Page 18 of Twist Me

Making myself at home, I continued to watch her from the hiding spot. I had a full view straight through her hallway and into the kitchen, where she was swinging her feet on a stool by a bar. It looked like a shit ton of folders and papers were thrown around her kitchen island.

Standing up to peruse her little bedroom, I scoped out the drawers.

Did my sweet temptation hide her toys there? Did she have monster-sized alien dildos or more subtle bee-looking vibrators? I guessed the latter. Inside, I found tempting little lacy things that looked like tissue in my hand and some spare cash packed neatly on the top of the items.Stuffing the lace and the money in my pocket, I continued snooping. The rest of the drawers were full of boring clothes—tons of white T-shirts and black cargo pants.

I got a strange feeling, the sense of déjà vu smacking me on the ass.

As in this clothing was the kind of shit I used to keep for my job.

I suddenly felt hot in the warm room, making me realize why the window had been left open now. I pulled off my shirt, walking forward to chuck it outside when my foot thumped into the bottom of the bed.

“Ouch,” I mouthed.

Hunching over, I reached for my throbbing foot. Grimacing, I tried to walk it off. What was the side of the bed made of—granite? I cursed some more and ducked behind a little table that did jack shit to hide me. I may as well have been a tree hiding behind a flower. I nearly pissed myself when a fucking mammoth of a cat went skittering off into the hallway.

Where the fuck did that feline come from?

Shuffling back over to the bed by the corner, I looked down and realized it wasn’t the bed frame I’d hit but a box. My curiosity and that sense of unease were getting stronger by the minute. I crouched down, opening the metal tin, and my jaw damn near dropped on the goddamned floor.

“Naughty Little Lamb, all these lies you tell, now nobody will save you when the big bad wolf comes to devour your fucking body whole.”

Being out of the hospital this week hadn’t helped me settle like I thought it would, so I was still working. I was only allowed to be back home while a cell was cleared and made ready for me. The inmates would think I was in a decompression cell for a week, which was wise. If the triplets got wind of me being pulled from the hospital, it could blow my cover.

With all the deaths that had occurred before I entered the Hospital, I knew from the start that I never had that long to figure this case out. I paced my kitchen, clutching my old stuffed animal, Motto.

Quinn had called earlier, telling me I had one day left, and my freedom was gone. I’d spent most of this week researching as much as possible about the twisted triplets.Their files were a mess and didn’t add up at all.

When I realized this, I called Quinn back on a video call, trying to suss out information. Quinn had odd body language every time he mentioned Goliath. So I needed to see his face when we spoke, needed to see if his non-verbal tells would surface. It turned out that Micah had held back some vital information, like the fact that Goliath Masters was a freaking cop.

Their beef went so deep because they were friends back in the day. Old partners, in fact, and here I was looking like an idiot, especially every time he gave me a condescending smile during our chat. I don’t know exactly what happened between them, and my numerous attempts at asking had earned me condescending smiles and being shooed away like a fly.

The internet didn’t help much, either. It told me Goliath Masters was a deputy eight years ago, but it just said he was discharged due to an‘internalmatter.’

Was Goliath always a creepy yet gorgeous psychopath? I flushed at my thoughts. His dangerous mouth had been so close to my skin that I could still practically feel those soft-looking lips on my body.

How could you go from being a police officer and protecting people to murdering one in cold blood?Goliath’s file for why he was even in the asylum was sealed, and I couldn’t grease enough palms to get a simple answer as to why.

I had a feeling that whatever happened was too big to ignore, so backing down was not an option. I heard a thump in my back room and swirled around on my kitchen barstool. I peered into the dark hallway leading to my bedroom.

My cat, Munchies, whom I bought with my very first paycheck from working on cars in my dad’s repair shop as a teen, waltzed out, his head held high as usual like the maine-coon giant he was.

Giant…

Right, I’d better add that to my research. Finding out more specific information about Goliath before I went back to Hospital Twelve was essential. If I didn’t have some kind of leverage, I was going to be eaten alive. My phone dinged, making me jump. Man, I was startled easily tonight.Seeking the damn thing out, I found it on the kitchen island next to my bible.

I walked over and picked it up, answering on the second ring.

“Lavita speaking.”

My dad’s raspy smoker tone was on the other end, and I could hear the banging of metal in the background, even at a late hour, knowing he was at the shop working.

“Ezzy, mi Bebé!”

I felt myself smile at my dad, always having that effect on me no matter how old I got.

“Your birthday isn’t far off, Hermosa! Are you coming to see your Papi?”

My smile fell, guilt sliding through my veins. I couldn’t tell my dad the truth. Besides Quinn, as my handler, anyone who knew about my position was in danger. So, only one other person knew, Meredith. She knew how to manage the secret information because she was a coworker. Also, she was going to watch after Munchies for me while I was away for however long this job took me.

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