can protect Katie and figure out what happened.â
Maybe James is right. In daylight, yesterday seems crazy.
I nod at the clock on the wall. Itâs 7:17. âWhat about school?â
Ty doesnât meet my eyes. âI decided Iâm staying home today.â
âWhat will that do to your grades, young man?â James asks. He turns to me. âSomebodyâs got to play mom around here. And speaking of moms, how do you want your eggs? Over easy or scrambled?â
âScrambled, please.â
âWhat about you?â He looks at Ty.
âThe same.â We all head back to the kitchen. As James takes a carton from the refrigerator, I wonder if the eggs are only making an appearance because Iâm here. Maybe Trix is really their normal breakfast, and the eggs are a little bit of a show. And what about me? How do I normally begin my days? With scrambled eggs, Trix, or a handful of colored pills doled out by a nurse?
James starts cracking eggs into a white ceramic bowl. âI know you told Ty some of it, but could you maybe start from the top and tell me exactly what happened to you?â
âSure.â Some feeling I canât name twists inside me, like Iâve swallowed a piece of glass and itâs slowly moving through my gut. But I start with waking up on the floor with my fingernails on the table. They ask an occasional question, like whether I ever saw more of the other man than just his shoes. I donât leave out any of it, not even how Michael Brenner hit his head on the rock.
While Iâm talking, James finishes the eggs and splits them between Ty and me. Heâs mixed in some shredded cheddar cheese, and itâs so good. My tooth doesnât feel as loose as it did yesterday, so I can chew on both sides of my mouth. In between huge bites, I describe how I drove off and met Officer Dillow, the phone call he got, and how I locked him in his own security car and took his gun.
âIt sounds like this Dr. Nowellâif thatâs his real nameâused a spoof card,â James says.
âWhatâs that?â Ty asks.
âOnce you buy the card, you call a special phone number, enter a PIN, and then you put in the name and number you want to show up on the caller ID. So your guy Nowell could have called from any place in the world, but when this Officer Dillow answered the phone, it would have said Sagebrush Mental Hospital.â
âWait, Katie,â Ty says. âGoing back to what you said earlier. How do you know this other guyâs name? This Brenner?â
I explain about Brennerâs wallet, which Officer Dillow took. âI still have his phone though.â I push back my empty plate, get the phone from Tyâs room, then turn it on. âThe battery says itâs at seven percent. Do you guys have a charger for this kind of phone?â They look at the bottom and shake their heads.
âHere,â Ty says, âlet me see whatâs on it.â He starts to hold out his hand, then pulls it back. âMaybe I shouldnât touch it. Itâs got that guyâs fingerprints on it.â
âToo late for that. Iâve already touched it all over.â I hand it to him.
He grabs a piece of paper and a pen and starts scrolling back through the phone with one hand and writing down numbers with the other. âIâm making a list of all the numbers he called and that called him.â After heâs written about eight numbers, he pushes some more buttons, holds the phone up to listen to it, shakes his head, and lowers it. He looks at us. âThereâs nine messages in the voicemail box, but it wants a password.â He presses some more buttons. âLots of text messages. The most recent one says, âCall me ASAP.â The one before that says, âWhere are you?â And before that it was, âHave you taken care of things?â Theyâre all from Nowell.â
Nowell, the doctor who