Tristan drove me home to the duplex where we said goodnight. "You look pale," he told me as he gently kissed me goodnight. "Get a good night's rest. We'll talk tomorrow."
The steamy bath nearly put me to sleep right in the tub. It was all I could do to dry my hair and stumble into bed. When I woke at three in the morning, I was drenched in sweat and obviously had a fever. My throat felt like it was on fire and every joint in my body was throbbing. I had the flu and a rotten case of it at that.
When Tristan called me the next morning, I absolutely forbade him to get within twenty feet of me. He insisted that I should have someone to look after me. It was my turn to put my foot down.
"I've had the flu before. Twice in college as a matter of fact. Just leave me alone and I promise I'll drink lots of fluids and be back on my feet in no time." I coughed and it sounded like I brought up half a lung. "You don't want this. Trust me."
Unbelievably, he accepted my wisdom and promised to check on me later in the day--by phone. "I'm talking to the PI around noon. I'll let you know what he says."
Before I put the phone back on my nightstand I called Mom in Maine. All I wanted to do was fall back into bed, but I knew I needed to talk to her first.
"I'm so sorry you're sick, honey," she said. "You probably caught something in the hospital. God knows a hospital is a great place to pick up germs."
"It's just the flu, Mom."
"Well if it feels like anything unusual, promise you'll get yourself to a doctor. You never know."
"I promise. How's the cabin?"
Mom laughed hard and called out to my father. "She wants to know how we like the 'cabin'." I could hear my father's belly laugh in the background. "The 'cabin' is an ocean side mansion that looks like it came out of some movie about historic Maine. I counted eight bedrooms last night, but I could have missed a couple. It's all done in cedar shake siding, slate roof, lots of stone. I guess it's what Architectural Digest would call 'rustic elegance'. There seems to be a fireplace in every room."
"His place here is way over the top."
"Well this house isn't. It's perfect--comfortable, homey, and down-to earth in an expensive sort of way. I'd kill for a kitchen like this. It's a cook's paradise."
"Sounds a lot more like Tristan than the French Chateau he's got here. I'd like to see it." I coughed again, so hard it made my head spin. "But not now, Mom. I gotta go back to sleep."
"Take care of yourself, sweetie. We're fine."
"K, Mom. Love you."
"Love you too."
By three in the afternoon I had been dragged from my bed four times. The drugstore delivered a vaporizer--something I hadn't seen since I was a kid--and a veritable medicine chest full of over-the-counter remedies. The deli delivered chicken soup and cookies. The florist delivered a huge bouquet of star-gazer lilies. Finally, a very large teddy bear arrived with helium balloons and a box of candy.
Tristan called at three-thirty.
"Thank you for all the thoughtful things."
"I wish I could do more."
"You've done so much already. And not just for me. Mom and Dad love the cabin."
"Great. They need to stay there. Artie, the PI called."
"And?"
"These are some freakin' dangerous characters. The word is that they want to 'make an example' of your father. It's going to take some time to figure out how to stop them."
"Maybe you should talk to the police."
"Not yet, not 'til we find out exactly who's involved and at what level."
"Tristan, I don't want you to get yourself in any kind of trouble."
"Trust me, that's not going to happen. Nobody knows I'm even involved. Artie's the one doing all the digging. I don't want anything or anybody connecting the dots."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean that when you get back to the theater I think we need to keep a low profile. These people are professional criminals. If they put a tail on you…"
"Why in heaven's name would they do that?"
"Your father has just disappeared into the dark. Who better to get him back into the light than his daughter?"
"Oh come on…do you really think?"
"I really think. And if they connect you and I it won't be too hard to find out where your parents are hiding. My house in Maine isn't exactly a state secret."
"Are you sure you aren't getting overly paranoid about this?"
"Raina, I'm going to have Kwan looking out for you. Don't be concerned if you see him hovering around. If you do see him, don’t acknowledge him."
"Really, Tristan, this is ridiculous."
"It is not ridiculous. Bad men harm innocent people all the time. Bad men take lives simply because they're connected with the real object of their evil. It's called collateral damage and it's part of the game of war." It sounded like he choked. "Sometimes the best way to hurt someone is to target someone they care about. That's the easiest way to get what you want."
I had the eerie feeling we weren't just talking about my father and me. I hadn't thought about Elsa for nearly a whole day. Until I found out what had happened with her, she was going to be a shadow over us. But, yet again, this wasn't the time.
"Well, right now, no one is going to see any connections between you and me or me and anyone else. I'm down for the count. I feel like shit."
"I'm sorry. I didn't want to worry you. Get some rest and we'll talk later."
"Tell Tom and the guys I'm sorry."
"They'll understand."
***
I could hardly lift my head from my pillow for four days. Tristan kept up a steady supply of deliveries of provisions and other treats. It was far more than I could consume, but Jenn was very impressed.
"It sure is a shame you haven't got any appetite. I haven't eaten this well in years," she told me.
Tristan called twice a day, at least. He kept me posted on Artie's slow-moving process of discovery and how the play was progressing.
After Thursday night's rehearsal he told me that everyone was completely off book and the blocking was starting to move like a ballet. "Tom really is a master choreographer," he said. "There's not a static moment on stage."
He also told me that Suze had come in that night to 'pinch hit' for me in my absence. That certainly didn't make me feel any better, but it gave me a damn good reason to recover. By Sunday afternoon I felt human again. I decided to take my flu-weakened legs for a walk in the late summer sun.