“We...” I circle my finger. “The FBI fucked this one up. More intel on Camp Carroll and even the test results uncovered in that lab would have indicated how careful we needed to be. But I think the threats aren’t coming from him. He’s not going to hurt anyone.”
“What are you talking about? He’s a complete head case. Dead behind the eyes. Of course, he’ll hurt or kill someone. Even one ofusif we get in his way,” Todd speaks up from the doorway where he’s keeping a watch out for Hutton. “I’m beginning to think he killed the grounds person.” I can’t refute that. He may have, but there isn’t any reason why he would have.
“Is the detail being disbanded? Is he getting his way about that?” I ask Rick. Hutton wants to get rid of his protective detail or as he calls them ‘his babysitters.’ If he leaves the Center, I’ll feel better.
“Ha.” Rick laughs snidely. “Oh, he’s fighting it tooth and nail, but he doesn’t understand that his aunt and uncle… well, and grandmother are too powerful to fight on this.” That may be for the best. Hutton has a superiority complex that might get him killed. Though my feelings about him are complicated, I feel a sense of duty to make sure he survives, because I failed everyone else at Camp Carroll. Hours earlier our raid could have stopped their deaths. If we hadn’t held back until the sun was setting, there might have been a chance. In addition to that Eden has a history with him, even if he won’t say what that is, and she has no memory of it.
“I’m interviewing a couple of residents before I go. Don’t even bother to question Hutton, he let us find all of his contraband. I wouldn’t be surprised if he has more. Just get a move on with the safe house. The sooner he’s relocated the better. For everyone involved.” Rick is barely listening to me anymore as his fingers fly over the keys of the laptop. He’s getting more agitated at being bested by his cousin.
My stomach growls as I wait for Tempest. Nothing feels like it’s amiss, but I have careful notes on the residents that came here after the FBI scoured their backgrounds. I’ve been forewarned that she can’t speak to me and uses an electronic notepad to communicate with. When she rounds the corner in her linen jumpsuit in a light purple shade, she gives me a warm smile and dips her head towards me in greeting.
“Ms. Michaels, have a seat.” I get up and pull the chair on the other side of the table out. The Center paperwork says she is in her mid-forties, but she could be older or younger. There is something almost ethereal about her. Her dark hair has a few streaks of silver. “I have a couple of questions for you that your paperwork didn’t cover.”
She taps at the screen of her device and slides it my way. “I understand.”
“Good.” I take a deep breath before diving in, “Your inability to talk… that’s due to injuries that you sustained?” I don’t like prying into people’s traumas, but I do it regularly.
She nods with the smile still in place.
“How did you hear about Horizon Wellness Center? Your paperwork states you were in a commune in Oregon. That’s quite a distance from here.”
I take the time she’s using to type up her answer to look her over more. She has no visible scars or tattoos. Athletic build, lean, but strong looking. No jewelry. There are two fingers that look like they may have held rings that have bands of lighter colored skin. She finally turns the notepad my way. “I was forced out of the commune for protecting a younger member. I walked almost five miles to a summer camp for children. There was someone there that gave me information and money to get here after I wrote out what happened.”
“What’s the name of the camp or that person you met?” Kicking into work gear, I look for holes in her story. There are more than a few.
She diligently types in more. “Camp Chaswalabee and the person that I met with was a camp counselor. His name is Peter Dunn.” I write the names down to verify that both exist, and to make sure that Dunn remembers Tempest.
The rest of our back and forth goes on with some routine history questions and then she throws me off by asking, “Is Eden, okay?” I didn’t know that the patients even knew she’d been found. I give her a confused look and she adds, “The staff was talking about her being at the hospital.”
“She’s going to be fine.”
“I’m relieved. Most of the patients here have been worried about a couple of the nurses. One in particular seems to watch Eden a lot. I just wanted you to know that.” My pulse starts to race. Just when I thought Tempest’s interview was a slight waste of time.
“Name? What’s the nurse’s name?”
She types and pushes the tablet back at me, “I don’t remember her name. She has red hair.” Fuck. She’s the one that we’ve all been turning to when we’ve tried to keep things quiet. Is she part of the problem or is Tempest and the other residents picking up on her knowledge about the secrets we’re keeping. She could have been watching Eden knowing that we were concerned about her safety.
13. EDEN
“Come sit with me. Stop pacing, you’re driving me nuts.” I hold my hand out to Blaine and he sighs as he grabs it and sinks down next to me on the hospital bed. He won’t leave unless someone else is with me. Usually Matt, but since Anna arrived, she comes and forces me to watch bad TV and do puzzles with her.
My beautiful best friend is looking sick. I don’t want to ask if he’s been drinking or using. He seems sober, but I’ve missed it in the past. “Don’t look at me like that,” he says into the side of my head as he kisses my freshly washed hair.
“Like what? Like I care about you?” I’m relieved that Anna helped me wash up this morning. I was feeling grimy and disgusting. It was tricky with my leg wound, but with the aid of a shower chair and some maneuvering I almost feel human again. “Are you and Matt still fighting?” The tension when they’re both here is thick.
“New rule. No talking about Matt, in addition to the other new rule from an hour ago which was no talking about Caleb.” He pokes at my side. “Safe topics include how much you love and adore me, sex and anything to do with sex, and how much you miss sex with me.” He laughs lightly.
“Be serious for a minute. I’m worried about you. Are you eating or sleeping? Because you don’t look like it.” Blaine has always been thin, but his face is a bit more gaunt than usual. He isn’t as unkempt as he was when I woke up, but his mood is all over the place. One minute he’s joking and the next looking so morose that I want to cry.
“Mhm? I can’t hear you… you have too many clothes on.” He jokes and tugs lightly at the gown I have on.
Matt arrives with bags from McDonald’s, Sonic, and a local Chicken shack. The smell alone makes my mouth water. I’ve been sticking to Jell-O cups, because what constitutes food here has a ‘mystery’ meat feel to it. He places most of the bags on my movable bed tray and then leaves with one of them saying he’s delivering Caleb his food. Blaine gives me a devilish little grin as he follows with his phone. “What are you doing, B?” I holler after him.
When they return Blaine holds his phone out to show me Caleb savoring his fries one at a time like a total crazy person. The smile on his face lifts my heart. We tease him about his affinity for fries, but with the little things I keep learning about him, it endears him to me more. “Dude’s in heaven right now.”
I pick at my chicken sandwich and only manage a couple of fries. My stomach has been sour. The doctor reassures me that being on pain meds can alter my appetite, and the fact that they found traces of drugs in my system when I was hospitalized may be part of it.
“Neither of you are eating,” Matt accuses us as he takes a big bite of his barbecue and licks at the juices that make their way down his chin. My libido takes special notice of that. I may not be hungry for food… but my entire body flushes with heat at the thought of Matt’s tongue in other places.
