Diamond Eyes (37 page)

After piling all the vegetables on the floor beside him, he explored the top shelf, almost knocking over milk and bottles of soft drink before he found a square-shaped container that he knew contained tofu sausages — he’d already eaten two for breakfast.

The task of finding saucepans was easier because they hung on hooks in order of size, but lighting the gas stove worried him. He took great care with both the switch and the gas outlet before striking the match. Gas had never smelled more sour nor the flames more sweet. The match scorched his fingers and he yelped, shaking it into the sink then flushing water over it to ensure it extinguished.

He filled the biggest saucepan first, listening until he heard it overflow, then added the potatoes and corn cobs, displacing even more water. He poured out a little extra for good measure before shifting the pot onto the flame.

Zero points for style and accuracy,
he thought.
But at least I’m coping. Sort of.

Now for the cabbage.

He reached for the wall rack of knives and selected the biggest, a meat cleaver — much blunter than the others, and no serrations to take off his fingertips.

‘What are you doing?’

His mother’s voice was right behind him.

Startled, he dropped the knife on the bench. ‘Whoa! Way to give me a heart attack. I thought you were still in the garage.’

‘I’m not surprised.’ She watched him fumble to find the knife again. ‘What’s with the blindfold?’

He shrugged and chopped off one end from the cabbage. ‘Just testing a theory — to see if improving my appreciation of minor details can help to put bigger worries into perspective.’

‘You can’t hide from your problems and hope they go away.’

‘That’s not what I mean.’

‘Well?’

‘Well, what?’ He tore the outer cabbage leaves into pieces and felt for the smaller pot, then dropped them into it.

‘So
what are
your bigger worries?’

He filled the cabbage pot to overflowing too, and shifted it clumsily onto the stove, splashing water and making the flame sizzle. ‘Huh … What do you know? I honestly don’t remember. I guess it works.’

‘Are you losing it?’ his mother said.

‘Maybe. I’d make a lousy blind person, that’s for sure. Damn! I forgot to light the grill for the sausages.’

He reached for the matches again, but she snatched the box, slapped his hand and switched on the kitchen light.

Lifting his blindfold a little, he kept his eyes closed. ‘Hey, did you know that you really can detect light through your eyelids? I could tell the light went on even without hearing the click.’

‘Open your eyes, Bennet! Sit down right now and put your shirt on. You’re acting like a mental case.’

‘I am
not
acting. Well actually I am. But I have a good reason.’

‘You’re trying to boil lettuce. What reason can you have for that?’

‘I’m what?’ He opened his eyes and saw that she was right. ‘Oh well …’ He reached for the refrigerator. ‘Try, try again.’

She grabbed his arm. ‘What are you doing? Get that shirt off your head before you hurt yourself!’ She tried to remove it, but he blocked her.

‘I want to do this, Ma!’

‘Why?’

‘To appreciate what I have. Being blind makes it … makes everything so surreal, if you can imagine that? So many mundane things I used to take for granted, even in jail.’

‘Like what?’ She laughed bitterly. ‘Your health?’

‘Oh, much more than that! On a microscopic scale, it seems like everything. I can smell the boiling water. I didn’t realise it even had a smell. Did you? And the steam makes the air feel different — charged with a kind of energy I’d never have noticed without the blindfold.’

‘You’re raving.’ She headed for the telephone. ‘My doctor warned me to watch out for signs once you came out of jail. And working with those nutcases all day …’

‘No!’ He headed her off. ‘I promise, I’m not crazy. Try it yourself if you don’t believe me!’

‘Benny, look at yourself! Take that shirt off your head and behave normally!’

He sighed and obliged, but crumpled his T-shirt into a ball instead of putting it on properly.

‘It wouldn’t hurt to see a doctor anyway.’

‘No, Ma.’

‘Just talk to someone …’

‘Honestly, there’s no need.’

‘But what if you’re —’

‘No!’ Ben slammed the phone with his hand — too hard. It shattered, sending plastic fragments skittering across the bench onto the floor. Then, regaining his composure, Ben bit his lip and rubbed his temple, hating himself for venting his anger on her. He couldn’t blame her for worrying; it had taken him a long time to get over the depression and rage that had dogged him during and after his imprisonment.

Quietly, his mother collected the phone fragments and held them out to him. Her mouth opened to say something, but he snatched the pieces and threw them into the bin.

‘Okay, maybe I have been feeling low again,’ he said. ‘I just need some time to float and catch my breath. Is that too much to ask?’

She shrugged. ‘I can’t help feeling there’s something you’re not telling me.’

He pulled her against his chest, wrapping his arms around her and for a long moment they held each other; Ben with his eyes closed, exploring the familiar softness of her hair and the perfumed scents that rose from her skin, as they always had for as long as he could remember.

‘Let me try that blindfold,’ she said, giving in to him.

He smiled and wrapped the shirt around her eyes, then ushered her closer to the refrigerator.

‘Find the cabbage,’ he said, ‘or it’s boiled lettuce for both of us.’

Mira clutched to her ear the receiver of the payphone that she’d found during her exploration of the other buildings at Serenity. For the seventh time, she listened to the constant buzzing tone — still no answer at the number call-connect had provided for Ben. She hung up, worried now that he hadn’t made it home safely.

Pressing the button on the side of her invisible watch, she triggered the electronic voice. ‘The time is nine fifty-five pee em.’

‘Uh-oh.’

Where had the time gone? Only five minutes left before she had to be back in her room, and she had no intention of losing her privileges now that she had them.

‘Clear the way!’ she shouted to Freddie, who was whispering to others about collecting GPS badges from his latest band of followers. ‘Coming through!’

Using the combination of what she could see through her sunglasses and feel with her invisible walking stick, she skipped swiftly back down the hall towards the staircase.

‘You are now leaving nursing station B4 on level B,’ reported the GPS badge inside her shirt collar. ‘To your right is an elevator. To your left is a staircase. Above you is accommodation level C. Below you is accommodation level A.’

‘I know,’ she sang as she danced down the stairs. ‘And I have my freedom to come and go as I please!’

Naked except for a thick foam of blue bubbles, Matron Sanchez reached out of her oversized hot tub to answer a call on her walkabout phone.

‘What’s the emergency?’ she asked, accidentally bumping an empty bottle of food colouring back into the water with her. Appropriate, she thought, considering her role as the narrating sea-nymph.

‘Sorry, Matron,’ Zhou said. He swiftly summarised their situation, then requested another meeting with Mira in the morning. ‘Would that be convenient?’

‘Not exactly.’ Sanchez dabbed globs of blue bubbles onto her cheeks and chin. ‘Our festival kicks off tomorrow with a craft market in the morning and mini-Olympics throughout the day, so there’ll be visitors all over the place. I won’t be able to guarantee a quiet place for you to work, let alone a secure location.’

‘What about a gate pass so Mira can come to our hotel for the weekend? There’s a secure meeting room on the ground floor here, and of course we’ll pick up the tab for her expenses on both days.’

‘No can do, sorry. I need every able-bodied staff member on deck here. I’ve already got my night-shifters working overtime.’

‘What about putting her in a taxi and sending her to us that way? She’ll only be unsupervised for the drive, then she’ll be with us the whole time.’

‘Sorry, Doctor. I really do wish that was an option, for Mira’s sake, but she has … let’s call them “issues” about travelling alone. She needs full-time supervision with staff who can handle her particular psychoses.’

‘Behind great beauty lurks the shadow of neuroses,’ Zhou muttered.

‘Something like that. Around here, it lurks everywhere. I wish I could help, but it’s bad timing, I’m afraid. Can you come Monday morning instead? Her surgery isn’t scheduled until half-past two in the afternoon.’

‘We may need longer than that. A whole day, if not two, since there’s a lot of cross-questioning to get through. What about Ben? He seems to get on with her well enough by himself?’

‘I’m afraid Ben’s no longer working for us. I can’t say one way or the other if he’d be available as a volunteer. I’ve already tried to contact him a few times this evening with no luck. I wanted to invite him to our Shakespearean play tomorrow night, which reminds me, I also extend an invitation to you and your team. As promised, I’ve reserved you tickets for the sunset session.’

‘Well, then, I suppose a noisy room at Serenity is better than no room at all,’ Zhou said, giving in. ‘If we can use the same area we used before, then please expect us in the morning.’

‘And you’ll stay for the play? It’s preceded by a black-cane dinner at six — a fundraising four-course meal in a darkened dungeon with some of our blind clients as ushers and deaf clients as musicians. It’s fun. You won’t be able to see your food, but your table companions won’t be able to see the mess you make either. Can I put you down for four places?’

‘Sounds like an interesting way to finish a busy day,’ Zhou replied. ‘Okay, but you’d better only put us down for two places. If we bring helpers, they’ll have to stay in the room with our equipment … Oh, and Matron,’ he added at the last moment, ‘if we manage to contact Ben before you do, can I assume it’ll be okay for him to bring Miss Chambers to our hotel instead? We can still have her back at the centre before dinner.’

‘Well, I suppose …‘ Sanchez said, scooping a thick handful of bubbles back up to her chin, ‘so long as you don’t take her any further away, and so long as Ben stays with her the whole time. Then yes, under those conditions, I’ll assign him as her guardian for a gate pass. But I’ll be holding you and your team as ultimately responsible. Understood?’

‘Fair enough. Can you tell me his home address or phone number?’

‘Not just at the moment, but I can call you back in ten minutes.’

‘Never mind,’ Zhou replied. ‘I know people who can track him down faster than that.’

‘Good luck,’ she said as she hung up.

She scooped up more bubbles, compared their colour to her new shade of skin, then emptied in another full bottle of food colouring.

Killer barked and snarled at the sound of a car approaching. He hobbled out of Ben’s bedroom and down the stairs.

‘Ben!’ called his mother as she followed the dog to the front door. Dressed in her nightgown, she hurried to the curtain to peer out at the driveway.

Behind her, Ben opened the glass door from the rear deck, letting in the sound of the ocean as he trudged inside from the moonlit sundeck, yawning and rubbing his eyes. ‘What’s all the racket?’

His mother and the dog both turned to stare at him. ‘Why were you sleeping out there?’ Mellow asked.

‘Fresh air.’

‘Haven’t you ever heard of opening a window?’ She shook her head and turned her attention back to the driveway. ‘I didn’t know you had a girlfriend?’

‘I don’t.’ His first thought, however, was of Mira.

‘So who’s that?’ Mellow pointed through the curtain. ‘You invite them here on my night off?’

Ben slapped his cheeks to wake himself up. He shifted the curtain and saw a baby-faced brunette in a glittering evening gown getting out of a black van. ‘She’s not alone. There’s a guy behind the wheel.’

The woman’s heels clicked on the concrete driveway.

‘You’re not expecting anyone, Ma?’

She rolled her eyes and patted his cheek. ‘Wake up, baby. Would I have called you if I were?’

Ben opened the inner timber door, which still left a locked security screen between him and their visitors.

Killer growled again.

‘Sit!’ Ben ordered. ‘And smile.’

The dog obeyed, his tongue lolling sideways, but he didn’t take his eyes off their visitor.

‘If that’s his happy face,’ the woman said as she reached the door, ‘I’d hate to see him grumpy.’

Ben smiled. ‘He’s harmless, and you are …?’

‘Karin Sei, and in the van,’ she pointed to the driver, ‘is my associate John Duet. We work with Doctors Zhou and Van Danik.’

‘Oh?’ Ben replied. ‘Aren’t you a little overdressed?’

She smiled, but only a little. ‘Sorry to bother you at this hour, Mr Chiron. We did try to call, but no one answered your phones.’

‘Yeah, sorry.’ He opened the security screen and stepped out to greet her. ‘What happened to the other two guys? Hank somebody — Hawthorn, I think, and his younger sidekick?’

‘Both reassigned.’ She handed over a sealed envelope with a logo for the Drift Inn. ‘You’ll be paid generously for your time,’ she said as he opened it.

Inside, he found a handwritten note on matching stationery from Dr Zhou inviting him to assist the team during an interview of Mira Chambers the following day.

‘We can pick you up at nine in the morning and drop you home again in the afternoon,’ the woman said. ‘It may run over into Sunday too … I’m to wait for your reply.’

‘Wahoo!’ He grinned, and turned towards his mother to reassure her with a nod. ‘I’ll be here!’

‘Nine it is then,’ Sei confirmed with a curl of her disarming smile.

He watched her go, elegant on her heels but with a certain stealthy quality, like a panther on stilts. He closed the door and steeled himself against a tirade of questions from his mother.

‘What was all that about? And who are these doctors she mentioned?’ She poked him in the chest with her finger. ‘I thought you said you weren’t sick? Or are they making you do overtime at Serenity?’