“Yes,” Arthur said, placing the tips of his fingers together. “Easily frightened. Very paranoid.”

Dr. George pointed out that he hadn’t really meant to talk about Chalmer at that point, but that Billy had seemed to need to talk about it.

“You touched a memory of the past,” Arthur said, choosing his words carefully, “and that’s the first thing that popped into his mind. Common fear triumphed as well, and that was more than enough to put him to sleep. There was nothing I could do to control it. I let him wake up before he came—”

“Are you aware of all that he says when he’s awake?” “Partially and not always. I can’t always tell exactly what he’s thinking. But when he is thinking, I can sense fear. For some reason, he can’t actually hear what I’m saying to him all very clearly. But it sounds as if he knows that there are times when we put him to sleep, and that he can go to sleep on his own.” Dr. George and Arthur reviewed the backgrounds of some of the alter personalities, but just as Arthur began to recall memories, he suddenly stopped, cocked his head and ended the discussion.

“Someone is at the door,” he said, and then he was gone. It was Psych-tech Jeff Janata, who had said he’d be back at a quarter to twelve.

Arthur let Tommy go back with Jeff to Wakefield Cottage.

The following day, two days before Dr. Wilburs visit, Dr. George knew, by the jiggling knees, that it was the core Billy who had come to therapy again. Billy had heard the names Arthur and Ragen, and now he wanted to know who they were.

How could he tell him? Harding wondered. He had a horrible vision of Billy killing himself when he learned the truth. The patient of a colleague in Baltimore had hung himself in prison after he learned he was a multiple personality. Dr. George took a deep breath and then said it: “That voice that sounds like a James Bond movie is Arthur. Arthur is one of your names.”

The knees stopped moving. Billy’s eyes widened.

“A part of you is Arthur. Would you like to meet him?” Billy began to tremble, knees moving so violently that he noticed it and put his hands out to still them. “No. It makes me want to sleep.”

“Billy, I think if you tried real hard, you could stay awake when Arthur comes out and talks. You could hear what he says, and then you’d understand what your problem is.”

“That’s scary.”

“Will you trust me?”

Billy nodded.

“All right then. While you’re sitting there, Arthur is going to come on the spot and talk to me. You won’t go to sleep. You’ll hear everything he says, and you’ll remember. Just the way some of the others do. You’ll be off the spot, but you’ll remain conscious.”

“What’s ‘the spot’? You said that last time, but you didn’t tell me what it is.”