“As did I,” he bellowed back. “As did I, Jack.”
“Those were different times. I was a different person back then. I paid my debt.”
“Different? Paid your debt?” He laughed. “The Butcher of New York can change. Is that what you believe? Did Eddie tell you that? Or was it Dana?” He paused and shook his head. “Helping others. You think that makes it all better? Huh?” He laughed. “You self-righteous bastard. Nothing you will ever do will wash the blood from your hands. That includes mine.” He brought a hand up to his face and touched the scar that Jack had given him with a knife. “But if you want to cleanse your soul I will help you, Jack.” He pointed to the walls. “How do you think you ended up here? Huh?” He stared into his eyes. All Jack could see was darkness. The same reflection he once had. Nothing. No compassion. No remorse.
Jack narrowed his gaze at him. “You?”
“Oh c’mon. They would have thrown you in prison to rot but we all know how that ends. Good behavior and you would be out on the streets in twenty years. No. Do you know how bad the pay is here and what people will do for a little cash?” He grabbed the mouthguard and forcefully shoved it back into Jack’s mouth. “You and I. It isn’t over. It’s only getting started. Welcome to hell, Jack.” Angelo reached over and lifted a headset with sponges on the ends. He set it down on Jack’s temples as he thrashed, then turned the dial up beyond the designated number of volts.
Jack’s screams were muffled by the mouthguard as his body arched and convulsed.
5
That morning, psych tech Seth Everett along with other staff members had been tasked with finding the shank used in the murder of Nurse Harvey. A preliminary search on the day of the incident had turned up zilch, so a full unit lockdown had been scheduled while all patients were in the courtyard. It wasn’t uncommon for guilty individuals to hide a shank in another patient’s room to avoid getting caught. So, under the air-raid siren of the alarm system, and flashing strobe lights, twelve hospital cops and a few staff members entered rooms and turned them upside down. Dresser drawers were thrown to the floor, mattresses flipped, door hinges checked, baseboards and light fixtures searched. Clothes and books were shaken out as these were all common hiding spots. No one had seen what Tyler Sutton had used and he refused to say, all they knew was when they finally subdued him he had nothing on him. That led them to believe he’d stashed it in the day room or handed it to another patient who disposed of it.
“So it was a knife?” Hanna asked Seth.
“Probably not,” he said as he flipped over a mattress. “You don’t need to stab a person to kill them in here, it just needs to cut them. Her throat was slit. They’ll use anything in here, door hinges filed down, eyeglass stems, even typing paper folded into a point and coated in sugar water to harden it.”
She nodded and he could see she was beginning to question taking the position. Everyone did. The turnover in state hospitals was high. It wasn’t burnout but violence. They weren’t allowed to fight back and in an environment that was every bit as deadly as a prison minus guards, the chance of patients kicking off was high. It was a daily event.
A dog brushed past Seth’s leg. It was one of three that were used to sniff each closet, bed and clothes. They certainly made the staff’s job a hell of a lot easier. Patients were very creative in hiding their stash. One of the dogs started howling and scratching a section of loose baseboard. A cop used a knife to pry it back. There, in the corner of the room, hidden inside a hole was a baggie of pills. The same ones they gave out every day — Haldol, Zyprexa, Risperdal, Trazodone and Seroquel.
The search continued, turning up cigarettes and alcohol, but no shank.
At some point Hanna asked Seth to go to the nursing station and switch off the alarm. As he made his way down several corridors he passed by the ECT unit and just happened to see Jack out the corner of his eye. The door was ajar, his back was arched and there was no one in there. Reacting fast, he burst into the room and turned off the machine. His body sank down on the bed and Seth removed the headset and took out the mouthguard.
“Help!” Seth yelled but the noise of the alarm was too loud. Dashing out, he continued through one more door until he was at the nursing station. He switched off the screaming alarm, the flashing lights stopped and he got on the phone to alert the others. Not waiting for them to show up, he hurried back to the ECT room. Jack was out cold. He was still breathing but there was no telling what damage had been done. Frothy drool trickled out the corner of his mouth and his fingers were still spasming. The distant sound of boots pounding linoleum flooring was loud. Nurse Cross was the first in the door followed by one other tech and Nurse Byrd.
Seth spat the words. “I found him here. Someone had left the machine on. It was cranked up high.”
“Who ordered this?” Cross asked, moving across the room to check the chart that usually had dates, times and a list of patients’ names. Winchester wasn’t on there. Byrd shrugged. Nurse Cross took charge and began checking Jack’s vitals, while Seth removed the restraints. She bellowed out medical terminology that he wasn’t familiar with and shone a light in his eyes. He was alive but wasn’t responding. Byrd hurried
