She nodded.
He unfolded the paper and slid it across the table to her. “Well, take a look at this.”
It was an article from the New York Times. She picked it up and began to read.
Commissioner Won’t Reinstate Two Dismissed at Willowbrook
Acknowledging that reconciliation efforts had failed, Dr. Alan D. Miller, State Commissioner of Mental Hygiene, announced yesterday that a doctor and a social worker dismissed from the Willowbrook State School for mental defectives will not be reinstated.
The two, Dr. Michael Wilkins and Mrs. Elizabeth Lee, were dismissed Jan. 4 by Willowbrook’s director, Dr. Jack Hammond, who said he found them “impossible to work with.”
Dr. Hammond has said he dismissed the two from the state school on Staten Island because of repeated violations of departmental regulations. They contend they were dismissed because they showed newsmen and citizens’ groups the deplorable conditions in which Willowbrook’s mentally retarded patients live.
Other Willowbrook employees, feeling that the Wilkins– Lee charges blamed them for poor patient care, approved Dr. Hammond’s dismissal of the pair. Dr. Miller’s change of mind about the reinstatement drew a strong protest from Anthony Pinto, president of the Benevolent Society for the Retarded Children of Willowbrook, a parents’ organization. Mr. Pinto charged that Dr. Miller had “relinquished his administrative authority and bowed to the union.”
Dr. Hammond is scheduled today to testify for the second time before the Richmond County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. This organization, incorporated only last month, has been conducting public hearings all week on conditions at Willowbrook.
Dr. Hammond promised Monday that he would return today with detailed information about patients who have died at Willowbrook.
She looked up at Eddie, her eyes wide. “Is he going to talk about Rosemary?”
“I doubt it,” he said. “I just wanted you to know that Baldwin isn’t the only one who’s covering things up. The lying comes all the way from the top down.”
“But Dr. Hammond is going to give them information about patients who died at Willowbrook.” She pointed the article. “It says so right here.”
“Do you honestly think Hammond’s going to start telling the truth all of a sudden? Do you think he’ll admit to a resident being murdered any sooner than he has to?”
She shook her head. He was right. If the people in charge could find a way to cover up two killings, they’d do it in a heartbeat. Residents died from abuse and medical experiments at Willowbrook all the time, which was pretty much the same thing as murder, so Rosemary’s death would have little effect on their conscience.
Just then, headlights flashed across Eddie’s face and they both looked out the window. A car drove into the lot and parked next to his Mustang.
“Shit,” Sage said, hoping it wasn’t anyone she knew. Then an image flashed in her mind: Wayne storming into the dinner and charging toward them with a knife. She slid down in her seat and pulled her coat around her shoulders, trembling.
As she watched, the car doors opened and a young couple got out and headed toward the diner door. She straightened and breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn’t Wayne, and she didn’t recognize the couple. The bell over the entrance chimed as they entered, their arms draped around each other. They looked high, or drunk, or both. Laughing and kissing, they fell into a corner booth.
“Are you sure you don’t want to go someplace else?” Eddie said. “We can still leave, you know.”
“No,” she said. “I’ll be fine.” She glanced over at the food pickup window, hoping their order wouldn’t take too long. Iris went over to wait on the young couple, pad and pencil in hand. She looked annoyed.
“You’re not fine,” Eddie said. “You look like you’re about to scream.”
“I just need to eat something,” she said. “And we have more important things to talk about than how I’m feeling. What did your uncle say when you told him about finding Rosemary?”
He pulled a straw out of the dispenser next to the napkin holder and twisted it between his fingers. “He was shocked, but not surprised, that Baldwin tried to cover it up. He was pretty upset with me for helping you, but he said we were lucky we found Rosemary when we did, because no one uses that tunnel anymore and who knows how long she would have been down there. It could have been years.” He bent the straw in half and chucked it at the napkin holder.
A chill crawled up Sage’s spine thinking about Rosemary trapped in the bowels of that nightmarish institution, cold and alone for weeks and months and years, slowly decaying. Not that being buried in the woods was much better, but at least it wasn’t in the tunnels beneath Willowbrook. At least it was outside with trees and animals and all the things Rosemary loved. Plus, if they hadn’t found her, Sage would have been kept locked up, possibly for the rest of her life. Thank God she’d tried to escape. Thank God Eddie had helped by taking her into the tunnels. Because as much as she hated the fact that her sister had been killed, she was beyond ecstatic to be free.
As soon as the thought crossed her mind, guilt slammed into her heart. How could she feel relief when the price of her freedom was Rosemary’s life? What kind of person thinks that way? And about her own sister, no less?
Suddenly the aromas of fried food and coffee made her sick to her stomach. She looked over at the pickup window again. Thankfully the waitress was headed their way, two plates balanced in one hand, a glass of milk in the other. When Iris put their food on the table, Sage was going to ask if they could get it to go, but Eddie had already started eating. He wiped his mouth and looked at her.
“You okay?”
She nodded and picked up her fork.
He covered his pancakes with syrup, then held the bottle over her plate. She nodded and he poured some on hers. “So do you think he’ll come looking for you?” he said. “After he finds out about Rosemary, I mean.”
The blood drained from her face. Oh my God. He thinks Wayne wants to kill me, too.
“What is it?” he said, alarmed. “What’s wrong?”
“You think Wayne is going to come looking for me?”
His eyes went wide. “No! Not Wayne. I was talking about Alan! You said you might stay with a friend for a while.”
“Oh.” Her shoulders loosened. “I . . . I doubt it. Why would he?”
“I don’t know, to apologize?”
“Yeah, right.” She stared at her plate, at the greasy bacon and sticky syrup, and the swooning sensation stirred in her head again. What if Wayne Myers is Cropsey? What if he killed all those missing kids too?
“What about your sister’s funeral?” Eddie said.
If he got away with all those murders, surely he’ll get away with killing Rosemary and Evie. And me.
“Sage?” Eddie said. “Did you hear me?”
She blinked and looked at him. “I’m sorry. What did you say?”
“I asked if you would go to your sister’s funeral.”
She put down her fork and took a sip of milk, trying to think straight. “Alan won’t pay for a funeral. He’ll just let them cremate her, or whatever Willowbrook normally does with deceased residents.”