“That was quick work.” Trevany looked surprised.
“I said you’d been more help than you thought. Anyway, here it is.” Kieran got the prompt and sent the image.
“That’s her,” Trevany said without hesitation.
“You’re sure? No doubt?”
“No question about it. Well, I’m glad you seem to have solved your problem, Doctor. I hope Sarda recovers.”
“Thanks. And good luck with your field work. We’ll be in there rooting for you, waiting for the orthodoxy to crumble.”
“Well, it might take some time yet,” Trevany said with a sigh.
As Kieran cleared down, June nudged him with her elbow. She read: “Elaine Lydia Corley. Profession, nursing practitioner. Specialty qualification, neural physiology.” June glanced up and sideways. Kieran whistled softly. “And listen to this. Currently listed as the professional partner of a Henry Balmer, associated with the Lowell Medical Center as well as running a private practice. And of all things, Balmer is registered as a psychiatric hypnotist!” June sat back and turned from the screen. “Could it be we have a way of selectively erasing slabs of memory here?”
Kieran hoisted her effortlessly to her feet, turned her around, and kissed her. “Lovely, I do believe you’ve cracked it!” he exclaimed. “I always thought you were a true genius. It must rub off. I think we should call Leo and get him over here right away.”
14
Sarda stared at the features of Elaine Corley being presented on the screen and shook his head. He had listened to the account of Kieran’s doings, heard Trevany’s story, and was still incredulous. “Nothing. Not a thing,” he declared. “If I hadn’t heard what you’ve just told me, I’d be quite confident in saying I’ve never seen her before in my life.”
“So she isn’t someone you’ve known for some time, and just your memories of her recent involvement in this scam are erased,” Kieran checked from the couch. “You must have met her fairly recently. All recollection of her existence has gone.”
“That’s the way it looks,” Sarda agreed, turning back toward him.
Also, if Sarda had known her for some time, others would surely have been aware of her—such as Tom Norgent, Kieran reflected. “And you don’t know Henry Balmer,” he said.
“No. Never heard of him.” Sarda shook his head. “Hypnosis. To tell you the truth, I’ve always been skeptical of the claims that it could do things like this. So that’s how you think they did it? Some kind of posthypnotic suggestion, triggered before I came out of the reconstitution chamber.”
“It had to be the graphic design that disappeared from the inside of the chamber door,” June said from her desk area. “It would have been one of the first things you saw when you became conscious—and you couldn’t communicate anything you might have known in the moments before it took effect, because you were still inside.” She looked across at Kieran.
“Neat, eh?” he said.
There was a silence while June finished keying something in, waited, and contemplated the result. Then she turned in her chair to face them. “Then it seems we’re close to being able to reconstruct what happened,” she said. “Leo and Elaine met fairly recently, maybe socially.” She looked at Sarda. “You told Kieran you were under a lot of emotional stress as the time got nearer—and I can believe it. Could you see yourself looking for company to help with the . . . how should I put it—tension-easing?”
Sarda stared at her moodily for a moment; then his expression eased to a faint smile. “I suppose that would have been more-or-less in character,” he agreed gruffly.
“Could you have talked to somebody like her about the fears and misgivings you told Kieran about?” June asked. “It would seem understandable enough to me.” It was a delicate question. She was asking him, in effect, if he might have discussed sensitive details of the project with an outsider whom, when all was said and done, he couldn’t have known too much about. Everyone in the room knew that people did such things. It was a different matter to admit to it openly, though.
Sarda considered the question. “I guess something like that would probably depend on the relationship—you know, how close people get to each other. . . .” He glanced at Kieran, who was listening but saying little. “Oh damn, why am I trying to rationalize? Yes, I could have talked to her about it, sure.”