"Dr. Van de Vliet, this is my cousin Stone. He drove me here and I'd--"
"I'd really like to stay," Stone said reaching to shake Van de Vliet's hand. "It would mean a lot to both of us. To the whole family."
"Family?" Van de Vliet declared. Ally noticed that he was
examining Stone with narrowed eyes and seemed to be debating something with himself. "Well, we'll see." Then he turned back to her. "The first thing is to make sure your. . . situation is stabilized. I actually think a good night's rest might do the trick. But I need to run a quick blood test downstairs."
She felt her dizziness coming and going, but she was determined to stay awake and in control of what was being done to her.
"By the way, I was wondering how is Katherine Starr doing?"
His eyes grew somber. "She's a very lucky woman, considering. We've given her some coagulants and stitched her up."
He looked at her strangely. "Do you think we should?"
"I guess it's none of my business." Of course you won't, she told herself. The Kristen matter will not stand the ordinary light of day, let alone a police investigation.
"Maybe it's time to let her daughter come and see her."
"I looked at that letter," he said with a matter-of-fact tone. "I suspect it's a hoax. And a very cruel one at that."
"I don't think so. I talked to her today. The woman formerly known as Kristen. On the phone." She stared at him. "I really think it's time I learned more about what happened to her here at the institute. All I could really find out was that she thinks she's experienced some pretty dramatic memory loss."
He looked as though this information was new to him. He also looked startled. "You spoke to her? What . . . did she say? Is she all right?"
"No, she's not all right." Don't mention the kidnapping she told herself. Play dumb and see how he behaves. "I want to know what happened to her when she was here."
He paused, then took a deep breath. "I told you everything I know this morning. She was a very troubled young person. Her treatment seemed to be going well, but she couldn't accept that. She began to believe there was some kind of conspiracy against her. In a word, she became completely paranoid."
Well, Ally thought, there's "paranoid" and then there are times when somebody really is out to get you. So which was it in Kristen's case?