by Amy Cross
“No!” Annie sobbed, still desperately struggling to keep the door closed. “It's not true!”
“You don't have long, Annie,” the voice continued. “The plan has worked so far. I just need you to stay the course and come to Eldion House. Everything's waiting for you there!”
Annie shook her head, as tears streamed down her face.
“It's not real!” she whimpered. “It was never real! I'm just crazy!”
“Is that what you really think?”
“I know I'm crazy!” Annie shouted. “I'm imagining all of this! None of it's real!”
“Sooner or later,” the voice said, “we all have to accept what we see as real. You can't go through life pretending things aren't really happening, especially not when they're right in front of your face.”
Again, Annie shook her head.
“You have to believe that it's real. It's all around you, Annie. Maybe you're crazy, maybe you're not, but you have to believe that the things in front of you are really happening. Even when they're nothing but pure horror.”
Annie squeezed her eyes tight shut.
“If you don't,” the voice said, as the door continued to shudder, “then that's the path to true madness.”
“Annie, honey? Are you okay?”
Startled, Annie opened her eyes and turned to see Carrie staring at her from the bottom of the stairs.
“I...”
Annie hesitated, before stepping back from the door and seeing that there was no longer a knife's blade poking out. The handle was still, and a moment later she pulled the door open and saw that the kitchen was back to normal. In fact, everything seemed to have been reset, and then she heard Richard coughing outside in the barn. She turned, startled, as she realized that somehow she'd wandered back into the house.
“Annie?” Carrie continued. “I heard the door slam. Is something wrong?”
Annie turned to her, and then she shook her head.
“If I make some coffee, would you take it out to Ricky?” Carrie asked, heading past her and into the kitchen. “Then I want to work on my books for the afternoon. I'm going to do some more research.”
Annie watched as Carrie began to fill the coffee machine.
“Hurry,” Nurse Winter's voice whispered, fading almost to nothing. “You've seen what'll happen if you don't. You have to believe your own eyes.”
“It can't be real,” Annie replied, as a single tear ran down her cheek. “Please, it just can't be.”
***
Several hours later, Annie sat in the truck and slid the key into the ignition. She was wearing her own clothes again, which were dry now but which hadn't been fixed. She'd taken nothing from the house, nothing that wasn't hers already, and now she was ready to hit the road. She'd spent the day trying to convince herself that she didn't have to leave, but deep down she already knew the answer. She'd done some more research on Eldion House, and she'd come up with a few possible candidates that matched the partial coordinates given to her by Carlyle in his dying moments. She was on the chase once again.
She looked out toward the dark farmhouse.
For a moment, she considered staying. Just one more night, that was all she'd promised. Richard and Carrie seemed pretty harmless, and she wanted to help them. At the same time, she'd felt herself getting too comfortable, and she figured she'd already spent too long at their farmhouse. Katia was out there and needed help, and now she had a good lead on Eldion House. She couldn't afford to waste any more time.
Starting the truck's engine, she began to reverse across the yard, and then she turned the wheel and drove along the gravel driveway that led to the road. As she did so, in the rearview mirror she saw a light coming on in the farmhouse's main bedroom.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Two days later
“Eldion House,” Annie whispered, reading the sign at the front of the retirement community. “Specialists in residential and medical care since 2011. Loving your loved ones as if they're our own.”
She looked past the sign and saw several elderly residents sitting in wheelchairs on a small patio. On this sunny morning, the scene looked idyllic, and in her gut Annie was already fairly certain that this was the wrong Eldion House. She'd already checked out one other place with the same name, without finding anything out of the ordinary. Nevertheless, she'd spent two days driving all the way to Oregon and she figured she should at least take a look around, just in case something untoward might be occurring.
After all, Lakehurst had probably looked totally respectable to outside observers. And that place had hidden some dark secrets beneath its surface.
***
“Visiting hours are between three and six,” the receptionist explained again, with a hint of hesitation in her voice, “but... I'm sorry, did you say you don't know anyone here?”
“I just wanted to look around and see if Eldion House might be a good fit for my grandfather,” Annie lied. “He's very particular and I want to make sure that he'd be comfortable here.”
“I can arrange an appointment for you to see our head of -”
“Can't I just look around? By myself?”
“What about insurance?”
“Insurance?”
“We need to see evidence of funds or insurance,” the receptionist continued, “before we can book you in for a tour. And it'd really be better if your grandfather came with you for that.”
The receptionist stared up at Annie for a moment, clearly unconvinced.
“I won't bother anyone,” Annie continued, although she could tell that she was starting to screw up. “I really just want to take a look around and -”
“Visiting hours are between three and six,” the receptionist said yet again, “and you need someone to actually visit. M'am, if you're not able to show evidence of a relative with funds. Do you or don't you have any relatives or friends staying here with us at Eldion House.”
“I do,” Annie replied.
“And what's the resident's name?”
“Sarah.”
“What's her surname, M'am?”
Annie hesitated, realizing that the receptionist had already seen through her ruse. Still, she figured she might as well try a guess and hope for a miracle.
“Smith,” she said finally. “I'm here to see Sarah Smith.”
***
Wincing as she struggled to haul herself over the fence, Annie wobbled for a moment before throwing her weight past the point of no return and tumbling down. She landed hard on the grass below, letting out a gasp of pain in the process.
Looking up, she saw that so far she'd managed to not draw any attention to herself. The few residents on the patio had gone back inside, and in fact at this particular moment Annie saw nobody around at all. She saw no cameras, either, so she stumbled to her feet and hurried across the lawn until she reached the patio's edge, where she stopped and hid for a moment while she tried to figure out what to do next. All she wanted was to take a quick look around and make sure that the retirement home wasn't hiding any secrets. Then she'd be able to move on to investigate the next Eldion House.
You'll be in and out in a couple of minutes, she told herself. You can do this.
She hesitated for a few seconds, and then she stepped across the patio and made her way to the door. Looking through, she saw a nurse setting some trays down on tables, and then the nurse walked out of view. Annie waited, before sliding the door open and stepping into the retirement home's warm interior.
Nearby, an elderly man looked up at her, staring with milky white eyes.
“Hey,” Annie said with a forced smile. “Ignore me. I'm just taking a look around.”
She stepped past the man and walked over to the end of a corridor. Looking along toward the far end, she saw several doors leading off to various rooms, but so far everything in the home seemed completely normal. Too normal, perhaps. She hesitated for a moment, and then she began to make her way along the corridor, figuring that she should at least check out a fe
w of the rooms and make sure that there were no secret experimentation rooms or dark laboratories. In the back of her mind, she was already thinking that perhaps a nondescript nursing home might be the perfect place to hide nefarious activities.
A moment later, hearing voices coming from one of the rooms, she stopped to listen.
“The worst place I ever worked,” a nurse was saying, “was this dump called Crestview. I had this asshole boss named Taylor, everyone knew he was on the take. I got out of there as fast as I could. A few years ago I heard he was murdered or something, and you know what? I didn't shed a tear.”
“Some people have it coming,” another nurse replied, sounding both bored and tired. “If you ask me, so long as you live a good life and don't get into anything dodgy, nobody's gonna have a reason to murder you. People who get murdered have always done something they shouldn't. Always.”
“Do you really think so?”
“Most people who get murdered, it turns out they've been asking for it.”
“Huh. I suppose that's one way of looking at things.”
“It's the only way. If you don't want to get murdered, don't do the kind of things that attract the attention of murderers. Simple.”
Annie hurried past the room, hoping not to be seen, and then she continued her walk along the corridor.
Stopping at the far end, she looked both ways and saw two more corridors heading off in opposite directions. She waited a moment, and then – feeling a strong feeling in her gut – she took the left turn. Something about this particular direction felt 'right', as if she was being drawn to something. She walked carefully and quietly, not daring to make a sound, until she reached one particular door and stopped.
There's something in here, she told herself, even though the idea seemed a little too easy. There's something really important on the other side of this door.
Reaching down, she tried the handle and found that it turned. Then she began to push the door open, until finally she looked through and saw an empty, unfurnished room.
Something must be hidden here, she figured, stepping into the room and looking around.
After a moment, she saw that the drapes were fluttering slightly in a breeze. Heading to the window, she found that it had been left open, so she looked out at the parking lot.
And then she froze, as she saw two police officers taking a look at her truck.
“No,” she whispered, stepping aside so that she couldn't be seen. “Please, I can't deal with this right now.”
Her heart was pounding, but she already knew that getting back to the truck would be impossible. The police would quickly find out that the truck had been stolen, and they'd probably be able to link it to the man who'd died at the motel. She tried for a moment to remember what she'd done with his body, but the best she could come up with was that she'd simply left him on the carpet. She could explain the whole thing, of course, although she worried that the police wouldn't listen, that they'd simply assume she was a crazy murderer and that she'd be locked up. That they'd accuse of her being insane. Of course, in the back of her mind there remained a faint, fluttering fear that they'd be right.
“I won't let that happen,” she said under her breath. “I have to find Katia. I have to keep going.”
She hesitated, before realizing that she absolutely had to get away from the retirement home. Going out the front way would be impossible, so she hurried out of the room and along the corridor, hoping to reach the door that led to the patio. Her mind was racing as she tried to figure out how the police had even tracked her down, but she focused on reaching the home's main lounge. After a couple more paces, however, she heard voices up ahead, and she froze just as radio chatter began to crackle in the distance.
Turning, she headed back the other way, determined to keep away from the police. In her mind's eye, she imagined herself somehow scrambling to the truck and then racing off into the distance.
“If they lock you up, it's over,” she whispered, trying to keep her thoughts straight. “You'll never be able to get away again. They'll win.”
She made her way along another corridor, almost breaking into a run at the far end. Then she stopped as she heard more radio chatter, and she tried to figure out exactly where the police officers were in relation to the lounge and the patio. Figuring that she'd been trapped, she turned and opened the nearest room, and then she hurried through before pushing the door shut. She waited, listening for any hint that she'd been spotted, before turning and seeing that an elderly lady was watching her from the bed in the corner.
“Hello,” the lady said with a friendly smile. “Do I know you?”
“No,” Annie mumbled, before spotting a cellphone on the bedside table. Stepping over, she picked the cellphone up and found that it was out of battery. “Do you mind if I borrow this?”
“Borrow what?”
“Never mind,” Annie said, hurrying to the window and sliding it open.
“Oh, don't let the cold air in,” the lady continued. “It's so chilly in here already.”
“I'll shut it,” Annie said, already clambering through. She dropped out the other side into a rose bush, and she winced as she felt the thorns cutting through the fabric of her dress.
After pulling herself free, she stepped out onto the path, before realizing that she'd forgotten to shut the window. Turning, she waded back through the bush and struggled to slide the window back down, finding that part of the mechanism had become jammed.
“Damn it,” she muttered, still fiddling with the window as the second passed. She knew she had to hurry, but at the same time she'd promised to shut the window and she didn't want the elderly lady to get cold.
Glancing over her shoulder, she saw that so far there was no sign of the police officers.
Turning back to the window, she continued to try jigging the sliding section.
“I'm sorry,” she said to the lady, who was still watching from the bed. “Just give me a moment.”
“It's getting cold,” the lady replied.
“I know. I'm going to -”
Before she could finish, the window suddenly slammed down, almost slicing off her fingertips in the process.
Turning, Annie began to make her way toward the trees, but then she froze as she saw a police officer heading her way.
“M'am!” he called out. “I need you to stop and identify yourself.”
Annie watched for a moment, before racing away across the grass. At least, that was the plan. Before she'd managed more than a couple of paces, however, the officer fired a stun gun at her back, shocking her and sending her thumping down against the grass. She was unconscious before she even hit the ground.
Chapter Twenty-Three
“You've been missing for a long time, Annie Radford,” Doctor Schlesinger said as he looked at his notes. “I'm impressed that you managed to live off the grid, so to speak, for so long. I'd be interested to know how you managed that.”
He glanced over at her.
“It's not as easy as just switching off your phone. How did you manage for money? How did you pay bills? How did you drive?”
He waited, but Annie said nothing. After a moment, Schlesinger looked up at the camera in the far corner, and at the red light that indicated their every word and every movement was being recorded.
“I guess it's possible that you fumbled your way through,” he added, “like some kind of savant. Then again, to do it for so many years... That suggests some degree of planning and support. I'm wondering, Annie, whether you had help.”
Again he waited.
Again she said nothing.
Again he glanced at the camera, and then this time he looked back down at his notes. He turned to another page, before glancing at Annie once more.
“This will be so much easier,” he continued, “if you'll actually talk to me. Annie, I'm here because the court requested my input, but that doesn't mean I'm your enemy. I'm actually on your side, and my job is to make sure that the court
gives you the treatment you require. I'm sure I don't have to remind you that you're the prime suspect in the murder of James Tackalilly and the theft of his truck.”
He waited.
Annie stared down at the table, blank-faced and lost in her own thoughts.
“There are other charges,” the doctor said. “Several relate to the retirement home where you were arrested. Why did you steal a dead woman's cellphone, Annie? You went into a room where a woman had died just a few hours ago. Her body was still on the bed, waiting to be taken to the funeral home. She wasn't even cold. Did you really have to steal her phone? And why did you have cocaine in the truck? You're a lot of things, Annie Radford, but narcotics seem out of character.”
Again he waited.
Again, Annie was lost in her own mind.
You failed poor little Katia, she was telling herself. She was relying on you, and you let her down. You shouldn't have made Elly go away. Elly helped you think, Elly made you better. You tried to go it alone, and that's what went wrong. Now Katia's lost and you're going to have to find a way out of this place so you can help her again.
“Annie, are you listening to me?” Doctor Schlesinger asked. “Can you at least look at me?”
Why did you let them catch you? she wondered. You should have been smarter.
“Let me tell you what's going to happen to you, Annie,” the doctor continued. “You're going to be taken to a facility where you can be properly monitored. After thirty days, a report will be prepared for the court, and then a fresh decision will be made. I imagine you'll be kept at the facility for quite some time after the thirty days are up, but we'll have to wait and see. At some point, you're going to have to talk to me. Do you understand, Annie? Whatever game you've been playing, it's over now.”
Finally she looked at him.
“It's not a game,” she said, and she was surprised by how gravely and harsh her own voice sounded. “You have no idea what this is all about.”
