“Come on, boss, what’s going on?” Albert asked.
“Seth Adams was attacked tonight by Edgar.”
“That’s bullshit,” Jack said stepping forward.
Jenkins eyeballed him. “You want to go back in seclusion, Winchester?”
“He’s been with us here the whole time,” Albert added.
“Really? So he never stepped out to use the washroom? Is that what you’re telling me?”
None of them replied.
“You’re to remain in your room until further notice.”
He backed out and disappeared down the corridor. The alarm shut off and peace was soon restored except Edgar didn’t return that evening. Jack tried to speak with Nurse Cross but was told she was busy handling an incident. Little information was leaked out beyond what Jenkins had said. It would take another eleven hours before they learned the truth.
Jack sat across from Cowboy sipping on coffee the next morning while they ate breakfast. They expected to see Edgar as anyone taken at night was usually released the next morning. Edgar never showed for breakfast. It was Albert who broke the news. He hurried into the cafeteria and threaded his way around the tables. Out of breath, it took him a few seconds to find the words. “Seth was murdered last night. They said Edgar did it.”
Cowboy replied, “I know. It’s bullshit. Edgar liked him. They got along.”
“Yeah, well, we know that but…” He took a swig of his coffee and looked over his shoulder nervously. “That’s not the worst of it.”
That’s when he dropped the news that rocked both of them to the core.
He tried to compose himself as he forced the words out. “Coming back from helping Nurse Cross this morning, I walked by the seclusion room, you know, hoping to knock on the door and let Edgar know that we had his back but it was open and a nurse was changing the sheets.”
“So they’ve moved him,” Cowboy said, chomping on an apple.
His eyes darted between them and then he shook his head.
“Albert,” Jack piped up. “What did you see?”
He squeezed his eyes shut. “They were wheeling Edgar out on a gurney. A sheet covered his body. Edgar’s dead.”
“What?”
“He took his own life last night.”
“But he was in seclusion and restraint.”
“Seems they didn’t restrain him.”
Jack thought back to his last time inside there. They hadn’t restrained him.
Albert continued. “I overheard one of the nurses say he hung himself.”
Cowboy frowned. “Hung himself? The sheets are paper thin. They’re not strong enough.”
“Maybe he did it from the bed,” Albert muttered.
Jenkins and Porter strolled into the cafeteria and eyeballed Jack. Jenkins gave a smirk and walked over to the counter to get himself some coffee.
“No,” Jack said. “Between the ceiling and floor it’s about nine feet and there is nothing you can connect to. The steel frame bed can’t be moved and there are no light fixtures or bars. They don’t give you enough inside that room to create anything that could kill you.”
Cowboy grimaced. “He did say he couldn’t handle being in there.”
“Edgar wouldn’t have killed himself,” Jack said.
Albert added, “You don’t know that. You might think you know him, Jack, but Edgar was ill just like any of us. Even you.”
“Ill? I’m not fucking ill. I’m angry but not ill.”
He dropped the piece of toast in his hand and took another swig of coffee.
Cowboy turned his head towards Jenkins and Porter who looked amused. “It was them. I know it was them,” Cowboy said. “Bastards. Drinking coffee. Smiling. Fucking bastards!” He rose from the table gripping his plastic knife and gritting his teeth but Jack was quick to subdue him.
“You want the same thing to happen to you?”
“No but…”
Through gritted teeth, Jack said, “This is exactly what they want, now sit down.”
He pulled back, resisting. “But Edgar. Seth. Those bastards deserve to die for what they’ve done.”
“They’ll get what’s coming to them but not now. Not here. Right now we need to stick together, keep our heads down, observe and play by the rules.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Cowboy said. “For what? To be next on their list.”
Porter looked over to see what all the commotion was about then turned away when Cowboy retook his seat. Beneath his calm exterior, rage roiled in the pit of Jack’s stomach as the three of them sat in the weight of the double tragedy.
18
Nurse Cross made her rounds that morning in a haze. Two deaths in a matter of twenty-four hours and she knew it was time to end the madness. She couldn’t stand by any longer and turn a blind eye. How long had this been happening? The head of security, Morgan, hadn’t shown up for work that day, neither had he answered his phone, and with Seth dead, it seemed that her plan of going above Chapman’s head was looking less likely to happen. Proof. That’s what he said she needed. “You need proof! Everything else is hearsay. You saw this. You saw that. People see all manner of things in here, Nurse Cross. Are you sure the strain and stress of working in a psychiatric hospital hasn’t got the better of you?” He twisted every word she said. He made her question her own sanity, and slapped down every accusation brought against him, threatening to have her fired. As for the accusations? Of course he denied them. A worm of a man like him wasn’t going to come out with it and say that he was pulling the strings behind the curtain. But if not him, who would allow this kind of behavior to go on, day in and day out? The truth was, as the doctor and unit supervisor, he was the only one capable of giving the order to Jenkins and Porter.
As for Seth’s death. She found it hard to believe Edgar would do it.
Even though Chapman had handed her a folder five inches thick detailing Edgar’s bipolar history, and abuse of drugs — none of it made sense.
After her long-winded conversation with
