“Seriously. Were you asleep in orientation?” Jenkins asked. Porter laughed and nudged him.
“They didn’t cover it,” she said and glared at them both.
“It’s fine. We’ll bring Nurse Cross up to speed on this,” Vaughn said turning towards her. “They’re called stingers. They cut the wire on appliances and use that to light one. You’d be surprised at how creative these folks can get.”
“You’re telling me,” she replied. She could tell this was going to be a long day.
Vaughn flipped a sheet in the binder. “You’ll get used to it. Gambling, smoking, shanks, drugs and even prostitution have been seen inside these walls. How they manage to get it by us is what we’re still trying to figure out. Though for now, if you see anything like that, you now know what to do.”
She raised a hand. “Hold on a minute — prostitutes?”
He sighed. “Look, I would love to go into it but we’d be here all day and we still have to get through diagnoses, medications and treatment for those in the unit.”
“Yeah. Move on,” Jenkins said waving his hand and looking at her like she was an idiot.
Over the next hour they discussed all of that, and groups that were coming up that morning. It seemed there were only a select number of patients that were allowed to leave the unit for work duty. It was a right that was earned, not given. The rest had groups to attend — relapse prevention, communication, emotion management, substance recovery, symptom management, legal issues, art, and so on, these were spread out through the morning and afternoon. “Any questions?”
She nodded. “Am I required to attend any of these?”
“No. Our psychologist and social workers handle that, though we have a rehab therapist come in each day to take his group. Again, though, you would have been told that at your orientation.”
She pursed her lips. “I guess they skipped over that,” she said.
Vaughn nodded without directing his attention to her. His eyes scanned the binder in front of him, then he began to reel off names of patients, giving Hanna the backstory on their reasons for being there. Most, if not all, were there on some kind of murder charge, some had killed multiple times. Then there were the rapists but thankfully she didn’t have to deal with that as they were in a different unit. “Andrew Roy, the man that Jenkins and Porter dealt with this morning, has been in and out of mental health facilities since he was nine years of age. He ended up killing his father with an ice pick at the age of eighteen and burying his body in the backyard. He believed his father was a robot out to get him.”
Her eyes widened. “How did they find him?” she asked.
“Oh he recorded it and posted it online for the world to see.” Vaughn continued without missing a beat. “Then we have Ishan Larsen. He abducted two girls, dismembered them. The second one, he mailed her body parts to the police department on Thanksgiving as a gift with a note that said he couldn’t eat them both and wanted to share the rest with law enforcement.”
“Lovely,” Hanna muttered.
He took a deep breath. “Then there is Mr. Gomez who blew up his workplace after being laid off. Should I continue?”
“Maybe we can skip the rest. I get it.”
He chuckled. “While I agree, I should warn you about a recent addition to the hospital.” He thumbed through. “Ah, here we go. Mr. Winchester. Murdered the Lewis family in Apalachin. Randall Lewis was stabbed forty-six times, his wife was left with two butcher knives in her orifices, and the kids, well…”
“Stop.” Hanna put a hand up. “I understand. They’re a threat. Let’s move on.”
Vaughn closed the binder and slipped off the table. He made his way over so he was within inches of her face. “Nurse Harvey lost her life because she didn’t listen.”
It was clear he was making a point.
“Really? I was told her personal alarm didn’t work.”
He narrowed his gaze. “Well there was that but she had also been told countless times not to speak with patients alone and so she paid the price for it. I just wanted to make sure you are clear about who you are dealing with here. Every one of those crazies won’t think twice about beating you, raping you or slicing your throat, Nurse Cross. Be careful.” He turned to walk away and then looked back. “Oh I forgot to mention Tyler Sutton.”
“Let me guess, Sutton killed someone.”
“I will save you the gruesome details but he gets out of seclusion this morning. That was the man who killed Nurse Harvey. Don’t take your eyes off the ball, Nurse Cross. I would hate to see you end up being carried out of here in a body bag.” He turned back to the others. “In the meantime. Keep your eyes and ears open, folks. After Harvey’s death we can’t afford any further trouble. The media is already hounding us day and night.” He jabbed his finger at them. “Which reminds me, Dr. Chapman doesn’t want any of you speaking with the media either.” He collected the binder and headed for the door. “Porter and Jenkins, see me in my office.”
They grumbled and followed him out, leaving the rest of the group to have a quick cup of coffee before heading out on their rounds. Caroline was quick to calm her fears. “Don’t worry, Vaughn is like that with everyone. Fortunately, his visits to our unit are infrequent, but with Harvey’s death and all, Chapman had him fill in today. If you have any questions just let me know,” she said heading for the nurses station and leaving Hanna and Bryan French alone.
“So, think you’re ready for your first day?” he asked.
“Nope.”
“Questions?”
“Hundreds,” she said with a smile. “How long you been here?”
He shifted from one foot to the next. “Thirty years.”
“Wow. How have you managed
