“Who?” Dr. Baldwin said. “I’ll have them fired right away.”
“And that’s precisely why I’m not going to tell you. I don’t want the person in question to know we’re on to them.”
Frustration hardened Dr. Baldwin’s features. “All right, I’ll allow you to take Miss Winters to the crime scene, but only under heavy security. She’s tried to run away too many times, and I won’t risk it happening again.”
“Of course,” Nolan said. “That’s not a problem.”
“What about Eddie?” Sage said. “Shouldn’t he come too? He was with me when we—”
“No,” Baldwin interrupted. “This situation is preposterous enough without getting him involved. I won’t hear of it.”
“Eddie who?” Detective Nolan said. “And what does he have to do with this?”
“Eddie King,” Dr. Baldwin said. “He claims he caught Miss Winters attempting to escape, but it’s not the entire truth. In any event, he’s been properly dealt with, I can assure you.”
“In what way?”
“He mops floors and empties the trash in a different building now. And his actions have been noted in his file.”
“Is he the person who helped you?” Detective Nolan asked Sage.
She nodded. “Yes, but I didn’t want to say anything until now because I didn’t want to get him in more trouble.”
Detective Nolan took out a notepad and wrote down Eddie’s name. “Did Eddie King also state there was a body in the tunnels?”
“Yes,” she said. “He told Dr. Baldwin about it too.”
“Eddie was involved with Miss Winters despite numerous warnings to stay away from her,” Dr. Baldwin said, his voice filled with scorn. “So he was clearly trying to protect her.”
“Why didn’t you mention him before now?”
Baldwin shrugged. “It wasn’t necessary. He’s been reprimanded for his involvement. And there is no body.”
“You do realize I could come after you for not disclosing important information during an investigation, don’t you?” Detective Nolan said, irritated.
“I can assure you, Eddie has nothing to do with any of this.”
“I’ll be the judge of that. I’ll need to speak to Mr. King as soon as possible. And this Wayne person, when you find out who he is.”
“I’ll arrange it.”
“No, I don’t want to give them a heads-up. You can take me to them after we’re done at the crime scene.”
“All right,” Baldwin said. “But just so we’re clear, you’re being sent on a wild-goose chase, Detective. Whatever she, or they, say they saw in the tunnels was either a hallucination or a downright lie.”
“I hope you’re right, Doctor. Because if not, you could have a mass murderer on your hands.”
CHAPTER 18
Wrapping the wool coat Eddie had given her around herself and wearing the too-big boots tied extra tight, Sage trailed Detective Nolan and Dr. Baldwin through the mist-filled forest, along slushy paths winding around frozen tree roots and icy rocks, up slippery embankments and back down again. Layers of sleet from an earlier storm gathered in the shadows of trees, but the snow on the branches and ground was starting to melt and drip, filling the air with the scent of soil and wet pine. Sage took deep, cleansing breaths as she hiked, letting the salty hint of the distant ocean and the fresh winter air evict the heavy stench of Willowbrook from her lungs. Muttering about the cold, Marla followed close behind, carrying a fistful of leather straps to restrain Sage if she caused any trouble.
Every now and then Sage slipped in the slurry of snow and mud but managed to grab a tree or find her footing before she fell. Dr. Baldwin, on the other hand, wearing a wool peacoat and tweed newsboy cap, slipped every few steps, the soles of his brown Oxfords like grease on the slush. Every time he slipped, Sage wanted him to fall on his face, but it never happened. Detective Nolan had to keep stopping and waiting for them to catch up, and his patience was clearly wearing thin.
After climbing a rocky mound and taking several more twists and turns through the woods, they came to a marshy clearing surrounded by tall pines, leafless oaks, and thick shrubs. Yellow police tape roped off part of the area, wrapping around tree limbs and brush. When a cop at the edge of the clearing saw them coming, he held up a hand.
“Turn around, folks,” he said. “You don’t want to see this.”
Detective Nolan took out his wallet and showed him his badge. “Stand down, Officer. That’s why we’re here.”
“Sorry, Detective,” the cop said, and stepped back to let them pass.
Nolan and Baldwin hurried into the clearing, but Sage slowed, her heart pounding. She had no desire to see another dead body, but she had no choice. She needed to see if Evie’s throat was slit. Needed to see if her hair had been chopped off, if her lips had been stretched into a clown smile.
Nolan and Baldwin went under the police tape and trudged over to the crime scene, where another cop and two men who looked like part of a search team stood talking. When they reached the crime scene, Dr. Baldwin immediately turned away like he was about to be sick. Nolan looked back at Sage and gestured for her to follow. Marla nudged her impatiently from behind.
“Move it along so we can get this done and I can get out of this damn cold,” she said, her teeth chattering.
Swallowing her fear, Sage went under the police tape and edged closer to Detective Nolan.
Evie lay in a shallow grave between a fallen tree and an outcropping of jagged rock, her shoulders jammed forward as if she had been crammed into the tight space by sheer force, her arms straight in front of her, her sliced, bloody wrists touching. Blood pooled dark and gelatinous between her broken collarbones at the base of her neck, which had been slit from ear to ear. A few jagged inches of platinum hair remained on her head, and random blotches of icy dirt muddied her face and eyes. Clumps of wet leaves covered her legs up to her waist, and a long section of bark from a hollowed-out tree rested over her feet and ankles like a recently removed coffin lid.
Sage backed away, unable to pull her eyes from Evie’s twisted lips and the circus-red lipstick smeared like clown makeup toward her ears. Finally, she went back to the police tape, slipped under it, and stood near Marla, the icy air suddenly finding its way through her wool coat.
“Was it Miss Evie?” Marla said.
Sage nodded.
“Damn,” Marla said. She crossed herself and muttered a quick prayer, shaking her head.
Detective Nolan and Dr. Baldwin returned to where she and Marla stood.
“Well,” Detective Nolan said, watching Sage closely, “is Mrs. Carter’s body in the same condition as the body you saw?”
She nodded. “Yes, the hair, the lipstick, everything. Exactly the same.”
Dr. Baldwin scoffed. “What did you expect her to say?” He yanked a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his mouth. “She’ll agree to anything if it backs up her story.”
“Do you have any other explanation for her knowledge about the condition of Mrs. Carter’s body before today?”
“There’s only one explanation I can think of.”