Page 3 of The Perfect Deception
Hannah caught sight of herself in the elevator mirror and wasn’t excited about what stared back at her.She appeared haggard from lack of sleep.Her blonde hair was bedraggled and there were dark circles under her green eyes.She realized that hunched over as she was, she looked closer to 5’5” than her actual 5’9” height.
When the elevator doors opened on the third floor, Hannah stepped out.She glanced over her shoulder to see if the orderly would too but he stayed where he was.At the last moment, Jabarin exited too but stayed well back of Hannah as she started down the hallway.
Once she ensured that the guard handover went smoothly, Hannah planned to return to campus.Finals started next week, and her grades—all A's until recently—had suffered dramatically in the weeks since this happened.She needed to dig into her studies, if for no other reason than to take her mind off this situation.
She rounded the corner to the hall where Finn’s room was and immediately noted that something was off.There was a security guard outside the room but he wasn’t seated as usual.In fact, he was turned away from her and he looked be fiddling with his backpack.This guard, a forty-something black man named Tony, knew better than to turn his back to the hall, exposing himself and his protectee to risk.
Equally troubling, his replacement wasn’t here.It was exactly 8 P.M.now and the night guard typically arrived about five minutes before the shift change to discuss anything new he needed to be aware of.If the guy was actually late, Hannah was going to have a word with the higher-ups.She increased her pace as she got closer.Tony seemed to sense someone approaching and turned around.
“What’s the deal?”she demanded, not feeling the need to call the guy out when he knew what she was referring to.
“Hey Hannah.”He was pulling a granola bar out of the backpack.“It’s over.”
She stopped in her tracks, feeling the blood in her veins turn suddenly cold.
“What’s over?”
Her expression must have made him realize what she was assuming.
“No, not that,” he said quickly.“He still alive.”
Hannah, only now recognizing that she’d stopped breathing, inhaled deeply.
“What then?”
“His family had him moved,” Tony explained.“They apparently want him somewhere more comfortable so they’re transporting him to a hospice.”
“No one said anything to me.”She couldn’t hide the hurt in her voice.“And I haven’t seen anything that suggests he needs a hospice.That’s end of life care.”
“Sweetheart, they aren’t really obligated to tell you anything.”His tone was apologetically chiding.“But if it makes you feel any better, I didn’t know it was happening either until they arrived.The turnaround was real quick.The parents weren’t even here for it.Maybe he took a turn for the worse and they wanted to keep that private.”
The reference to Finn’s parents not being her for the transfer made Hannah immediately suspicious.“Who was it then?”
“U.S.Marshals Service.”
“You checked their IDs?”
Tony, a mild mannered guy, couldn’t help but scowl at that.“You don’t think I know my job, Hannah?I got ID.I confirmed their status with the local Marshals office.It was all by the book.”
"I'm sorry.I didn't mean it like that.It's just—I couldn't have been gone more than half an hour.That seems awfully fast to authorize the removal of an unconscious stabbing victim and whisk him out of here."
“They were in and out real quick,” he conceded.“No wasted time.”
“Does that seem weird to you?”Hannah didn’t want to say it out loud but she definitely found it strange that Finn had been taken away during the exact window of time that she wasn’t around.
“Everything was in order,” Tony assured her.
“Everything okay?”
Hannah turned around to find that Gila had silently made her way over to them.
“Tony here says U.S.Marshals took Finn.Did you know anything about this?”
“You’re my protectee,” Gila told her, “Not him.”
Hannah returned her attention to Tony.“Did you get the names of these marshals?Did they say exactly where they were taking them?The name of the hospice?”
“They didn’t say where.”Tony shook his head.“I got the name of the guy in charge, who claimed the secrecy was a HIPAA thing, which is legit.Plus, I think their view is that the fewer people who know where he’s going, the safer he is.”
