Page 36 of The Lost Girls of Willowbrook

Around midmorning, she spotted Norma following him around on the other side of the room, like a puppy dog chasing a toy. When he headed back toward his cubicle, Norma touched his shoulder and he stopped and turned toward her. She whispered something in his ear, and he glared at Sage with furious eyes. Then he grabbed Norma by the arm and snarled angry words in her face. Norma shrank back, crying and trying to pull free. Wayne yanked on her arm one last time, then let go and stomped away. He sat down in the cubicle and lit a cigarette, then took a long drag and glared at Sage, his leg jerking up and down.

What the hell had Norma done?

Just then, Eddie entered the room with the janitor cart. Sage had to fight the urge to run over to him and tell him everything. There was no guarantee he’d believe her, but she could try. Maybe it would help that he was a janitor, just a normal guy with nothing riding on the welfare of the residents. She’d recognized the concern in his eyes when he first approached her in the hallway. He cared about Rosemary. Surely he’d want to know what Wayne had done to her. Maybe he could help find her, if Sage could convince him she was still missing. With nerves gnawing at her insides, she got up and moved toward him, keeping one eye on Wayne. If he saw what she was about to do, he might stop her—or worse.

But when Eddie saw her heading in his direction, he shook his head ever so slightly, warning her to stay away. She stopped, confused, and retreated. Eddie went over to the cubicle, emptied the garbage, and shared another cigarette with Wayne. While they talked, he dug something out of his pocket and handed it to Wayne, who nodded, grinning. Then Wayne glanced over Eddie’s shoulder and winked at her, a malicious gleam in his eye.

Fear swirled beneath her rib cage. Maybe she was wrong. Maybe she needed to stay away from Eddie too, especially if he and Wayne were friends. Maybe he already knew about the hidden room. Maybe he knew about Wayne and Rosemary, and Norma too. Maybe he was in on all of it.

When Eddie finished talking to Wayne, he put out his cigarette, tied the garbage bag to his cart, and headed toward the exit. Sage chewed on the inside of her cheek, frantic and trying to decide what to do. Even if Eddie knew about the secret room, she still needed to ask him about Rosemary. She still had to tell him who she was and why she was there. She started toward him again, but he was too far away. He had already unlocked the door and was pushing his cart into the hall. Then he was gone.

Swearing at herself for waiting too long, she returned to the back of the room. Hopefully Eddie would come back tomorrow instead of the man with the orthopedic shoes. But the next time she saw him, she resolved, she wouldn’t let anything stop her from talking to him. Even if he warned her away with that shake of his head, even if Wayne was watching, she’d hurry over to him as soon as he entered the day room, no matter what.

Suddenly Wayne appeared in front of her, sweat glistening on his bald head and thick neck. She startled and stepped back.

“You can’t listen to a damn thing Norma says,” he said. “She’s crazy as a loon and she’s lying because she’s jealous.”

“I . . . I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said.

He moistened his lips. “I guess I’ll have to remind you then,” he said, grinning as if they were old friends. “In the meantime, your little boyfriend left you a note.” He held up a folded piece of paper, pinched between two fingers like a cigarette. “Eddie seems to think he can get away with a lot of shit around here, but take my word for it, he’s just a punk.”

Sage opened her mouth to reply, but her voice failed her. When he said he would remind her, was he threatening to take her to the secret room? She reached for the note, but he snatched it away and laughed. She dropped her hand and waited, unwilling to be provoked.

He looked disappointed by her reluctance to play along. “What’s the matter?” he said. “You lose your fight?”

He lowered the note, ready to tease her again, but a wild-haired girl in ruffled dress grabbed it out of his hand and ran off with it, laughing hysterically. Wayne chased after her, furious. The girl stopped in the center of the room and started to unfold the paper, turning it over and over, round and round, her head cocked to one side as she tried to figure out how to open it. When she saw Wayne coming, she dropped the note and sprinted away, knocking over an older woman and bumping into the other residents. Wayne picked up the piece of paper and tramped back to Sage, the blue vein bulging in his forehead.

“Keep your mouth shut about this too,” he snarled, handing her the note. “Or else.”

She grabbed it and rushed over to the other side of the room, where she found an empty seat and smoothed the paper out on her dirty, skinned knee. It read:

When everyone leaves to go back to the wards, stay here. We need to talk. Rip this up after you read it.

With her heart thudding in her chest, Sage looked around to see if Norma or anyone else had noticed her reading the note. A sudden screech tore across the room. Wayne had cornered the wild-haired girl who’d taken the note, and he had her pinned against the wall, his fist gripping the collar of her ruffled dress. The girl grimaced and shielded her head with her hands. Wayne shook her and shouted something in her face, then let her go. When he turned to leave, the girl crumpled to the ground, crying and laughing at the same time. Sage tore the note into tiny pieces, shoved half of them under a sagging couch cushion and the other half behind the backrest, then hurried over to the wild-haired girl to see if she was all right. The girl screamed at her and scrambled away.

After the frenzy of breakfast, lunch, dinner, and what felt like a hundred chaotic hours, the daily battle of trying to survive the dayroom finally came to an end. Wayne unlocked the doors, propped them open, and started shouting at the residents to move toward the hall. Sage hung back, nervous sweat dampening her forehead and upper lip. Did Wayne know what the note had said? Was he going to let her stay behind, or would he think she was causing trouble? As usual, he ordered the able-bodied residents to push the carts and the wheelchairs out the door while he herded the slow and uncooperative residents from behind, pushing and shoving them forward. Sage prayed he wouldn’t notice her or check for stragglers before he left. Then she had another thought and her blood ran cold.

What if he stayed behind too? What if he and Eddie had come up with a vicious plan to get her alone and rape her? The only thing she knew for certain about Eddie was that he was a janitor who knew Rosemary—that was it. And she’d based all her trust on that. What if he was as bad as Wayne?

No. She couldn’t give in to her doubts and fears. There was no reason to believe Eddie and Wayne wanted to trap her there. And this could be her last chance for who knew how long to get someone to listen. She moved toward the back the room, her nerves on fire, and sat down in a chair.

When the last resident left the room, Wayne released one of the double doors and closed it. After releasing the other side, he stood in the open door for a moment, blank-faced, his eyes locked on her. Then he shot her a lecherous grin, like a cat about to eat a mouse, before slamming and locking it.

She jumped out of the chair and raced toward the double doors, a sudden surge of panic filling her chest. She was trapped, and at a stranger’s mercy. Despite knowing they were locked, she tried the handles, then pounded on the doors with both hands.

“Let me out!” she shouted.

On the other side of the doors, the muffled sounds of the residents lumbering down the hall moved farther and farther away, the screams, cries, wails, and laughter growing fainter and fainter. She pounded on the doors again.

“Someone, please! Let me out of here!”

No one came.

She turned and leaned against the door, struggling to control her terror. Without the residents, the vast, empty dayroom looked like a war zone. Shit and blood and claw marks marred the walls, overturned chairs and vomit littered the pockmarked floor. The perfect place to commit a murder. No one would even notice more blood.

She felt sick with fear. What if Wayne came back to make sure she kept her mouth shut about the secret room? What if he was Cropsey? What if he had killed Rosemary and was going to get rid of her next? She wrapped her arms around herself and tried to stop shaking.Don’t be ridiculous.Cropsey isn’t real.And even if Wayne and Eddie wanted to shut her up, they wouldn’t be able to get her body out of there without being seen.

Except . . . she and Norma had wandered the halls last night without seeing a soul, hadn’t they? Plus, the residents seemed to outnumber the staff by seventy to one, and no one counted heads at the end of the day. Wayne and Eddie could easily hide her body in the room and return for it later without anyone noticing.

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