by Nolan Thomas
The clothes, the hair, and her demeanor exuded a polished yet relaxed look. Rolinska smiled as she looked in the mirror. This transformation had only taken seconds.
Exiting the bathroom, Rolinska walked into the emergency room waiting area. She went to the exterior entrance doors, and looked outside in all directions. Seeing no signs of Casey or Riley, Rolinska walked back into the waiting area. She selected a seat next to the wall with an optimum view of the entire waiting room.
The hospital elevators moved slowly and usually stopped on each floor. Rolinska thought she had beaten the “cleaning lady” because the car was headed up when Casey got on. The only question was which exit Casey would take out of the hospital. Staking out only the emergency room exit was a risk because there were many other possible exit routes.
She decided to give this location three minutes. If she didn’t see Casey in the emergency room by then, Rolinska would double back to the main lobby. It would be difficult for a cleaning cart to go undetected in the lobby—a large, rotunda-like, relatively empty space. Casey had a major disadvantage. She had to keep Riley hidden, so there was no easy way for them to slip out.
Rolinska looked at her watch. It had been a while since a pursuit like this.
She rather enjoyed it.
41
CASEY TOOK A DEEP BREATH and tried to review their situation while the elevator continued its slow ascent. She had decided to get on the first available elevator, regardless of its direction. She had to get Riley off the third floor.
By now, Billy and Jeremiah were waiting for her and Riley in the emergency room parking lot. She had absolutely no doubt a cold-blooded murderer pursued them, and Riley was in extreme jeopardy. It wouldn’t take a Philadelphia lawyer to figure out the lobby was their most likely exit route. She had Riley hidden in a rickety cleaning cart, which she was barely able to maneuver.
Using her finely honed analytical skills, Casey quickly deduced they were screwed.
Fighting back the panic clawing at her chest, Casey forced herself to focus. She only had one shot at getting Riley safely out of here. She had to think like Kathryn Dixon—and be one step ahead of her.
No problem. All I have to do is think like a murdering psychopath and we’re home free.
At that moment the elevator doors opened onto the fourth floor. Casey pushed her awkward load into the small hallway. Looking up at the lighted floor signs above the elevators, she noticed only one had access to the basement. Casey pushed the cart to the other side of the elevator bank, stopped in front of the elevator with basement access, pushed the button, and willed the doors to open.
If Dixon was waiting, hopefully, it would be for the wrong elevator car. Casey knew it wasn’t much, but it was all that she had. The doors finally opened and the car began its excruciatingly slow descent, stopping at every floor.
Finally, the elevator arrived at the first floor. Casey held her breath as the doors opened. No sign of Dixon. She wanted to push the cart full speed ahead, then turn into the emergency room, but realized it probably wasn’t her best course of action. Fighting the urge, it crossed her mind that this must be what the flight instinct, in the fight-or-flight self-preservation response, felt like. She managed to control her primitive impulse to run, at least long enough for the elevator doors to close. Fortunately, no one else entered the elevator car. Casey and Riley remained the sole occupants as it made its way to the basement.
Casey bent down and lifted the sheet covering the side of the cart. This had to be scary for Riley, but she was being a real trooper.
“Riley, are you all right?”
“I’m okay, but it’s uncomfortable. My butt is kind of sore from the metal cart, especially when you hit the bumps.”
Casey had to smile. She worried that Riley had not yet recovered from smoke inhalation, and Riley’s biggest complaint was a sore butt.
“I think we have a problem, Riley. Dixon saw me get on the elevator. She may put two and two together. We have to assume that she’s looking for us.”
“Does that mean we have to change our escape plan?”
“Yes, Riley, we do. I changed elevator cars and we’re heading to the basement. I’m not sure what we’ll find down there, but my best guess is that your Aunt Dixie --”
“Please don’t call her that. She’s a horrible woman, and she’s not my aunt.”
“You’re right, Riley. What would you like to call her?”
Riley didn’t hesitate. “The Monster.”
“You got it. My best guess is the Monster would expect us to head for an area with lots of people, and a door to the outside. On a Friday night, the emergency room is the only place that fits that bill.”
“But that’s where Billy’s waiting for us!”
“Exactly. I figure we look for an exit down in the basement, and then when we get outside we’ll head for the emergency room parking lot.”
“That sounds like a good escape plan. I’m in.” Riley pulled the sheet covering the cart closed.
The elevator doors opened onto a large empty hallway with the eerie glow of security lamps providing the only lighting. Casey pushed the stubborn laundry cart, cringing when it hit the ridges of the elevator door frame, certain poor Riley’s butt had taken another hit.
There were three hallways. A sign indicated one led to the maintenance and laundry area. Another led to the morgue. To Casey’s surprise the remaining hallway led to the Sisters of Mercy and Light Convent. She assumed it must be a private walkway for the sisters to access the hospital without having to brave the elements.
Casey didn’t hesitate. She pushed the cart through the doors to the maintenance and laundry area, parked the cart along the wall, and told Riley to get out. Riley happily obeyed and jumped from the bottom of the cart.
Pulling off the hat and scrubs, Casey said, “I don’t think we need this stuff anymore.” After discarding the disguise in the nearest laundry bin, she took Riley’s hand. “Be quiet. We want to make as little noise as possible.”
Riley nodded. Casey turned and opened the laundry-room door they had just come through. Hand in hand she and Riley stepped into the dingy light of the hallway.
42
THREE MINUTES PASSED. NO SIGN of Casey and her rag-tag cart. In a way, that pleased Rolinska. At least Casey was clever enough to avoid the emergency room. Rolinska walked across the room, pushed open the doors that led to the hospital lobby, and walked over to the bank of elevators. Just as she approached, the elevator doors to the car Casey had taken opened. Three men and two women got off. Casey and the cart weren’t there. Rolinska nodded her approval. This was going to be more fun than she thought.
Rolinska turned and walked across the expansive lobby, which had multiple ancillary corridors. Casey could have taken any of these routes. A reception desk positioned close to the main entrance had a guard on duty because of the late hour. From his vantage point he could see anyone crossing the lobby. Rolinska walked over to the desk. The fifty-something, slightly-out-of-shape guard had his nose in a paperback.
“Excuse me,” Rolinska said.
The guard, leaning back in his chair, was startled. He hadn’t heard anyone walk up to the desk. This was unusual given the tile floors. No matter what kind of shoes a person wore, there was always a click, scrape, or squeak. The guard, a cop moonlighting on weekend nights, didn’t like anyone sneaking up on him.
“What can I do for you?” the guard with the name Jim stitched above the pocket of his brown uniform said.
“By any chance, has a cleaning woman with a cart come through the lobby?”
Jim had gotten a lot of odd questions thrown at him behind this desk, but someone looking for a cleaning lady was a first. It piqued his curiosity.
“Why do you ask?”
“My daughter is here in the hospital, and she can’t find her favorite magazine. The cleaning woman had just been in her room. We think she picked it up, thinking it was trash.”
Jim just looked at her, not
saying anything.
“She’s going through chemo,” Rolinska said, with a slight crack in her voice, and her eyes welling with tears. “Sorry,” placing her hand on her chest. “It’s just hard to say it out loud.”
“No need to apologize, ma’am.”
“It’s just that she’s been through so much. She’s beside herself over the missing magazine—she’s had it forever. Between you and me I think she has a crush on some boy that’s in the magazine, and she doesn’t want to admit it.”
Rolinska had to admit this was one of her better performances. The lovely Casey must inspire her.
“I wanted to buy her some other magazine, but the gift shop is closed. Besides she wanted nothing to do with any other magazine. Normally my Riley is very good-natured, but chemo is taking its toll on her. If I could just get it back. There’s so little I can do to make her feel better.” Rolinska allowed her voice to sound tired and trail off at the end.
The guard had a mental debate with himself and then said, “How long ago did this happen?”
“Not more than ten or so minutes ago.”
“Listen, if you promise not to tell anyone, I think I might be able to help you. I’ve got a couple of kids myself and I can’t imagine what it must be like to see them sick like that.”
“Mum’s the word.”
“The hospital has security cameras in the lobby and the elevators.”
Rolinska brightened. “That would be great. Thank you so much.”
“Just a minute,” Jim said.
He got up from the chair, pushed it in under the reception desk and placed his paperback on the desk top. He liked things to be neat. Then he opened a drawer and took out a sign that read “Receptionist Will Return In 15 Minutes.”
He came around from behind the desk and gently touched Rolinska’s arm to guide her.
“This way,” he said, pointing to one of the corridors. Administration was engraved on a bronze plate attached to the wall. A bronze arrow pointed in the direction of the same corridor.
“The security office is just around this corner. I bet we’ll be able to see where she went.”
“That’s wonderful,” Rolinska said, this time with true sincerity. She couldn’t believe her luck. She merely hoped the guy had seen something. The video was an extra bonus.
They came to a door marked Security and Jim pulled a set of keys from his pocket. He opened the door and walked inside. Rolinska followed. A small room held at least ten video screens on the far wall, and a long narrow table with a computer sat across from the screens.
“Wow,” Rolinska said. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”
Of course this was pure bullshit. This rinky-dink piece-of-shit operation didn’t compare to what Rolinska usually worked with, but it was more than sufficient for her needs now. She just needed to keep old Jim here happy until she got the information she wanted.
Jim sat down on the chair in front of the computer and started hitting some keys.
“What floor?”
“Third”
“How long ago?”
“Fifteen minutes.”
Typing away Jim said, “This new recording technology is great. You can rewind but the system still records even though you’re looking at images from a previous time. Take a look at the monitor in the top row, third from my left.”
Rolinska stepped behind the guard and watched the screen with its images of the interior of the elevator car. The doors opened and closed as people entered and left the elevator.
Two minutes into the video, the cleaning lady with her cart appeared on the screen.
“Is that her?” Jim asked excitedly.
“Yes. Yes, it is,” Rolinska responded with equal enthusiasm. This role of pleasant mother was getting tiresome, but it shouldn’t be too much longer.
“Okay, here she is getting off on the fourth floor,” Jim said.
“Can we tell where she goes from there?”
“Not really.”
Rolinska placed her hands on his shoulders. “Can we scan the other elevators from this point, in case she got back on one of them? What we have was eight minutes ago. She must have gone somewhere else.”
“No problem,” Jim said, his hands gliding across the keys in a surprisingly graceful manner for a big guy.
“There,” Rolinska said pointing to a monitor. “Second row from the top, first monitor on your left.”
“That’s odd. Based on the time, it looks like she got right back on another elevator,” Jim said.
“Maybe she got off on the wrong floor and didn’t realize it until the doors to that car had already closed. I’ve done that before. You get kind of lost in your thoughts and go on autopilot.”
“I hear that,” Jim chuckled.
“She didn’t get off on the first floor. Looks like she’s going to the basement. The laundry room is down there so that makes sense.” Jim said. “Wait a minute. What’s this?”
He froze the screen and zoomed in on the cart. The cleaning lady had bent down on one knee and lifted back the sheet on the side of the cart.
“Is that? Do you see this?” he exclaimed. “What the hell?”
Jim zoomed in as the face of a girl came into focus.
The sound of Jim’s neck cracking echoed in the small room.
43
CASEY PICKED DOOR NUMBER THREE thinking the convent offered the best opportunity for an exit to the outside, and most of the residents would likely be asleep by now, or at least in their own rooms.
They both rapidly half-walked, half-ran down the dingy, marble-floored convent hallway illuminated only by an occasional security light to show them the way. Casey heard thumping and hissing noises of what sounded like an old steam heater. It was hard to tell the difference from the sound of her heart pounding in her chest.
“Do you think we’ll see any sisters?”
“Let’s hope not,” Casey said. “Don’t forget we’re on the lam.”
Looking at Riley she said, “Not the sheep.”
“I know,” Riley laughed. “But we’re not actually on the lam because we’re not running from the police. We’re running from the Monster.”
They both turned around at the same time. The hallway behind them was empty. They could see a lighted exit sign in the distance. At one time many nuns lived in this expansive convent, but now it felt deserted. Casey began to relax. It had been at least fifteen minutes since she crossed paths with Kathryn Dixon. Either Casey was wrong about Dixon suspecting who she was, or she had managed to lose her. They weren’t out of the woods yet, but it looked like they finally got a break.
Casey knew Billy would be worried, but still out there waiting for her. No way Billy would abandon them. Casey was certain of that.
When they finally reached the exit sign they found an old elevator and a stairwell.
“We’re in the basement so we need to go up to find a doorway to the outside,” Casey said.
“Let’s take the stairs. We don’t know how noisy that elevator might be.”
As they mounted the stairs, Casey looked back over her shoulder. She saw only the empty space of the convent basement.
NO NEED TO waste time hiding Jim’s body. The likelihood of someone coming into the security office was remote. Besides, it didn’t matter if they found his body. There was a slain policeman on the third floor. This would just add to the mystery.
Casey was smart, but clearly not smart enough. Rolinska felt slightly disappointed. She wanted more of a challenge. At least Casey made it interesting for a while. She was brighter than most Rolinska encountered. And to be fair, Casey was hindered by a sick child.
Rolinska stepped over Jim’s body and reached for the computer keyboard. She made a few entries, ensuring no one could backtrack their activity and figure out what they had been looking for. Rolinska also erased any footage of herself. She reset the computer so every monitor was in a live mode. Rolinska walked out of the security office, through the double doors, and a
cross the lobby. The sign Jim had left on the reception desk would keep people from noticing his absence for a while. She didn’t need much time to catch up with Riley and Casey. She headed for the stairs.
When Rolinska reached the bottom of the stairs, she saw the three corridors. She assumed Casey wouldn’t drag Riley through the morgue. Given her disguise and desire to keep Riley hidden, the laundry room seemed the most likely route. She pushed through the double doors, spotted the abandoned cart, did an about-face, and exited through the doors she had just come through.
Without any hesitation Rolinska walked through the doors that lead to the Sisters of Mercy and Light Convent. Hugging the wall she silently made her way down the corridor leading to the kitchen with surprising speed. Making up time here would be easy.
Rolinska moved effortlessly in the shadows of the darkened convent. This was her element—where she felt most at home. She never allowed her mind to wander when in pursuit. She stayed singularly focused on her prey. She entered the kitchen area, and quickly navigated her way through. She was certain they had been here. Like an animal, her instincts were strong when on the hunt.
She stopped momentarily, trying to focus on a noise. Straining, she heard faint sounds. Muffled voices. The click of a closing door. She held her breath, listening intently. She heard the ever-so-faint sound of footsteps on a staircase. It wouldn’t be much longer.
44
THEY REACHED THE FIRST-FLOOR LANDING. Riley bent over, holding her side.
Concerned, Casey asked, “Are you all right, Riley?”
After all, she hadn’t even been released from the hospital. Even though Riley said she felt okay, Casey thought Riley was a tough kid who wouldn’t always let you know if she had a problem.