“If you are …”
I wave a hand in the air to keep her quiet. “That’s not what I meant. What I mean is that if you’ve been here since I went to get snacks, then you would not have been able to see the end hallway on the right side of this floor.”
“Oh.” She relaxes and nods. “Yes, I’ve been here filing paperwork and scanning in notes.”
“Alright, thank you.”
I don’t say anything else until I get downstairs to the security room. This is a fucking disaster. Who is working with Donnie and Crystal?
“Can we help you?” The security officer asks.
“Yes. I’m Detective Vega with WPD. A patient is missing from the fifth floor. I need to see if you can find her on the cameras.”
“I’m sure she wandered off and will make her way back to her room. No need to be alarmed,” he says dismissively. He turns to go back to work but I grab his arm.
“Stevens is it?” I raise a brow at him. “Do you understand that this woman is a victim of family abuse?”
“Uh …”
“Exactly. Her father is in the ICU, two floors up. Her deranged brother is on the loose. Now let me see the damn surveillance footage from the last”—I glance at my watch then back up to Stevens—“twenty-two minutes.”
I brokemy word to Drew. The minute he was gone, so was I. My father has to go. I wanted to make him my last kill, but it’s gotten worse at home. If he gets out of this hospital, I’ll be the one that’s dead. He’ll be sure to put me six feet under.
Getting away from the cameras isn’t easy, but I know the stairs don’t have any. There are cameras at the nurse’s station and at the elevators. The hospital didn’t think this security layout through. I smirk as I climb the stairs.
Fuck me, it hurts to move, but I'm determined to end my father’s life. It takes me way too long to get up two flights of stairs. I’m winded and can barely stand upright. Doesn’t matter. I’m on a mission, and I always complete what I’m going after.
I open the door and the floor is bustling with people. How strange that the ICU is so busy. This side of the hallway has the nurse’s station. Shit, I duck into a room and am grateful that no one is in here. I watch as the nurse leaves her seat. She’s coming straight toward me, but she turns right and goes into a locked room.
She doesn’t shut the door all the way. This is good for me. I walk in behind her and can hear her music coming from her earbuds. I see she’s in a break room of sorts. There’s a coat hanging on the wall. Hell, she doesn’t even turn around when I take the coat and it rustles. Dumbass.
Making my way out of the room, I put the coat on and it covers me from shoulders to ankles. There’s a small box on the side of the wall that has masks and gloves in it. Well, this is going to be easier than I thought. Putting the mask on and then the gloves, I make my way through the rooms.
I'm surprised that there are no police outside my father’s room. He’s a criminal after all and should be handcuffed to the bed. He’s not. This makes me irrationally angry. Of course they don’t treat him like the creeper he is. Crazy ol’ Maddie is making up stories again.
“Hello, Father.”
His eyes pop open in shock, and I glare down at him. “Not so great and illustrious anymore, huh?”
I poke at his bandages, causing him to wince in pain. It’s a lot easier to do when he’s helpless. His neck is in an immobilizer and his ankles are in traction socks. There’s an oxygen tube in his nose, and I yank it out. He doesn’t deserve to breathe. He starts gasping but his mouth is wired shut so he can’t call out for help. A quiet laugh escapes my lips.
Bending down, I whisper in his ear. “You should have killed me, Father. But since you didn’t, I’m going to kill you.”
I yank on his IV, and he coughs. Good. I want him to suffer. “I was going to make you watch as I killed Donnie. Oh well, it’s better this way.”
Searching the drawers, I find the scalpel and extra syringes. The hospital really does need to lock this stuff up. Not that I would tell them that. Fixing the syringe and needle together, I smile but he can’t see that smile because of the mask.
I look at him and then the machines he’s hooked to. Pulling the cord on the breathing monitor, blood pressure cuff, and the heart monitor, an overwhelming sense of happiness fills me. “By the way,I’mThe Mad Hatter. You stupid fuck. You didn’t want anyone to know I was raped, and now everyone involved is dead. Except Donnie, but don’t you worry, I’m going to find him.”
I push the needle into the IV and push the plunger down. The IV monitor beeps but I silence it. “That big air bubble is going to hit your head soon. I’m not taking any chances though.” I use the scalpel and slice his wrist closest to me.
“Enjoying the pain, Daddy Dearest?” I wink at him, taunting him. Funny how he can’t talk now. It’s beautiful to hear his whimpers. I walk around the bed and slice his other wrist.
“I love that you’re suffering right now. Bleed, mother fucker.” Giggling, I run the scalpel along his body and jab in a few areas. Not to break the skin but to cause just enough pain to make him jolt.
I look at him for just a minute and then slice his throat. Not once, but twice.
“Enjoy death, you sick son of a bitch. Just remember this, I fucking won.”
