D iana

The stars are just coming out over San Gimignano when I get the text I’ve been waiting for .

On my way. Arrive Peretola 6PM .

Then another, less reassuring: Whatever you hear, don’t freak out. I’m FINE and coming to you .

Fine, huh? I’ll be the judge of that. James’s idea of fine tends to fall anywhere short of dead .

I flip open my laptop and click through to Google News. James is everywhere. Making international headlines—or at least the US papers. I click on the first video link. The picture stutters as the audio starts to play .

“And now, in a story worthy of the daytime soaps, several arrests have been made in the strange case of James Ashby, founder of Dovecote Biotech and cancer research pioneer. What’s come to light is, in an apparent attempt at a hostile takeover, at least four investors have been regularly dosing the doctor with a cocktail of scopolamine, ketamine, and at least two other substances, in order to—ah, actually, I’m going to turn over to my guest, here—Dr. Sharon Goodbridge, addiction specialist. Dr. Goodbridge, what would you use this particular mixture for ?”

I’m not sure I want to hear this. Regularly dosing him? I need to hear his voice, see his face, know he’s all there .

The doctor clears her throat. “Well, Maria, that’s a good question, and one that’s difficult to answer without knowing exactly what was going on at Dovecote, but scopolamine in particular has a reputation for making people very docile, very open to suggestion, especially in high doses. It’s been linked to a number of robberies, where people have literally emptied their bank accounts for complete strangers, and been left with little to no memory of the encounters .”

“So what you’re saying is, they could’ve told him to do just about anything, and he’d have gone through with it ?“

Anything? Like...marrying me ?

“No—not anything. I don’t think—it would be very unlikely he’d have, say, committed a murder, robbed a bank, something he’d never do on his own. But something simple, something that’d sound reasonable, at least on the surface—yes. Yes. That’s entirely possible .”

“And—Thank you, by the way, Dr. Goodbridge—And it looks like what they were doing was getting Dr. Ashby to act out in ways that would’ve allowed them to invoke a morality clause that — “

I click the video away. This isn’t what I need to hear. I know what they were doing. I need to see him , know he’s safe .

The next couple of links are more of the same, but the fourth shows a freeze-frame of James outside the hospital, holding up his hands to fend off a microphone. I take a deep breath for courage, and pull up that one .

It opens on chaos. “Dr. Ashby! Dr. Ashby! Do you have — “

“Dr. Ashby !”

I wince. He’s got to hate that. James has never been big on crowds .

“Hey—Could you answer — “

He holds up his hands. It’s hard to tell—the angle’s odd and the video’s low-quality—but he looks like he’s laughing. “One at a time !”

“Sir, where are you headed now ?”

“Uh, home—home to my wife. That’s really all I — “

“Dr. Ashby, these revelations put a whole new spin on your former playboy reputation. What do you have to say about that ?”

James starts to say something, but the crowd’s babbling over him. I turn up the volume. “Shut up—let him talk !”

“Listen, I—“ He laughs again, waits for the chatter to die down. “I gotta take responsibility for most of that. Truth is, I did like to party. But there was one night—and that’s actually—there’s no... There’s no proof yet, but I think that’s when they first figured out they could give me a little more, create a situation where I’m... Well, not just sleeping through the odd board meeting.” He grins a hangdog grin. “I really stepped over the line that night—can’t guarantee I wouldn’t have done the same on just champagne, but the difference was, I ended up... Woke up on Monday, no idea where Sunday went. Huge wakeup call. Got me on a whole other path .”

“So, what you’re saying is—you’re saying they did you a favor, in a way ?”

“Well, they could pretty easily have killed me, so, no—I wouldn’t put it that way. But I did meet my wife—she was driving the Uber that took me home that day. So I’d say... I’m a family man, now. Couldn’t be happier with that .”

“And you got a kid on the way, is that right ?”

James positively beams. “That’s—yeah, that’s right. I’m just...ready to get down off this drama llama, concentrate on being a dad .”

“And that was Dr. James Ashby, coming to you from — “

I snap my laptop shut. I’m shivering in the balmy afternoon, not sure whether to be relieved to hear him joking with the reporters or horrified at the casual revelation he could’ve died .

I wonder if anything would’ve been different if I’d driven him to the hospital that morning instead of taking him home. They’d have drawn blood, found the drugs—But would he have figured out where they came from? Ended up in even bigger trouble? Guess we’ll never know .

On impulse, I crack open my laptop one more time, search my own name. I’m only a footnote in one of the stories on James: Diana Ashby, unjustly maligned in the ongoing smear campaign against her husband ....

I step out onto the balcony—the same one where we watched a horse plod by the first night of our honeymoon. The street’s lively with tourists, now, barely recognizable. Their voices drift up to me, a muddle of accents and languages I can’t place. Not sure I can even pick out any Italian. I kind of preferred the place in winter, but right now, it’s nice not to feel alone. Tomorrow evening seems impossibly distant .

I can kill some time in the morning, picking up a few of his favorites: some thick-crusted Italian bread; that rich cocoa he likes; nice plate of cheese. Then I can linger over lunch, and the afternoon—well, that’ll be all restless pacing, no matter what I do. But there’s still the vast chasm of night in my way .

I drift back to my computer. There’s a message waiting. From James .

“Hey,

“Just got done dropping Percy with the sitter. Occurred to me I probably freaked you out worse with my message. Listen—don’t go online. Stay off the news sites. They’re playing it up to the hilt, but truth is, it’s over, and everything’s fine. Everything’s GOING to be fine .

“Tell you all about it when I get there .

“Love you ,

“James.”

Yeah, bit late for that. Still, I appreciate the effort. He does sound like himself .

I settle in to wait out the next nineteen hours .