Do No Harm

"Do you think Clyde's aware of your mother's role in this?" Ed asked. "Has he connected you to her?"

"We shouldn't rule it out, but I don't think so. He recognized my name from the Spier Auditorium but didn't seem to link it to any other person. I would guess a more significant recognition of my name would have shown."

"So he holds the hospital in general responsible for victimizing him." A small smile played across Ed's face. "The alkali attacks are a pretty unique revenge strategy."

"I think those experiments etched into his experience what he already knew as a kid who'd spent his life shuttled from home to home-power is in the hands of those who scare. By attacking Nancy and Sandra, he scared not just them but every young woman in that Medical Center. Now he holds the reins."

"I suppose that's one definition of power."

"That's the definition the study taught him. For all these years, he's been locked in a terrified preadolescence. Now he's slowly finding his way out of fear. Even the nature of his attacks are changing. They're more complex, more specific. The attack on Diane probably had to do with me-maybe he was jealous of my affection for her, or maybe he felt I betrayed him in some way-but it also shows that this man is capable of growth."

"He's capable of getting what he needs too." Ed clicked the remote, turning on the television and VCR, then clicking pause. The frozen video appeared to be a store's security camera recording. "There have been eleven pharmacy burglaries in LA County in the past three months. Mostly morphine and Percocet-those accounted for five of the break-ins. Three times, Vicodin was taken, and one guy stole condoms. Talk about being desperate to get laid."

"That only adds up to nine. I thought you said there were eleven."

"I was getting to that. Lithium carbonate was taken in mass quantity from Healton's Drugstore on May fifteenth. Eskalith, to be precise."

"How much?"

"About five hundred 450-milligram tablets."

David whistled. "That should be enough for six months at a normal dose."

"Evidently not, because our boy came back. Last night."

"The dog was killed by the Pearson Home last night, too."

"Well, Healton's was smart. They installed a security camera after the first break-in. Caught this on tape." Ed pressed the pause button, and the screen unfroze. A few moments of silence, then the figure of a man appeared outside the store. He picked up a nearby trash can and hurled it through the window. Lights came on within the store; alarms flashed. The man staggered inside, and David recognized him for the first time. Clyde. He stumbled into a display pyramid of sodas, sending them rolling up the aisles.

"Looks pretty hammered," Ed observed. "There's your ataxia, huh?"

Clyde stumbled to the pharmacy door and found it locked. Rearing back, he kicked it in, the jamb splintering.

"Powerful guy," Ed said softly.

Clyde entered the small back room of the pharmacy and emerged thirty seconds later, a few pills falling from his pockets. He grabbed a carton of cigarettes from above one of the cash registers, then staggered out of the frame. He reappeared a moment later, cradling a few items to his chest, shuffled out the door quickly, and was gone in the darkness.

The small timer at the bottom of the screen indicated that the entire break-in took Clyde less than four minutes. Ed sighed. "Estimated police response time to that area is twelve minutes. Pacific Division is over on Culver and Centinela, but they might as well move it to Venice Beach since that's where all the cops hang out. Checking out the chicks on Rollerblades."

"Was that a bottle of Gatorade he grabbed?" David asked.

Ed nodded slowly. "You said excessive thirst was a side effect. Polythirstia."

David smiled. "Polydipsia. Is that all he took?"

"A few cans of beans. More lozenges." Ed ran his hands over the red stubble dotting his scalp, making a harsh rasping sound. "And two containers of liquid DrainEze."

David leaned back on the couch, exhaling loudly. He rubbed his eyes. "Goddamn it."

"Cheer up. We got some good news from this tape."

"Like what?"

"Think."

David's voice sharpened again with frustration. "Why couldn't they have just caught him at the goddamned drugstore?" He stood and paced around the living room, running his fingers through his hair.

"This does us no good." Ed snapped his fingers. "Sit."

David walked back and sat on the couch.

"This is emergency surgery, Spier, and we've just had a complication. We're going to keep our cool. We're not gonna panic like a candy striper. Now… what does the tape tell us?"

David took a deep breath before speaking. "The lithium toxicity has progressed. Clyde burned through the pills he stole at a dangerous rate. I'd guess his blood level is up over two point zero. His balance is even worse than when we saw him last."

"Which means?"