Page 11 of Lilly

"No. I arrived about an hour ago and saw him just briefly. I've been meeting with the other physicians to discuss his case. As of now, we need to run more tests."

"Can we see him?" Grace asks.

"Yes, of course. Right this way."

We follow Logan down the hall to William's room.

"He's very tired right now," Logan says. "Go ahead and spend a few minutes but then we'll need to let him rest."

We file into his room. He's hooked up to monitors and looks very pale and thinner than I remember.

"William." Grace goes up to him, tears starting to fall.

"Mother." He attempts to smile as he puts his hand over hers. "There's no need to cry. I'm not dying. I'm simply worn out. The doctors say it was most likely exhaustion causing the dizziness."

She sniffles and kisses his cheek. "I told you to stop working so much. And you need to eat more. You're skin and bones."

"Yes, Mother."

She straightens up. "No more 'yes, mother'. I know you only say that to appease me, but then you never follow through. This is serious, William. You can no longer work those long hours. It's destroying you. Your father never worked as much as you, and if he were alive, he would be disappointed that you're spending all your time at work instead of with your wife or out on your sailboat."

He nods. "You're right, Mother. I just need to make some changes at the office to allow me more free time."

"Other things need to change as well," she says, referring to his role at the organization.

"Mother, this is not the time," he says in a harsh tone. He looks over at Jade and smiles. "Jade. Come give your uncle a hug."

She walks over and hugs him. "I've missed seeing you. I wish you'd come visit us more often."

"I will." He glances at his wife. "Meredith and I plan to be out there later this summer. How are the children?"

"Good." She laughs a little. "With the girls out of school, it's kind of a circus every day, but it's fun. It's definitely never boring."

Rachel goes up to him next and says a few words and then Logan appears at the door.

"I'm afraid visiting hours are up," he says.

As we leave the room, I hear William say, "Pearce."

"Yes?"

"May I have a word with you, please?"

"Of course." Then I whisper to Rachel, "Tell Logan I'll be just a minute."

She nods and follows everyone out.

I go up to his bed. "What is it, William?"

"I think they may be involved."

By 'they' he means our fellow members. Whenever something happens to one of us—an accident, an illness—we always suspect the organization might've been involved.

"Have you upset someone recently?" I ask.

"Not that I'm aware of, but you know how they are. They'd never come out and actually tell you."

"How did they act at the last meeting? Did you notice anything unusual?"

---