Pied Piper (Modern Wicked Fairy Tales Book 14) Read online

  Piper clapped her hands over her ears suddenly, shaking her head.

  “Piper!” Haley called her daughter’s name, not signing. “Hey, it’s okay. I promise.”

  Piper uncovered her ears, looking at Will.

  “Now you can hear us, can’t you, Piper?” he asked.

  She covered her ears again, smiling. Then uncovered them again.

  [“Smart girl”] Will said, signing, smiling at Piper, then at Haley.

  “Oh my God, baby, can you really hear me?” Haley cupped her daughter’s face in her hands.

  Piper nodded, laughing out loud. It was a delightful sound.

  “What color is your lollipop, Piper?” asked Will. He didn’t sign his question.

  She pointed to Libby, who still held the lollipop she’d dropped.

  [Red] Piper signed. [Can I have it?]

  “She can hear us,” Haley whispered, looking at Will with tears streaming down her face. “She can really hear us.”

  “I’ll get you a new one,” Libby said. Will noticed her eyes were wet, too. Even he was a little choked up.

  Libby handed Piper a new lollipop.

  Piper unwrapped it happily, putting the new one in her mouth.

  “Oh baby, I love you so much.” Haley put her arms around her daughter, holding and rocking her. She was sobbing uncontrollably. Will couldn’t help but put a comforting arm around her shoulder. “It’s a miracle. It’s an absolute miracle.”

  “Mommy!” Piper gasped, pushing at Haley’s middle, and they all stared, agape. Will had never heard her speak. Her voice was light and clear, although slightly slurred, like most deaf people who learned to speak when they can’t hear themselves. “Don’t smush me!”

  Haley stared at her daughter, and then, she laughed. Wiping at her tears, she laughed so hard, she doubled over and actually had to sit down in one of the patient chairs. Libby started giggling, and then Piper joined in, although she looked around quizzically at them, clearly not quite sure what was so funny.

  [Mommy’s laughing] Piper signed, then pointed to her ears, then looking at Will. [I can hear her laughing]

  “It’s a great sound, isn’t it?” Will chuckled.

  Piper nodded, going over to the counter where Libby had retrieved her new lollipop from a glass jar. Piper opened it and pulled out one, walking over to Will.

  “For me?” he asked when she held it toward him. He smiled, taking it. “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome,” she said, grinning and putting her lollipop back into her mouth before going over to sit on her mother’s lap.

  “Thank you,” Haley whispered, holding her daughter close—although not quite as close as before—as she looked up at Will.

  He echoed Piper, smiling fondly at them both. “You’re welcome.”

  ~*~

  “How long before we can send it to the FDA?” Dr. Ratte asked impatiently, arms crossed as he looked at Will’s slide presentation screen.

  “Well... I’m not sure.” Will knew this wasn’t the answer Ratte wanted. He saw Haley, who was taking notes on the presentation, look up at him amidst the sea of faces. His whole team, along with several of the other teams involved with the project, were packed into the auditorium for Will’s six-week wrap-up presentation. The study was complete, and while it had been successful for the most part, he wasn’t perfectly satisfied with his findings.

  “Not sure?” Ratte laughed. “You need to have more confidence in your conclusions, Dr. Pfeiffer. This is one of the most successful studies we’ve ever run. No small thanks to your team and everyone here in this room. So, I’ll expect your final report and all data on my desk on Monday, you hear me? From everything you’ve said here today, I have no doubt that we’ll be in production by the end of the year!”

  The auditorium clapped enthusiastically at his words.

  Will blanched at Ratte’s manipulative compliments. “As I said, Dr. Ratte, the prototypes are operating more or less as expected, however—”

  “Yes, yes, I heard you the first time.” Dr. Ratte held up his hand. “There are always a few anomalies in every study. Hamlen has a busy schedule, Dr. Pfeiffer. From everything I’ve seen, there’s no reason not to submit our application to the FDA.”

  “I beg to differ,” Will put his pointer down, reaching over and turning off the projector on the laptop he’d been using. “I believe these anomalies require more serious attention before we move forward. This isn’t just a simple matter of inferior performance. We’re dealing with neurologically sensitive input and they can have serious consequences for the participants if—”

  “Enough!” Ratte exploded, his normally reddish face turning redder. “You know full well with these megacyclic inversions the anomalies are invariably explainable as standard deviations from acceptable neural pattern inputs.”

  The whole room murmured with concern at Ratte’s response.

  “Not quite invariably, Dr. Ratte.” Will worked to keep his cool. “And the possibility, however slight, that the anomalies cannot be explained by standard deviation leaves the serious possibility that the devices are not sufficiently adjusted as yet to preclude potentially dangerous side-effects…”

  “Am I to take it, Doctor Pfeiffer, that you intend to hold up this project in some self-aggrandizing search for perfection?”

  Will recoiled. Ratte was always difficult to deal with, but he hadn’t expected him to be so confrontational. The whole auditorium seemed just as shocked as he was. Will caught Haley’s eye and saw that she was sitting up, tense in her seat. She looked as if she might jump up in Will’s defense at any moment.

  Will raised his eyebrows, disturbed by Ratte’s sudden aggression, but unafraid. ”The only aggrandizement here, Dr. Ratte, is the safety of Hamlen’s patients. So the answer to the question is yes. I am certainly prepared to aggrandize that.”

  “I must say, I’m more than a little disappointed that you’re slowing down a well-functioning project because of an unaccountable need to demonstrate your superior conscientiousness.” The whole crowd actually gasped at that. Ratte dialed the anger down slightly and tried a different tact. “Dr. Pfeiffer, do you think your team has done an adequate job thus far?”

  “A more than adequate job,” Will replied coolly. “If they hadn’t done such a good job, these anomalies might not have been discovered until the device was in full production and thousands more affected by potential side effects.”

  “Potential side effects, Dr. Pfeiffer.” Ratte sighed, shaking a finger at him. “We’re talking about holding up a multi-million-dollar product to appease your perfectionism. Would you like to explain that to our shareholders?”

  “Would I like to explain to our shareholders why I insisted on making sure a product that would be used on small children in the future was as near side-effect free as I could manage, and thereby avoiding any hint of a scandal, circumventing not only a drop in their precious stocks but any serious injury to future patients? Yes, I would be happy to tell our shareholders that, Dr. Ratte.”

  “We’re talking at cross-purposes about hypotheticals here.” Ratte huffed. “As my old grandmother used to say, let’s cross that bridge when and if we reach it, shall we?”

  “I’d like to have a bridge when we get there,” Will countered. “Dr. Ratte, I’ll say this very plainly. I won’t sign off on this project until I know our device is as safe as we can make it.”

  “There are other ways to get it to market.” Dr. Ratte picked up the briefcase beside his chair and stood. “Good day, Dr. Pfeiffer.”

  Ratte gave him a curt nod before stalking out of the auditorium.

  Will watched him go, furious, but he didn’t say so. He caught Haley’s eye and gave her a tight-lipped smile, beckoning her toward the stage.

  “I do have some great news for all of you,” Will said, addressing the crowd as Haley approached. “Thanks to my new assistant, we have booked tables at Bruner’s this afternoon. We’re going to knock off early to celebrate the end of our stu
dy. At Hamlen’s expense, of course. So let’s all thank Haley, shall we?”

  Haley blushed as the crowd cheered. Bruner’s was quite expensive, and the food was excellent. He had no idea how she’d managed to get the entire restaurant to shut down to serve them, but she had. He’d been quite impressed with her performance already.

  “I’ll see all of you there in half an hour,” Will said into the microphone, officially breaking up the meeting.

  People began getting up, some leaving, some gathering in small groups to discuss what had happened. He knew his team was talking about Dr. Ratte and he would talk to them later to express his regret that Dr. Ratte didn’t share their meticulous concerns for product safety.

  But for now, he wanted to be alone. He needed to think.

  “Are you okay?” Haley asked quietly.

  “Sure.” He gave her a smile he hoped was convincing.

  “I thought you handled that really well,” she offered, touching his arm. “Do you want to go over to Bruner’s together?”

  “I can’t,” he lied. “I have to stop at home first. But I’ll meet you there. Okay?”

  He widened his smile and she reciprocated, although with some hesitation.

  “Okay.” She reached out and turned off the projector on the laptop. “I have to clean up here anyway. I’ll see you there soon.”

  Will nodded, picking up his briefcase and heading off the stage.

  He didn’t turn to look at her, but he felt Haley’s gaze following him all the way out of the auditorium.

  Chapter 7

  Haley had really gone all out, arranging for the entire restaurant to close to outside business in order to serve every research team that had been involved with the project. There were so many of them, and Bruner’s wasn’t that big. The teams were buoyant, even after Will’s confrontation with Ratte. Their part of the study was over, and it had been a success, for the most part.

  It was just that one small anomaly that tickled Will’s brain, creating an itch he couldn’t quite scratch.

  He sat at the head table—Ratte was notably absent—looking around at the rest of the research scientists he worked with, happy men and women drinking wine, steaks and shrimp and pasta on their various plates. He wished he could be like them, but he was far too preoccupied. He hadn’t even touched the prime rib on his plate.

  He saw Haley seated at a nearby table, talking with her co-workers, the other assistants that had all helped the teams with their work. She was well liked already. She fit into her new position like hand to glove. It usually pleased him to no end, watching her do her job, but today even that didn’t cheer him up.

  Haley saw him watching her and gave him a smile and a little wave. He smiled back with an acknowledging nod.

  It wasn’t until their meals had been cleared and dessert was coming out that people started leaving their seats to mingle. Haley came over to Will and sat in the now empty seat beside him. He hadn’t moved—nor had he touched his meal. It sat in a to-go box on the table in front of him.

  “It’s really bothering you, isn’t it?” Haley asked softly.

  He didn’t lie. “Yes.”

  “Ratte is... well, he’s kind of a rat.” Haley’s nose wrinkled, reminding him of Piper, and he almost smiled. “His reputation proceeds him. Everyone says he’s awful.”

  “He is.” Will shrugged. “But this... this is different.”

  “How?”

  “I don’t know.” He ran his finger thoughtfully over the edge of the Styrofoam containing his steak and potato.

  “It just is. He’s different. It’s like... it’s personal or something.”

  “Hm.” Now Haley looked thoughtful. “He is putting a lot of pressure on you to get the device into production as soon as possible.”

  Will nodded. “I know. I’ve done plenty of studies with Ratte. He’s a taskmaster, but I don’t mind that. I understand it. This time... the way he completely disregarded the anomalies and possible side-effects...?”

  “But Will, it was such a small thing...”

  “Small things can have big effects,” he countered. “It’s worth slowing down to look at it. And I need his support to do that.”

  “I’m sorry, Will.” Her hand on his arm distracted him.

  He looked at her for the first time since she’d come to join him. “No, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to rain on your party. You did an excellent job.”

  “Thank you.” She smiled. “But I don’t care about that. I care about you. I hate seeing you so down like this.”

  “I’m not really down. I’m just... thinking...”

  “I do my best thinking on long walks,” Haley told him. “There’s something mindless about it, you know? You just get into a rhythm and let your mind wander. And before you know it, you’ve arrived at a destination.” She tapped her temple. “Up here, I mean.”

  Now Will was distracted again, thinking about her on a long walk, head down, thoughts churning. How many walks had she taken like that? What thoughts had occupied her mind? Thoughts about Piper, of course. Thoughts about her ex? It bothered him, to think of her in turmoil.

  “I used to sit down at my father’s piano and play.” He told her something he’d never told anyone. “I suppose it’s a similar process. I would just play whatever came to mind. Things I know by heart, pieces I could play with my eyes closed. And eventually, as you said... I’d work it out.”

  Haley brightened. “Then do that.”

  “I don’t happen to have a piano in my pocket.” Will chuckled.

  “But I do.”

  He looked at her, brows raised.

  “Not in my pocket. But at home,” she said.

  He liked the way she already thought of it as home.

  “Come to my place and play your father’s piano.”

  “I don’t know...” He hesitated, remembering the last time he’d been at his parent’s old apartment with her.

  “Let’s go.” Haley stood, holding out her hand. The look on her face was determined. She wasn’t going to take “no” for an answer.

  And Will wasn’t sure he wanted to deny her.

  So he took her hand and let her lead him through the crowd.

  ~*~

  His father’s piano was as familiar to him as his own bed.

  He sat at it and played without thinking at all.

  Haley slipped off her shoes and went to the kitchen, bringing back a bottle of wine and two glasses.

  “I thought it might help,” she said, putting a glass of wine on the bench beside him.

  He took a break to drink, letting the alcohol spread through him like warm honey. Then he went back to playing as Haley sat on the other side of the bench beside him.

  Will switched from Rachmaninoff’s prelude in C sharp minor to something less dark—something slower, quieter, more melancholy.

  “Is that the same composer you were played last time? For Piper?” she asked, sipping her wine. She’d taken her hair down again and it fell around her shoulders in a waterfall of sunshine.

  “Yes. It’s from Trois Gnossiennes by Erik Satie,” he told her. “Have you heard of him?”

  Haley shook her head.

  “He used to have a closet full of identical green velvet suits. They used to call him the velvet gentleman. Here’s his most famous piece. Maybe you recognize it.”

  He began to play Gymnopedie Number 3.

  “Oh!” Haley brightened. “I’ve heard that one.”

  Will went back to the Trois Gnossiennes. The two of them sat quietly as he continued to play.

  “This Ratte business…” he trailed off, lost in thought.

  “Yes?”

  “I don’t have any evidence, Haley. None. But... I have a feeling...”

  “What’s your feeling?”

  Will shook his head, still playing, not wanting to say.

  “Trust your intuition, Will,” she urged. “Just because you’re a scientist doesn’t mean you shouldn’t trust your gut.”


  Will stopped playing to take a drink of wine. Then he said, “He’s hiding something.”

  Haley took this in. “What’s he hiding?”

  Will shook his head. “I don’t know. Something. He’s sitting on something. And I think intends to keep on sitting on it.”

  Haley moved closer, so the soft roundness of her hip was bumped up against his leaner one. “I wonder what he’s hiding...”

  Haley’s breath was warm on his cheek, her hand moving to lightly stroke his lower back as he continued to play. The soft press of her hand sent delightful tingles up and down his spine.

  “I wish I knew.” Will didn’t stop playing, but he was no longer contemplating Ratte or the anomaly they’d found in the device. Now, his thoughts were consumed with Haley. The light stroke of her hand on his back, her cheek leaning against his shoulder, her hip snugged up against his. Her breath was coming a little too fast and so was his.

  He knew what he wanted. He wanted more. He wanted Haley. But he held himself back, as he had for weeks. She was living in his parent’s old apartment. She worked for him. Her daughter was participating in his study. He didn’t want her to think he was taking advantage. He had to be sure that she wanted it, too. He began to play a Chopin nocturne as Haley’s hand moved up to his shoulder, to the base of his neck, resting lightly there.

  What did it mean?

  Will played, the nocturne rich and mellow.

  “Beautiful,” she murmured when it ended, tilting her eyes up to look at him. “Do you like jazz?”

  “Yes.” He nodded. “You?”

  “I love Miles Davis.”

  “Really?” Will was surprised. “You seem more like a Billie Holiday sort of girl.”

  Her laugh was light and sweet. “Love her, too. But Miles... he’s just sublime. You know, there’s a story about him...”

  “There are a lot of stories about him.” Will played the opening few notes of Davis’s So What, breathing too heavily and trying not to show it.

  “I guess, when he was in a club,” Haley went on. “He discovered that if he played on the lower registers with the mute on, all the women there, without being aware of it, would open their legs a little.”