“Where are you working? At the same gaming company?”

“No, I couldn’t take the boss anymore. I do freelance tech work now. There’s a start-up company launched by a couple SF State alums. It’s kind of an Uber for nerds. I go all over the city doing tech support for various businesses. I like it. I get to set my own schedule.”

“Good for you,” she said.

A wave crashed against the rocks and sent up a fountain of spray that slapped both of their faces.

“So what do you want, Dr. Stein?” Todd asked.

“I want to talk about those memories you’ve been having.”

“I thought you didn’t believe me,” he said.

“Things have happened.”

His head swiveled. In the darkness, she couldn’t make out his eyes. “I know. I saw the news. I saw what they said about you. Another woman died last night, and she was one of your patients. Like all the others.” He added, after a long pause, “Like me.”

She nodded. “That’s right.”

“Of course, this couldn’t be about what you did to me. You were sure about that.” His soft voice was thick with sarcasm.

“I didn’t do anything to you, Todd.”

“Then why is this happening to me?”

“I’m sorry. I don’t know.”

“Ask me the question,” he said. “That’s why you’re here, isn’t it? You want to know if I saw this latest woman. The one on the news. You want to know if I remember her, too.”

“Do you?”

Todd lay his head back and stared at the sky. She could see the profile of his long nose and jutting chin. “Yes.”

“What do you remember?”

“Needles,” he said.

Frankie felt a little shock of electricity in her body. “What?”

“The woman was terrified of needles.”

“How do you know that?”

He looked at her again. “I remember it.”

“Tell me more. What else do you remember?”

Todd was silent. He stood up from the bench. Nervously, he looked up and down the dark boardwalk. “No, I have to go. I need to get out of here. This shit is going to get me in trouble.”

She reached up and held his arm. “Please, Todd. I can’t say anything to anyone about what you saw. Whatever you tell me is bound by privilege.”

“Not if you think I’m dangerous.”

“Are you?”

Todd didn’t answer immediately. He sat down again. “I’m losing time, Dr. Stein. I’m missing days. I wake up, and I don’t know where I’ve been or how I got there. Hours will be gone. Sometimes the whole day. It’s happened twice this week. All I know is that when I wake up, I have these memories stuck in my head.”

“The white room,” Frankie said.

“Yes. And the women being tortured.”

“When did this last happen?”