Guilt by G. H. Ephron Page B

use,” MacRae said, pausing under the portico overhang outside the unit. “Is that because of the head injury?”
    MacRae knew all too well about head injuries. He and Peter first met when MacRae was questioning a surviving witness who’d spent weeks in a coma after being shot in the head. After weeks of questioning, the days-long hole in her memory shrank and she claimed to remember who shot her. But was the memory genuine? Peter and MacRae had been on opposite sides of that question.
    â€œThis guy has only a minor head injury. I don’t think it’s affecting his memory,” Peter told MacRae. “Yes, he was unconscious, but only for a few minutes. I’ll be surprised if the MRI we’ve got scheduled shows any significant injury to the brain. His amnesia is more likely due to emotional trauma.”
    â€œEmotional trauma? That’s good news, right?”
    â€œI’d say. There’s a fair chance that he’ll recall more over time.”
    â€œHow much time? We can’t afford to wait around. It was four weeks between the bombings. If there’s going to be another attack, it could be in a week or two. Isn’t there some way to kick-start his memory?”
    Too bad MRIs didn’t show memories the way they showed blood flow and tumors. But there were other ways.
    â€œHypnotism,” Peter said.
    MacRae gave Peter a surprised look.
    â€œWhat?” Peter asked.
    â€œI don’t know, you endorsing hypnosis. Seems kind of ‘out there’ for, uh, someone like you.”
    For a stuffy, pointy-headed academic like you was the part MacRae didn’t say.
    â€œYou’re right. I’m not a big fan of hypnosis. It’s too easily abused. But in this case, it’s possible that Mr. Ravitch actually remembers something significant, he just doesn’t know what it is. Maybe he saw the bomber, even the bomb itself, but it had no significance to him. So the memory got stored but it didn’t get specially tagged, so now it’s not easily accessible. If he’s hypnotized, put into a relaxed, hyperalert state, allowed to rescan the entire scene without his normal inhibitions, he should remember all sorts of information, and some of it might be just what you’re looking for.”
    Peter didn’t mention another benefit. Hypnosis was sometimes used as a treatment for panic disorders, enabling the victim to revisit the frightening event and, with help, master his own response. That was what repetitive nightmares and repetition compulsions were all about, too—nature’s way of revisiting trauma.
    â€œGood.” Peter could almost see MacRae’s notions about Peter getting reshuffled. “So let’s say he’s hypnotized and he remembers stuff. How do we know he’s not making it up on the spot? Might not even know he’s doing it.”
    Peter was impressed that MacRae recognized this possibility—tough, blue-collar muscle-head that he was. “Bottom line, you can’t. Anyone in a hypnotic state is susceptible to suggestions. The one thing you can do is be very careful about how questions are posed. Some people are highly suggestive. You need an expert.”
    â€œCan you do it?”
    The request brought Peter up short. Despite hypnotism’s sideshow reputation, there was really nothing special about it. Just another tool, another way to take advantage of the amazing capabilities of the human mind. He’d been trained in hypnosis. Still, he’d rarely used it, and then only as a therapeutic tool.
    â€œWe can pay you, if that’s what you’re worried about,” MacRae said. He wasn’t being snide, just stating a fact. “And you won’t have to testify. That stuff’s not admissible in court anyway. What do you say?”
    Peter had worked on plenty of cases, but he’d never assisted police in an ongoing investigation, never hypnotized a witness. But it took him barely