Dr. Cheung was almost as nervous as Lexi. If the therapy was successful with such a high-profile patient, he would be set for life. If it failed, he could wave good-bye to his funding, not to mention his medical reputation.
“It’s important to rest as much as you can, especially during the first week. This is an immense change for your body.”
“I’m afraid that’s impossible.” Lexi gathered up her purse. “I’m due to assume the chairmanship in a month. There’s so much to do at Kruger-Brent.”
Dr. Cheung tried not to sound panicked. “Ms. Templeton. You must rest. This is your hearing we’re talking about. Even if you were to look at it purely from a business perspective, I think you’ll agree it’s an investment worth making.”
Max said the same thing.
“Go to Dark Harbor. See your dad. It might be the last chance you get to take a vacation. Once you’re chairman, you’ll never get away.”
Reluctantly, Lexi agreed. But on one condition. “Promise me you won’t tell anyone about the treatment? I don’t want to raise expectations. Not until the outcome is certain.”
Max took her in his arms and kissed her.
“I promise. Now, for heaven’s sake, get out of here. Go get some rest while you still can.”
“So did you hear? Santa Claus just landed his sleigh at Grindle Point Lighthouse.”
Robbie Templeton sat in a coffee shop in Dark Harbor, across the table from his sister.
“Grindle Point? Wow.”
Lexi read Robbie’s lips, but her thoughts were miles away. Dr. Cheung had said it could take weeks for her hearing to begin to return. He also said that twenty percent of the study had no reaction to Math1.
Robbie continued. “The fat man’s planning to take over the galaxy using the lighthouse as his base.”
“Right.”
“Rudolph’s in charge of the first attack wave. After that, the whole show’s wide open. It could be Donner. Blitzen. Any one of those guys.”
“I see. Brilliant.”
Robbie reached across the table and pinched Lexi’s arm, hard.
“Ow! What’d you do that for?”
“I’ve been trying to get your attention for the last fifteen minutes. You haven’t taken in a single word I’ve said. I might as well go back to Paris and be done with it.”
“Sorry.”
This trip to visit their father was the first time brother and sister had spent real time together in over five years. Robbie was a huge star now, filling concert halls and stadiums all around the world. Finding a window in his schedule was like winning the lottery. But as much as Lexi delighted in his company, it was hard to keep her mind off her hearing. Or rather the lack of it. She was also itching to get back to Kruger-Brent.
How am I supposed to rest when my mind is racing?
“You think Dad would be super upset if I flew back to New York early?”
Robbie frowned. “I don’t know. I would be. What’s the rush?”
He was worried about Lexi. She’d lost a ton of weight since he’d last seen her, presumably from stress. Nothing could dim her luminous beauty, but to his brotherly eyes, she looked gaunt and more tired than he’d ever seen her.
Lexi looked at him and wondered when it was, exactly, that they’d grown so far apart. She still loved Robbie dearly. But whereas once he’d understood her, almost like a second self, now he asked her questions that made no sense to her at all.
What’s the rush?
How could she answer that? What did it even mean? Business is the rush. It’s the life in my veins. I may never hear again. But I’ll always have Kruger-Brent.
Max would have understood.
Tristram Harwood looked at the screen in front of him. With each new image, his rheumy seventy-year-old eyes widened. The speakerphone was still on.
“You see the scale of the problem, Tris?”
Kruger-Brent’s CEO said grimly: “I do. Is there any way…can this be contained?”
The voice on the speakerphone laughed.
“Contained? It’s all over the Internet! In a few hours, those pictures’ll be on Fox News and our stock’ll fall through the floor. You need to make a statement.”
Tristram Harwood hung up.
He’d spent three years “minding the store” at Kruger-Brent. Three peaceful, scandal-free years. And now, in his very last week…
“Stupid girl,” he muttered under his breath. “Stupid, stupid girl.”
Cedar Hill House had been Kate Blackwell’s dream home, an oasis of tranquillity in her turbulent life. The views were spectacular, the decor comfortable, welcoming and peaceful. The house had once held too many painful memories for Peter Templeton. But as he grew older, and his children became adults, he found himself increasingly drawn to the place. Kate had come here to escape the world. When he retired, he decided, he would do the same.
He made a few crucial changes. There was no longer a television in the house, or a phone. If one was going to escape the world, one might as well do it properly. A single, ancient desktop computer squatted on Peter’s desk, but it remained unplugged.
Robbie enjoyed the feeling of being cut off. It helped him relax. Lexi loathed it.
Thanks to Peter’s communications phobia, Lexi didn’t receive August Sandford’s e-mail till almost eight o’clock at night. She was strolling down by the water with Robbie when her BlackBerry suddenly and unexpectedly buzzed into life. It kept on buzzing.
Seventy-seven new messages.
The one from August had so many red exclamation points attached to it she opened it first.