Glancing to the left he was able to catch a glimpse of the pool, pool house, barbecue, and firepit through the birch trees. Seeing the area reminded him of the pleasant time they’d had the night before with their barbecue, thanks to Jada’s generosity and thefabulous New York strip steaks she’d brought. Bob and Carol had come along with Melanie, so had Bill and Grace. The person Jack had not expected was Janet Huber. In the rush to get ready, Laurie had forgotten to tell him that she and Jada had met Janet at Pilates and had been so impressed with her that they’d invited her.
Jack had been particularly happy she had come and not only because she was an extremely pleasant person to be around but also because he’d been able to finish his conversation with her concerning Ethan Jameson. Thanks to her, Jack had learned that Ethan had been an exceptionally fiery individual who was quick to anger and quick to act out, and as far as she was concerned, these characteristics had been getting worse and not better. Even more upsetting from her point of view was that he was also becoming progressively more misogynistic along with being receptive to white supremacist ideology, and she blamed this on his interaction with the militiamen from Holland. In response, Jack had communicated to her his surprise from having found one of the militiamen, Alexei, to be reserved but personable and respectful like all the Dutch people Jack had met when he’d visited Amsterdam. At that point Janet admitted that she’d not met any of the Netherlanders in person and only heard about them through Ethan, so she was quick to admit that her impression they were to blame could very well be unfounded.
Turning his attention away from the memory of the dinner party, Jack looked back at the lake. As the sun had now completely cleared the eastern horizon, the color of its mirror-like surface had changed from its original dull gray to an intense cerulean blue.
Eager to get into the water, Jack jogged down to the dock. Skirting the overturned canoe, he went out to the end and put his towel on one of the Adirondack chairs. Turning around, he then put his toes over the end of the dock, pretending it was a diving board, andprepared himself for an invigorating plunge. But then he held back. Thinking about a diving board made him focus across the lake at the Bennet Estate, and just as he did so, he could just make out someone using the springboard. Because of the distance there was no sound. Feeling a tinge of inappropriate jealousy, he found himself wondering if it was Alexei and guessed it was from what the man had said the previous afternoon. Storing the image in his mind, Jack decided to ask him the next time he saw him at basketball if it had been he using the board early Friday morning.
Jack stared at the canoe for a moment, and the idea briefly passed through his mind to put the boat in the water and paddle across the lake to ask Alexei to use the springboard. But then reality stepped in. Paddling a canoe the half-mile or so across the lake would take too much time, meaning Alexei, if it even was him, would have long since gone into the house. That would mean Jack would be using the diving board without permission, which he thought would be rather presumptuous. With a shake of his head, he turned back around. After just barely seeing whoever it was make yet another dive, Jack dove into the lake himself.
Descending down somewhere around ten feet, enough to be forced to clear his ears, Jack was surprised at how cold the water was. Surfacing, he then vigorously swam out from the dock some forty or fifty feet, expending maximum effort to generate significant heat. Turning around, he swam back at the same pace and then immediately hoisted himself out of the water. So much for his morning swim.
Back in the house, he returned to the master bath. After shaving and quickly showering, he dressed. Following a check on Laurie, who had not moved, as well as another fruitless listen outside Warren and Jada’s room for any sounds, he descended to the kitchenand made himself a quick but substantial breakfast. He then left a short note on the refrigerator saying he’d gone into town and would be at the Bennet Clinic. Twenty minutes later he was on his Trek, leaving the Cherokee for Laurie.
The ride was a joy, and once again Jack cycled at an impressive speed but still was capable of enjoying the remarkable scenery sprinkled with morning dew. By then the sun had climbed significantly, and a few small cumulus clouds had already formed over the reservoir. When he reached Main Street he didn’t slow down as there was almost no traffic. The only establishment that showed any activity was Ted’s Diner, apparently offering breakfast to a few early risers.
As Jack approached the end of Main Street, he began to coast. As he banked into the turn at Bennet Avenue, he applied his brakes. A split second later he came to an abrupt stop abreast the clinic’s double doors. Planning on putting his bike in the same empty office as he had the previous day, Jack reached out and gave one of the double doors a good yank. To his surprise it didn’t budge. He tried the other. A moment later it dawned on him that Melanie had yet to arrive.
For a moment Jack stood at the Bennet Clinic entrance and chided himself for not checking with Melanie what time she might arrive that morning. He glanced at his watch. It was still significantly before eight. Imagining that she’d arrive by eight as she’d said when they first met, he debated what to do in the interim. His first thought was to extend his morning bicycle ride by doing a loop on the scenic road that ran the length of the Bennet Reservoir along its northern shore.
To get there, he first had to pedal along the entire length of the abandoned Bennet factory building. As he did so, he againappreciated its size and that it was going to make a unique five-star hotel with an interesting history. Just beyond it was a squat, acre-sized, single-story building made of identical brick with similar architectural details that he hadn’t specifically noticed before. Carved into the granite lintel over its double front door wasBennet Municipal Water Department.
Just as he suspected, the ride out along the reservoir was gorgeous, with the road staying close to the water. As he neared the eastern end and mildly out of breath, Jack glanced at his watch and saw that just about half the time until eight o’clock had passed. Slowing down enough to make a U-turn, he accelerated back the way he’d come.
On this occasion as he approached the Bennet Clinic, he saw a blue Honda Civic parked in the building’s parking lot that hadn’t been there earlier. Encouraged, he dismounted and tried the front doors. They were now unlocked.
After storing his Trek in the empty office suite he’d used the previous day, Jack searched for Melanie. He found her in the procedure room making coffee in an old-fashioned percolator. When he called attention to the aged appliance, she explained that it had belonged to her grandmother, and despite its age, in her estimation, it still produced the absolute best tasting brew.
“I wanted to thank you for inviting me to your barbecue last night,” Melanie continued. “I had a marvelous time, and the steaks were out of this world. And on top of that, I appreciated seeing the Hiram House and grounds. It’s imposing to say the least. I’d not seen it since its renovation.”
“It was a pleasure to have you,” Jack responded. “The real thanks go to Jada for bringing the steaks and Bob who insisted on being the chef.
“Now, let me ask you: How did you do yesterday afternoon gathering the material we discussed?”
“Not great,” Melanie admitted. “I heard Bob telling you last night that we had another mild emergency here in the office late yesterday afternoon of a patient worried he was having a heart attack. Luckily it turned out to be a false alarm, but by the time the episode was over, I had to get home. But I did get to print out the electronic records of all fourteen dementia cases as well as the town assessor’s map that I told you about. The map includes the entire town and surrounding area. I can help you locate where each of the dementia patients live before Bob arrives from his hospital rounds and the morning appointments begin.
“As for the patients’ unique eating habits, I glanced at Bob’s history on several of the printouts and didn’t see any such references. Nor did I recognize anyone as being deer hunters. I’m afraid for such specific information, we’ll have to contact each family and ask directly, although the one thing I can assure you, everyone in town gets all their food from a combination of Huber Convenience Store here in Essex Falls and the Nicolson Supermarket in Indian River.”
“Fair enough,” Jack said agreeably. He wasn’t averse to making the effort to call families. It would give him something to do. He was feeling mildly stymied being in such a foreign environment and not his usual familiar stomping ground, New York City.
While Melanie finished up with the coffee making, Jack went out to the waiting room and carried one of the many mismatched chairs over to her desk, where a stack of patient records was front and center. No sooner had he taken a seat than Melanie appeared with two mugs of coffee and handed one to him. “I know you didn’t ask for this but I want you to try it,” she said with a broad confident smile. “I’m sure you’ll say it’s the best coffee you’ve ever had.”
Jack laughed as he took the cup. He liked her style.
“Here’s what I suggest,” Melanie said as she sat down and moved the mound of patient records over in front of Jack. “You read out the name and address, and I’ll circle the location on the map with a red marking pencil. This will be the most efficient way since I know the area like the back of my hand.”
As Melanie predicted the process proceeded apace, and after just a few minutes, Jack read out the final name, “Gloria Hosbrook,” and the address: “Seventeen Chestnut Street.”
“Okay!” Melanie said, making the final circle around Seventeen Chestnut Street, which was perpendicular to Acorn Street where the Jamesons lived. She then picked up the map and put it down in front of Jack. “Take a look at this. It’s curious, and not what I expected.”
“That is curious,” Jack said, staring down at the map. It was oriented as usual with north facing upward, and it extended from the empty Bennet factory building at the far right-hand side along with a slice of the reservoir all the way out to a bit beyond the Bennet Estate on the far left. The vast majority of the map represented the thinly populated, wooded suburbs. The actual town itself including Main Street and all the smaller streets on the north side occupied a relatively small area. The outline of each individual house was only large enough to contain its street number. Curiously, all the red pencil circles were clustered around homes within the relatively small area of tract housing.
“All fourteen cases are in town, not one in the countryside,” Melanie said. “Does that surprise you?”
“To an extent,” Jack said, “but it’s also true that the vast majority of Essex Falls residents live in town, which is probably the explanation. What surprises me more is learning about the Irvines, boththe husband and wife suffering onset of the same sudden dementia within a week of each other. Becoming ill almost at the same time certainly says it’s not a genetic problem but rather an acquired one, meaning they both had been exposed to the same prion source around the same time.”
“Yikes, that’s scary,” Melanie said with a shiver.
“It sure is,” Jack responded. “I worry that we’re witnessing the beginning of a problem similar to that disastrous mad cow disease episode in England, and I’m feeling more and more desperate to find out what could possibly be the source. I’ve got to get on the phone and maybe even make some house calls to see if I can find some common thread involving some kind of incriminating food. There has to be an explanation. When I spoke to the neuropathologist at the OCME, she told me that pork or deer could be a source.”
