Relax? Nothing was easier in an environment where everyone seemed to have something to hide.
* * * *
Emma had made some more copies, though not all for Alina. She’d been shadowing the nurse, handing out medication, helping to take care of a patient who claimed she had tripped on a threshold, and completed more paperwork. Between shifts, she had a coffee in the break room, planning her next steps. She needed to find a way to get the copies that were burning the pocket of her coat right now, to Jayce. She’d certainly be interested in the initial reports on Heather and Eileen who had shown symptoms of a bad hangover, but insisted it had to be food poisoning.
The door opened and Dr. Tanner walked in, looking dismayed to realize she was not alone. With a minimal greeting, she went past Emma and to the vending machine, groaning in frustration when she realized it was almost empty.
“There’s not enough sugar around here,” she muttered.
“I only had coffee,” Emma said, eliciting a chuckle from the other woman.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean you. I’m Dr. Tanner. You’re the new aide?”
“Yes.” Only until the next morning, but Tanner didn’t need to know that.
“Well, good for you. Watch your back, though, it’s a bit crazy around here lately.”
She was gone before Emma could answer to that. “As if I didn’t know.” She decided to try her luck now and answer questions later, if necessary. Against all reason, she had to smile, remember slipping into Jayce’s room in the halfway house, their first night together. There would be no time for any of this tonight, but maybe her findings could help. Eileen apparently was intoxicated though she denied it. How could she have access? Emma assumed that like she’d seen it in prison and the halfway house, there were gaps in security, someone finding something to exploit in a person. Money talked in this kind of environment.
It was too late to give the documents to Jayce now. She’d do it in the morning…before turning in her resignation.
* * * *
Jayce summed up the situation in her head. First, a psychiatrist who liked to get hands on with his patients, relying on his power to intimidate them into silence. He hadn’t been very subtle when telling her he could make or break her future with one report. Second, a nurse who was giving out drugs without any reservations, asking no questions. This was far from murder, but Gillian Thorne might have found out something, maybe even blackmailed the person in question. In any case there was a lot going on the director probably had no idea about. She hoped he wouldn’t cover up for a sleaze like Simmons.
She looked at the strip with the two pills, well aware of what this could mean to some of the patients. Some of them already were on medication, which could create a dangerous mix. Jayce hid them together with the cell phone. At another time, she would have been tempted, but J. C. was a façade, and she had overcome her own demons.
No news from Daniel either. Jayce wasn’t sure if she should be relieved, or even more worried. It could mean that Simmons was that good at covering his tracks. Another odd and disturbing coincidence was that so far, Maxine had been most helpful. She hadn’t been here for very long though. She had cut a deal after coming clean about the events that led to Emma’s, and eventually her own arrest.
Jayce let her thoughts wander for a moment, to the days when she hadn’t been able to see a way out, when her own career and life had been in jeopardy. She could have ended up in a place like this. The concept was extremely disconcerting.
Only hours ago, she had been worried about letting too much of her real life seep into the person she had to be for this assignment. Now, the past was catching up. The lines were starting to get blurry.
The next morning, she went back to the infirmary, hoping to talk to Alina once more. Tess was back instead, so she lingered outside the door. A few minutes later, Emma came outside, whispering as she passed her by.
“You have a moment to join me in that closet again?”
Why was she still here?
Emma kept walking, then slowed her steps for Jayce to catch up with her.
“Please, don’t be mad. I have something for you. I think it’s important.”
They somehow managed to get behind the door once more.
“I thought you were going to quit.”
“I will. Today, or tomorrow, depending on whether you want me to find out more…”
“Hey, wait a second. I’d like you to be safe at home. What is this?” Jayce asked, unfolding the two sheets of paper Emma gave her.
“I’m not sure what exactly this means. One patient was drunk yesterday though she swears she doesn’t have any booze, and a search turned up nothing. That, and the doctors here seem very generous with drugs.”
“Like Alina?”
“She gave you something?” Emma asked.
Jayce nodded.
“I think some of the doctors are overdosing the patients, especially Simmons. Maybe he doesn’t want to deal with any questions or resistance.”
“That fits some of the stories I’ve heard,” Jayce said. “Thank you. This does help, but don’t get the wrong idea. I don’t want you to take any risks. We still don’t know what exactly happened with Thorne.”
“I’ll be careful,” Emma promised.
“No, that’s enough. I’d really like you to quit, but I get that this is difficult. Find a good moment to leave, and until then, just do your job, okay? Don’t talk to me unless it’s necessary for what you are here—an aide.”
Emma didn’t look too happy about it. “Okay. I need to go back.”
“Just a second.” Jayce pulled her close for a kiss, before they parted. She would better thank Emma once they were both out of here. Those documents were pointing her in all the right directions, and maybe it wouldn’t be too long until she’d be home after all.
* * * *
Jayce caught Alina when she started her night shift. “I wanted to thank you,” she said. “For the first time in forever, I slept like a baby.”
“Good for you. Now leave me alone.”
“Wait a minute. Only two? I need more.” Stopping in front of the office, Alina unlocked the door with her key card. “Keep your voice down, will you? Wait here.”
She let Jayce in a few minutes later.
“You’ll get me some more? Can you also get me some booze like you did for Eileen?”
Jayce almost expected Alina to flip her the bird. Instead, the nurse gave her a long calculating look. “You have money?”
“I can get some.”
“Come back when you have it. I’m no charity.”
“Please, just a couple more pills. It’s too long!”
Alina gave a sigh before she opened a drawer and took out another strip of the same pills. Oddly enough, Jayce remembered that after the accident, stress would increase the pain she’d thought long overcome, leading her to overmedicate. Another time, another person. She had a job to do.
“Thank you.”
“Those were the last ones,” Alina warned her. “You want anything else, I want to see some green.”
“I’ll take care of it. Good night.”
The other woman snorted. Jayce barely kept herself from smiling. This was something specific she could give to Daniel, and she already had an idea as to where and when.
Already at the door, she turned around and said, “I need to ask you another favor. I swear I’ll pay you whatever you want. I have some money I keep in my room.”
She had caught Alina’s interest.
* * * *
Alina counted the bills and nodded before she shoved them into the pocket of her scrubs.
“Okay, this is how it’s going to work. You stay silent, no matter what happens, you’ll let me do the talking. I don’t expect us to meet anyone, but you never know. When you’re done with whatever it is you want to do outside, I’ll pick you up a block from the front door at five a.m, so I can sneak you back in. You’re not there, all hell is going to break loose and it’s not g
oing to end well for you, understood?”
“Perfectly,” Jayce said wryly though she had mixed emotions about what the nurse’s monologue meant. She was letting out potentially dangerous patients, trusting they would come back just like that. Apparently, some had, because Alina had a system from the looks of it. What if Maxine was using her services as well? She couldn’t think about it now. Stick to the plan. Get that information to Daniel.
“Okay. Let’s go.”
As instructed, Jayce kept her head down as they walked along the corridors, through metal doors and past deactivated cameras and motion detectors. At the front entrance, Alina repeated her dire warning.
“Remember, you have it good here, don’t you? Lay low, enjoy your pills. You give me trouble, one of your friends in here is going to pay for it.”
“I get it.” Jayce wondered if this kind of blackmail scenario worked with most patients, or if Alina had a different one for each of them she let out at various times. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
She breathed a sigh of relief walking away from the building, the cool night air feeling amazing after being cooped up inside for days. It hadn’t been that long, but long enough for Jayce to miss walking a few steps without being watched and potentially held back. For a moment, she entertained the fantasy of not going back in, discarding it before it could cloud her judgment. She had something interesting to give to Daniel, but much of it was still hearsay and circumstantial. She needed more. At this point, it would be too easy for Simmons and Tanner to cover their tracks.
Jayce crossed the street, hunching her shoulders against the chill as she passed a row of now closed shops. The neon sign at the end of the street signified a bar still open. She had a few hours to get everything done that needed to be done.
She called Daniel who answered his phone on the second ring.
“I need you to meet me,” she said, foregoing the greeting. “I’m at the bar at the end of Columbus, the Black Swan.”
Daniel didn’t ask. “I’ll be there in fifteen. You need backup?”
“No. Don’t call anyone yet. It’s just information. Everything is good.” That was a bit of an exaggeration, but time was of importance. She couldn’t afford him wasting any on being worried about her.
“Okay. I’ll see you.”
As the hands of her watch crept closer to midnight, Jayce imagined what she might or might not do after meeting Daniel. She could hang out at an all night diner until it was time to meet Alina, but there was a risk of getting seen by any staff having a meal before or after their shift. If she was honest, she had made up her mind already.
Daniel arrived a few minutes later, looking as tired as she felt.
“There’s obviously a lot going on here, but what’s new is that Dr. Tanner seems to know more than we thought. She and Simmons are in a relationship, and he plans to give her his job once he takes over. Which would be a bad idea, because he’s already signing off on drugging patients more than necessary.”
“You have proof?”
Jayce handed him the folded papers. “Some of the reports, before, and after. He is increasing the doses of everybody who asks too many questions, about their treatment, about Thorne, or the fact that he has a really hard time keeping his hands to himself.”
The disgust showed on Daniel’s face. “This is enough to nail him?”
“For falsifying the reports, yes. A few of the patients might testify against him, but we need Tanner, and something more solid on the murder. Now that we know where it’s all going, it shouldn’t take more than a day or two. I think Tanner is ready to crack.”
“Okay, good, I’ll pass it on. How did you get here?”
“A nurse who’s increasing her salary by making little arrangements with patients. A little trip on the outside, drugs, booze, whatever you can pay for.”
“Wow, this place is nuts.”
“No argument from me. I’ll get you Tanner, then we can wrap this up.”
“What about Emma?” Daniel asked.
“What about her?”
“Despite our best efforts, she did not stop working there.”
“Once the place is all cleaned up, it wouldn’t be so bad, but I hope she’ll change her mind. It’s not like she has anything to prove. We’ll talk about this, but you should go now.”
“You’re going back to the clinic?”
“Yes,” she lied. It wasn’t the best solution, but he’d probably try to dissuade her, and she was already feeling guilty for what she was going to do. Alina, however, didn’t expect her until five a.m. “I’ll see you in a couple of days.”
“All right. Keep your head down.”
She watched him leave the bar before she got up and followed. When the taillights of his car disappeared in the distance, Jayce called a cab.
* * * *
Emma jolted upright in her bed when the doorbell rang. The experiences of the past few years had formed expectations of bad news to come at the drop of a hat. No matter how hard she worked to counter this automatic reaction, it was still easily triggered—especially by a call or someone standing at her door after midnight.
She nearly cried with relief when she realized who her late night visitor was.
“Is it over?”
Jayce shook her head. “Not yet. I have approximately four hours before I need to go back. You think I could stay here for a bit?”
It wasn’t until then Emma realized she hadn’t moved since she opened the door with a pounding heart. Her heart was still pounding.
“Yes. Of course. Come on in. What happened? No, let me rephrase that. I’m so happy you’re here.”
“Me too,” Jayce whispered as she pulled her close.
“Are you okay? Would you like something to eat? Drink? Do you need money?”
“Can I just be with you for a little while?”
“Of course. Come with me.” Emma took Jayce’s hand and led her to the bedroom, where Elvis, feeling insulted by the interruption of her sleep, had curled up on a chair.
Emma felt no longer like being trapped in a dark disturbing dream as she had when the bell rang. Everything was fine. It was going to be even better once this assignment was over, but until that was the case, they had a few hours together.
Jayce’s longing look at the unmade bed told her everything she needed to know. Answers could wait. Emma remembered very well how sleep in a place behind metal doors and barbed wire was never restful.
“I can set the alarm,” she said. “It’s not long, but if you’d like to…”
Jayce gave her a grateful smile. “I wasn’t sure what exactly was on my mind when I came here. I had different scenarios…but sleep sounds really good if you don’t mind.”
“That’s okay. I understand.”
Jayce stripped down to her underwear, and they lay under the covers in each other’s embrace.
“Not that I’m complaining, but how is this possible? Unless I’m still dreaming.”
Jayce laughed softly. “You’re not, and you’d have every right to complain. You’re working two jobs, and I keep you from sleeping.”
“I’d rather be awake with you than sleep alone,” Emma said, and they were both silent for a moment.
“It’s Alina. Not only is she selling drugs, but she lets patients out sometimes, as it seems. She saw me talking to Eileen a few times, so she said she’d make her life hell if I didn’t come back.”
Emma thought back to her time in prison. She had never been in a position to make deals like this, but she had heard of others who did, little favors for money or sex. The pull of the past was still strong, except that now, she wasn’t scared for herself.
“You didn’t come just for me,” she reasoned.
“No. I met Daniel earlier. I needed to see you though.”
There was an urgency in her voice that was hard to miss. Emma leaned in to kiss Jayce, softly at first, then more passionately when she met no resistance. Maybe they weren’t going to sleep after all. In a few
days, they could resume their relationship and go back to making their own choices, but for now, their time was limited. There was no time to waste.
Nevertheless, she didn’t want to make this the rushed encounter they had once to resort to, because someone could walk in on them at any time. It was more than a quick time-out from Jayce’s assignment. It was meant to be an idea of the future, when they would have more time together, when they could truly be themselves. Slowly, they undressed each other, every brush of fingertips melting away the tension.
Emma hadn’t known how frightened she’d been, always waiting for the other shoe to drop, until she managed to let go in the arms of someone she trusted. She could do the same for Jayce right now. It might be a choice, a job, but the danger was real. They both knew that. Emma wanted to do whatever she could to make them both forget for a while. She could tell she was succeeding.
Fortunately, they had remembered to set the alarm. It woke them precisely at 4:00 a.m. Emma felt a bit disoriented, but she, too, got up and put on some clothes. “I could make you a coffee,” she offered.
“No, thank you. I need to go. Alina will throw a fit if I’m not there on time.”
“What if I drive you?”
“No way. What if she’s early and recognizes your car? You are too involved as it is. This won’t go on for much longer.”
Jayce was a lot more distant and business like, but Emma understood that too. She’d gone to bed with Jayce and woke up with J. C. Of course, she’d known what she was in for, but it was still strange to witness. Elvis made an unhappy sound and yawned.
“You should go back to bed,” Jayce suggested. “I think she’d approve.”
“I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep now.”
Jayce stepped into her personal place, cupping her face in her hands. “Thank you,” she whispered.
“It was my pleasure. Totally.”
“More to come.”
They embraced one more time, then she was gone, leaving Emma to wonder if this good new life would ever feel completely real.
* * * *
A couple of days at the most. Jayce would focus on getting Tanner on her side. There was no doubt Simmons had used his younger colleague, and she had to convince her that he wouldn’t hesitate to take her down with him. All she could do now was to save herself. It sounded good in theory. Jayce hoped everything would go according to plan. She was tired of these surroundings. She couldn’t wait to leave and go back to a more normal schedule, and relationship with Emma. Last night had been amazing as usual, but mostly, she had needed the connection to anchor herself in reality. J. C. was confronted with a multitude of old temptations Jayce had overcome. She knew she had, but she also knew that within the confines of this other persona, crossing lines would be easy.
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