Chapter 35 Emily
EMILY
Emily’s heart pounded on her collarbone like a judge’s gavel as she stood in the interminable queue outside the infirmary.
It was the morning before she was due for release.
She’d had a poor sleep the night before, spent most of it preparing the speech she was about to give Stone and considering what the doctor’s response would be.
She was sure to be angry, and unhappy. Emily had no delusions that she would snivel and cry and beg.
But she might be savvy enough to actually strike the bargain: Emily’s silence on the drug trial in exchange for Annie’s release.
As she’d told Annie and June, Emily had no qualms about reneging on the agreement.
Neither she, nor any of the other inmates, owed Eris Stone a damn thing, least of all their honour.
They’d all been tricked to benefit the doctor’s own financial needs; now it was Emily’s turn to do the tricking.
She’d had enough. She was exhausted and resentful, full of rage at Stone and the entire institution, at the laws that made it all possible, that gave Stone all the power.
When it was finally her turn, Emily took a deep breath and entered the bright white room, as she had so many times over the past several months.
It felt empowering to have the upper hand for once while visiting the infirmary, instead of lying spread-eagled on the dirty sheets while the doctor assaulted her in the name of medicine.
“What’s the gripe, Radcliffe?” Matron Smith asked dispassionately.
Emily steeled, stood up straight. “Nothing. I just need to speak to Dr. Stone.”
The matron blinked. “Radcliffe, we’ve got a lineup outside. If nothing’s—”
“She’ll want to speak to me. I have information I’m sure she’d like to be aware of.”
Matron Smith sighed. “What sort of information? About another inmate or—”
“Please just let me speak to her. I—”
At that moment, Dr. Stone emerged from her office, crisp white lab coat billowing overtop her usual black skirt and blouse. She took Emily in with a piercing stare.
“Radcliffe has something to say to you, apparently,” Matron Smith said, rolling her eyes.
“Yes, I’m sure she does. Come over here then, Radcliffe,” the doctor said, beckoning. She disappeared back into her office and Emily followed as Matron Smith looked on, curious.
Emily entered and shut the door behind her. Stone surveyed her, leaning back against the broken desk, hands clutching the edge of it, nails painted crimson as blood. Emily had already decided there was no point in preamble, so she took a breath and launched right in.
“I’m a journalist, Dr. Stone.”
She watched for the doctor’s reaction. Stone’s eyes narrowed, scrutinizing her. “Am I really supposed to believe that?”
“Yes. You are.” Emily let the claim settle on her.
Stone shifted her feet. “Prove it.”
Emily’s gut squirmed with a self-consciousness that she quickly dismissed. Stone could believe her or not, but if Emily could convince her, she could secure Annie’s release sooner. But either way, her friend was getting out. Emily would make sure of that.
“I can’t,” Emily said. “Not right now. But I work for a magazine. We received a note from an inmate here alleging all manner of poor treatment, so I set out to confirm the story. As you can imagine, I’ve discovered it’s all entirely true.”
Stone bit down on the inside of her cheeks, making her face look more hollow and unsettling than ever. “If what you say is true, which I highly doubt—”
“Why do you doubt it?” Emily challenged. “I’m sure Warden Barrow told you a journalist called, back in the spring. That’s why the outdoor time was suspended.”
Stone was very still. “Who do you work for?”
“I’m not going to tell you that. But rest assured, it’s a big enough publication that you should have cause for concern if I publish.
” Emily’s mouth had gone a little dry, but she steeled herself and pressed on.
She could do this. “It’s come to my attention that in addition to using your psychiatric patients as lab mice, you’ve been deliberately infecting the inmates with VD in order to treat them with the trial drug Trichlorovir. ”
A long pause. “And why would I do such a thing?” Stone crossed her arms over her chest now, protective yet confrontational.
Emily smirked, just for the sheer pleasure of antagonizing her. “Because you’re getting paid to by the drug company that developed it.”
Stone was pallid, and Emily saw her throat twitch as she swallowed.
“So you are the little rat who stole my files,” she said, realization dawning on her.
Her eyes flicked to the closed door beyond which Emily could only hope the infirmary matron was eavesdropping.
That might come in useful later on. “White thought it was you.”
“Yes,” Emily said. “I did.” She was proud to hear her voice was steady. She hadn’t had much reason to stand up to authority before. It felt simultaneously terrifying and exhilarating. She and Stone stared each other down.
“What do you want?” the doctor finally demanded, taking a step toward Emily, whose heart fluttered, but she held her ground.
“I want you to discharge Annie Little immediately. Tomorrow, when I get out. Do that, and I’ll write about the atrocious conditions in this place, but leave out mention of your personal little scheme with the drug trial.
The administration, the warden, and the government will be implicated, but not you. ”
Stone’s lips pressed again into a thin line. She straightened. “You do realize this is blackmail.”
Emily shrugged. “Is that what you’d call it?”
“That’s what the authorities will call it.”
“Yes. And they’ll call your behaviour aggravated assault and corruption, I think.”
The clock on the wall ticked away the seconds, and in the silence, Emily felt the trickle of sweat down the back of her dress.
“Don’t think for a moment that you’ve won, Radcliffe.” Stone’s voice was black ice, the treacherous kind that’s difficult to spot until you’ve suddenly lost control.
“Except I have, Stone,” Emily assured her with a mirthless grin.
“You don’t have power over me anymore. You don’t get to decide.
The choice you get to make is whether you want to release Annie Little and save your career, or go down with this place when I expose the whole thing.
It’s up to you. But I suggest you decide—”
She gasped as Stone rushed to her, and instinctively shot up an arm. She backed toward the door, eyes wide, and found that she was cornered.
“Ohh, not so brave as you act, eh?” Stone whispered an inch from her face.
“Not so brave. Not so smart. You don’t seem to understand, Radcliffe, that these women are a pestilence.
” She hissed the c, drawing it out as she held Emily’s eyes with her own.
Emily dodged, tried to look away, but Stone followed her gaze, bobbing her head around like a charmed snake.
“Get away from me!” Emily finally shouted, giving her an actual shove. She didn’t care if Matron Smith heard. If she could eventually testify Emily had been threatened by Stone, so much the better.
“What is wrong with you?” she demanded finally. Her hand was on the doorknob now, and something began to tingle. Something ominous and disturbing that reverberated inside her alongside June’s words:
She belongs in there with the Blues…
Stone simply stood there, feet from Emily, and watched her open the door.
“Just release Annie Little with me tomorrow,” Emily told her firmly, struggling now with a sudden fear she didn’t want Stone to see. She also knew she didn’t want to be alone with this woman a moment longer.
Matron Smith was indeed right outside the door, listening. She looked from Emily to the doctor and back again, eyes wide, as Emily pushed past her and out of the infirmary.
“You’re not eating much,” Emily said to Annie that evening at supper, stuffing a bit of unbuttered, stale bread into her own mouth.
She was still riding the wave of adrenaline from her encounter with Stone.
She didn’t know yet what would happen tomorrow when she was released, whether Annie would be with her or not.
Hopefully Stone would consider it overnight and determine Annie’s release was in her own best interest.
“No, I don’t have much appetite, I’m afraid,” Annie said, grimacing. “Dr. Stone gave me some kind of medication this afternoon, and it hasn’t agreed with my stomach.”
“Well, soon enough, she won’t be able to push anything else on you,” Emily said.
“Whether she responds to my demand or not, I’m getting released tomorrow.
And getting you out of here will be my first priority while I write the article.
I promise. You won’t have to wait much longer, Annie.
” She smiled and reached out, covered Annie’s hand with her own.
It was cool to the touch. “She was angry that I would dare to challenge her, of course, but she’s got to be scared, too.
She might approve your release to leave at the same time as me, if we’re lucky.
Then I could help you get in touch with your mother, get yourself settled just in time for Christmas next week. ”
“It’s hard to even believe I’ll get to see Gregory,” Annie said, blinking fast. “He’ll be so grown up.
I have so many questions to ask him, so much to talk about.
” She inhaled shakily. “I’m nervous, though, about what he’ll think of me.
It’s a lot to explain, and none of it casts his father in a… in a good light.”