Page 73 of The Lost Girls of Willowbrook

“Well, maybe you should do that before asking me a question like that,” she said. “Then you’ll understand why my sister looked for whatever bit of kindness she could find in this hellhole.”

“I’m sorry,” the detective said. “But if I’m going to find your sister’s killer, I need to ask questions like that.”

She dropped her eyes, heat crawling up her neck. He was on her side and she was beyond grateful, but unless someone spent a day locked up in Willowbrook, they’d never understand that the residents were not only fighting for their sanity behind these walls, they were fighting for their lives. Luckily, he seemed unfazed by her outburst.

He turned to Baldwin again. “Why didn’t you listen to her and this Eddie King when they said they found a body in the tunnels? That sounds like something you should have paid closer attention to.”

“As I said before, a news crew had broken into House Six that day. They were filming the residents, and the reporter was saying terrible things about the conditions. The next thing I know, she and Eddie were coming across the yard toward House Six, telling me they found a body. I’d be lying if I said I was thinking rationally right then.”

“What about when you talked to Sage the second time and she insisted?”

“I didn’t believe her, of course, because I thought she was . . . well, I thought shewasRosemary. As a side note, she keeps saying Eddie helped her into the tunnels, but he said he caught her down there. All I know for sure is that I do my best to run a tight ship around here and the last thing I needed was a scandal. I would have called the police if there had been an actual body in the tunnels. But there wasn’t. So what was I supposed to think?”

“But why didn’t you check it out right away instead of waiting?”

“I already told you, I was trying to deal with the reporters showing up. I was making phone calls to the administrators of Willowbrook and the heads of the news stations, trying to find out if and when they were airing the story. By the time I got down there, the body had already been moved.”

Someone knocked hard on the door. “Oh, for Christ’s sake,” Dr. Baldwin said. “What is it?”

Sergeant Clark stepped aside and Nurse Vic entered. When she saw Nolan and Clark, her eyes widened, but she quickly put on her professional face and announced why she was there.

“Excuse me, Dr. Baldwin, I’m sorry to bother you, but Wayne Myers from House Six seems to have disappeared.”

Dr. Baldwin’s face fell. “What do you mean, disappeared?”

“He’s emptied his locker and left, sir. He’s gone.”

Sage’s heartbeat quickened. She’d been right all along.

“Is that the attendant you were talking about?” Nolan asked her.

She nodded.

“Shit,” said Baldwin and Nolan at the same time.

“How long ago did he leave?” Nolan said.

“We’re not sure,” Nurse Vic said. “When I entered the dayroom in House Six to speak to him about something, he wasn’t there. The residents had been left without supervision for who knows how long and they were in a frenzy. Three of them had to be sent to the infirmary.”

“Wonderful,” Dr. Baldwin said, his voice filled with gloom. “Did you get another attendant over there to cover for him?”

“Yes, sir. We took care of that right away.”

“And the residents are under control?”

“For now, yes. But I’m afraid we had to send them back to their wards and sedate quite a number of them.”

“All right. Thank you, Nurse Vic. I’ll be over as soon as I’m finished here.”

“Yes, Doctor,” she said, and left the office.

After the nurse left, Sage turned to Nolan. “I told you it was him.”

Flustered and red-faced, Baldwin started gathering the papers on his desk. “As you can see, Detective, I’m a very busy man. I need to check on things over at House Six right away. Can we finish this later?”

“I can see that you’re busy,” Detective Nolan said. “But one of your employees was murdered and her husband, who also happens to be an employee, seems to think you had something to do with it. Now a third employee has disappeared on the same day we found two bodies on Willowbrook property, which means I need to take a look at that employee’s records so I can send someone to check out his residence. In the meantime, you need to call Miss Winters’s stepfather and let him know what’s happened here. Then you can sign her release papers. Now that her sister’s body has been found, there’s no need to hold her here any longer.” He looked Sage. “Do you feel strong enough to go home?”

A burning lump formed in Sage’s throat. At long last, she was getting out of Willowbrook. It felt like being rescued after a thousand days lost at sea. But she’d seen too many movies where things went wrong at the last minute. She wouldn’t believe the nightmare was over until she was on the other side of the gate. And it wouldn’t have mattered if she felt weak as a kitten or sick as a dog, she never would have said so. She refused to stay one second longer than necessary.

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