But whatever chance there had been while Van Slyke had been momentarily preoccupied was soon gone. Van Slyke's panic lessened and his wandering eyes refocused on David.

"Who is it, who is speaking to you?" David asked, trying to keep up the pressure.

"It's the computers and the radiation, just like in the navy," Van Slyke yelled.

"But you're not in the navy," David said. "You are not on a submarine in the Pacific. You are in Bartlet, Vermont, in your own basement. There are no computers or radiation."

"How do you know so much?" Van Slyke demanded again. His fear was again changing to anger.

"I want to help you," David said. "I can tell you're upset and that you're suffering. You must feel guilt. I know you killed Dr. Hodges."

Van Slyke's mouth dropped open. David wondered if he had gone too far. He sensed that he had evoked a strong paranoia in Van Slyke. He only hoped Van Slyke's rage wouldn't be directed toward him as Angela feared. David knew he had to get the conversation back to whoever was paying Van Slyke. The question was how.

"Did they pay you to kill Dr. Hodges?" David asked.

Van Slyke laughed scornfully. "That shows how much you know," he said. "They didn't have anything to do with Hodges. I did it because Hodges had turned against me, saying I was attacking women in the hospital parking lot. But I wasn't. He said he would tell everybody I was doing it unless I left the hospital. But I showed him."

Van Slyke's face went blank again. Before David could ask him if he were hearing voices, Van Slyke shook his head. Then he behaved as if he were waking from a deep sleep. He rubbed his eyes, then stared at David as if surprised to find him standing before him with a shovel. But his confusion quickly changed to anger. Van Slyke raised his gun, aiming it directly at David's eyes.

"I told you to dig," he snarled.

David rushed to comply. Even then, he fully expected to be shot. When no shots followed, David agonized over what to do next. His current approach was not working. He was stressing Van Slyke, but not enough or perhaps not in the right ways.

"I've already talked to the person who is paying you," David said after a few minutes of frantic digging. "That's one of the reasons I know so much. He's told me everything, so it doesn't matter if you tell me anything or not."

"No!" Van Slyke shouted.

"Oh, yes," David said. "He also told me something you should know. He told me that if Phil Calhoun got suspicious, you'd have to take the blame for everything."

"How did you know about Phil Calhoun?" Van Slyke demanded. He began to shake again.

"I told you I know what's happening," David said. "The whole affair is about to destruct. As soon as your sponsor finds out about Phil Calhoun, it will be over. And he doesn't care about you, Van Slyke. He thinks you are nothing. But I care. I know how you are suffering. Let me help you. Don't let this person use you as a dupe. You are nothing to him. He wants you to be hurt. They want you to suffer."

"Shut up!" Van Slyke screamed.

"The person who is using you has told lots of people about you, Van Slyke. Not just me. And they have all had a good laugh over the fact that Van Slyke will be blamed for everything."

"Shut up!" Van Slyke screamed a second time. He lunged at David and rammed the barrel of the gun against David's forehead.

David froze as he peered at the gun cross-eyed. He let go of the shovel and it fell to the floor.

"Get back in the root cellar," Van Slyke screamed. He kept the tip of the gun pressed against David's skin.

David was terrified the gun would go off at any second. Van Slyke was in a state of frenzied agitation that bordered on absolute panic.

Van Slyke backed David into the root cellar. Only then did he withdraw the gun. Before David could reiterate his desire to help Van Slyke, the heavy wood door was slammed in his face and re-locked.

David could hear Van Slyke running through the basement, crashing into objects. He heard his heavy footfalls on the cellar steps. He heard the cellar door slam shut. Then the lights went out.

David stayed perfectly still, straining to hear. Very faintly he heard a distant car engine start, then quickly fade. Then there was only silence and the pounding of his own heart.

David stood motionless in the total darkness thinking about what he'd unleashed. Van Slyke had dashed out of the house in a state of acute manic psychosis. David had no idea where Van Slyke was headed or what he had in mind, but whatever it was it couldn't be good.

David felt tears well up in his eyes. He'd certainly managed to evoke the man's psychotic paranoia, but the result was not what he'd hoped. He'd wanted to befriend Van Slyke and get him to talk about his problems. David also wanted to free himself in the process. Instead David was still imprisoned and he'd released a madman into the town. David's only source of solace was that Angela and Nikki were safely in Amherst.

Struggling to control his emotions, David tried to think rationally about his predicament, wondering if there were any chance of escape. But as he thought of the solid stone walls encircling him he had an acute rush of claustrophobia.

Losing control, David began to sob as he vainly attacked the stout wooden door to the cellar. He hurdled his shoulder against it multiple times, crying for someone to let him out.

At length David managed to regain a modicum of self control. He stopped his self-destructive batterings against the unyielding door. Then he stopped crying. He thought about the blue Volvo and Calhoun's truck. They were his only hope.

With fear and resignation, David sank to a sitting position on the dirt floor to wait for Van Slyke's return.

26

Angela slept much longer than she'd planned. When she awoke around four-thirty, she was surprised to hear that David had neither returned nor called. She felt a pang of concern, but dismissed it. But as the time crept toward five, her concern grew with each passing minute.

Angela finally picked up the phone and called Green Mountain National Bank. But she only got a recording that told her the bank's hours were nine to four-thirty. Frustrated, Angela hung up. She wondered why David hadn't called on his portable phone. It wasn't like him. He'd surely know she'd start worrying if he were late.

Next Angela called Bartlet Community Hospital. She asked to be connected to the front information desk, then inquired there about David. She was told that Dr. Wilson had not been seen all day.

Finally Angela tried their home in Bartlet. There wasn't any other place she could think to try. But after letting the phone ring ten times, she gave up.

Replacing the receiver for the third time, Angela wondered if David had decided to play sleuth after all. The possibility only made her more concerned.

Angela went to the kitchen and asked her mother-in-law if she would mind if she borrowed the car.

"Of course not," Jeannie answered. "Where are you going?"

"Back to Bartlet," Angela said. "I left some things in the house."

"I want to go too," Nikki said.

"I think you'd better stay here," Angela said.

"No," Nikki said. "I'm coming."

Angela forced herself to smile at Jeannie before going over to Nikki. She took her daughter by the arm and walked her into the next room.

"Nikki, I want you to stay here," Angela said.

"I'm scared to stay here by myself," Nikki said. She broke into tears.

Angela was stymied. She much preferred that Nikki stay with her grandmother, yet she didn't have time to argue with the child. Nor did she want to explain to her mother-in-law why Nikki would be better off staying. In the end, Angela gave in.