“Just to convince you I’m telling the truth?”

He threw up his hands. “Maggie, I don’t know what to think anymore, what to believe. Anyway, I’m sure you’ll be glad to know that Father Fogarty is happy again. Mrs. Scaravelli’s death will take some pressure off the shrine, he thinks. Maybe she wasn’t cured of cancer, after all. And the fact that she died with a medal in her hand proves to him that good old-fashioned devotion pays off in the end. He thinks the Blessed Mother has put Mrs. Scaravelli on a direct flight to heaven.”

“I hope Jack got on the same flight.”

“I hope so too, Maggie.” He sighed and went out of the room. In a few minutes he was back. “I checked with the head nurse on this floor. Dr. Fowler was here all night. He has another patient who is critically ill and he’s been here since about eight o’clock last night.”

“Was someone watching him all the time?”

He patted my hand. “You rest now, Maggie, and I’ll come back and see you later.”

I tried to sleep but couldn’t. I looked for the call button, intending to ask for something to relieve my headache and help me sleep, but then it occurred to me that sleep might not be a good idea with Dr. Fowler prowling around. Taking an unknown sedative might not be so wise either.

I had to get out of the hospital immediately, I thought. I couldn’t take a chance on spending another night in the place. It didn’t seem to me that Franny was in any present danger, but, on the other hand, if she had really seen the General, she might be considered a threat to the security of Dr. Fowler and the others.

But if it wasn’t the General, could it have been Duff that she and Jack had seen? That pulled me up and onto my feet. I lurched for the door as it was coming around and fell out into the corridor.

“Mrs. Caine!” A nurse came running up.

“I have to see my daughter.”

“But you can’t walk around in your condition.”

“Watch me . . .”

I fell again, but then she realized it was useless to argue with me. There was a wheelchair nearby. She got it and helped me into it, then wheeled me down the corridor to another room.

“You can stay for just a moment,” she said. An elderly woman with a tube in her nose was in the nearest bed, and Franny was in the bed next to the window.

“Push me closer.”

She did. Franny seemed to be awake. She was very pale. Her hands were motionless at her sides and she was staring rigidly at the ceiling.