The Other Brother (24 page)

Chapter 43

r abriel loathed hospitals. To him they were palaces of pain, I misery, and suffering. He could not remember a single positive experience he'd ever had at a hospital.

Now he found himself at Grady again, only a few days after he'd been a patient there himself. As he and Dana hurried down the corridor to Nicole's room, he touched the fading bruise on his head, remembering the car accident that was intertwined with so many other improbable things. Psychic powers. Visions in mirrors. Illusory reptiles. A bizarre bond with Isaiah. A veritable treasure box of mysteries.

He'd come there to visit his sister, but at this point, when every turn of events led to surprising revelations, he wondered if something else unexpected would happen.

Nicole was in a private room. Mom was already there, wearing a classy ivory dress Gabriel recognized as one of her church outfits. Mom participated in several ministries at their family church and had probably come to the hospital straight from the house of worship.

"Thank the Lord both of you made it," Mom said. She rose from a chair beside the bed, her eyes rimmed with red. She hugged Gabriel and Dana. "Your father and Isaiah are on the way. They were playing golf this morning."

"That figures," Gabriel said.

Mom gave him a sympathetic look. Then all of them turned to Nicole.

Nicole was asleep, but she looked terrible. Her hair was disheveled. Her lips were chapped. Dark circles outlined her eyes.

"What happened to her?" Dana said.

"No one can give me a definite answer," Mom said. "She was found early this morning, wandering on Bankhead-or Hollowell Parkway, whatever they're calling it now."

"What was she doing on Bankhead?" Gabriel asked. He looked closer at his sister, searching her body for signs of injury.

"We don't know," Mom said. "But Eunice Johnson, from church-she's the lady who used to baby-sit you and Nic sometimes she was on her way to her job and saw Nic sitting on a bench on the side of the road. Nic couldn't talk, or wouldn't talk, and Eunice knew right away that something was wrong. Eunice said she reminded her of her late husband, who had Alzheimer's."

"Alzheimer's?" Dana asked. "There's no way Nicole could have that. She's much too young"

"Eunice got Nic in her car," Mom said, "and called me, and I asked her to bring her to the hospital. Eunice left just before you got here she was running late for work. But she was right on time for my baby, praise God"

"Amen to that," Gabriel said, disturbed at the thought of his sister wandering, incoherent, through one of the most dangerous areas in Atlanta. "It really is a blessing. Anything could have happened to her there"

Dana scrutinized Nicole. "Has she been given a physical exam?"

Mom nodded. "No one touched her. But the doctor doesn't know what's wrong with her. She thinks Nicole is suffering from shock. She's been asleep for the past hour."

"I'll be back," Dana said. "I'm going to chat with the physician who examined her."

Dana left the room. Gabriel gently placed his hand on Nicole's forehead. Her skin was cool and dry. Her eyelids fluttered but did not open.

It didn't make any sense. When he'd talked to Nicole the previous night, she had been fine. What had happened to her?

Isaiah.

His jaws went rigid. Isaiah had invaded Nicole's mind once before. Could he be responsible for this, too?

Gabriel turned to his mother. She had settled in the chair again and was clutching a fistful of Kleenex.

"What time did Isaiah get home last night, Mom?" Gabriel asked.

"He and your father came in around eleven," Mom said. "Why?"

"They came in together?"

"They did. Why are you asking?"

"Hold on. Did Isaiah go anywhere afterward?"

"As a matter of fact, he did," Mom said. "He said he was going out. He didn't say where"

"Did he mention Nicole at all?"

Mom closed her eyes, remembering. "I told him Nicole had been over for dinner. I think he asked me what she was doing later that evening. She told me she was planning to go home. That's all I said to him."

Son of a bitch.

Isaiah had done this to Nicole. Somehow. He must have found out that Nicole had been snooping through his belongings. This was his way of punishing her.

Gabriel's fury must have been evident on his face because Mom asked, "Do you think Isaiah had something to do with this?"

Looking at his mother, stricken with worry, Gabriel no longer cared about concealing the truth.

"Yeah, I do," he said. "I can't explain how he did this to Nicole. But I know he did."

Mom tossed a handful of tissue onto the bedside table. She walked to the window.

"Shut the door, Gabriel."

Gabriel closed the door and moved to stand beside his mother. She looked out the large window at the sundrenched city beyond, but the clouded look in her eyes made Gabriel suspect that she was seeing something else.

"I would never say this in front of your father," she said, "and please keep this between you and me. But I don't approve of how he's been handling this situation with Isaiah. He's been unfair to all of us, and especially to you"

Gabriel could not believe he was hearing this from her. She almost never took a stance against his father. And when she did, she certainly did not share her disagreement with her children.

"Yeah, I would say so," he said. "Pops has crammed Isaiah down our throats"

"I've had an uneasy feeling about Isaiah from the start," Mom said.

"You, too?"

"Yes. For many reasons. But, like you, I worried that Isaiah's intentions were less than sincere. I shared your `gut feeling,' as you called it."

"Why didn't you say anything, Mom?"

She shifted to face him and her gaze was fierce. "Because I support my husband. I've always supported him ... even when it hurt me to do so. I believe in my marriage vows, which we took before God. I submitted to my husband's headship in the household, without question."

Gabriel took his mother's hand, caressed it. She squeezed his fingers tightly.

"You have no idea what I've had to endure over the years," she said. Sniffling, she shook her head. "You can't imagine the secrets I've kept hidden from our family. You can't imagine the secrets I've kept hidden from you, most of all."

"Secrets?" His voice wavered. "What ... what secrets?"

Mom covered her eyes but could not hide her tears.

"Mom? What is it? Please tell me"

Mom lowered her hand. Her eyes wet, she clasped both his hands in hers.

"Gabriel," she said, slowly. "You---"

Behind them, Nicole screamed.

Chapter 44

C n Saturday morning, Isaiah and his father hit the golf course. They played at Cascade Hills, a posh country club of which Pops was a long term member.

Isaiah had never played golf in his life. Brothers in the hood didn't play golf. They played basketball. There weren't any putting greens in the state pen, but there were plenty of hoops.

But Pops, a firm believer in the game of golf as a forum to lubricate business deals, had decided to teach Isaiah how to play. While the morning dew still clung to the grass, Pops drove their golf cart to the edge of the rolling driving range and they unloaded their clubs. Pops, wearing a black Kangol cap twisted backward on his head like a hip jazz cat, effortlessly whacked one ball after another into the hazy sky. He then tried to teach Isaiah how to grip the club and swing.

It was a frustrating experience. After a half hour of fumbling with the club and missing the ball with embarrassing frequency, Isaiah was ready to quit. He didn't have the patience for this shit today.

The truth was, he was worried about Nicole.

He wasn't worried about her welfare; he could care less about her well-being. He worried that he shouldn't have left her in the ghetto. Her family was too connected, like the damn Kennedys. There was a chance that someone would recognize the princess and whisk her back to the palace, and, if she regained her bearings, what if she told them what he'd done? She had remembered, after all, how he'd first invaded her mind in the bedroom, even though he'd given her the command that she would forget the whole thing.

What if she recovered and told everyone she'd seen him kill a man?

He should have found a better way to punish her. He had acted impulsively, out of anger, and he couldn't get rid of the feeling that his actions were going to come back to bite him in the ass.

It wasn't his fault, though. The bitch had had no business snooping through his things. She had forced him to do what he'd done. And then her boyfriend, wanting to be a hero like Action Jackson, had tried to tackle him, and Isaiah had been compelled to kill him in self-defense. None of what had happened was his fault.

But as so often happened in his life, he had to pay for other people's mistakes. He bore the weight of other people's misdeeds on his shoulders. When all was said and done, accusatory fingers would be pointed at him.

It was so damn unfair. But hadn't Mama taught him that life was never fair for poor folk?

Isaiah's uneasiness made focusing on that stupid golf ball even more difficult. Imagining that the ball was actually a miniaturized version of his father's head didn't help either.

Pops's cell phone rang and he took the call. Grateful for a break, Isaiah propped the club against the bag. He went to the golf cart, where they had stored drinks in a cooler, and popped the tab on a Coke.

"Come again?" Pops said. "Nicole's in the hospital?"

Isaiah nearly spat out his soda.

Someone found Nicole and identified her. The lucky bitch!

Pops listened on the phone, concern drawing his lips taut. Then he said, "We'll be there ASAP," and hung up.

"We've gotta go," Pops said. "My baby girl is in the hospital."

"What happened to her?" Isaiah asked with as much ignorance as he could manage.

"We don't know yet, but she's being kept at Grady." Pops hopped behind the steering wheel of the golf cart. "Let's move, son"

Isaiah paused. How should he handle this? If he accompanied his father to the hospital, he ran the risk that Nicole would be in full possession of her faculties and would blab to everyone what had happened, if she hadn't already. He had killed a man. Although he had evaded the cops before, he was in an unfamiliar city with no friends. Hiding out would present a challenge.

On the other hand, Nicole's brain might still be as scrambled as a platter of eggs at the Waffle House. She might not recall a damn thing. He might still have time to finish his plan.

Pops snapped his fingers. "Let's go!"

I've waited my entire life for this chance. I can't punk out now What would Mama think of me?

He knew what she would think. She would be disappointed. He couldn't tolerate the idea of going back on his word.

No matter what...

Isaiah slid into the passenger seat.

"Okay, Pops. Let's go see about my little sis."

Chapter 45

icole's shriek abruptly ended Gabriel's conversation with his mother. Leaving her revelation unspoken, Mom hurried to Nicole's side.

Dana and the nurse on duty, a tall redheaded woman, rushed into the room, too.

Nicole thrashed in the sheets, waving her limbs like a child terrified of water who was abandoned in an ocean. Her eyes were wide and frightened. Her lips peeled back from her teeth and a bloodcurdling, wordless keen rose from deep in her chest.

Gabriel wanted to touch her, comfort her, but he was afraid. He'd never seen anything like this in his life.

Mom, Dana, and the nurse grasped Nicole's arms and held her against the mattress. Mom spoke soft, soothing words.

"Mama's here, baby. Everything's okay, you're safe, baby. Mama's here, Mama's not gonna let anything happen to you"

Nicole gradually ceased struggling. She lay against the bed, perspiration glistening on her face. Her eyes slowly swam into focus.

Gabriel wanted to ask her to say something, wanted to question her about how this had happened, but Nicole's eyes bugged out again as though her mind had turned inward to some hellish netherworld. Speaking to her while she was in this condition would be a waste of breath.

Mom stroked Nicole's forehead, cooing to her. Dana and the nurse stepped away from the bed.

"I'll go tell the doctor she's awake again," the nurse said and left the room.

Dana came to Gabriel. She smiled wanly. "At least she's conscious."

"Isaiah did this to her," he said. "He's screwed up her mind. I know it was him."

"You're probably right, but we could never prove that. Nicole would have to tell us, and I don't think she's able to talk yet"

"What's wrong with her? Give me your medical opinion."

"I talked to the doctor who examined her. She thinks Nicole's suffering from dementia, induced by a traumatic event"

"Yeah, Isaiah bum-rushing her mind." He mashed his fist into his other palm. "Next time I see him, Dana, I'm not holding back. He's gone way over the line now."

Dana nodded tightly. She didn't try to talk him out of his anger or smooth over his feelings. She knew better, and she looked pissed off herself, too.

Mom had climbed next to Nicole on the bed. She cradled Nicole in her arms, as though she were a small child. Nicole clung to her, her eyes painfully innocent. She began to suck her thumb, something she hadn't done since she was a preschooler.

Gabriel could not stand watching anymore. "I'll be back. I've got to get some fresh air."

He crossed the room. As he reached for the door, it swung open, and it wasn't because he'd used his telekinesis. They had visitors.

His father.

And Isaiah.

Nicole wandered through the strange, remote corridors of her mind.

She was in her childhood bedroom, the room decorated in various shades of pink, her favorite color. She lay on the bed underneath a fluffy comforter. But she was cold-as cold as though an arctic gale gusted through the room. She looked and saw that a window across the room was open, wind tearing at the curtains. She had to close it. She pulled aside the comforter, swung her legs to the side of the mattress, and planted her feet on the floor.

The soles of her feet pressed against something wet and sticky.

Allen, her boyfriend, lay on the floor beside her bed, gazing sightlessly at the ceiling. Blood bubbled from a gaping wound in his neck; gore covered her feet.

She shrieked. She tried to pull her feet out of the blood, but it was like trying to escape a tar pit. The blood, clotted and gluey, clung to her soles. She finally tore away and landed on her knees on the carpet.

She was hyperventilating. Cold air poured into her lungs, spreading a deep, numbing chill throughout her body.

Gasping, she stumbled to the window. Wind buffeted her face like fists. She managed to grasp the edge of the window. As she prepared to slam it shut, she looked outdoors.

Isaiah was outside. He stood on the lawn, looking up at her. A smile twisted across his face.

You invaded my privacy, little sis. It's only fair that I invade yours.

She tried to close the window, but it would not budge.

Isaiah began to float upward as though drawn into the air by invisible wires.

No running from me.

She had to get away from him. He would violate her, force her to do terrible, perverted things.

But she couldn't close the window. He would get in and she would belong to him.

She ran to the bedroom door and flung it open.

Isaiah stood in the hallway.

Gotcha.

She opened her mouth in a silent scream....