57
In his cell, on his knees before Conner, Aaron hung up the phone. It was snatched out of his grasp immediately. The blow that followed set his head ablaze with intense pain. His shoulders slumped as his body surrendered to the abuse, only his knees remained rigid against the floor.
“This is what I should have done from the beginning.” Conner muttered as he continued to batter Aaron without hesitation. Once he had imagined Aaron was like a son to him, now he saw him as nothing more than a reckless liability.
As Aaron swayed beneath the punches, his arms remained at his side. They were not restrained by Conner's mind, but by Aaron's childhood. Conner would always be the only father Aaron had ever known.
58
In the kitchen with Lisa, Corinne reached up and rubbed at her cheeks. Her jaw ached for no apparent reason. She shrugged and ignored the pain. Ever since her senses had become more heightened she had a hard time knowing what her pain was and what was not. Before she could think too much about it her phone rang again. This time it was Daniel.
“Got some information you might want.” He gave her the details of a mental health facility that had been in operation longer than her mother had been missing. “I can't get the names of the patients that were admitted, but there were two women committed to this facility on the same day you were found.”
Corinne considered whether Aaron had come across the same information.
“Can we check it out?” She asked Daniel hopefully.
“I have a friend who owes me a favor.” Daniel replied. “I think she will be able to at least get us inside the facility, I cannot promise that we will be able to figure out who your mother is, if she is even there.”
Corinne smiled eagerly. “At least we can try.”
59
Conner had left Aaron crumpled in a pile on the floor of his cell, groaning in pain. He had one of his wayward children back in the fold, but now he had to figure out a way to tempt two more. The information Aaron had inadvertently given him about Corinne's search for their mother was a good opportunity.
He knew if he could not retrieve Lisa and Corinne in a timely manner that his entire program would be destroyed. That was all the motivation he needed to make certain they did not slip away again.
He unzipped the leather pouch that held the last two needles, and smiled to himself. This would be easier than he had expected.
As he left the building he was surprised by two large men who waited for him outside of the doors.
“Mr. Reynolds would like to see you.”
Conner took a step back as if he might flee inside the building, but the barrel of a gun was shoved into his side before he could. “Do not make a scene.” One of the men growled and pulled him to a waiting black sedan.
“This will only put me behind schedule!” Conner protested, but the men did not listen. Their job was to deliver the man, not to hear his story. As the car peeled off, Conner felt his own mortality becoming more and more clear with each mile that passed.
60
Daniel and Corinne were greeted by a woman in her fifties as they entered the mental health facility that might have become the permanent home of her mother. She wore thin rimmed glasses and colorful scrubs.
“Danny!” She said cheerfully and immediately reached for his cheeks. Daniel squirmed away from her grasp but not before she got a good pinch in.
“It is so good to see you!” She declared and giggled at the same time. Corinne lifted an eyebrow in Daniel's direction as she tried to suppress a grin. When he had said he would call in a favor, she thought he meant with someone in law enforcement, or perhaps an administrator, not a giddy nurse who was now gushing about the time Daniel had dove into her pool and lost his swimming trunks.
“Oh it was so funny!” She laughed. “The only part of him that was not beat red, were his cute little cheeks.” Then, just in case Corinne did not get the joke, she pointed to the back of Daniel's pants.
Corinne had to laugh at that, though her amusement elicited a withering glare from Daniel.
“It is good to see you too Martha.” He said, trying to keep his cool. She was his babysitter as a child, and the story she had just told was not even the worst one in her collection of memories. That was one of the main reasons he had never introduced Corinne to her, but now he had no choice in the matter.
“This is my fiancée' Corinne Sanders.” He said politely. “Corinne this is Martha Harrison.”
“Just Martha!” She insisted. “It is so wonderful to meet you.” She said cheerfully as she grabbed Corinne by the hands and pulled her close. “Let me take a look at you!” She gasped and placed one of her hands on her chest dramatically. “Wowee, Daniel, you got yourself a looker.”
It was Corinne's turn to blush as Daniel laughed at her expense. “Yes, I am the luckiest man in the world.” Daniel agreed honestly. “Now about the tour?”
Martha nodded. “Oh yes, of course. There is not much to see really, but I can show you the common areas. You were interested in our facility for your brother?” She asked Corinne compassionately. Corinne shot a glare in Daniel's direction who ducked his head to hide a smirk.
“Yes he has some anger problems.” Daniel explained as he let Martha lead them into the social area. Here there was a television, and old piano, and an assortment of games. There were several people in the room; however none of them appeared to be interested in anything that was happening around them.
“They have just had their medication.” Martha said in response to their puzzled expressions. “Some of our patients are on very heavy doses of sedatives.” She lightly patted the hand of a fragile old woman who was staring vacantly at the air in front of her.
“Sasha here looks docile enough, but if she misses her medication she thinks everyone is an axe murderer. She'll pick up anything in reach and hurl it right at your head.”
Corinne found it hard to believe that the slight woman could hurl anything. She studied the faces of each of the women present, but they all seemed much older than the age she would expect her mother to be.
“Do you have any patients who are more lucid?” She asked Martha.
“Oh yes, of course.” She smiled and waved her hand to the window behind them. “They usually spend the afternoon on the grounds getting some fresh air and exercise.”
She led them out the back door and out into lush gardens. Corinne was impressed with the beauty of the landscaping and the scattered gazebos that provided shade. A few patients were playing Frisbee. One was lounging in a chair reading a very thick book. Here and there orderlies speckled the ground with their presence, observing, but not interfering with the patients’ enjoyment.
“Have many of your patients been here a long time?” Corinne asked as if she was trying to get a feel for the facility.
“Hmm, not too many.” Martha said. “Most come in after a nervous breakdown, they are here for a little while and released. Some have more serious mental issues and they may stay for a few years. We only have a few lifers.” She smiled wryly at that and then realized how insensitive that must sound.
“Oh I didn't mean anything by that.” She said quickly. “We have a beautiful facility, it is just so sad to think of someone spending most of their life here.”
Corinne was scanning what patients she could see. Not too many met what she thought her mother might look like. As she thought about it she questioned what she was doing here. She did not even know her mother's name; let alone what she looked like. If she was genetically designed as Conner claimed it was possible she looked nothing like her mother. A part of her had hoped, in a romantic way, that if she saw her mother, she would simply know.
“Maybe we should just go.” She said to Daniel who tenderly wrapped his arms around her. He looked down into her deep emerald eyes and smiled sympathetically. “I know this has to be hard.” He said softly as Martha waved to a few of the patients. She became distracted as one tried to paint the other with his paint brush. The female
patient squealed and turned around to deck him while Martha called for an orderly and rushed over.
Daniel brushed a lock of Corinne's hair back away from her face and admired her beauty. “If you want to leave, we can.”
Corinne was feeling overwhelmed by the emotions of the patients. It was different than the prison she had once visited had been. She did not feel restrained as much as she felt chaotic, as if she was thinking a thousand different thoughts at once. It made her dizzy.
An imaged drifted into her mind, still and silent, like a photograph. It was of two infants. One had a birthmark, of a strawberry colored diamond.
Corinne jerked out of Daniel's arms and searched over the faces of the patients.
“She's here!” She grasped his arm desperately. “Daniel she is here, I can feel her!”
“Where?” Daniel asked as he looked over the grounds as well. There were a few middle aged women.
“Is it one of them?” He asked urgently as Martha was walking across the grass to join them again.
Corinne studied each woman in turn but she shook her head. She turned away from the patients and back to the building. It was long and one story. Behind it to the right was a separate cube shaped building that was surrounded by a metal fence.
“There.” She said as she raised her finger to point in its direction.
“Oh I cannot show you that.” Martha said as she followed Corinne's gesture. “That is an area reserved for the criminally insane.” She shuddered a little at that. “You would not believe some of the things those people have done.”
She lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “I should not tell you this, privacy and all, but one of those women-” She gasped and shook her head as she clutched her chest. “She did the most horrible thing.”
“What?” Corinne asked as she leaned closer to Martha, hanging on her every word.
“She murdered her babies.” She declared, and then clutched her mouth as if she had committed a sin just by speaking the words. “When they brought her in, she had just given birth to twins. She lost her mind, and killed the poor things before they were even alive for a day.”
She frowned as she glanced over at the building. “There are patients in there who have committed murders, sure, but to me there's a big difference between plain old murder, and what that woman did.” She clucked her tongue at that and turned away from the building as if its craziness might rub off on her just by looking at it.
“I do my best not to ever go in there.”
Corinne was so shocked she had no words to speak to Martha. She was not shocked by the woman's callousness, but by the story she told. Had the woman who had tried to save her from Conner been accused of murdering the very children she tried to protect and then permanently locked away for the crime?
When she turned to look at Daniel his expression was solemn. Martha's words had the same impact on him. What torture it must have been, if this woman was truly Aaron and Corinne's mother, to be held for so many years for simply trying to protect her children. He did not doubt that a man like Conner would be capable of causing such a thing to happen. Worse, Daniel was certain that Corinne's mother had not been the only woman to be treated in such a way.
“Would you let me take a look?” Daniel asked as Corinne tried to gather her thoughts beneath the mixture of anxiety and confusion she was feeling.
“Oh Danny, I don't know. Why would you want to go in there?” She frowned at the thought.
“Sometimes I deal with criminals like that,” He attempted to explain. “I often wonder what their life is like after they are convicted. I mean, for some of them, it is not really their faults. I feel so guilty sometimes.” He faked a look of concern.
“Oh you are so sweet!” Martha declared and gave him a quick hug. “Well, since you are a police officer, I think it would be okay. Just do not speak to any of the patients.”
Daniel nodded in agreement. Martha led him toward the building, and Corinne followed close behind. When they reached the entrance she showed her employee identification to the lone guard present and was allowed to step through the gate. Daniel followed, with Corinne's hand tightly grasped in his.
When she drew close to the building, the emotions were strangling. They were similar to those of the guards that had been in the bunker with the children. Only there were more. It was not just greed she felt, but sadistic desire, and obsession.
It made her break out in a cold sweat and her stomach clench with revulsion as images began to drift through her mind. She held on to the image of the two infants, hoping that it would block out the rest. By the time they actually got inside the building she was leaning heavily on Daniel for support.
The interior of the building was similar to the first, except that each room was separated by wire mesh walls, and there were no patients roaming freely. Corinne kept her eyes to the floor as Martha led them through the building, chattering away.
“You see Danny, they are treated very well. All of their nutritional and medical needs are met, and sometimes they even have entertainment come in to brighten the place up.” She rolled her eyes at that. “I don't see why, after what they've done, but it is not for me to judge.”
When she reached the women's section she paused and glanced back at Daniel and Corinne. “There are only three patients currently in this wing. We really do not get too many women that fit the standards to be here.”
She paused and then added. “Those that we do get, belong here.” Her eyes hardened at that and Corinne could tell she was thinking of her mother. She could not blame her. She had felt the same way about the guards who stole and imprisoned children just to sell them. If she believed as Martha did, that the woman imprisoned here had slaughtered her infants, she would have been just as filled with hate as Martha was.
When she led them past the cells, Corinne forced herself to peek inside. One young woman was sitting in the corner of her cell, her back to the wall, her haunted eyes gazing heavily out from locks of unwashed hair as she slowly and repetitively banged the back of her head against the wall. When she spotted Corinne she began a low steady groan that sounded similar to the snarl of an animal.
“Don't mind her.” Martha said with pursed lips. “That is all for show. She loves attention.” In the next cell, an older woman sat on the edge of her cot, picking her nails. She picked, picked, picked. Her fingertips were stained with blood from the compulsive nail picking. She muttered words that made no sense in a sing song tone. Corinne was assaulted by images of the men she had killed, one after the other, when she worked as prostitute as a younger woman. She did not just murder them, she picked them clean.
With a shudder she curled into Daniel's grasp and closed her eyes against what she saw within her mind.
“Bethany, quit it!” Martha said sharply through the small window that allowed guards to peek into her cell. The woman inside was standing in the middle of her cell, with her arms cradled in front of her, swinging them slowly back and forth, as if she was rocking a baby. It made Martha furious to see it.
She knew she was not supposed to speak to the patients, but she could not help it when she saw what Bethany was imitating. The woman's long hair hung past her shoulders, a mixture of dirty blonde and gray. That was not what struck Corinne or Daniel though. As Bethany slowly raised her eyes to the sound of Martha's voice, the dark green spheres spoke volumes despite her silence. There was no question in Daniel's mind, who had been gazing into those same eyes for years now.
Corinne shuffled closer to the small window and stared in amazement at the woman who stared right back, slowly rocking her arms back and forth. Abruptly she ceased the movement and for an instant lucidity seemed to flash across her face.
“Alice?” She asked as she walked toward the door of the cell. “Where is Alice?” She asked desperately as she curled her hands around the bars of the window and looked wildly from one face to another, until she landed her attention on Corinne.
“I thought she would b
e here.” She said sadly. “But she wasn't.” She sniffed faintly as she pleaded with Corinne with her eyes. “Do you think they hurt her?”
Corinne had no idea who Alice was or why this woman, Bethany, was asking for her.
“My name is Corinne.” She said in a shaky voice. Had her mother given her that name?
“Please, don't talk to the patient.” Martha said nervously, though she was fascinated with the connection Bethany appeared to be making with Corinne. The woman had been classified as non-compliant for years.
“Corinne.” Bethany said in a whisper. She lifted her hands and placed them gently on her belly. “Corinne.” She repeated as she stepped back from the door of the cell and clutched at her stomach. “Where is Aaron?” She asked, as clarity washed over her. “Where is Aaron?” She repeated, as she stared accusingly at Corinne. “You have let them get him, haven't you?”
Corinne felt strangely guilty as Bethany asked her the question. As if a fog was lifting from her mind, she recalled Aaron's words and the fear she had sense from him. Had it all been a lie?
“Oh please give me back my babies!” She wailed as she collapsed on to the cot in her cell and pounded her fists against the thin mattress. “Please, just give them back to me. I will do anything he asks, anything at all, please!”
Corinne's chin trembled as she watched her mother lost within an insanity created by her detention. She could only wonder how many years Bethany had held on to her sanity before she finally gave into the pressure of the doctors and nurses and accepted that she was insane. Yet, no matter how much they tried to convince her, there was one thing she had never believed.
“I would never hurt them.” She whispered as she returned to the center of her cell, and began to rock her cradled arms again. “I would never. I would never.” She kept repeating as she gazed off distantly.
Corinne (Book One of The Red Diamond Saga) Page 15