Chapter 23
CHAPTER
TWENTY-THREE
Leaving Delilah in her room had been harder than Rowan wanted to admit.
The silence of the hallway after being encased in the sound of Delilah was suffocating.
She tried to act normal, tried to pretend like her entire world hadn’t tilted on its axis.
Knowing that she wouldn’t see Delilah for the next two days made it harder.
She tried to appear as though everything was normal, going about her day as if nothing had happened, thinking about the hour they spent in her office.
There were rounds to be done, though she hadn’t paid a lick of attention to her surroundings, moving entirely on auto-pilot and nodding briefly at each of her guards as she passed.
Time seemed endless as she walked the sterile, white-washed hallways in a daze.
She even managed to avoid all conversation, which was a miracle, and now the day had ended and she was so close—
“Oh, Rowan!” a voice called behind her right before she’d managed to escape the dredges of the building, her backpack slung over one shoulder. “I’m so glad I caught you.”
Rowan turned, plastering on a fake smile as Bronwin hurried after her. “Eliza,” she greeted as calmly as she could. “Everything okay?”
Bronwin waved her off, making a show of catching her breath before laughing at herself and looking at Rowan expectantly. “How’d it go? Earlier, with Delilah?”
A small pulse of adrenaline shot through her before she collected herself. Bronwin was not asking because she suspected anything, Rowan reminded herself. “It was fine,” Rowan answered, hoping her tone was casual. She shifted her backpack further onto her shoulder.
“Well, what happened?” Bronwin asked. She raised her eyebrows and it was clear to Rowan that “fine” wasn’t going to cut it. “What did she want? Where did you go?”
“Like she said, she wanted to see my office.” Rowan shrugged like that was no big deal.
“And?” Bronwin prodded.
“And I showed her my office.”
Rowan needed to get her shit together if she was going to be able to do this. She was barely keeping the annoyance, the exasperation, out of her voice, and all Bronwin was doing was asking perfectly reasonable—and expected—questions.
“I think it was good for her,” Rowan finally said, a new idea forming that helped steer her annoyance away.
She needed an excuse to get Delilah alone again—and soon or she might just lose it and do something reckless.
“If she behaves over the weekend, then why not let her have another excursion on Monday?”
Bronwin bit her lip, considering the offer. “I’d really like to assess her before we let her out again,” she hedged. She was maintaining a professional front, but Rowan knew she was dying to see if Delilah would be more cooperative now that she’d gotten what she wanted.
“After therapy then,” Rowan offered, seeing now that it might be easier to convince Bronwin to make the call after she laid eyes on Delilah.
Bronwin nodded, her eyes lighting up as the idea took hold in her mind.
“Yeah,” she said more to herself than Rowan.
Then she raised her voice and looked up at Rowan, nodding again.
“Yes, I think that could work. Only if she’s still adapting well and embracing the rules, of course.
And if it seems like this whole… experiment was actually beneficial to her. ”
Rowan did not bother pointing out that even if it hadn’t been beneficial, Delilah would still argue her way into another one. Instead, she tried again to escape, dismissing herself with a brief, “Well, have a good weekend, Eliza.” Only to be stopped once more, this time with a hand on her shoulder.
“Rowan,” Bronwin hesitated, and Rowan suddenly worried that she knew. She’d been so careful. She’d washed her hands, her face, but what if—“I’m sorry about Riley,” Bronwin finally blurted, cutting off Rowan’s growing anxiety spiral.
Rowan blinked at her, frowning. “What?”
“I didn’t know that she was Delilah’s lawyer. When I set you up, I mean. I’m… I’m sorry if it was uncomfortable for you when she came here.”
Uncomfortable. Rowan almost laughed. It was her own damn fault, really, that she hadn’t known who Riley was.
Especially with how much she’d studied Delilah’s trials, with how invested she’d become.
She should have paid attention to the lawyer, to the jury, the judge, and the prosecutors.
Instead, she’d focused all her attention on the serial killer on trial, barely sparing anyone else a passing glance.
Riley had looked familiar on their date, but she’d ignored the thought almost as soon as it had come. She’d let herself be waved off and manipulated by a flirty excuse and a pretty voice.
“It’s fine,” Rowan assured her. “It was a surprise but that was it.”
Bronwin’s shoulders fell with relief, the tension easing away as a genuine smile replaced her worried one.
“Good,” she said, like it had been weighing on her for days.
Why she hadn’t just apologized on Tuesday and gotten it over with, Rowan didn’t ask.
“Oh, one more thing. Sorry, I know you’re trying to get out of here and enjoy your weekend. ”
“Yes?” Rowan asked, not even having been given the time to fully turn away towards the door.
“Have you seen Adele yet to update her on Delilah’s outing?”
“No.” Rowan pursed her lips. The events after the office were hazy at best. She’d been barely focused as she completed the standard routine of her Friday.
But, she was certain this was the first time she was telling anyone and the first time she’d been asked about it.
She didn’t remember ignoring a call to Adele’s office either.
“She didn’t request anything from me, right? ”
“Oh, don’t worry.” Bronwin waved her off. “I’m just going to pop in and update her on our new plan for Monday. I’ll relay what you’ve told me.”
“Thanks.”
Rowan waited for Bronwin to leave her behind this time, her heels clicking loudly on the tile floors, making sure there wasn’t going to be another stop.
As she watched the therapist disappear back down the hallway, she couldn’t help the niggling thought that somehow Bronwin knew more than she was letting on.
She’d barely pressed Rowan for details, after all.
She easily accepted her shitty answers that didn’t really answer anything, and she’d been too distracted by a new subject.
No. Rowan shook the thought from her head. Riley had confirmed Bronwin hadn’t known, hadn’t been in on the torment she’d been surprised with. There was no way she was working with them. The set up was purely coincidence.