Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
Hutton
Give them enough to pacify their hunches. Not enough to figure out your plans. I learned that from her. She was a master of disguises and secrets. I touch the computer drive in my pocket while smiling to myself.
The laptops are wiped clean. The phones, too. They can have the guns and knives.
I don’t need them where I’m going.
“You’re quiet,” I say to Rick.
He found what I wanted them to find yesterday. He’s scared to death of me. Which is what I wanted. I smirk to myself. “I like you when you don’t talk.” He pales slightly before grumbling to himself.
Eden has been in the hospital for several days. She won’t be coming back here. I overheard Matt… she’s going to stay with the Superhero agent.
My next plan is to ensure I’m there, too. That’s going to be a fun little challenge since he’s not on my protective detail anymore. I could string him along with information about Camp Carroll, but he’s smart enough he’d never fall for that.
I could just tell him the truth. Trust him finally. Except that could backfire. He could be the one working with them.
I have another doctor meeting today and my supposed grandmother is joining. I agreed to a lot of pointless things when I met with Dr. Xiong.
Her explanations dragged on beautifully. I had to give the agents ample time to unearth it all. Each carefully placed contraband item.
As I round the corner to walk down the hall to the doctor’s office, Mrs. Lassiter brightens while calling out, “Oh, there you are. You’re almost late.
We’ll have to go over how important timeliness is, among some other things…
” She straightens one of her hundreds of blazers.
This one orange with a star pin on the lapel.
I’m becoming a project for her. It’s bothering me. I paint a smile on my face.
“Mrs. Lassiter, how good to see you.” She tuts at the use of her name. She keeps telling me to call her grandmother or even grandma. I’ll pass.
“Have you chosen a name yet?” she asks as she almost touches my arm. She just won’t stop with this. When she saw the x on the paperwork she made me sign, I had to listen to her rant for half an hour about the ‘seriousness of the situation.’
“Yes, Hutton,” I tell her. Her lips thin, but she doesn’t say anything. Just shakes her perfectly coiffed head.
Dr. Wallen steps into his open doorway waving us in. “Things have been unusually active around here lately. How have you been faring?” he asks me.
Now that I’m certain of a few things- It’s given me a razor-sharp focus, and I’m doing great. “I’ve been worried about the other residents.” Half a lie.
I’ve been worried about only one resident. Eden.
He grimaces and nods. “Your grandmother wants me to convince you that staying with her is in your best interest. I’d still be able to do video appointments with you for therapy. If you’d like.”
I wouldn’t.
“I’d rather not leave.” It’s getting more difficult to plaster this smile on my face.
“Dr. Wallen and I discussed this at length. Now… you don’t have any real-world experience, it’s hindering your perceptions, I think.
It’s time to move on. I’m sure you’re upset about the loss of…
well, the community? Yes, the community of people you had at Camp Carroll, but it’s time to make a way for yourself. ”
She’s practical, I guess.
She doesn’t know me in the slightest. It’s laughable she thinks I’m hindered in any way.
I have secrets worth dying for.
Dr. Wallen chimes in to tell me about all the great ‘opportunities’ they’ve come up with to entice me.
I zone out while they babble. Out of the corner of my eye towards the open doorway, I think I see the flash of rose gold.
Maybe a bracelet. I jolt in my chair at the sight.
What was that? I train my eyes toward the door and wait.
Did I imagine it?
“Did you hear me?” Lassiter leans in front of my sight line. At least she wasn’t trying to touch me again.
“Yes?” Not a word.
“Well? That might work, right?”
I go with my standard, ‘I wasn’t listening response,’ “No.”
I can tell I’m working her nerves, but she’s still riding the high of having an heir. A part of her daughters. Even if she hasn’t taken any DNA from me to prove that.
“Well, once the investigation is over that land belongs to you. All of it. Then you have whatever money your… that Lawrence left behind. You’ll be set up well,” Lassiter says.
She has no idea.
I don’t need Camp Carroll. Or his money. Or hers.
I shrug, peering back out the cracked door. I’m not prone to hysterics. I know what I saw. She’s toying with me now. Who has she disguised herself as? If I ever see her again, she’ll regret not finishing me off.
I’m not afraid of dying because the devil walks the earth, wearing her face.