“Following him? What kind of people?” Abby asked.
“You know those men that came to town passing out flyers for that foundation that has been trying to give out grants? We noticed that some of them would appear whenever we came into town. I thought they might just be pervs, but they weren’t looking at me. They were watching Demsey. We stopped coming into town because of it.”
“You called the police, right?” Abby said, but Gloria’s silence told her the answer.
“No,” Gloria finally said, hesitantly. “I didn’t think they’d help. Buck and Demsey weren’t exactly on good terms with law enforcement.”
“Well, that’s stupid,” Abby said, almost angry. She knew the sheriff and the three deputies that worked for him. They were good people, and she couldn’t see them just ignoring the issue as Gloria assumed they might. She could be wrong, but everything she’d experienced up to now pointed to the fact they’d do their jobs. “When we get back from the hospital, we’re going to go to the sheriff’s office and report this. They aren’t exactly enamored of those foundation men, either.”
Gloria didn’t seem so sure, but nodded. “Okay, I’ll trust you on this,” she said before putting her fork down and using her napkin. “I’m done. Are you ready to go?”
Abby nodded, and they settled the bill on the way out. She smiled, making sure to thank Becky for giving them both the employee discount before heading out of the door.
“It should be okay to leave your car in the café lot,” Abby said as they headed for her purple PT Cruiser.
“Oh, um, I don’t have a car,” Gloria said, pointing to the now familiar motorcycle parked a few spaces down from Abby’s car. “I just have my dirt bike, but it serves me well enough. Helps to get around the sawmill when I work.”
“What do you do when it rains?” Abby asked as she opened the doors to the car and got in.
Gloria grinned as she slid into the passenger seat. “Tough it out. What else can you do?”
Abby grunted as she started the car and pulled away from the curb. There was a lesson there.
Chapter 4
The drive to the state hospital grounds took a bit over forty-five minutes from Red Pine Falls. The hospital itself was in the middle of Salem and only a few blocks away from the I-5 interstate that ran through the center of the city. The grounds were large and spacious, dominated by the huge red-brick building that was surrounded by small, white homes resembling some sort of camping cabins.
Behind it loomed the state penitentiary. They weren’t part of the same grounds, but were still connected in a way that very clearly said the two institutions were related.
Behind the massive, gray walls was where Buck Danson had died. Abby hadn’t known the two buildings were this close together, but wondered if it bode well or ill for Samantha. Maybe Samantha was just imagining things, being so close to where the death had occurred? Except Demsey was also being followed.
The men that Gloria had said were following Demsey worked for the Foundation for Oregon Urban Renewal. They had come to Red Pine Falls to pass out informational flyers to the towns people, but as time passed, they’d also served as bullies and enforcers for Don Buckshire.
It had all been a bid by Senator Clark to oust the mayor, but before the council could initiate a vote of no confidence against the mayor, Don had been killed. It had been a mistake by the over-eager bikers Bakes and Wallace. They were supposed to kill Don, but only after the vote so it would cast suspicion on the mayor and ruin any chances he had to defend himself.
Except without the vote, it had ruined Senator Clark’s plan, enraging the man and making him send Detectives Mike and Ed to find, and then kill, the two offenders. They had done so, and it had all happened right in front of Abby when she’d been captured by the two bikers.
They had shown up just in time to save Abby’s life, and for that Abby was grateful, but she wasn’t fooled for a second by the two detectives. She sometimes wondered if she would have gotten out of that shed alive if the sheriff and his deputies hadn’t shown up right away. It had been close, and she still had nightmares over the whole thing.
“It’s oppressive, isn’t it?” Abby said, eyeing the massive building as they drove around it. The grass was dead, hidden deep in its winter roots and coupled with the overcast sky, the building itself sat like a troll on a bridge, threatening and unmoving.
“I come here every weekend,” Gloria said softly, watching the front of the building slowly move closer. “I feel terrible for Samantha, having to live in a place like this, but I suppose it’s better than the penitentiary. They keep her in rooms in a place called the Harbor. Its sectioned off from the rest of the hospital where the criminal patients live. She doesn’t seem like she minds it, though.”
“Why do you care?” Abby asked, confused. “She’s not related to you, is she? Not that I’m saying to stop visiting her, but I’m just trying to understand all of this.”
Gloria was silent for a long time. As Abby pulled into a parking space, she almost didn’t think the woman was going to answer her, but as the car turned off, Gloria started speaking. “It’s because of Demsey,” she finally said. “I know everyone thought that Buck and Samantha were together, but it was actually Demsey she was with. Buck just didn’t want anyone talking badly about his brother, so he acted like it was him. It was probably one of the few noble things he ever did.”
“Wow,” Abby said as she absorbed the information. “So, you come for Demsey? Does he ever come with you?”
Gloria shook her head. “No, no I don’t think it would be a good idea. He wouldn’t understand that she couldn’t come back with us. Then, he might cause problems. People, or Demsey, might get hurt. I come so I can tell him how she’s doing, and vice versa. He’ll probably never get to see her again.”
“Wouldn’t it be better just to let them forget about each other, instead of playing go-between like this?” Abby asked softly, looking at the larger women.
Gloria glanced over at Abby. “You don’t have to listen to him cry every night,” she said. It only stops a few days after I come back from a visit with news of her. I’ve talked to his shrinks, and they’ve recommended the same thing, but it just breaks my heart.”
Abby was surprised. This hard-faced woman who worked in a saw mill had a heart of gold, and her own melted a little at the story. She decided then and there she’d really try to help. She just didn’t know how.
As they got out of the car and headed into the large, foreboding building, Abby frowned and squared her shoulders. Whatever was going on, she was going to get to the bottom of it. The senator’s men were involved for a reason, and most likely it wasn’t a good one.
Chapter 5
The entrance to the hospital was exactly like what Abby was expecting. All pastel, calming colors and a medium-sized lobby with a nurse’s station. All the doors further into the hospital were lockable, and reminded Abby of the doors at the police station that required someone to be buzzed in. She had also half-expected to see patients in the lobby but was thankful that wasn’t the case. In fact, it was almost empty save for them.
“Hello,” Gloria said as they stepped up to the counter. She sounded like she did this a lot and didn’t seem hesitant at all when she spoke to the severe looking nurse. “Gloria Sanborn and Abby Morgan here to see Samantha Green, please.”
The woman gave them a once over, almost as if they might be holding shotguns or metal saws. Except for how well it matched their surroundings, Abby almost wanted to laugh at the over-exaggerated review. After the nurse had completed her once-over, she typed on her computer for a few moments before looking back up. “Do you have some ID?”
Abby and Gloria fished out their licenses, passing them over to the nurse and waiting patiently. After filling in some information from each of their ID’s, the nurse passed them back and gestured toward the lobby. “Please, have a seat. Someone will be along to direct you to the visitor room in a few minutes. It will take them a bit t
o get from the Harbor.”
Abby raised an eyebrow at Gloria as they sat. “What’s a Harbor? I didn’t miss a lake or river, did I?”
“They have several different programs here,” Gloria said. “The Harbor is one they use for the prisoners. Or, I should say, it’s both a program and the name of one of their wings. Believe me, it’s one of the better wings.”
“What other names are there?” Abby asked, curious.
“I think some of the names I’ve seen are tree, flower, and even bumblebee,” Gloria said, clearly not enthused about the names. “Guess what’s painted on the walls of the wards? I’m sure they have their reason, but I’m just glad I don’t have to live here.”
“Amen, to that,” Abby said. They waited in silence for a few minutes until finally one of the doors that led deeper into the complex buzzed and then opened.
A man in pink scrubs came out holding a clip board. “Gloria Sanborn?” he said, triggering Gloria and Abby to stand. They walked over to the tired looking man and followed him into the bowels of the building.
Gloria was right. The fading colors and sometimes peeling paint of the walls were covered in too-happy smiling faces and playful caricatures of animals and insects. Abby could only stare in horror as they passed, imagining living with these pictures every day.
And there were people. Whereas the front lobby had been quiet and empty, the hallways of the institution quickly became crowded with bodies. Most were obviously patients, but staff were in evidence as well; sometimes moving with a purpose, other times leading patients to whereabouts unknown.
Every once in a while they passed a day room with blaring day-time talk shows, each crowded with people engaging in some activity or sitting quietly.
“Are these areas where they keep the criminals?” Abby asked the man leading them down the corridors.
He didn’t stop, but snorted in laughter as he shook his head. “No way, lady. That’s the Harbor area and much more contained. This is where the self-admitted folks live. Most of them aren’t violent, thank goodness. That’s why most of them are on their own recognizance.”
Abby peeked into one of the day rooms they passed, her eyes widening at the press of bodies. “Why are there so many of them?”
“We ask that, too,” the man said, not turning around or waiting for Abby. She had to pull back, waiting for a patient to walk by before moving to catch up. “It’s overcrowded, even after they stopped putting the drug cases in here. Fewer beds, too, since they tore down part of the place back in 2005. We have to stack em up. The Harbor area is crowded too, but we can’t just throw people together. Your girl is a non-violent GBI, so we actually don’t have her directly in the Harbor. Just outside of it, though.”
“GBI?” Abby inquired as they turned down yet another long hallway. This one ended in a large, heavy door that looked like it had a guard station next to it.
“Guilty but insane,” the man said before leading Abby and Gloria to a side room. After he opened the door, he pointed to a box next to the door with a large green plastic button on it. A seahorse had been painted around it, making the button look like one of its eyes. “When you are done, just push this green button and I’ll open the door. I’ll also be right outside, in this chair. It’s the most privacy I can give you.”
They both nodded, then turned to face the room. Samantha was sitting inside quietly staring at her hands as she sat on the other side of a long, brown table. She seemed to be humming a soft tune though Abby couldn’t make out what it was. When Samantha looked up, she saw Gloria and a smile radiated from her face, but quickly dimmed when her eyes turned to Abby. Her head then dropped back to the table, letting her hair fall over her face and hide her features.
Abby took a deep breath. Being in the same room as a person that had tried to kill her had been abstract up until that moment. Now, it wasn’t.
Chapter 6
Gloria sat first, watching Samantha carefully before she realized that Abby hadn’t approached the table. She turned, giving Abby a questioning look.
“Oh, sorry,” Abby said and forced herself to move forward. She carefully pulled out the dented metal chair and sat, staring at the hair that had fallen over Samantha’s face. She could see the faint hint of the woman’s eyes as she watched her from behind her curtain. It made Abby almost feel like she was being watched by a wild animal, but she wasn’t certain if it was from fear or anger.
They all sat in silence for a moment before Gloria finally broke the tableau. “Samantha, how are they treating you?”
Samantha shifted, her hidden gaze shifting to Gloria for a moment before tracking back over to Abby. “Okay, I guess,” she said, picking at a spot of peeling paint on the table. “It’s still crowded. I’m the new girl, so I get to sleep on the floor. Then when I am done, I push my mattress under one of the beds. I usually push it under Rachel’s. Rachel is nicer. She doesn’t yell.”
“I’m glad. I thought there were four people in your room?” Gloria asked. “That’s what you told me last time.”
Samantha paused, succeeding in peeling some paint off and trying to fold it, making it smaller and smaller. “Yes, there were four, but after we said someone was watching us through our window, they moved her out. She was too afraid. She wouldn’t sleep.”
“Someone was watching you?” Gloria asked, suddenly concerned. “Through what window? I thought you were on a second floor.”
“No, they moved us a week ago. Said they needed our room, so they put us in another,” Samantha said. “It’s warmer in our room, now, but smells like mildew. Now we’re on the bottom.”
“But someone was watching you through the window, right?” Abby said, a chill running down her spine. She had half-assumed some of this might have been in the woman’s mind, but if more than one person had seen it, that made things more serious.
Samantha stopped trying to fold the paint, freezing even as she was trying to push the gray flake down on itself. “I…yes. It was a man in a dark jacket. He had a hat on, too, but I couldn’t see his face. The windows are stained. You can’t see out of them very well. They said it’s safety glass and there’s metal mesh over that. Its ugly. I don’t like it, but I’m glad it’s there. The man was scary.”
“Did you tell the people here?” Gloria asked. “Did they do anything?”
Samantha nodded, relieved to once again be talking to Gloria. Abby could see it in her shoulders as they relaxed slightly, and she had resumed trying to fold the paint as she talked. “They walked around outside, but came in and were mad. They said we made it up, but we didn’t. Beth wouldn’t sleep because she said he would come back. She wouldn’t not sleep if it were fake, right?”
Gloria nodded, and Abby joined her. “This is something new, isn’t it?” Abby asked Gloria. “What happened before?”
“Samantha said she was being watched and that strange men came to visit her,” Gloria said, then turned to Samantha. “Can you tell Abby about what happened?”
Samantha nodded, but Abby noticed her fingers stopped moving on the paint again. “A man came to visit me, just like you are now. He was asking me questions. Like, where Buck might have hid things. I told him I didn’t know. Buck never let me touch any of his stuff, but the man didn’t believe me and started to scare me. The nurses interrupted and took him away. I didn’t know what to do. He was in here with me and started to get angry.”
Abby turned to Gloria, “Did you get a chance to ask the staff about that?”
“They wouldn’t tell me anything,” Gloria said, her eyebrows descending in remembered anger. “I tried, but I’m not actually a relative of Samantha, and the hospital completely shut me down. We’d probably get the same thing about this man looking in their windows, too. It’s part of why I came to you for help, Abby. Maybe you can talk the sheriff or his office into helping us? I’m pretty sure if I tried, they’d just ignore me.”
“Did you try talking to Samantha’s real family?” Abby asked though she suspected she knew
the answer. Part of the problem was that Samantha had gotten pregnant very young, and instead of trying to help her, her family shipped her out of state with Buck. Green wasn’t her real name. It was Clawson. The oldest family in Red Pine Falls had turned their back on the woman.
“No,” Gloria said with a scary finality and she immediately became defensive. “I wouldn’t give those people the time of day. Not after the way they treated Samantha. They’d not only not help, but probably look for a way to throw her under the bus, too.”
Abby held her hands up, trying to placate the woman. Samantha had gone strangely quiet as well, but if she’d been treated like that by her family, Abby couldn’t blame her. Family was supposed to protect and nurture, not harm. “I understand. I was just asking. If her own family won’t help, who can?”
Gloria frowned and shook her head. “I don’t know. Honestly, I just have no idea. I’ve been trying to help, but this is so far out of my league. I’m Demsey’s legal guardian, but I don’t know who that person is for Samantha.”
Abby thought furiously for a few moments, trying to think of what they should do next. If men were coming here, asking questions about Buck, they needed to find out who they were. And more importantly, why they were asking those questions. She could talk to Sheriff Pearson or Lanie, but she wasn’t altogether sure they could do anything. What she needed to do is talk to someone that knew the law, and she had just the person.
Robert Carrington. The third, to be precise. He and his father worked for a firm in Chicago that had apparently been representing the Morgans for a hundred years. He had also proven extremely helpful in several recent incidents involving the Senator or his bully boys. If he didn’t have information, he could point them in the right direction.
Deadly Desires and Killer Instincts Page 2
