38 #3
“It’s an epidemic,” Edward Aldrich said, with a smile, as if he’d said something hilarious. Conor wanted to ram the smile right down his throat, but Tom caught his brother’s arm.
“Leave it,” Tom said.
“Edward, shut up,” Nola said sharply.
“Sorry,” Edward said, looking sheepish. “Really, I didn’t mean it.”
Mike kissed Anne goodbye, and he hurried across the verandah with Tom and Conor. They walked down the curved front steps of the Ocean House. The valets had kept Tom’s truck in the top lot, and Dermot handed him the keys.
As Tom drove them east toward Route 1, Conor thought about what had just happened.
When he had mentioned Rosebud to the group, Mike—clearly upset—had said that Kate might be aboard.
Why had Edward made that joke instead of asking what Kate, whom he had just learned was missing, could be doing aboard a boat owned by his friend Leo Kennedy?
Did Edward know something about Leo’s involvement?
Tuesday, July 6; 4:15 p.m.
Jennifer drove the ATV down the dirt road for half a mile or so, then cut through a stretch of manicured grass.
The white hospital building was visible across the lawn, and Sam felt nervous.
They were exposed, and anyone looking out the window could see them.
Panic seized her—maybe Jennifer was going to hand her over to the group.
But then Jennifer sped straight toward the woods and drove along the property line.
Now, they were at least partially hidden by shadows.
Sam stared at the trail, just beyond the white fence, the one she had taken on her way from Enchanted Petals.
Jennifer slowed the vehicle when she approached a break in the fence.
“Why are we stopping?” Sam asked.
“I have to think,” Jennifer said. “Of the best place to go. They assume that you are here—or on your way here.”
“How would they know that?”
“Because Maeve called to report it. She said that Lincoln let it slip to you that the properties were side by side. It’s obvious that you would come here, because it’s familiar to you. She said you’d try to hide until Conor brought the cops.”
“You know Maeve?” Sam asked, wanting to bolt. “When we came here that time, and she was with us, you acted as if you’d never seen her before.”
“I do know her, Sam. I know her very well. And I know Lincoln too,” Jennifer said.
Sam scrambled off the vehicle and started to run. She didn’t know where to go. She would start by losing herself in the woods, getting a head start on Jennifer.
“Don’t go, Sam. I hate them!” Jennifer called.
The words thudded out, and when Sam turned around, she could see despair in Jennifer’s eyes.
“I was used by them, but I was never one of them,” Jennifer said. “They wanted me to be, they wanted me to help them with the new girls, but I’ll die before I do that.”
Sam took a few steps toward her. “But that first time, when we met you at the grave, you asked me, ‘Are you one of us?’ I remember that so clearly. We all assumed that you meant a patient here—not part of 1740. You sounded as if you practically worshipped Dr. Tyler. How much people admired him, how he did so much for his patients . . .”
“I was a patient, and I will tell you everything. But right now, I have to figure out where to hide you,” Jennifer said.
“You know what’s down that path?” Sam asked, pointing at the woods.
“Yes, Enchanted Petals. We can’t go there. The members are all part of 1740.”
“Members of what? It’s a garden center.”
Jennifer shook her head. “No, it only looks that way. It’s a front for the group.”
Sam nodded. That made sense—no wonder the phone number from the Yellow Pages ad still belonged to them, still rang at a place where 1740 gathered.
“But you know,” Sam said. “It might be the perfect place to hide—I was just there, and they’d never think I would go back.”
Jennifer half smiled and nodded, as if impressed by Sam’s idea.
“That could work,” Jennifer said.
“So let’s go,” Sam said.
“Not on that trail,” Jennifer said. “It’s too narrow for the ATV. We’ll take the old logging road. It’s never used, but it’s a lot wider.”
Sam wondered if the logging road was the trail Lincoln told her about. It felt dangerous to her, thinking that he might look for her there.
“Let’s just walk through the woods,” Sam said. “The path is more hidden. Just leave the ATV here.”
Jennifer shook her head and patted the locked storage compartment. Then she opened it. Sam leaned over to look. She saw a pile of earrings, bracelets, charms, locks of hair, gauze bandages, and some photographs. There was a stack of cards held together with a ribbon.
“I’ve saved everything,” Jennifer said. “People left offerings at the grave. And not just former patients—even some of the 1740 members. It’s evidence, Sam.”
“It is,” Sam said.
“That’s why I can’t just leave the ATV behind. They’ll find everything and destroy it before the police can get it.”
“We need a phone,” Sam said. “I’ll call Conor.”
Jennifer reached into her pocket and removed an iPhone. “I’d let you use mine, but it’s a hospital phone, and there will be a record. They can even look at it in real time, and they’ll see who I’m calling.”
“Conor might get here before they figure it out,” Sam said.
“And he might not. Let’s take your idea and go to Enchanted Petals.
You cut through the fence here, and I’ll meet you at the access road.
Even if they see me on camera, they won’t suspect anything.
They’ll think I’m patrolling, looking for you.
” Jennifer pointed to the right. “Just circle behind the pine trees and keep going straight until you see a clearing. That’s where your path will intersect the road. I’ll get there first. You’ll see me.”
Sam nodded. She set off toward the woods and heard Jennifer driving away.
Sam’s blood was pounding in her head. She could follow Jennifer’s directions to the access road, or she could run in the opposite direction and try to escape on her own.
It was a matter of whether she trusted Jennifer or not.
This could all be an act, to get Sam to a place where she could be captured.
She headed toward the pine trees. Her instincts told her that Jennifer was telling the truth.
That Jennifer wanted to help Sam. Something had happened to Jennifer, here at the hospital, that had turned her from a follower into someone who hated the people here.
So much, that she wanted to give her evidence to the police and bring 1740 crashing down.