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“She’s not my type, and for the record, I have no intention of dating anyone.” Kane’s eyes rolled skyward. “I’m here to buy a horse.” His lips twitched. “You do know the meaning of the word schmoozing, right? Being nice to the right people when you want something is how things are done around these parts.” He turned his gaze back to the returning Gloria and smiled. “Trust me, I’m an expert.”
32
Jane Stickler stared into the shadows in her room at the hospital. The quiet was driving her crazy. The sheriff’s department had closed the entire floor she was on, and during the day, a deputy sat on duty beside the elevators. The nurse had insisted she was safe overnight as the hospital restricted access to the wards. Yet only one nurse sat at the nurses’ station all night and most times reading a book.
Apparently, no one could find her but her stomach ached at the thought of the interview with the sheriff in the morning. Ely was dead, so why did they need any more information? She chewed on what was left of her nails, wondering what they would ask her. Embarrassment heated her cheeks. She could not tell them everything—it was just too awful. The drugs the doctors had given her made her brain slow and she couldn’t think straight. She glanced at the digital readout on the clock above her bed; it was after midnight and she had dozed for three hours after taking the medication, but now fully awake, she just wanted to go home.
She wondered if her room would be the same or if her parents had thrown out her things. They had been strange when they arrived. They looked so much older and she hardly recognized them. It was as if two strangers had walked into her room. She had been so excited to see them and desperately needed a hug but they had not so much as touched her hand. In fact, they seemed ashamed of her, sitting well away from her as if she had some contagious disease. Her mom hadn’t mentioned taking her home at all and left without saying when or if they would return.
Thank God, Adam had arrived soon after the sheriff dropped her at the hospital. Her brother left her for an hour then returned laden with everything she would need: nightgowns, toiletries, and clothes. Sure, some of the things were a little big, but she had not had anything of her own to wear in eight years. Her brother had grown up to be a very kind man and had offered to take her to his house in Black Rock Falls.
A noise in the hallway caught her attention and she looked through the glass panel in the door, expecting to see the deputy who walked past and peered at her on the hour every day. Panic hit her like a blow to the gut as the dim lighting hit a clown face. Ely was coming and he would kill her for telling the sheriff about the others. Frozen with terror, her gaze fixed on the man strolling slowly along the passageway. No, it could not possibly be him. The sheriff had told her Ely was dead but his words filled her head as if he stood next to her whispering in her ear. If you say a word to anyone, we will find you. There is no place to hide. We will kill you and your family.
Heart racing, she gasped for breath and slipped from the bed. She had to get away. After pushing the pillow under the covers to make it appear she was sleeping, she ducked under the bed and lay on the cold tile. As the door pushed silently open, the man moved into the room. She heard him breathing. The blankets came off the bed in a whoosh and the man swore.
“Where are you, bitch?”
His feet moved inches from her nose, and she let out a gasp. The next moment, the hideous smiling face peered at her.
“Get out from under there and get into bed or I’m taking you back where you belong.”
She recognized the voice as one of the men who used to visit her, the mean one with the green eyes. She backed away. “I’ll scream and the nurse will come.”
“No one is coming. All the nurses are having a nice sleep and you are the only patient on this floor. The other kid went home.” He leaned in and grabbed her by the hair. “Do as I say and I’ll be nice, or you’ll suffer. Your choice.”
Trembling with fear, she eased out from under the bed, the smell of him bringing back a rush of terrible dark memories. “Let go of me and I’ll do what you say.”
“I know you will.” He stepped back a pace. The grinning red lips stretched wide on his white face sent tremors of disgust through her.
A shaft of light lit up the room and a small figure dressed in black with their face covered in a ski mask stood in the doorway.
“Who the hell are you supposed to be?” He turned away. “Get out of here, kid.”
As the figure moved into the room leaving the door wide open, Jane inched her way around the foot of the bed. If she could make it out of the door, she could find help.
Without warning, the figure lunged toward the clown, and Jane heard a voice.
“Run!”
She didn’t wait and hurtled toward the door. The clown’s large hands grasped at her nightgown but she slipped away and edged out into the hall.
“Leave her alone.” The figure stepped in his way. “Run and don’t look back.”
The clown bellowed with rage and Jane heard a loud thump as he plowed a fist into the stranger. “I’ll deal with you next, kid.”
Terrified, she forced her legs to move and ran out the door then pelted down the dimly lit corridor toward the nurses’ station. The place was deserted, and behind her, she could hear the clown swearing at the woman. I need to get help.
Her feet clad only in socks slipped on the polished floor and she bounced off the walls in a desperate attempt to get away. Safety was not far but seemed to be miles away. She screamed as loud as possible. Someone must be around in a hospital and might hear her. “Help me! Help me!”
Her screams echoed down the empty corridors but no one came. Desperate for help, she ran past the doors to the other rooms, peering through the small windows, but no other patients occupied the rooms. She remembered something her brother had told her earlier—she was in a ward on a floor all to herself. For her own safety. Breathless, she ran for her life and slid to a stop, gaping in disbelief at the nurse behind the counter. The night nurse lolled back in her chair, eyes closed. Jane banged her fists on the desk.
“Wake up, I need help.”
The woman did not move.
She slapped at the counter, sending papers spilling to the floor. “Help me.” She stared at the nurse, waiting for her to take a breath.
The nurse’s chest did not move.
