“All this anger and hostility,” he said. “I thought we’d worked through that years ago. I’m glad to see that you’ve improved somewhat, you’re no longer flapping your arms around and screaming, but this story about your sister being dead has me wondering if it’s some kind of breakthrough. Perhaps you’re shedding that part of your personality.”
She jumped up and slammed her hands on his desk. She’d never hit anyone in her life, but right now she wanted to—and it would feel good. “I’m not shedding anything. My sister is dead. I saw her with my own eyes. Eddie saw her too!”
“Please take a seat, Miss Winters. Otherwise, I’ll have you restrained.”
She glared at him, fighting the urge to scramble over the desk and wrap her hands around his neck. “Why won’t you listen to me? What are you doing? Trying to cover this up like you cover up every other horrible thing that happens in this shithole?”
With that, he punched a button on the intercom on his desk, his face lined with anger. When his secretary answered, he said, “Send Leonard into my office and tell him to bring a straitjacket.”
“Yes, Doctor,” the secretary said. “For Miss Winters?”
“Yes, Evie.” Then he released the button, leaned back, and stared at Sage with furious eyes, daring her to try something. “What happens next is your decision. We can either continue this discussion calmly, or I can have you put back in the pit until you decide to cooperate.”
She took her hands from the desk and stepped back, her heart pounding so hard she was breathless. Dizzy. Maybe she should turn and run out of the office, shove the secretary out of the way and race screaming out the front door. Except that possibility was nothing more than wishful thinking, her mind playing tricks on her. Every door was locked and bolted, every room a prison. She eased backward and sat on the edge of the chair, ready to flee or fight if need be. Behind her, the door opened. Leonard entered with a straitjacket in one fist, walked over to Dr. Baldwin’s desk, and stood near the wall like a soldier awaiting a command. He eyed her suspiciously.
“Are you ready to finish our discussion now, Miss Winters?” Dr. Baldwin said.
She took a deep, shuddering breath and nodded.
“Good,” he said. “Now I need you to listen carefully to what I’m about to say. I wanted to break this to you gently, but you’ve given me no choice. There was no body in the tunnels.”
The air left her lungs. “What do you mean there was no body? Of course there is. Eddie showed you!”
“The head of security and I went into the tunnels with Eddie and we did a thorough search. We found nothing. So you see, it wasn’t real. It was just a hallucination, brought about by your illness and the stress of the reporters breaking into your building.”
“No!” she cried. “That’s not true. I saw her! Her hair was chopped off and her throat was slit and she was dead. I’m not making it up. And I don’t have an illness. I’m not crazy. She was there and someone killed her!”
“I’m sorry, Miss Winters, but I’m afraid you’re wrong. You wanted to see a body because it reinforced your delusions.”
“I’m not having delusions!” A white-hot pressure boiled through her like a murderous rage. It was all she could do to stay in the chair. “What did you do?” she cried. “Did you get rid of her body so no one would find out you never reported her missing?”
“I can assure you I did no such thing,” he said.
This was lunacy. A nightmare to end all nightmares. He didn’t believe anything she said. Not one word. What could she say to make him listen? With desperate eyes, she scanned the floor, the desk, the dark window, as if the answer might be hidden there. She felt light-headed. Panicked. Confused. Desperate. For all she knew the killer could be outside the window right now, watching this exchange, waiting to see if she would be set free so he could slit her throat too. Maybe she needed to try a different approach. “I know this sounds crazy, but have you ever heard of Cropsey?”
An amused smile flashed briefly across his face, then disappeared. “Of course I’ve heard of Cropsey. But he’s not real. And I have to say, hearing you mention that ridiculous rumor makes me wonder if you’ve fallen into a new kind of neurosis, which, to be honest, is rather worrisome.”
She shook her head. “I’m not falling into anything,” she said. “I’m perfectly sane. I know who I am and I know what I saw. Eddie saw Rosemary too. He told you the truth. I know he did. And you’re right, Cropsey isn’t real, but some of the residents here seem to think he is, and someone killed my sister. It might even be someone who works here, like Wayne. Did you know he was having sex with my sister and now he’s having sex with Norma? Did you know he’s a drug addict and he tried to rape me? Do you even care? Of course not, because you don’t listen to anyone, which makes me think Eddie is right. You just want to hide all the abuse and neglect that goes on here, no matter who suffers.”
“I’m sorry you feel that way, but I can assure you that I have no reason to hide anything. And speaking of Eddie, you don’t have to worry about him bothering you anymore. He’ll no longer be anywhere near you.”
“He wasn’t bothering me. He was helping me. That’s why we were down in the tunnels. He knows I don’t belong in this place.”
“As I said, that’s not for Eddie to decide. I just want you know you won’t be seeing him again.”
The room started to spin around her. Who would help her now that Eddie had been fired? She reached blindly for the back of the chair, moving farther into the seat and holding on to the cold metal for dear life to keep from sliding into a whimpering heap on the floor. How was she going to prove him wrong? How could she ever convince him she was telling the truth? She looked at Leonard to see his reaction to everything he’d heard. He stood with his eyes on the floor, refusing to look at her.
“Ask Leonard,” she said to Dr. Baldwin. “He knows. He and Nurse Vic were talking about how Wayne might know where Rosemary was hiding. Maybe he knows who killed my sister. Maybe he and Wayne are two of the ex-criminals you hired without doing background checks.”
Leonard glanced at her, then shifted on his feet, clearly uneasy.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Dr. Baldwin said. “We don’t hire ex-criminals.”
“Yes, you do. Eddie told me. He also said Dr. Wilkins was fired because he told some of the parents about their children being mistreated. Then you spread a lie about him molesting a resident to cover up the truth. So don’t tell me you’re not trying to hide anything.”
Dr. Baldwin’s temples pulsed in and out. “Eddie has no idea what he’s talking about. He’s always stirring the pot around here.”
“Did Eddie tell you anything about Rosemary?” she said, grasping for straws. “Did he tell you how we’re different?”
He shook his head. “There was no need to discuss anything like that.”
“Did Rosemary have a scar from being sterilized?”
“I’m a psychiatrist, Miss Winters, not a general practitioner. So I don’t know.”
“Who was the doctor who did those operations?”