by HMC
‘When I was leaving the building, no. I wasn’t positive. Then I saw Rowan’s Home.’ It all sounded embarrassing, when she put it like that. ‘They used clever tactics. They had my handwriting and my ex-husband’s.’
‘What handwriting?’
‘In a textbook and on a letter. They used it as evidence to convince me.’
‘Be more specific please, Jade.’
‘They had me believe that I wrote notes throughout a psychology textbook.’
‘And had you?’
‘No. Then they had a letter from my ex-husband saying that I was his patient and needed care. Neither of the two were real.’
‘So they forged your handwriting? It seems like they went to a lot trouble.’
‘It seems that way, doesn’t it?’ Jade was getting worn-out. This interview was going in circles and if Grace was on her side, she certainly didn’t act like it. Jade wondered if it was necessary for her to be such a bitch.
‘Let me get this straight, at first you believed them and then when a patient called you ‘doctor,’ you realised that it was all a lie? That’s all it took?’
‘Yes.’ She ground her teeth together. ‘That’s all it took. Then I recalled the notes from Dr. Hanson.’
‘Harry. Yes. Let’s go back to him.’
After a gruelling hour of questioning, and after Grady had been kicked out of the room to wait outside the door for interrupting too often, the statement was recorded.
‘So what happens next?’ Angus asked.
Grace hesitated. ‘You go into Witness Protection. It’ll be a long and difficult process. But you and your family will be safe.’
Angus shook his head. ‘No, that’s not good enough. We didn’t come here to be told that our next step is to hide.’ Jade could see that Angus was furious at Green for what he’d done and he didn’t like Grace much either.
‘You’ll be sitting ducks. Would you like a repeat of last night?’ Grace picked up her phone to make a call, but before she could press in the numbers, Ayrah interjected.
‘What if we were to take them out of town?’ Ayrah folded her arms. ‘Somewhere they’d be safe?’
The agent seemed taken aback. ‘It could be years, Ayrah. You’re willing to look after these people for the next couple of years? To protect them at your own cost? I don’t think so.’
‘Years?’ Jade looked over at Ayrah. ‘What do you mean by years? I have patients down there. Isn’t someone going in to get them out? I thought this could be over much sooner.’
‘Calm yourself, Jade. There is no use in getting yourself worked up.’ She was right, getting angry wasn’t the right move. Grace Burns had become a lot less attractive over time.
‘Going in now could jeopardise this entire case. I won’t have it. I’m sorry, Jade. Truly I am.’
Sure, you look like you’re about to cry me a river.
‘If there were anything I could do, I would do it.’
Jade stood up to leave.
‘If you won’t go into the program, you must at least let us know where you are at all times.’
Jade nodded as politely as she could and Angus and Ayrah followed her out of the room.
‘Grady,’ the Queen of the Harpies screeched through the open door. When he poked his head into the room, she spoke to him in a severe whisper that Jade overheard, not so accidentally.
‘If you’re so adamant about sticking by these two, then don’t let them out of your sight. We need the woman. Understand?’
He nodded at her.
‘Oh, and one other thing. You make sure she stays away from that place. She could make a real mess of things.’
Jade really didn’t like the way that Grace had referred to her ‘the woman’ – like she was disposable.
As they moved out into the hall, it was hard to keep up with Grady as he paced.
‘Was she your authority?’ Angus asked, trying to keep up. ‘Who was she?’
‘She’s Grace Burns,’ said Grady, his anger building a storm cloud overhead. ‘She thinks she’s everyone’s authority.’
Sam twisted a lock of hair around her finger and watched the people walking back and forth in front of her. She would kill one of them for a cigarette. She knew every face now: their names, their jobs, perhaps even their supposed diagnoses. There was Poppy with severe Tourette’s syndrome, Kyla with schizophrenia and Jonathon with lord knows what, but he was certainly on the front side of cuckoo.
They all moved around her in a blur of activity and she wondered where they got their energy from. Sam was zonked. After her little argument with Green, they’d shoved all sorts of meds into her and she was certain that they weren’t meds aimed to cure her.
At least he hadn’t sent her back to solitary.
In fact, she was surprised at what little punishment she’d received. Perhaps he was brewing something bigger and better for her.
The underground facility wasn’t nearly as dark and horrible as it should’ve been for what was going on there. The staff had brightened the place up with potted plants here and there and made some effort to make the rooms homier.
Sam had tried a few times to talk to the others about the ‘experiments’ but there was always a staff member lurking nearby, eyeballing her. She often wondered where her friends were being kept.
Sam was running out of time and had been certain that Jade would’ve come for her by now – or at least have gone to Travis. That would’ve been what Sam would do. But Jade wasn’t Sam.
She wondered what they had told Travis. She thought more and more about her childhood friend lately and wished she’d been able to love him the way he loved her. There was a chance she’d never see him again and it broke her heart. She ached for him and felt a new tenderness growing.
Also, where was the Mod Squad that Damon was involved with? If he’d really been undercover, shouldn’t his team come busting in through the ceiling on ropes with helmets and guns? All of these people could be helping her, but nothing was happening. Her days dragged and she wasn’t sure how long Green would want to keep her alive.
Even in her condition, Sam had come up with a couple of ideas, but none so effective that she wanted to try them. She could perhaps hold up a security guard with a plastic knife, or during one of her injections she could fake a seizure.
NMS, better known as Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome, could occur after reacting to medication for mental illness. But the problem was, Sam didn’t know the symptoms. She had to assume they were the same as any catatonic state. Faking illnesses wasn’t so difficult, although the stakes were certainly not as high as they were at present. They used to involve a day off school or not. If she could fake it just right … a convincing vegetative state … then they might move her to another area of the hospital where she might have a better chance of escaping.
But instead of implementing any of those half-baked plans, she waited to be rescued. When and by whom she didn’t know – but for once in her life, she’d have to have faith in others.
A CHAIN REACTION
Constable Travis Bourke would receive three phone calls that would change his life forever. The first had been while driving in his patrol car to the station, to let him know that Dr. Karl Phillips was dead. The shock was overwhelming, as he sat by the side of the road, eyes blurred from tears. He’d cried when he had lost his real family and now he was crying for his hand-picked one. It seemed everyone he loved was now dead. He had no one left.
Going to Rowan’s Home was supposed to bring his Sam back to him. It was hard to imagine the fire had been an accident. Instead it had taken her away. Travis slammed his hands against the steering wheel. All he knew was that when he found the person who killed Karl Phillips, he would make him pay dearly.
Cars passed by Travis in a haze and rain pattered on his windscreen. He looked out and Fairholmes stared back at h
im, cold and heartless. The green rolling hills covered in mist looked indifferent to the goings on of a merely human world. The road stretching out in front of him promised nowhere to go. Either something wasn’t right, or destiny was a cruel, evil bitch.
He wanted to scream. He wanted to jump out of his car and run and hide. He wanted some kind of relief from the heartache. But it was his shift. It was his duty to maintain the peace. He refused to miss a distress call and leave someone stranded just because he felt like Humpty Dumpty.
That was the worst thing about being a cop – people never really gave a damn about how vile his day had been. According to them, police weren’t allowed to have any feelings. But he’d still be there anyway, even if he was rarely appreciated, even if he felt like crawling into a hole and never coming out again.
The second call had changed everything. His phone startled him.
‘Is this Constable Travis Bourke?’
‘Yes.’
‘Constable, what is your relationship with Samantha Phillips?’ The man’s voice sounded authoritative and slightly familiar. Travis answered without question, without thinking. It was a stubborn flaw – afraid of getting into trouble. It was a flaw which had persisted since Travis was in primary school. Perhaps it was a lawyer about Karl’s will.
‘She was my adopted sister. Who is this?’
‘What if I was to tell you that Samantha Phillips could be alive?’ This angered him. Travis didn’t need this right now. ‘I would say you’re full of it. She was burned to death in a fire.’
‘Did you see her remains? Was she recognisable? If you want to know more, meet me at Mermaid’s on the Water, today at noon.’ The phone clicked then bleeped at him.
He’d heard that voice before – but where? It was now 11:30 and he was about a 15-minute drive from Mermaid’s. What was left to lose? Travis started his patrol car and put his foot down.
The rain was falling harder now, and the policeman put up a large black umbrella and made his way across the empty lot. Mermaid’s was a seafood restaurant. It was right next to the water and had been opened over thirty years ago, when he was a small boy. It was only ever open for dinner these days, and so the place was empty. Travis looked around him, then down at his watch – 11:57 AM.
A moment later, a small blue Honda pulled up beside him and a stout man rolled down his driver’s side window. ‘Get in.’
Travis hesitated, but the man looked even more nervous than he was, so he folded his umbrella, and complied. ‘Who are you?’
‘My name is Dr. Harry Hanson.’ The man peered nervously over at a passing car.
‘I know that name.’ Travis didn’t have to rack his brain to know how a doctor would be connected to him.
‘You do. I worked at Rowan’s Home.’ Harry jumped at a loud popping noise. It was a tyre blow-out somewhere in the distance.
‘Damn nerves.’ Harry pulled out an asthma inhaler and took a few hits. ‘I’ve taken a great risk coming to you.’
‘Then why did you?’ Travis hadn’t asked for favours.
‘I have information and I think you might be the right person to give it to. After I talk to you today, I’m gone. I want you to know I’m never coming back to this shit-hole for as long as I live.’
Harry rolled himself a cigarette and the smell reminded Travis of Sam.
‘I was going to do nothing – nothing at all. Cut and run, live my life somewhere else. It would’ve been safer that way. But an agent got me, took me in, made me spill as much as I knew. Since then, not only am I being tracked, but the police are after me, too, trying to put me into protective custody – as if that’s going to do diddlysquat. I’ve told them all I know.’
Travis was ready for him to get to the point now. ‘You said Sam might still be alive.’
‘We’ll get to that. After I told them everything, I expected something to be done about it, for it to end. But nothing happened. I’ve been sticking around, waiting, and nothing’s been done.
‘Constable, the reason I’m going to tell you all of this is because I can’t sit back while nothing happens. I made a promise to keep Sam safe and I failed. They’ve now killed Karl Phillips, her father, and an old colleague of mine.’
Travis’s heart sank at the reminder.
The doctor shook his head. ‘Sorry, I know he practically raised you, too – my sincerest apologies and condolences. Anyway those people need someone to save them and it can’t be me.’
The young policeman took a deep slow breath. ‘Let’s start at the beginning, please, Dr. Hanson. I have no idea what you’re talking about, I’ve had a crap day, and you need to tell me something concrete because you’re really starting to piss me off.’
Jade Thatcher was furious. ‘There’s a reason nothing has been done. There’s a reason nothing will be done!’ Grady was trying to calm her, but failing miserably. ‘No one really wants to touch this. You have all the evidence you need, even you said so yourself, Grady. This will drag on for years? Look how many decades it’s been dragging on for already. These people have no intention of uncovering this. Once the story gets out, the entire country will be part of some huge scandal that our government surely can’t afford in the state that it’s in.’ Her arms flew up in exasperation.
‘I don’t even understand why they bothered sending you guys in the first place. They had no intention of using your evidence.’ They were heading down an unfamiliar road. She kept a careful eye on the direction they were moving in and paid close attention to signs and landmarks, a new habit she’d developed.
Ayrah, Angus, and Grady seemed to be ignoring her. Jade pushed on in vain. ‘They have your man down there. Green knows exactly who he is. You think he will go easy on him? He’ll cop the worst of it. Don’t you owe it to Dam ... Owen to go in and get him out?’ Ayrah was driving with Angus in the front. They kept their eyes forward.
Grady sat with her in the back of the vehicle and although he looked completely wrecked, she had no time for tea and sympathy. She was on a fiery rampage, but no one was having any of it.
‘Jade, it’s not that simple.’
‘He’s right, it’s not,’ Angus said. ‘It’s best that we wait now. Be patient.’ It was unfathomable to her that they could be so complacent. The three of them sat there like the Three Wise Monkeys in their ignorant states, assuming that nothing bad could happen in the meantime.
Jade knew better. Green would be doing his worst since she became his fugitive. He would be taking it out on her patients in his sick, deluded way and it would be all her fault.
She imagined Freddy screaming from nightmares and no one there to soothe him.
‘It won’t be years. We’ll help you do something about this. Why do you think Ayrah and I are still here? Your brother is right; you just need to wait a little bit longer for us to figure out what to do. Let me contact some people.’
The emotion wasn’t losing its potency and she hated not having a plan. She had thought that Detective Grace Burns and her super-agent friends were going to fix everything. The age-old saying kept repeating in her head: if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.
Jade wasn’t even sure Angus would go along with her any more – he would listen to Ayrah now. Her brother looked over at the beautiful woman adoringly and laughed too loudly at her jokes. Ayrah seemed to be loving the attention. Yep, he’s a goner. She couldn’t compete with infatuation.
After all she’d been through, they were now travelling down a road taking them away from Maine, to hide someplace and do absolutely nothing. She took a few deep breaths to calm herself. Perhaps it was best to wait, just a little while. Besides, no one was listening to her anyway.
‘I understand that you think taking action right now would be too dangerous. I’ll wait,’ she said, ‘but not for long.’ Jade kept a calm exterior and feigned resignation. Truly however, in the moment that sh
e uttered the words, she’d decided that she was going to ditch Angus, Ayrah and Grady.
She was going to have to go back in, and get her patients out.
‘Thank you, Jade. That is all I ask of you.’
Grady put his hand on top of hers and she flinched. His palms were warm and soft. Not what she’d expected. Don’t let him do this! He was tall, affectionate and a little awkward. Yet he was also a dangerous agent. It was a lethal combination and Jade didn’t want to be around him anymore. He would ruin her focus.
Jade pulled her hand out from underneath his, patted him gently and clasped them in her lap. She would beat this infatuation. Don’t look him in the eye. She couldn’t let anyone distract her from what had to be done.
She peered out the window and formulated a plan.
The third call came a few hours after his rendezvous with Dr. Harry Hanson. Harry had told Travis all about Dr. Jade Thatcher. Sam had mentioned her plenty of times, too. She was a good woman who cared about Sam, and that was enough for Travis. Not only that, but she’d been to hell and back if everything he had learned was true. Travis wanted to believe it all. It meant Sam was alive.
He had been on the phone with Jade for a little over half an hour. He had spent the first five minutes trying to slow her down, so he could understand what on earth she was going on about. Now, she was cool as a cucumber, and very persuasive.
‘Travis, you don’t have to trust me. You just have to come and see with your own eyes.’ She was making too much sense and it was becoming more and more difficult to argue with her.
‘If you just wait for me to talk to someone, then we can do this the right way.’ He beseeched her.
‘Like I said, you would be taking a huge risk by talking to anyone about this, even the police, Travis.’
‘It’s okay, Dr. Thatcher, there are people I can trust.’ He tried to assure her but she wasn’t listening.
‘I used to think that, too,’ she said. ‘The risk you run will be talking to the wrong person and having Sam put in more danger than she already is.’
