“Don’t be ridiculous. The cops can’t do anything about those reporters. They were only here for a few minutes and they didn’t do any damage or take anything. I know it was upsetting when they broke in, but you didn’t have to run. They weren’t here to hurt anyone. They were just trying to get a story.” Worry flashed across her features. “But I think they got more than they bargained for,” she said, more to herself than to Sage.
Sage felt like screaming. “I’m not talking about the reporters!” she cried. “I’m talking about Rosemary. Did Dr. Baldwin call the cops about her?”
“Oh my God. Stop it already. I just came to see if you were awake yet. But if you’re going to go on like that, maybe you need another shot.”
“No, you don’t understand,” Sage cried. “I didn’t run away from the reporters. Eddie and I . . . we . . . when the news crew came in, we went into the tunnels because he was going to help me escape. But we found Rosemary and . . . we found her body, I mean. She’s dead. Someone killed her.”
“Oh, I understand perfectly. You were imagining things. But everyone was shook up about those reporters, including me. A lot of the residents didn’t know what was happening. Some of them thought they were being taken away. One girl had to be sent to the hospital because she thought the camera’s light was Jesus coming to take her to heaven. She ran toward it, tripped, and broke her arm, just like that.” She snapped her fingers in front of her face.
“You’re not listening,” Sage said. “I was trying to leave. If you don’t believe me, call Dr. Baldwin. Eddie was going to show him my sister’s body. He was going to tell him everything!”
“Uh-huh. Sure. You can tell Dr. Baldwin all about it tomorrow. In the meantime, I’ll have Wayne bring you something to eat.” She started to close the panel.
“No!” Sage said, shaking her head violently. “Not Wayne. Please, anyone but him. He was going to rape me in the dayroom, but Eddie stopped him. I told you he was having sex with Rosemary. He’s having sex with Norma now too. He takes her to a secret place behind the supply room down the hall. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was the one who killed Rosemary.”
“Like I said before,” Nurse Vic said, her voice firm. “You need to talk to Dr. Baldwin about that, not me. But if it makes you feel better, I’ll bring your food myself.” Before Sage could respond, Nurse Vic pushed down the panel and disappeared, leaving her alone, drowning in an ocean of black.
CHAPTER 14
Other than stacked rows of black filing cabinets, the thirteen-inch television on a metal stand, the bulky desk with the captain’s chair, and the two folding chairs, Dr. Baldwin’s office was sparse and clinical. No decorations hung on the whitewashed walls, no family photos or landscape paintings, no inspirational posters or framed degrees. The aged industrial clock read 5:15, but Sage had no idea if it was morning or night. Within the confined, gruesome world of Willowbrook, none of that mattered. Every minute and every hour, every day and every week jumbled together into one constant horror. Darkness pushed against the glass of a single window.
Sitting in a folding chair in front of Dr. Baldwin’s desk, she twisted a tear-soaked tissue between her fingers, tearing it into tiny white shreds. Her nose was stuffed up from crying, her eyes sticky and swollen. According to Dr. Baldwin, she’d been locked in the pit for fifty-six hours. It felt like fifty-six days.
During those long, desperate eons alone in the pitch-black, she’d had one meal and little sleep. And she’d convinced herself that Cropsey had killed Rosemary. He knew Sage had found her sister’s body and he was going to kill her next, to keep her quiet— Eddie too, wherever he was. An eternity later, when the panel in the door flew open a second time, she nearly screamed, certain it was Cropsey. He’d come to haul her into the secret room and slit her throat. Either that or it was Wayne, who’d rape her before Cropsey killed her. When Nurse Vic’s powder-caked face filled the opening again, Sage burst into tears of relief.
Now, Dr. Baldwin leaned back in his captain’s chair and regarded her with a stern look. “What were you doing in the tunnels?” he said.
“I told you, I was trying to get out of here.”
“What about the coat and shoes you’re wearing. Where did you get them?”
“Eddie gave them to me.”
“You didn’t steal them from one of the other residents?”
“Of course not. I’d never do that.”
“Were you hiding in the tunnels the last time you went missing?”
She shook her head so hard her eyes hurt. “No, I wasn’t hiding anywhere because that wasn’t me. I didn’t even know the tunnels existed until I was dragged through them after you sent me to House Six. Eddie took me down there because he knows I’m not Rosemary, which is why he was helping me. I know he told you everything.”
“Eddie and I have talked about what happened, and he’s been dealt with in an appropriate manner. I warned him not to get involved with you again because it would only mean trouble, but he wouldn’t listen. A lot of people think I don’t know what goes on around here, but I’m well aware that the two of you have been friends for a while now, long before you went missing this last time.”
“He was friends with Rosemary. Not me. I just met him a few . . .” She hesitated. Had it been a few days since her first horrible morning at Willowbrook? A few weeks? A month? She wasn’t sure. “I met him after I came here looking for my sister and you locked me up in House Six. He knew Rosemary better than anyone else here did, including you. That’s why he can tell us apart. That’s how he knows I’m not her.”
“I’m sorry to burst your bubble, Miss Winters, but Eddie is not a doctor or a psychologist. Therefore, he’s not qualified to make that distinction.”
She leaned forward in her seat, fighting the urge to yell at him. “Did you call the police about my sister yet? Did you tell them her killer is still on the loose?”
“There was no reason to call the police.”
“What do you mean there’s no reason to call the police? Someone murdered Rosemary!” She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Eddie was right. Dr. Baldwin only cared about protecting Willowbrook and his job.
“Yes, that’s what you keep telling me.”
“Because it’s true!” she cried. “Eddie and I found her body. I know he showed you.”
“For argument’s sake, let’s say you’re telling the truth. How did ‘your sister’ get into the tunnels?” He made quotation marks with his fingers around the words “your sister.” She wanted to punch him in the face.
“I don’t know,” she said, throwing up her hands. “The killer must have taken her down there.”
“Let’s back up a bit, shall we?”
Her face felt on fire. “Back up? What good is that going to do? You need to find out who killed my sister and stop asking stupid questions.”
“Asking questions is part of my job, Miss Winters. And right now I’m trying to figure out where all this is coming from.”
“Where all what is coming from?”