Anna floated closer to Harper and watched as the blonde tilted her flashlight so she could read through the pages.
“Anything?” Jared asked after a few minutes.
“It’s mostly the same thing as upstairs, although there is a notation in this one that seems to indicate that Anna’s baby was handed off to his father,” Harper replied. “It was a boy, eight pounds and seven ounces. He was healthy and the father paid a fee to the institution when he took custody.”
“A fee?” Jared cocked an eyebrow. “What kind of fee?”
“Five hundred dollars.”
“For?”
“It doesn’t say, but I’m betting that Gerard Hicks wasn’t the only one to give money to the institute to make a problem go away,” Harper said, lifting her eyes as she sorted through the possibilities. “I mean … think about it. Anna was supposed to be released to her parents’ care once she gave birth. Instead she was forced to remain here.
“This file has little red notations every six months,” she continued. “I’ve seen Zander make similar notations in our files.”
“Let me see.” Zander leaned over so he could get a closer look. “That seems to indicate that someone was paying money to the institute every six months and it was being credited to Anna’s account. I can’t really read the amounts, though, because they’re smudged.”
“Were your parents paying for you to be kept here, Anna?” Harper asked.
Anna shook her head. “They didn’t have extra money. That’s why they wanted me to get married. They thought I was a drain on their finances.”
“But they agreed for you to be sent here,” Harper pressed. “Someone had to pay to make that happen. I’m going to guess it was Hicks. He’s the one who had the most to lose if people found out you gave birth to his son.”
“Do you think he’s the one who paid to keep her here?” Zander asked.
“It’s the only thing that makes sense to me,” Harper replied. “Bennett fled after the state came in and seized control of the institution. He had to know they would find some hinky stuff here.”
“It sounds like he had enough money – between what he was getting here and what his parents had – to probably flee the country,” Jared added. “This place might’ve been actually worse than we originally thought.”
“I’m not sure how much worse it could get,” Zander said.
“What if they were using it to launder money at the same time they were doing stuff to the patients?” Jared challenged. “I mean … think about it. The Bennett family was rich and it sounds as if the son might’ve been a psychopath.”
“It was the best of both worlds,” Harper mused. “He could experiment – do whatever terrible things he wanted to do – and make money at the same time. Then, when he realized his playpen was about to get taken away from him, he took off to parts unknown. He probably set up shop under a different name or something.”
“That makes sense to me,” Jared said. “We can do some research when we get back to Whisper Cove, but I’m going to bet that those records are so far buried we’ll never find them.”
“What about my baby, though?” Anna asked. “Do you really think he survived?”
Harper knew what she was asking and took pity on her. “I wasn’t certain when you first told me your story,” she hedged. “I do think that the baby went to his father, though. You said that the father and his wife didn’t have any children of their own. Maybe they couldn’t. I’m going to wager they took the baby and raised it together.”
“How would that work?” Zander asked. “Wouldn’t the wife have been irritated to find out that her husband not only had a baby with someone else, but that she was supposed to take care of it?”
“Sure,” Harper confirmed. “But what if he didn’t tell her it was his baby? What if he just suddenly showed up with a baby one day and they happened to be lucky enough to adopt it? Bennett had everything he needed here to fake a birth certificate and name someone else as the mother.”
“That’s diabolical, but I can totally see it happening,” Zander said. “Would he still be alive?”
Harper did the math in her head. “He would be seventy-seven. He could very well be alive.”
“Seventy-seven?” Anna widened her eyes. “Are you sure?”
“Sadly, yes.” Harper’s smile was wan. “You’ve been imagining him as a baby all of this time, haven’t you?”
“I don’t spend a lot of time daydreaming, but he never advanced in age in my head,” Anna said. “Then, after I died, I guess I never advanced in age either. That’s kind of sad, isn’t it?”
“It’s unbelievably sad,” Harper confirmed, shifting so she could rest a hip against the corner of the desk. “Your son, if he’s still alive, could have children and grandchildren of his own, though. That’s kind of exciting to think about, isn’t it?”
Anna shrugged. “Grandchildren and great-grandchildren are something I never considered. I just always wanted him.”
Harper’s stomach twisted. “I’m sorry.”
“Why? You didn’t do anything.” Anna turned to stare out the window. “You said you could help me move on. Is that true?”
“Yes.”
“Do you think my son will be there?”
“I don’t know,” Harper replied, opting for honesty. “He could still be alive. If he is, though, you could be waiting for him over there and I’m sure he’ll be happy to see you when it’s your time. You don’t have to stay here.”
Jared could sense Harper’s distress so he ran his hand over her shoulder in an effort to soothe her.
“I’ll consider it.” Anna’s lips curved. “You probably want to find your friend now, right?”
“I do.” Harper bobbed her head. “Do you know where she’s at?”
“No, but I’m going to guess she’s with the other woman who went missing in the basement.”
Harper stilled. “Lucy?”
“What is she saying?” Jared asked.
Harper energetically waved her hand to silence him. “Did you see Lucy after she disappeared?”
“I did.” Anna either didn’t understand the shift in Harper’s demeanor or didn’t register it. “She was in the basement with a small … I don’t know what it was, square thing or something … in her hand.”
“She had a square thing in her hand?” Harper asked, furrowing her brow.
“It must have been a camera,” Zander said. “She was probably going to film her own little side adventure, complete with you showing up to find her, Harp.”
“Probably. What happened after that, Anna?”
“Someone found her.”
“Who?”
“Someone bad.” Anna’s voice was barely a whisper. “She tried to hide, but it was too late.”
Harper’s stomach did an inelegant somersault. “Is she dead?”
“I don’t know. I couldn’t really see the man who came for her because I was distracted by … something. She’s in the dark place, though. I know that.”
“Is that a technical term?”
“What did she say?” Jared asked, his impatience bubbling to the forefront.
“She said that Lucy is in the dark place,” Harper replied. “She was in the basement and someone came down, although she doesn’t know who. She doesn’t know if Lucy is dead but assumes that Molly is with her.”
“Then that’s where we have to go,” Jared said, getting to his feet. “Take us to the dark place, Anna.”
“Of course.” Anna drifted toward the door. “If your friend dies here, most likely she will come back and be like me. That’s what happens to most of them.”
“Most of who?”
“The ones who die here,” Anna replied. “Even the newer ones. They all stay.”
Something niggled at the back of Harper’s brain. “Has someone died here recently?”
“Two someones,” Anna answered. “Julie and Ashley. They’re part of the group now.”
“Julie?” Harper in
stinctively reached into Jared’s pocket and tugged out the bracelet he shoved there after they discovered it on the beach. She held her flashlight so she could read the name on it a second time. “This Julie?”
“Yes,” Anna said. “She was in the dark place, too. Now she’s in a different dark place.”
Harper briefly pressed her eyes shut. “I’m starting to think this dark place is right out of a nightmare.”
“You’re not far off.”
19
Nineteen
Harper was quiet as Anna led them through the hallway, flashlights on. Everyone was quiet, in fact. It was almost as if they realized they were very close to the end and they didn’t want to risk making a mistake that would turn the tide in favor of the wrong faction.
When they reached a second spiral staircase, Jared growled as he tilted his flashlight to search the floor beneath. “This leads to the basement.” It wasn’t really a question. “We already searched the basement.”
“Not the part with the dark place,” Anna murmured.
“I’m guessing that there’s a section of the basement that’s only accessible through these back staircases, too,” Harper said. “We have to look, Jared.”
“I know we do, Heart.” Jared wasn’t disputing that assumption. “I just don’t like the idea of being separated, even if it’s only for a minute.”
“Let’s just get it over with.”
They went down in the same configuration. This time when Harper hit the basement floor Jared was waiting and grabbed her hand. Once Zander joined the crowd, he hooked his finger through one of Harper’s belt loops and pressed his body close to hers.
“How close?” Zander asked, his voice breathy with excitement and fear.
“Very close,” Anna replied. “In fact, it’s right over there.”
Harper mimicked the way Anna pointed so Jared and Zander would know where they were headed. They took one step together in tandem before the sound of a slamming door caused them to jolt in unison.
Jared’s eyes widened and he immediately flicked off his flashlight. Harper and Zander followed suit, more out of instinct than anything else, and for a long beat all they heard was a trio of raspy breaths as they waited for something to happen. The silence stretched into what felt like eternity and Jared was just about ready to turn on his flashlight when the unmistakable sound of echoing footsteps assailed his ears.
He reacted quickly, grabbing Harper around the waist and dragging her to the wall so they could crouch down behind an abandoned metal rack. Zander wisely stayed on the other side of the hallway so he could hunker behind an old linen cart, although he wasn’t happy about being separated from his best friend.
Jared positioned Harper so she was on her knees, his chest to her back, and calmly stroked her hair to calm her. He stared down the hallway – which thankfully wasn’t very long – and narrowed his eyes when a flashlight beam danced along the tiled floor at the intersection where the two hallways met. He lifted a finger to his lips to warn Zander to be quiet, earning an “I’m not stupid” look for his efforts, and then returned to waiting for their mystery guest to show himself.
The flashlight beam got bigger, the footsteps louder, and finally a dark figure appeared in the spot where the two hallways met. Jared’s breathing was even as he debated what would happen next. If the shadow moved down their hallway he would have no choice but to attack. The figure would probably make it to them without realizing they were there, but once they were even it would be over. Once Jared launched himself at their foe, though, that would give Zander and Harper a chance to escape … maybe even get into this dark place and find Molly and Lucy.
Of course, that meant Harper and Zander would have to leave him behind. The odds of Harper doing something rational like leaving him to fight his own battle seemed slim given the circumstances.
“If he comes down here, I’m going to distract him. That means you have to run with Zander.” Jared’s words were barely a whisper against Harper’s ear.
She shook her head, keeping her eyes focused forward.
“You have to,” Jared pressed.
“I won’t.”
Harper’s voice was a bit louder than Jared’s and he jerked his chin up to see if the man – and it was clearly a man given the broad shoulders and triangle-shaped torso – heard. The shadow didn’t so much as glance in their direction.
“You’ll have to,” Jared said. “I’ll be okay, but I need to know you’re safe.”
“No.”
“Dammit, Heart.” This time it was Jared who spoke a little too loudly. Thankfully for him the shadow opted to continue walking down the other hallway, leaving them to their hiding places.
Jared opened his mouth to chastise Harper further but stopped when he heard their mystery guest fumbling with a door. He arched an eyebrow and held up a finger, indicating Harper should wait where she was. He gave Zander the same silent order and then planted his hands and knees on the grimy tile so he could crawl forward and see better.
Jared didn’t consider himself squeamish by nature, but he had a feeling the floor was not only dirty but littered with the carcasses of insects he’d rather never touch. He did his best to push the idea out of his mind as he approached the end of the hallway, ducking behind a misshapen lump that he assumed was once a fabric chair of some sort. Water and decay had turned it into something else. Sadly, he had a feeling that something else was home to creepy-crawly things, but he ignored the urge to run away screaming.
It was hard to see down the second hallway. The basement offered no ambient light, the emergency lights on the walls long since dead. The only illumination came from the flashlight the man carried, and even though he was much closer now Jared had trouble making out the individual’s features. All he could say with any degree of certainty was that it wasn’t Steve. Steve was much taller and broader. It could be anyone else in their group, though.
Jared maintained an easy breathing rhythm as the man opened the door across the way and stepped inside. Jared took advantage of the situation to crawl forward, look both ways down the hallway, and then return to his hiding spot before the man hit the hallway again. The dark figure made no noise other than the normal sounds of oxygen intake and feet shuffling against the floor.
Jared held in a long breath when the shadow moved past the spot where he hid, but there was no hesitation or long probing gazes to indicate that the figure suspected he was being watched. Jared remained exactly where he was for a long time, listening to the echo of footsteps until they were nothing but a memory.
When he turned to return to Harper, he found her crouched on the floor behind him, flashlight switched on and pointed toward her pretty face, so close they almost bumped chins when he put his head down.
“Do you ever listen to what I tell you to do?” Jared hissed, forcing himself to remain calm despite the way his heart skipped a beat. “You scared the crap out of me.”
Harper merely tilted her head to the side. “Do you want me to hold your hand so you feel better?”
Jared scowled. “You and I are going to have a long talk about what happens when we’re in a dangerous situation when we get back to Whisper Cove.” Jared kept his voice low even though he was fairly sure the dark figure was gone. “You seem to forget that I’m the boss in situations like this.”
Harper didn’t bother to hide her eye roll. “When have we ever been in a situation like this?”
Zander, who came out of his hiding spot and joined the couple because he was sick of being alone, raised his hand. “We’re in situations like this all of the time. Just a few weeks ago, for example, we hid under a table in a dentist’s office while he was trying to kill us.”
Jared scowled. “I remember. I wanted to kill you both that day, too.”
“And yet we’re still alive.” Harper patted Jared’s forearm. “There’s something in that room. We need to see what it is. That’s the place Anna called the dark room before she disappeared.”
&nbs
p; “She disappeared?” Jared wasn’t happy with the news. “Where did she go?”
Harper held her hands palms up and shrugged. “I don’t know. I couldn’t very well ask her. Did you see who that was?”
Jared shook his head. “It’s not Steve. I’m sure of that.”
“So you ruled out one guy?” Zander wasn’t impressed. “That’s not very good police work.”
“Remind me to never work with you guys again,” Jared muttered, turning his attention back toward the room. “We need to get in there.”
“That’s the plan,” Harper agreed, giving him a small shove. “Get to it.”
“Don’t get bossy.” Jared wagged a finger, surprising Harper with a quick kiss before turning to the room. He got to his feet, casting a long and weighted look down the hallway in the direction the figure disappeared, and then moved to the door. Zander and Harper weren’t far behind – refusing to be cut out of a potential rescue (or trouble, should Jared find something truly terrible behind the door) – and everyone sucked in breaths of anticipation as Jared twisted the handle.
Nothing happened.
Jared tried it again, but the handle wouldn’t budge.
“Oh, man, that was anticlimactic,” Zander complained, rolling his neck until it cracked. “I thought we would open the door, gasp at the same time, and then save the day. This totally bites.”
Harper arched an eyebrow, his commentary serving as a way to lighten the heavy mood. “Maybe next time.”
“A guy can hope.”
“You guys are just messing with me now,” Jared muttered, tugging at the handle. “It’s locked.”
“You’re certainly a master of the obvious,” Zander quipped, digging in his pocket and returning with the lock-picking set Harper used the day before. “Show him how it’s done, Harp.”
Jared was dumbfounded. “Why did you bring that?”
“Because a Boy Scout is always prepared.”
Harper took the set and grabbed the tools she needed. “You were never a Boy Scout. You hated the polyester.”
Ghostly Asylum Page 18