Rita came down with the results of the examination. “Negative,” she said, and my eyes fell shut in relief. “Seems Brett was telling the truth about the nature of his assaults. Good news, if you can call it that.”
Anna nodded, her lips pursed. “I’m glad, but the damage is done.”
As the police conferred with Rita and Anna, Alonzo pulled me aside.
“The damage is done,” he said. “Not just to Miss Hughes but to us too. It’s going to be bad at that meeting tomorrow. But no less than what we deserve, I reckon. And by ‘we,’ I mean myself. Not you. You did right, Jim. Since the beginning, you been doing right by that girl.”
“So have you,” I said. “You’ve been doing right by all of them, with no help from the director. They have to see that.”
Alonzo put his hand on my arm. “Go home, Jim. Get some sleep and I’ll see you tomorrow.”
I walked out the front door to my Harley. I’d already been dreading the meeting with Delia, the doctor, and the director. But now, with that bastard assaulting Thea… When I walked out of Blue Ridge tomorrow, it might be for the last time. Delia Hughes might have the entire sanitarium shut down. Good people would be out of jobs.
And Thea would remain trapped in her five-minute prison for the rest of her life.
Chapter 16
Jim
Monday morning, I showered and put on my only dress shirt, jeans, and my leather jacket. I rode to Blue Ridge with my guts in a knot.
The parking lot was fuller than usual, with a few sedans and one medical van with Roanoke Memorial emblazoned on the side. Inside, the normally hushed sanitarium echoed with footsteps and voices.
I found Alonzo, Joaquin, and Anna in the hallway outside the rec room huddled up and talking in low voices.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“The new doctor is in there with Delia and Thea,” Alonzo said, inclining his head at the rec room door. “They’ve been in a serious pow-wow with board members and other doctors for an hour.”
I frowned. “Is the meeting with Poole and Stevens still on?”
“Poole and Stevens are no longer affiliated with Blue Ridge,” Anna said. She tilted her chin. “Neither is Mary Flint.”
“Dude, it’s nuts,” Joaquin said. “Delia Hughes blew a gasket—”
“As well she should,” Alonzo said.
“—and heads rolled.”
“Somehow, none were ours,” Anna said dryly.
“Okay,” I said slowly. “Delia isn’t taking Thea out of Blue Ridge?”
“Don’t think so,” Alonzo said. “The new doctor—Christina Chen? She’s in charge now and somehow, she’s convinced Delia to stay. Said she’s going to be more involved in Miss Hughes’ care.” He nodded at the rec room again. “Starting now.”
“And that’s it? Delia was satisfied with that?”
“Strangely enough.” Alonzo scratched his chin. “Something’s going on with her. I can’t put my finger on it…”
“Agreed,” Anna said. “She seemed almost eager not to have to pull Thea out of Blue Ridge. As if she were grasping at any reason to stay.”
“Snakes and all,” Joaquin said.
Alonzo gave him a dirty look.
“I meant Brett too,” Joaquin said, holding up his hands.
“Miss Hughes was grossly abused while under our care,” Alonzo said. “Delia Hughes would be well within her rights to sue us into oblivion. The fact we’re still here is a blessing.”
“It’s a miracle,” Anna said. “As much as I loathe what happened to Thea, it was the wake-up call the board needed to fix so much of what was broken.”
“We’re not out of the woods yet,” Alonzo said. “Delia’s got us by the balls.” He clapped me on the shoulder. “Needless to say, your suspension is over.”
Joaquin chucked my other arm. “You did good for Miss Hughes, man.”
“Indeed,” Anna Sutton said. She patted my hand. “Thank you, Jim.”
I looked around at them—Anna and Alonzo like proud parents and Joaquin the brother I never had. A family. My family.
Dream on, you big dummy. Doris scoffed. They just feel sorry for you.
But her words didn’t stick this time. No one lost their jobs and Thea was still here with a new doctor. I went to the break room and changed into my uniform, feeling lighter than I had in days. A new era was beginning. I just wished Thea hadn’t had to suffer to make it happen.
I pushed the mop bucket out into the hallway and began the stretch of the linoleum that led to the front foyer.
Maybe Thea will start a new painting. Maybe this Dr. Chen will have some ideas about her word chains. Maybe I could help—
“You,” a familiar voice said behind me.
“Ms. Hughes,” I said, turning.
“I suppose I should thank you for coming to Thea’s rescue the other night,” Delia said.
“Just doing my job,” I said warily.
“And you did it well. Got to her right at the nick of time, didn’t you?”
I cocked my head. “Sorry?”
“You busted through the door like a superhero. Perfectly timed to catch that man in the act.”
“Not perfectly,” I said, feeling the stutter right there, rising with the anger at her insinuations. “I was t-two nights too late.”
Delia tilted her chin. “And holding my sister? Singing to her? Is that in your job description as well?”
I gripped the handle of the mop. “She was upset. Music helps her calm down.”
She pursed her lips, watching me. “I’m torn, Mr. Whelan,” she said. “I’m grateful to you, and I don’t trust you. You’re not—”
“Yeah, I know,” I said, cutting her off. “I’m not a doctor. I’m just an orderly.”
“You are. Thea is so defenseless, I’ve always mistrusted male staff around her. Turns out I was right to be wary.”
Tears shone in her eyes but she blinked them away.
“Dr. Chen assures me Thea is in safe hands now. A new director will be appointed, more funds allotted for hiring staff and Dr. Chen herself is committed to Thea’s case. The only thing that would reassure me more, is if the man who seems so taken with my sister no longer worked here.”
The words to defend myself rose to my lips but I bit them back. They’d come out stuttering and weak anyway, making my poor excuses sound desperate. Or obsessive. I knew what my fierce protection of Thea looked like to everyone else: a male orderly paying too much attention to a beautiful, vulnerable patient. Stopping Brett only compounded Delia’s worry. In her eyes, I was just another man who had access to Thea. Another predator who could put his hands on her when no one was looking because who would suspect me now?
“One of the stipulations of my keeping Thea at Blue Ridge,” Delia continued, “is that under no circumstances are you, or any other male staff, to have direct contact with my sister. If what you say is true—you’re just doing your job—this shouldn’t be a problem for you.”
I tilted my chin up. “Not a problem.”