Page 56 of The Lost Girls of Willowbrook

“He wasn’t bothering me. He washelpingme. That’s why we were down in the tunnels. He knows I don’t belong in this place.”

“As I said, that’s not for Eddie to decide. I just want you know you won’t be seeing him again.”

The room started to spin around her. Who would help her now that Eddie had been fired? She reached blindly for the back of the chair, moving farther into the seat and holding on to the cold metal for dear life to keep from sliding into a whimpering heap on the floor. How was she going to prove him wrong? How could she ever convince him she was telling the truth? She looked at Leonard to see his reaction to everything he’d heard. He stood with his eyes on the floor, refusing to look at her.

“Ask Leonard,” she said to Dr. Baldwin. “He knows. He and Nurse Vic were talking about how Wayne might know where Rosemary was hiding. Maybe he knows who killed my sister. Maybe he and Wayne are two of the ex-criminals you hired without doing background checks.”

Leonard glanced at her, then shifted on his feet, clearly uneasy.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Dr. Baldwin said. “We don’t hire ex-criminals.”

“Yes, you do. Eddie told me. He also said Dr. Wilkins was fired because he told some of the parents about their children being mistreated. Then you spread a lie about him molesting a resident to cover up the truth. So don’t tell me you’re not trying to hide anything.”

Dr. Baldwin’s temples pulsed in and out. “Eddie has no idea what he’s talking about. He’s always stirring the pot around here.”

“Did Eddie tell you anything about Rosemary?” she said, grasping for straws. “Did he tell you how we’re different?”

He shook his head. “There was no need to discuss anything like that.”

“Did Rosemary have a scar from being sterilized?”

“I’m a psychiatrist, Miss Winters, not a general practitioner. So I don’t know.”

“Who was the doctor who did those operations?”

“I can assure you I don’t know that either. We have many doctors here; none of whom are assigned to any specific resident.”

She stood on trembling legs, yanked up her shirt, and pulled down the waistline of the corduroy trousers. “I don’t have any scars.”

“Please cover yourself, Miss Winters.”

“Just look,” she cried. “You know what a scar looks like, don’t you?”

His face flushed with anger. “If you wish to continue this discussion, you need to cover yourself and sit down.”

She lowered her shirt and sat. “If Eddie didn’t explain how he knows the difference between me and my sister, then what did he tell you? Anything?”

“He said he was with you in the tunnels, and he took us to the spot where you claim to have seen a body.”

“He saw her body too. I heard him tell you that, before Wayne and Marla dragged me back inside House Six.”

Dr. Baldwin glared at her for a tense moment, as if trying to decide how much to say. “If Eddie was actually trying to help you escape, why would I believe anything he says? Either way, the fact remains that there was no body.”

She shook her head again. “You’re lying,” she said. “You’re lying because you don’t want anyone to find out Rosemary was murdered and you never reported her missing.” Then she had another thought and her blood ran cold. Why hadn’t she thought of it before? “Or maybeyoukilled her!”

“Now you’re being completely irrational, Miss Winters. And this conversation has told me two things. We have more work to do. And you can no longer be trusted.” Venom edged his voice, making his meaning clear—he’d send her back to the pit if she didn’t calm down.

She dropped her flooding eyes to the floor. There had to be something she could do or say, something that would make him listen. Then she looked up at him again. “I know how the news crew got inside House Six.”

“Of course you do,” he said.

“It’s true, I swear. Eddie told me the night before it happened.”

He looked doubtful. “There’s no way Eddie could have known anything about that.”

“You’re wrong. He overheard some of the doctors talking about it. That’s how we knew when the news crew was coming and that we’d be able to get into the tunnels without anyone noticing.”

His chin lifted slightly, acting unfazed, but she could see the surprise in his eyes. “What did Eddie overhear?”

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