“I don’t think he’s making it up. There are too many connections. I mean, he worked at the Ambridge Farm. I know he was cleared, but maybe someone didn’t look hard enough, you know? I just think there are too many details to be a coincidence.”
“Have you talked to your superiors at Redwood about this?” he probed, resuming his note taking.
“No.” I turned to look back at him, my voice a hushed whisper. “I don’t trust them.”
A raised eyebrow told me he didn’t trust me. I continued on.
“I think there are other shady things happening at the asylum. I don’t know what, but, well, there have been several residents who have disappeared.”
“As in gone missing?” Alarm rocked his voice.
“No. I mean they move on to another place suddenly. They’re on the fifth floor one day and then poof, they’re gone. I suspect something else is at play. Anna, the head nurse, is very protective of the floor.”
“I see,” he said, continuing to write. He put his pen down after a long moment. He stood and stretched, his hands in his back pockets. Then, he walked around the desk and crouched down near me. My heart started beating wildly. His eyes glared at me. I felt my chest heave. This had been a terrible idea. All the mistakes I’d made, all of the dirt from my past bubbled up to the surface so strongly, I was wickedly afraid that he could sense it, could see it written on my face.
“So let me get this straight. You come to our town, a new employee. You spend a few weeks at Redwood getting to know a raving lunatic. You think that some crayon drawings he’s done are signs of where he’s buried the bodies of the children who you think plague him. You also think your new employer is up to shady business. You think they’re experimenting on people, and what, killing them? You do realize that Redwood has been around for almost two hundred years, right? That the Weathergate reputation is as engrained in this town as anything else? You know what you’re going up against, right?”
“I do,” I whispered, trying to appear calmer than I was.
He leaned in for a moment, and I was terrified of what he was going to say.
And then, without warning, he rose to his feet, circled back around the desk. He did not look at me again, instead eyeing the notes.
“Thank you for coming in. I’ll be sure the police chief gets these accusations, and we’ll get started on the investigation right away. The safety of Oakwood and Redwood are, of course, our priority.”
His words sounded like a formal message recorded for the department. I waited for him to look at me, but instead, he turned to his computer. I saw myself out of the office. I kept my head down as I walked to my car.
Tears fell down my cheeks as I found my way to my seat and buckled up. I had done my part. I had done my best. I had given the information to the people who could decode it, who could find the kids’ bodies and give their families peace. I had saved 5B from a lifetime of hauntings, if all went well.
But as I drove to the apartment for what I decided would be my last day in Oakwood, I wondered: Who was there to save me?
Chapter Thirty-Two
My back against the headboard, I stared into the open room. The sun was setting, the beams cascading through the dirty apartment window. I needed to sleep. I had a potentially long trip ahead of me, after all. My bags were packed. The essentials were stowed away in my car. It was time to once more get away—from the town, from all that had gone wrong, from my life in general.
It was an exhausting prospect to start over. Where would I go this time? Who would I be? And most importantly, what relics of my past would follow me? I shuddered to think that the dead wouldn’t rest, at least one of the dead. I was terrified that I would get to the next town and see that horrific image in front of me when I least expected it. Perhaps I’d done enough, however. I’d helped bring the kids from 5B closer to peace. I’d helped bring him to peace, perhaps. And maybe I’d set right some of the wrongs behind the asylum walls. I had to hope for that at least.
The riddles pounded into my head as I beckoned sleep to come my way. I knew where Blue was located. And Brown. But what about Red? And Pink? Their riddles jolted through my head, a sick song that did not lull me to sleep. I sat watch, expecting them to show up, to taunt me one last night. They didn’t.
Maybe I’d done enough.
My focus started to fade as I felt my head rest against the wall. My body started to slouch, and it seemed that I would succumb to sleep after all. I would sleep and then be on my way. I’d leave Redwood and its terrors in the past. I’d put the dead to rest, after all. Almost. Perhaps I could rejoin the land of the living.
***
My body jerked. A pounding at the door sent terror through my body as it quickly stirred from sleep.
“Police. Open up,” a deep voice bellowed. Police? What had happened?
Confusion rocked by body, and then guilt. Fear. I glanced to the window. Could I make a run for it? Would I be able to get out in time?
They must know. They must have figured it all out. Panic mixed with paranoia in an assaulting, toxic combination. I leaped from the bed, uncertain of how to proceed. I didn’t know if I should give in, or if I should fight for self-preservation. Even in the lowest of times, after
