He'd covered his tracks pretty well.

FIFTY-FOUR.

The doorbell pealed, startling Paula out of her sleep. She had crawled back into bed after Phillip left for work, her head about to split open. Lately, she felt sick all the time, but didn't dare tell Phillip. The doorbell tolled once again and Paula staggered to the door to answer it.

"Hi Paula," Cindy said.

Paula clutched the collar of her pink housedress around her neck. "What do you want?"

Cindy licked her lips. "Listen, Paula, I don't know what happened yesterday, but I just wanted you to know that if you need a friend... I can be one for you."

Paula shook her head, anguish filling in the crevices of her face. "I can't. I can't."

Cindy exhaled and lowered her voice. "Does Phillip... hit... you?"

Paula clasped her dress even tighter around her. "No. No! Please, I can't talk to you now. You have to go." Paula went to shut the door but Cindy blocked it with her hand.

"Paula, whatever it is, I can help. Really."

"It's not your concern, now please, leave."

With a final determined shove, Paula closed and latched the door. Breathing heavily, Paula ran her hand over her forehead and tried to get a hold of herself.

FIFTY-FIVE.

It had been so easy to fill the Swiss cheese of her brain.

Between the drugs and the programming he and Keegan were administering, it was almost like taking candy from a baby.

Every time he went to visit, Keegan would huff and puff and demand to know when this would be over, that he was running too many risks by having her there. Phillip would have to remind him of the risks by not having her there. That usually shut him up.

Whenever they spent time together, she was so full of questions. "Who am I?" "What happened?" "Where am I?"

He had stroked her hair and answered her questions in rich, melodious tones. "Your name is Paula."

"Where am I?"

"In the hospital."

"Why am I in the hospital?"

"You've been sick."

"Why? What's wrong with me?"

"You... tried to kill yourself... you drove your car into a tree."

"What? Oh... God... why would I do that?"

"You were upset, because of something you did."

"What did I do?"

"Well... you killed someone."

"That, that, that's not true."

"I'm sorry, but it is."

"Who?"

"My wife. You killed my wife. Tracy. You were in love with me and you wanted her out of the way."

"Oh... no... no, I couldn't have done something like that."

He nodded. "I'm afraid you did," he said matter-of-factly. "But don't worry about anything. I'll take care of everything."

She swallowed. "You will?"

"Oh, yes. I won't let the police take you away. You're not well. I understand that. You were just so in love with me, you couldn't help what you did."

She would look back at him, tears glistening in the brown pools of her eyes. "What are you going to do?" she whispered.

"Don't you worry about a thing. But you have to do exactly as Dr. Keegan and I say, Paula. Otherwise, the police will come and then I won't be able to protect you."

"What do I have to do?"

"Shh, shh. All in good time. Just know that I'll make it possible for you to live a normal life with me."

"Why? Why would you want to help me if I killed your wife?"

Phillip smiled. "Because I care about you. I realized the lengths you would go to for me. I couldn't let you go to jail. You would have gone to jail for the rest of your life for what you did to Tracy. They probably would have given you the death penalty."

"What did I do to her?"

"Stalked her. Told her she had to give me up. When she wouldn't do it, you smashed her face with a rock."

She would cover her face with her hands, horrified. "I could never do anything like that. Ever."

"But you did, Paula. You did."

"What did you do with her body?"

"Don't worry yourself about all that. I took care of everything."

"But, I-"

"So, you owe me your life. Which is why in turn, you must dedicate your life to me."

"What do you want me do to?"

He smiled. "All in good time. Remember, though... you must do everything I ask. No questions, no complaints. Do you understand?"

She nodded, the slow realization that her life was in his hands beginning to dawn on her. "I... I understand. I'll do whatever you tell me. I promise."

"Good. For now, though, you must rest. You have so much ahead of you and you'll need your strength."

Paula gave him a feeble nod.

FIFTY-SIX.

"Hello, Cindy."

"Oh, my God, Paula, are you okay? You look like you've been crying."

Paula smoothed her hair back. "I'm fine. I was wondering if I might borrow some milk. It's Thursday and today is when I bake Phillip chocolate cake. He used the last of the milk in the coffee this morning. And if I stop and go to the store, my entire day will be off, and I just have a ton of laundry and cleaning to do."

Cindy was puzzled by Paula's calm, eerie demeanor, which was so different from the other day. "Paula... is there anything else you need?"

Paula tilted her head. "I don't know what you mean."

"Well, it's just that the other day, you seemed so upset and I was wondering if you'd like to talk about it."

"Cindy, you should really mind your own business."

"Like I told you the other day, I can help you. If you need to get away from your husband-"

"I'm perfectly fine." She paused. "The milk?"

Cindy sighed, defeated. "Fine. Come in."

Paula closed the door behind her and followed Cindy to the kitchen. Cindy went to open the refrigerator when she stopped. "Oh. Damn," she said as she smacked her forehead. She leaned over to open a drawer. "I forgot to take the ADP," she said as she pulled out a small blue plastic pouch. Paula watched in silence as Cindy popped a tiny white pill out of the foil casing. Her face lit up as she realized what it was.

"Oh!" she said, excited. "We take the same vitamins."

Cindy held her coffee mug in mid-air. "Vitamin?"

Paula nodded. "Yes. Vitamins. Phillip gives me the same kind each morning. I guess they must not be working as well since I've been feeling a little run down lately."

Cindy lowered her coffee and birth control pill on the counter, never taking her eyes off Paula. "Paula," she whispered. "Those are birth control pills. They keep you from getting pregnant-ADP. Anti-daddy pill?"

Paula shook her head, a smile creeping onto her face. "Nooo, they're vitamins. My husband is a pharmacist. I think he would know the difference between vitamins and those, those, things you're talking about." She sniffed. "Maybe you need a new pharmacist."

Cindy fought to keep from crying as she realized Paula really had no idea what she was talking about. She tried again. "Paula," she said as she placed her hands on her neighbor's shoulders. "Those tiny little pills are birth control. Birth control. They are not vitamins."

Paula's gaze drifted from the counter to Cindy's pleading stare. She shook her head slowly at first, then more rapidly as what Cindy was saying started to set in. "No. No, that's not right. I can't have children. I'm unable to have children. Why would he give me a pill to keep me from having children if I can't?"

"Paula," Cindy whispered in an earnest and deliberate tone. "Maybe he told you that, and gives you the birth control pills so that it will be true."

Paula slapped Cindy's hands off her shoulders. "You stop that. Stop it! Phillip loves me and he would never lie to me."

"Paula, please calm down-"

"He, he... he saved my life! He loves me."

Cindy could see Paula was whipping herself into a frenzy. "Okay, Paula, maybe I was wrong-"

Paula pointed a trembling finger in Cindy's face. "That's right. You are wrong. And a liar. You stay away from me!"

Enraged, Paula threw open the front door of Cindy's house and sprinted across the street to her own home.

"Paula, wait!" Cindy called out as she ran to catch up with her.

Paula spun around, shooting daggers at Cindy. "You stay away from me. You're evil. Don't you ever come near me again."

Cindy tried to grasp Paula's flailing hands with her own. "Paula, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you. Why don't you come back over and we'll have a cup of coffee, talk about this."

Cindy tried to put an arm around Paula's shoulders and steer her back across the street. Grunting, Paula shoved Cindy, who went flying and stumbled, just barely recovering before she landed in the street.

"Stay away from me," Paula said before she turned and ran home.