

It was clear from Vance’s face that she had been taking everything Reg said with a huge lick of salt. She wondered what Leigh’s purpose was in mentioning this case now. “What’s the connection? Were you fed human flesh with the others, up north?” she asked Reg.

“No,” Leigh told her. “It seemed to stop when he got there.”

“How does this connect with now, then? What makes you make this leap?”

“I didn’t bring it up,” Reg objected. “Leigh did. But if you look at the longest missing period, about 9 and a half months, it was when I was on a plane that went missing on its way from Cancun to California. I returned. My companion didn’t. And I came back very lean and trim, but certainly not starving. My only memory of that period is of my companion being dead...hopefully in the crash...and I think I ate him for lack of better food.”

“And you remember doing this?”

“Only in fragments.”

“I will want to establish, if we can, the time-frames of all your blackouts, and all we can ascertain about them. It is your belief, then, that you’ve been feeding people in the hospital cafeteria human flesh?”

“Yes.”

“Oh, my. Let’s not mention this to the police until we investigate this further. It doesn’t look good on my record if you go away for life. Do you believe you’re guilty?”

“I have no recollection. But my friends think so.”

“Even the one who put a hole in your chest?”

“I must have needed it.”

“Then you don’t want to press assault charges?” Vance asked.

“No.”

“What about civil charges?”

“No.”

“This is the most interesting case I’ve had in my career so far....” That was the last thing Reg heard her say before he floated away on a cloud of morphine.

Tony arrived back in town late Friday afternoon, ready for a relaxing weekend at ‘home.’ The safe house was empty when he got there, which wasn’t uncommon. So he called to see if Justin wanted to get together for a beer that evening. The call went straight to voice mail. “Well, if Justin’s busy, den so’s Karen. Hmmm.... Let’s see if Frank’s aroun’.”

Frank saw Tony’s name in the caller ID and grinned. “Not it the face! Not in the face!” he hollered, when he opened the phone.

“Hey! Dat wasn’t my fault. Justin zigged when he should’a zagged. So what’s shakin’?”

“Maybe. But it started off a really bad month for Justin.”

“Whadya mean? He wuz in da hospital last I saw ‘im.”

“We really shouldn’t talk about it over the phone,” Frank told him.

“Meet’cha at da usual place, den?”

Frank agreed. Tony was already eating Coneys and Vernors when Frank got there.

“So? What’s up?” Tony asked around the bite of Coney dog.

Frank brushed a fleck of ejected crumb off his coat.

“Sorry ‘bout dat,” Tony apologized, wiping his mouth with the napkin.

“Right. So, Justin got out of the hospital...and shot Reg.”

“Why?”

“Because Reg opened Weeping Sparrow’s throat with a scalpel.”

“Where’d ‘e hit ‘im?”

“Center of mass, left lung.”

“Wow! He wasn’t kiddin’ aroun’! How’s Reg?”

“Recovering.”

“He’s still in da hospital? Can’t sign himself out, can ‘e? Is Aiden his doctor?”

“No. And Justin is in the Wayne County Jail.”

“Should I go pick ‘im up?”

“Karen and their lawyer are taking care of that.”

“Clear-cut case of public defense, right? Da time I helped out a little ol’ lady, I got stuck in the Army. But at least da little ol’ ladies sure felt safe aroun’ da neighborhood after dat. So...how’s Leigh takin’ it?”

“She’s making sure Reg doesn’t get up and leave. There’s a police guard outside his room.”

“Well, why don’t we go see if Karen needs any help gettin’ Justin out?” Tony suggested. Frank figured he’d gotten about all he was going to get from his research for the time being, so he agreed and the two headed over to Justin and Karen’s.

The judge banged the gavel, and David Nowak hustled Justin out of the courtroom, with Karen on their heels. “Don’t talk to the media,” Nowak said to Justin in a low but intense voice. “Don’t talk to anyone but your wife without me present. And under no circumstances should you talk to the police without me present.” Nowak turned to Karen. “Here’s my card. My cell number is on the back. Call me immediately if you need anything or have any other information I should know about.”

“Do I have do sday away from Reg?” Justin asked plaintively.

“That would be advisable.”

“Bud I wan’ do abologize. Id wasn’ his fauld. He wasn’ himself.”

Nowak shook his head and gave Karen a look that said, “Do whatever you have to, to keep him away from Mr. Morrison.” He turned and walked out of the courthouse.

Karen glanced over her shoulder and caught Evan’s eye. Earlier that afternoon, after she finished cleaning the spare room where Running Elk had been stabbed, but before it was time to leave for Justin’s arraignment, she took Fran back to Receiving to stay with Running Elk. Now she had Evan ‘guarding’ her again. Jimmy had refused to leave Weeping Sparrow. He claimed it was easier duty than watching Running Elk or Karen.

But a few more guys were on their way down from the reservation to help out, so that all three could get some rest soon. And Aiden, with help from the tribal doctors, had already arranged for Weeping Sparrow to be moved up to Mt. Pleasant. She would be getting a med-evac ride up there first thing the next morning.

Karen drove home, with Justin in the passenger seat and Evan directly behind her. She knew that it drove Justin nuts to be a passenger. But he looked like he hadn’t slept much last night, and the doctor at the county jail’s infirmary had returned less of Justin’s pain pills than Karen had dropped off. She wasn’t sure when he’d last had them, but she preferred they all get home in one piece, even if the trip made Justin uncomfortable.

The three had barely settled in when there was a knock at the back door. Only friends came to that door, so Karen ignored Justin signing her to take a gun. Evan followed her anyway. At least someone else was concerned about her safety, Justin thought to himself.

It was Tony and Frank. “Yo! What’s shakin’?” Tony said, striding into the living room and dropping his coat on a chair.

“Whad? No Coneys?” Justin asked him.

“Da las’ time I brung ‘em, all’a youse guys yelled at me for it.”

“Congratulations on making bail,” Frank said, settling onto the couch. A moment later, the phone rang.

Leigh had left the hospital when Reg’s lawyer did, to let Reg get some rest. But she didn’t feel like going home alone to an empty apartment. She’d tried Aiden and Angie’s home phone first, hoping to give Justin and Karen a little time alone. But there was no answer. She didn’t bother leaving a message. She tried Justin and Karen next.

“Hi, Leigh.” Karen answered the phone.

“Is Justin...?” Leigh asked.

“Yeah. We just got home about 20 minutes ago. Evan, Tony and Frank are here, too.”

“Do you mind if I...?” Leigh hesitated. Karen sounded as tired as Leigh felt right now. She didn’t want to burden her more than she already was, but....

“Sure. No problem. I’ll have the tea kettle warming up.”

Leigh had just put the car into Park in Justin and Karen’s driveway, when a set of headlights pulled in behind her. It took her a second to recognize Aiden’s truck from that angle. The three walked to the door together, and Evan let them in. Karen was bustling around the kitchen, getting out food and drinks for everyone. Leigh took off her coat to help.

Aiden went to the living room and collapsed into one of the chair without even taking off his coat.

“You gan use one ‘a da sbare rooms if you wan’,” Justin told him.

“Ha ha. Not a bad couple days’ work, if I do say so myself. I’m happy to report that Running Elk not only gets to live, he gets to keep his insides. Weeping Sparrow will be on her way home in the morning, getting her away from all the electronic equipment. And Reg...well, he’s gonna live, too, though it appears that the only reason he’s alive is pure luck.”

Angie slid onto his lap, and he wrapped his arms around her.

“I wasn’ drying do.... I mean, I was agding on insdingd,” Justin moaned. “I didn’ mean do hurd him. Bud id habbened so fasd....” Justin pushed himself up from the chair and hurried toward the bathroom. He brushed past Karen and Leigh, who were bringing trays of finger food into the living room. He looked kind of ill to Karen. He was making himself sick thinking about what had happened, blaming himself, and she wished there was something she could do to take away the pain. The women heard the water come on in the bathroom.

“I’m surprised he aimed fer center ‘a mass,” Tony mused.

“It’s not like he had the time to think about it,” Karen said, defending her husband.

“At least Terri wasn’t there,” Frank said. “And they didn’t find the silencer.” He looked directly at Karen.

“It’s in the safe. And cleaned,” Karen told him, as Justin came back into the room.

“Dat’s why I married her. She’s one smard lady,” Justin said. He grabbed Karen around the waist and hugged her before sitting back down. Drew appeared from under the couch and leapt onto Justin’s lap, and Justin started petting him. Drew always seemed to know when his help was needed.

“Reg is of the impression that if you shot him, it was for a good reason,” Leigh consoled him. “He also told the lawyer about maybe feeding people people,” she told all of them. “And I let slip about the whole UP thing.”

Karen let out a little gasp, then sucked back a mild curse. It wasn’t Leigh’s fault, really. She was only doing everything she could to help Reg. And in the stress of the moment, bringing that up must have seemed like a good idea. But she may have just opened a huge can of worms. All of them had been involved in that case, including Terri. But they’d managed to keep it quiet. If it was going to get linked to this one, people might start asking questions that were better left unasked.

“His lawyer is talking about going for an insanity plea,” Leigh finished.

“Well, of course,” Angie agreed.

“His lawyer needs ta make sure he gets sent ta da federal pen,” Tony commented. “My uncles and cousins always said dat da federal pens are better’n state an’ local joints.” Tony grinned.

“So...what’s our plan now?” Frank asked the group.

“Find out if Reg is possessed or a split personality?” Leigh suggested.

“Have youse guys tried exorcism yet?” Tony asked. “Maybe we oughta get an exorcist.” He pulled out his phone and dialed Fr. Colin’s number. It went straight to voice mail. “Hey, Fadder C! It’s Tony! Gimme a call; it’s impor’int!”

“Sounds like either way he’s goin’ up the river,” Angie said.

“I’m jus’ goncerned aboud him gedding glean before he dies,” Justin said. “I don’ wan’ him goin’ da Hell. We need do find oud whad’s wrong wid him. And if he’s irredeemable, den we have backhoes and some embdy broberdy up nord.”

“Yo, maybe if we do dat, we could plant an ID on ‘im wit’ Jimmy Hoffa’s name,” Tony suggested.

“That would never work,” Karen disagreed. “It’d be far too easy to tell it wasn’t Hoffa. Reg looks nothing like him.”

“But if he wuz just bones....” Tony argued.

“The bone structure would still be all wrong,” Leigh said.

“The only way you might pull it off is if the bones were burned and crushed, in that order,” Karen told him. “And even then, you’d have to do a pretty good job, because you can still tell a lot from really small fragments.”

“So, how do we ged da Tommy bersonalidy do come oud, so dat we can bob a Sphere?” Justin asked.

“I think Frank is our expert there,” Aiden told him, waking suddenly after having dozed off. “I didn’t pay that much attention during that rotation.”

“Should you maybe go see Weebing Sbarrow?” Justin asked. “You know, do do whad you do?”

“I already did see her yesterday, but I guess seeing her again tonight couldn’t hurt. But I already know that I can’t Heal her. I figured that out when I tried on Running Elk. Since the damage was done by Reg, and not something Unknown, it doesn’t seem to work.”

“Garen, do you dink she might use a labtob, you know, if she’s having drouble sbeaging?”

“I don’t think so , hon. She’s already annoyed by all the monitors and stuff. Paper and pencil are working fine.”

“Da area where Reg’s blane wen’ down.... Dony, did you habben to see anyding about any Soud Amerigan weendigo draditions?” Justin asked. “I mean, mosd culdures musd have sdories lige dat, ya know, like dey all have flood sdories an’ sduff.... Righd, Garen?”

“I don’t really know. I haven’t done as much work with the Central and South American native groups as I have with the North American.”

Tony thought for a few seconds. “Naw, nuttin’ like dat.”

“Actually, I think the plane went down in the Caribbean, anyway,” Frank said.

Aiden had dozed off again, and now a thought woke him. “So, Frank, Reg’d be a pretty rare case, if he does have a true split personality, right? I mean, it’s usually triggered before age six, isn’t it?”

“One in about 40 million are triggered as adults,” Frank confirmed. “But something like having to eat Ramon to survive would be the kind of trigger it would take. Reg might be insane. That’s the best case. Possession...”

“Or having gone over to Evil,” Karen interjected.

“...or having gone over to Evil...are worse,” Frank continued. “At least right now he’s under pretty close observation.”

“That’s what we thought Wednesday night,” Karen murmured.

“So, does hypnosis work wit’ multiple personality disorder?” Tony asked.

“It’s actually one of the best ways to work with it,” Frank told them. “That or putting the person in a triggering situation. But that’s generally unsafe.”

“Well, if we’re going do hypnodize Reg, I need a shower,” Justin said. He lifted Drew off his lap and set him on the floor beside the chair, then stood and headed for the stairs.

“We’ll need permission from Reg’s attorney, if I’m going to consult with Reg,” Frank told Leigh. She got out her phone and called Vance.

Justin had gone about halfway up the stairs, and now he came back down a couple stairs and leaned over the railing. “We’re going do see Weebing Sbarrow an’ Running Elg, too, right?”

“Running Elk is in the ICU, and will be sleeping for the next six hours, at least,” Aiden told him, “since he was supposed to be getting a dose of sedative about now if he wasn’t going to sleep on his own. And I don’t have privileges at St. Mary Mercy, so I don’t know if they’ll let us in to see Weeping Sparrow at this hour.”

“I don’t either,” Frank said, “but they let me into the OR.”

“You had your hands in Weeping Sparrow’s neck,” Aiden countered.

“Ms. Vance said you can see Reg,” Leigh told them, closing her phone. “She said she would call the hospital and let the officer on duty there know that you’re to be allowed in. I think she’s hoping that you’ll confirm that Reg is crazy before she calls in an outside expert to examine him.”

“I was thinking that maybe Tony and I can keep an eye in Reg, you know, out of body, when you hypnotize him,” Karen said. “Then we can see if the thing I saw in the cafeteria is the same thing I see when Reg is Tommy.”

“That’s not a bad idea,” Frank agreed.

“I’ll go first,” Karen told Tony, “since I’ve seen ‘Tommy’ already. Then I can let Frank know, and you can go keep an eye on ‘Tommy’...or Reg.”

When Justin was ready to go, they all piled into the casino van and headed up to Livonia. Along the way, Frank insisted they stop past a pet store. They ended up at Meijer, and Frank came out with some plastic tubing and a bag of water. “Algenated water,” Frank explained. “Used in tropical fish tanks.” He held up the tubing. “To put in this, to make a water necklace for Weeping Sparrow. It might help alleviate the stress of all the electronics.”

Karen smiled. He was more thoughtful sometimes than he normally let people know. That was the kind of thing that made psychiatry not as strange a line of work for Frank as she would have expected given the rest of his behavior.

“That reminds me,” Leigh said, lifting the box she’d been cradling between her knees. “I found this online, and found a local supplier.” She opened the box and showed Karen a small terrarium. “It’s a completely sealed environment, like a Bio-Sphere. I thought we could smuggle it in to Weeping Sparrow.”

Karen nodded and smiled. It was nice how much all her friends liked Weeping Sparrow. She appreciated the kindness they were showing her in this difficult situation.

They got approval for everyone to see Weeping Sparrow, but no more than two at a time and for no more than a few minutes each. Frank went in first, as both a physician and friend, along with Tony. Frank looked over her chart, while Tony held her hand and said a few encouraging words in his own unique way. She smiled at Tony and squeezed his hand. Then Frank gently looped the ‘water necklace’ around her neck, and she gave him a small smile as well.

Karen let Justin and Leigh go in next, since Justin hadn’t seen her since she’d been wheeled into the hospital from the parking lot the day before. He was surprised at how pale and wan she looked. Her eyes were closed when they went in, and her eyelids seemed as thin as crepe paper. Justin knelt beside her bed. “I’m sorry,” he told her, putting a hand on her arm to boost her energy.

She opened her eyes, raised one eyebrow and waggled a finger at him. Then she picked up the paper and pencil she’d tucked under the edge of her pillow. “Not your fault, Moose. You saved my life. Thank you.”

Justin blushed a little when he read the message, and Weeping Sparrow patted him on the head, careful to do it on the uninjured right side.

Leigh showed her the terrarium and she seemed pleased by it, and touched by the gesture. It was small enough that it was hardly noticeable when Leigh nestled it under the blankets, where Weeping Sparrow could keep a hand on it or lift the blanket to look at it if she wanted.

When the two came out of Weeping Sparrow’s room Leigh headed over to check on Reg through the window. He appeared to be sleeping. Then she joined Frank and Tony in the waiting room.

Karen went in with Jimmy and Evan next, and each gave the wise woman a gentle hug. The two men were going to stay a few more minutes and do a quiet healing chant. Karen went out to join the others.

As she came out, she spotted Justin trying to persuade the cop to let him see Reg. The officer was obviously not going to be swayed, but Karen went over there anyway. “David will kill you,” she hissed in Justin’s ear as she grabbed his jacket sleeve and pulled him away from Reg’s room. Justin looked chagrined, but let his wife drag him away toward the waiting room. Aiden and Angie were waiting in the hallway for Jimmy and Evan to come out, so they could see Weeping Sparrow next.

Frank was getting ready to go into Reg’s room when Karen and Justin got to the waiting room. “I’ll go see what Reg looks like before you get started,” Karen told Frank as she got as comfortable as she could in one of the chairs. “And I’ll let you know as soon as I see ‘Tommy.’” Frank nodded, and headed over to Reg’s room. Justin sat beside Karen, holding her head on his shoulder as she slipped out of her body. Leigh stood by the door, both to warn Justin if anyone was coming, and to watch for anything that might happen in Reg’s room.

It took Karen no time at all to get to Reg’s room. Inside the greyish form of Reg’s body lying on the bed, Karen could see Reg’s spirit. He looked like himself, but with a big, muddy aura around him that Karen thought must be the guilt he was carrying around.

Aiden and Angie had already traded places with Jimmy and Evan in Weeping Sparrow’s room when Frank came into the hallway and showed his credentials to the uni outside Reg’s room. Since Vance had called earlier to let him know Frank was coming, the cop had no issue with letting Frank in to see Reg.

Frank checked Reg’s vitals, then pulled a chair over where he could sit beside Reg and still see the heart monitor. He intended to use it as a sort of lie detector. He could also see the window, to watch for Karen’s signal. Reg was watching his every move. “So, what do you remember, Reg?”

“Being at Justin and Karen’s a couple days ago, and going to sleep with Running Elk watching me.”

“Nothing since then?” Frank asked.

“Nothing.”

“So you don’t remember talking to Karen and Leigh yesterday? Or the police this morning?”

“No. Did I?”

“Fascinating. Yes. You even gave the police a statement.”

“So you and I are not the only ones in this room right now?” Reg asked.

“In a manner of speaking.” (If Karen had been able to make out what the two were saying, she would have found the exchange amusing. She continued to concentrate on Reg’s spirit.)

“Well, I hope something’s ‘on board,’” Reg said, “so we can get rid of it.”

“So you’re interested in knowing what’s going on?”

“Yes, so we can fix it.”

“Then you won’t resist if I try to hypnotize you? I think it’s going to be the most direct way to help you find out what’s going on.”

“Please do. I won’t resist at all.”

Frank pulled a coin from his pocket and began flipping it over the knuckles of his right hand, out where Reg could watch. “Watch the coin carefully,” Frank told him. “Relax and try to see every move it makes over my hand.” Frank continued to talk soothingly to Reg. But in spite of Reg’s willingness to go under, he just wasn’t.

Karen was beginning to worry that the process might take longer than she could stay out of her body. It had already been a couple minutes, and she was going to have to work harder to keep herself there much longer.

Then, suddenly, Reg’s face changed completely. It was the face Karen had seen in the kitchen yesterday morning... ‘Tommy.’

Karen slipped back into her body. “I just saw it happen. He’s Tommy now. I’m going to let Frank know. Can you go keep an eye on him now, Tony?”

“Sure t’ing!” Tony got comfortable and slipped out of his body.

When Justin started to follow Karen out of the room, she stopped. “Who’s going to watch Tony?”

“I will,” Leigh offered.

Karen nodded and continued over to Reg’s room. Frank had pulled the curtains partially shut, leaving a gap of about 6 inches. Karen stood at the gap and signaled Frank with a ‘thumbs up.’

“Lemme see for a segond,” Justin whispered to her. Karen stepped aside to let Justin peek through the gap. He was hoping he could see some outward sign that Reg wasn’t Reg anymore, something they could use when Reg was up and around. They couldn’t keep Karen and Tony dogging him in the astral plane all the time. But since Reg was looking away from the window towards Frank, Justin couldn’t get a good enough look at his face. And with one arm handcuffed to the bed and the other wrapped with IV tubes and monitor cords, he couldn’t tell if Reg was using a different hand than normal for things like adjusting his blankets or whatever.

“Would it be possible for me to speak with Mr. Anderson?” Frank asked.

“I thought that’s why you were hypnotizing me, Frank.”

“OK, well, you’re just not going under right now. Do you have any real ideas on how long these blackouts have been going on?”

“Since right after Christmas, in Cancun. I’m guessing that if they’re stemming from going down with Ramon.... What Weeping Sparrow figured out is that to survive, I ate him.”

“That doesn’t sound like you.”

“I may not have had much choice.”

“Why?”

“I couldn’t find other food? Or maybe he was just right there. He was pre-cooked.”

“So there was a fire in the crash.”

“Yeah. It was kind of messy.”

“Well, at least you had the.... Where’d you crash, anyhow? And how’d you get back?”

“That I don’t remember.”

“Fair enough. Let’s talk about the fire in the plane. Were you burned in the fire?”

“I don’t think so. I must’ve gotten out somehow. Maybe the convenient pool it crashed in....”

“Did you get out in the pool?”

“I came to in the pool. I had some lacerations and cuts, but nothing too serious.”

“So you were out of the plane when you came to. And Ramon was still inside, and the plane was burning.”

“It had burned out by then.”

“Was the water deep enough for you to swim away from the plane?”

“I was free-floating. The plane got caught up in trees.”

“Fresh water or salt?”

“Fresh.”

“Lucky for you that you got out and weren’t trapped.”

“It smelled really good.” ‘Tommy’ licked his lips at the memory.

“The water?”

“Um, yeah. Yeah, the water.”

“So how long did Ramon last? It sounds like he was a really big feast.”

“How many months was I gone? I learned to use the spear; and I’m pretty good with the throwing knife now.”

“What’d you learn to use the spear on?”

“Fish, I think.”

“So, obviously there was wood to make the spear out of.”

“Tree branches and rocks. I must’ve actually watched those survival shows Justin likes so much.”

“What did you secure them with?”

“Sinew.”

“Pretty good survival shows.”

“Well, you use what you’ve got.”

“So, did you like being on the island or wherever you were?”

“You know me. I’m a social being. Lonely as hell.”

“But did you like it?”

“Not really.”

“What’d you think of learning to use a spear and daggers?”

“Necessary. And they’ve served me in good stead since then. Throwing the spear the first time was interesting. And the first time I was playing with a knife in the kitchen, and threw it and it stuck in the wall.... Reg thought that was pretty cool...I mean...that was interesting.”

“I’d like to speak to Reg now.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, if you don’t mind Mr. Anderson, I’d like to speak with Reg.”

“So, what’d you learn?” ‘Reg’ asked Frank.

“That Mr. Anderson does a good impression of you and has your memories. And he doesn’t want us to know when he’s out and about.”

“That wouldn’t be any fun,” ‘Tommy’ replied.

“No, I suppose it wouldn’t,” Frank agreed.

Tony saw Reg change, just that fast, from Tommy into Reg. He slipped back into his body, and rushed out to the hallway to let Frank know.

“What wouldn’t?” Reg asked.

“Fascinating.” Frank saw Tony waving through the window, but he’d already suspected that Reg had switched back. He’d seen Reg’s pulse rate jump on the monitor, and heard Reg’s breathing get catchy. While he was Tommy, the pulse rate stayed at a steady 60, and his breathing was slow and even. “I’ve got good news for you, Reg...sort of.... You’re nuts.”