Page 59 of The Lost Girls of Willowbrook

“What do you mean? We both saw Rosemary’s body! Did you take him in the right tunnel? Did you show him the exact spot?”

“Of course I did,” he said. “I don’t know how it happened, but by the time we got down there she was gone. Which means whoever killed her moved her body.”

Panic ripped through Sage like a knife. She reached for his shirt, pulling on it and shaking her head as if she could change what he was saying. “No. No. That can’t be! How is that possible? You took Baldwin into the tunnels at the same time Wayne and Marla brought me back here. There’s no way the killer had enough time to move her.”

He took her hands from his shirt and held them. “Unfortunately, that’s not what happened. I tried to take him down there right away, but he was in a rage because of the reporters and insisted on making phone calls first. I kept telling him we had to call the cops, that I’d show someone else while he was making the calls, but he wouldn’t hear of it. He said he had to do damage control as soon as possible and made me wait outside his office. I could hear him yelling on the phone, trying to find out how the reporters got in and trying to stop them from airing what they filmed.”

“How long did you have to wait?”

He shrugged. “Twenty minutes, maybe more. When he came out of his office, he looked like he was about to have a heart attack.”

“And that’s when you took him down in the tunnels?”

He shook his head. “No, his secretary made him sit down and drink some water first because his face was all red and covered in sweat. By the time we got down there, Rosemary was gone. I couldn’t believe it. Baldwin thought I was lying, of course, and there was no talking to him after that.”

“Oh my God,” she said, suddenly dizzy.

“I’m sorry,” he said, his features going dark. “But there’s something else.”

She took her hands from his and braced herself. “What?”

“The reason he didn’t fire me is because I lied to him.”

“About what?”

“I said I was in the tunnels getting rid of old equipment and I caught you trying to escape. That you got away from me and I was going to House Six to get Wayne. It was the only way I could convince him not to fire me. But I had to take a position in the main building, otherwise I’d be gone.”

The hairs on the back of her neck stood up. “Thank God you came up with the lie, otherwise I’d be screwed and trying to figure this out on my own. Have you gone to the cops yet?”

“To tell them what? That I was trying to help someone escape from a mental institution and we found a body that’s no longer there?”

“Yes. And that I don’t belong here.” It sounded crazy, but she didn’t care.

“They’d never believe me. And even if they called Dr. Baldwin, he’d just lie his way out of it. Then he’d fire me for sure.”

“So don’t tell them who you are. You can report a crime anonymously, can’t you?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never had to report one.”

“If they ask for your name, just make something up. Use one of the phones here and tell them you’re Dr. Baldwin.”

“That might work, but I’d need to use a phone in one of the offices or a nurses’ station without someone seeing me, which won’t be as easy as it sounds.”

“What about Alan? Did you try to talk to him again? Dr. Baldwin had his secretary call him, but he didn’t answer.”

He nodded. “I went to your apartment again. He’s still not home, but I’ll keep trying.”

“Did you try to see Heather or Dawn?”

“Yeah, they weren’t around either. Dawn’s mom thought they went bowling, but she wasn’t sure where.”

She groaned. Telling their parents they were going bowling meant they were doing something else, like drinking in the park or driving around getting high. They hadn’t been bowling in years. “Where the hell is Alan?” she said. “He can’t still be ice fishing, can he?”

“I have no idea. But he has to come back sooner or later, right?”

“I guess. Unless he left town while he had the chance.”

“Don’t think like that. He probably just took a few days off to go on that fishing trip. I can’t believe you managed to get Baldwin to call him.”

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