Midnight Ruling Read Free Page B

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    Susan lead the way to the first door, never keeping her full back to us—like a woman who’d dealt with plenty of psychos in her day. As she punched in a password, she was careful to block the pad with her body. The door shrieked a buzzing sound until she pulled it open and we stepped in after her.
    “Eleanor hasn’t has visitors in a very long time,” Susan said, looking at us and ahead in her half twisted walk.
    “Not surprising,” I muttered.
    Susan must have excellent hearing, because I heard her chuckle. Susan was pretty; the lack of make-up didn’t disguise that. Also, she had a distinct sway to her hips. I realized I almost looked to Aidan to see where his eyes were. Which was ridiculous. He’s not your boyfriend , I reminded myself. I immediately thought of the near-kiss and felt my face warm, which was worse. It wasn’t like I was still a virgin blushing over boys. No, but it’s been a few years though , said the nasty voice in my head, which I thanked.
    “You know,” Susan said, interrupting my thoughts, “she’s been here since I started. That would be almost ten years ago.” She blocked the next pin pad with her body. “Well, except for those two days she was missing.”
    The shrill door-buzz mimicked my surprise.
    “Missing? She went missing?”
    “Yes,” Susan said gravely and opened the door. “About five years ago, our Miss Fuller escaped. She was only gone for thirty-eight hours. Nothing became of it. A police officer found her in a suburban neighborhood near Leland.”
    Aidan squeezed my arm, perhaps in an attempt to calm me. No one told me this!
    Susan proceeded before us again, allowing the door to shut securely before leading us down the next hallway. This one had people in it; mostly, they were white-cloaked nurses and doctors.
    I tried to wipe the idea from my mind. My parents never told me. Why wouldn’t they have told me?! Nell was found near Leland. Did that mean she was coming to find me?
    “I was just curious what brought you here?” Susan asked with a half smile, oblivious to the impact.
    Aidan cleared his throat and said, “School project.”
    “Oh?” Susan said, not hiding her disappointment. “They said you had the last name as Miss Fuller,” she said to me. “I thought…you need a family member to…”
    “It’s okay,” I said before Aidan could talk again. “I’m her niece. But it’s also a school project for us. We’re researching patterns in ritualistic sociopaths.” Oh, it sounded good.
    Susan’s pace quickened again, and we veered down a new hallway where we had yet another coded door. “I should warn you though.” She glanced over her shoulder at me. “She probably won’t talk.”
    After taking an elevator and two additional coded doors, we finally came to the hallway where they kept Nell. The downside was that patients roamed the hallways here as well.
    One pajama-dressed man began walking alongside us as if he knew who we were. He didn’t speak or even look at us; rather, he kept pace until Susan shooed him into another room. Most didn’t acknowledge our existence as we made our way to Room 427.
    Pausing outside the door, Susan turned toward us fully and offered the false smile. “This is where I leave you. There is a time limit, as Miss Fuller is due to take her meds, and she gets rather sleepy after that. So in about twenty minutes, we’ll be coming in. If you’re done before that, just knock on the door.” At her hip, she pulled a key, which had been attached to her belt.
    “We’ll be locked in there with her?” I asked, feeling the nerves.
    “Mmhm.” Susan pushed the key into the peculiar lock and twisted. “But don’t worry, her legs are tied down. Don’t stand too close to her, though I don’t think you’ll have to worry about this one.”
    I felt my heartbeat begin to pick up its pace. Taking out the key, she entered one last code into a keypad out of our sight and turned the knob. At this point, it all felt very