The Altruism Effect: Book One (Mastermind Murderers Series 1)

by Kristin Helling

  This whole time she’d been right above the city. People walked by with their dogs and their briefcases every day. And she, along with many others were right there, being tortured by someone these people probably walked by every day without a second thought.

  The thought of climbing down the fire escape brought her deep anxiety over the pain she’d endure. She looked over the edge. A dumpster sat directly underneath, pushed against the brick wall of the building she was on. If I can make it there, it will break my fall and I can crawl out to get help.

  That was the plan. Jump, or fall rather, into the dumpster below, and then crawl back out and get someone’s attention.

  She put her legs up over the edge of the building, one at a time. Were feet first a good idea?

  She jumped.

  But the sight of the bone pricking through the skin on her forearm, overwhelming adrenaline rush from the fall, and the impact itself, were enough to knock her into the black. The green walls of the dumpster and the smell of the rotting garbage engulfed her.

  THIRTY-FOUR

  Her whole world was at the other end of a long tunnel, with muffled voices in the distance. Dimmed lights. A slow, consistent beeping sound next to her ear. Beep. Beep. Beep. It throbbed in time with her heart. An unnerving urge pulled at her to follow the sound, and get out of this tunnel.

  Oddly enough, as she got closer to the muffled noise, she found it harder to breathe. In fact, her throat was blocked. She reached up to her throat and clutched it tightly, choking. She needed to find help.

  The tunnel.

  The end of the tunnel.

  Raine opened her eyes to lab coats rushing around her and oh so many sounds. One of the white coats pressed her forehead with the palm of his hand and forced a tube up her throat and out of her mouth. It was as though a string with a ping-pong ball attached to the end was pulled out. It burned as it was extracted and she gasped for air.

  The lights were bright above her head. She lay in a fresh, crisp hospital gown that tied up the back, on a plank with sheets that were so tight across her legs she felt tied to the bed. She pushed back, shuffled back and forth, and tried to rid the restraints on her legs.

  The prison? How did I end up back here? The exhausted energy yearned to move, to break out. She felt like a truck had hit her. Her head was as heavy as bricks, and she could hardly lift her chin to see around the room.

  “Shh… calm down, sweetie.”

  She heard the voice to her left, as others shuffled around her. “I don’t… “ Her voice was cracked and raspy, as if she hadn’t spoken in a while. Her throat was rusty and unused. “Get me out of here.” She managed to spit out as she shuffled the best she could. Her arm and shoulder were heavy. It was casted all the way up.

  I broke my arm, she thought as she examined the cast the best she could. How did I… when I jumped? Slowly, recent events flooded back to her.

  Disoriented, she lifted her head the best she could to see where the voice was coming from.

  “You been through a lot, so you just relax there, Jane. We gonna find what happened to you one step at a time.”

  “Where-” she croaked.

  “You’re at SF General Hospital.” A heavyset nurse with red lipstick checked the computer screen. She tweaked a lever on the machine that had a tube running up the side of her bed, into the arm that wasn’t casted.

  As if she didn’t have enough emotion running through her, tears toppled over her eyelids and down her face. She cried, in large salty drops that rolled down her face, into her hair.

  She was safe.

  The nightmare, for the time being, was over.

  Whatever lever the nurse tapped, the pain from every limb, every vein, eased. It was still present, she just didn’t care as much. She was groggy, and every ounce of worry and discomfort had dissipated. Whatever was in the clear bag hanging by her bed was strong.

  The nurse had called her Jane.

  “Jane?” she asked, unable to formulate full sentences both physically and mentally.

  “That’s right. You’re our little Jane Doe.”

  Raine looked around the hospital room, understanding now the beeping had been a life support monitor, and it tracked her heart rate. She couldn’t put everything together just yet, but as her casted arm lay across her lap, she knew she had been saved.

  She didn’t know how she got here, but she was safe now. “I’m… “

  The nurse leaned close to her face, and brushed back the hair stuck to her forehead. “What’s your name, sweetie?”

  “I’m… I’m Raine Walsh.”

  “Okay, dear.” She looked across the bed at someone on the other side, who was with the sheets and checking different things. “Isn’t that… ?”

  The voices were too quiet for her to hear.

  “We gonna let you rest. You’ve been through a lot, and we’ll get to the bottom of it sooner or later.”

  Raine heard muffled voices crossing the room away from her. She had a lot to say, but the energy was sucked from her. And even though she was safe, she couldn’t help but feel the urgency of what she had to say crawling to the tip of her tongue. Because time was of the essence if she was going to go back and save any of those she left behind-the price she paid for saving herself.

  THIRTY-FIVE

  The sunlight streamed across the hospital room through the window. She blinked her eyes open and closed to get used to it. The sun was warm and comforting on her cheeks. She’d missed it.

  The machines by her side continued to beep with the constant beat of her heart, connected to the monitor from the clip on her index finger that triggered her pulse.

  Her attention was distracted by the grumble in her stomach. She moved her unbroken hand to her belly and rubbed it gingerly. She’d love to soothe her throat with a vitamin C smoothie. It felt like forever since she’d indulged in her normal diet.

  Her attention was caught by voices outside her hospital room.

  “What do you mean your waste management doesn’t remember what stop they picked her up at? How do you miss that? How the hell did a human woman get all the way to the landfill without anyone noticing?” It was Marcus’ voice, plain as day.

  She wanted to call out to him, to see him, and achieve any sense of normalcy. But the words they were saying piqued her interest. Landfill? I was found in a landfill? The last thing I remember was falling into that dumpster.

  “They make multiple stops throughout the city, sir. She could have been anywhere.” The second voice was one she did not recognize, one of authority.

  Marcus spoke again. “Well why don’t you ask her where she’s been?”

  “She doesn’t remember much. I think the trauma of her car wreck is impairing her.”

  “The same car wreck that was more than a week ago? We were told there was a body in the car. Explain that.”

  “That’s classified information. But there is speculation of foul play. We’re not entirely sure that the body in the car is the person the car is registered to.”

  “So you assumed the dead body was Raine’s and told her family she was dead? All the while, she’s walking around San Francisco? I don’t think so.”

  “What’s your relationship with the patient again?”

  There was a pregnant pause in the hallway.

  “You’re just now asking this?” Another pause. “I’m her… I’m her therapist.”

  “We have no record of her seeing a therapist. You need to leave.”

  “Fine. I’m her boyfriend. We share an office. We’re both licensed psychologists.”

  “Still doesn’t entitle you to any information. You’ll have to stay in the waiting room until her family is notified and can get here.”

  “They live in Ohio. I am her family. She’s probably scared, broken-”

  “Traumatized. She needs rest. You
can come back when we’ve finished questioning her.”

  “Wait! Marcus!” She leaned forward and yelled out the best she could, though her voice was weak.

  “Unbelievable.” The frustration in his voice was unmistakable.

  She’d give anything to be close to him this very moment. To tell him everything she’d been through.

  “Well I’ll be back, then. Count on it.”

  “You’re awake!” Her nurse burst into the room, wheeling a tray of food along with her. She rolled up to the bed and adjusted it from laying down to sitting up. “You, super girl, are a fighter.” She moved the tray over Raine’s lap and lifted the lid. Steaming mashed potatoes and some sort of brown meat covered in gravy were slopped onto the tray. Jiggling red Jell-o in the corner. “You hungry?”

  She was starving. But the sight of the food made her nauseated.

  “What’s wrong, sweetie?” she asked, leaning over and checking the machines. She walked around and lifted a chart down by Raine’s feet, and marked things down on it with a pen from her breast pocket.

  “It’s… okay.” She breathed. “I don’t generally eat meat. But I’m so hungry.”

  “Well there’s something I didn’t know about you.” She smiled.

  Raine gave her a sideways look.

  “When you were out, I had to guess everything. It’s wonderful to hear details about what makes you, you. No longer a Jane Doe. You’re Raine Walsh. Risen from the dead.”

  Raine only partially understood that. There was the conversation with Marcus and the police person in the hallway.

  Clips of memories flashed in her mind. Strapped to the table in the Warden’s little playroom. The news broadcast of her death in the car wreck. She shivered. “I need to talk to the police,” she said quietly, lifting the fork and shoveling some of the potatoes into her mouth.

  Eating this food was a big step for her. She was used to her organic, healthy diet. It was something she had control over in her life. Though because of everything that had happened, she just didn’t care.

  Not only did she escape the prison, but also she felt exhilarated that she had escaped the prison inside her mind—the one that controlled her every move, day in and day out. She didn’t have to have so many rules. She just needed to live and enjoy life. And the potatoes tasted delicious. They were warm, and even though they lacked butter and salt, they still weren’t the cold mushy oatmeal she’d lived off of the whole time she was locked up.

  “Well they’d like to talk to you too,” the nurse replied. “But we’re gonna monitor it. I don’t want your body stressing any more than it has to. So I’ll let him in, but the moment you’re not feeling up to it, you let me know, baby girl.”

  “Thank you.” She smiled at the nurse. “Thank you for taking care of me.”

  The nurse smiled and nodded, and walked out of the room.

  A moment later, a man in a navy police uniform walked in with his notepad already drawn. The nurse stayed at the door.

  The uniform was similar to the guards and the moment she saw it, flashes from the prison flared in her memory. Though his uniform was was navy instead of tan, the duty belt that encircled his hips drew her eyes. She saw the black baton hanging at the back.

  She shuddered as she heard the ticking of the baton dragging against the bars in her mind. She squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head.

  “Hello.” The officer spoke gently. He was young. Younger than she expected from hearing his voice in the hallway.

  “When can I see Marcus?” she asked.

  The question caught him off guard. “I just have a few questions for you, then we’d love to reunite you with your family. But everyone has been through a lot and we need to straighten out the facts first.”

  “You don’t have to tell me I’ve been through a lot.” Even though it hurt her throat to speak, she spoke swiftly.

  He grabbed a small chair on wheels, rolled it next to her bed, sat down on it, and flipped his notepad to the next page.

  She looked over at his clean-shaven face. “I heard you in the hall. Why didn’t you investigate further into whose body was in my car? My family thought I was dead. Nobody was looking for me… “ She trailed off. Somebody did look for her. Troy. And now he was dead.

  “It was an unacceptable mistake in every way. We are truly sorry for that. But what’s important is the period of time you were missing. From the time of your car crash, until the time the police were called by the uptown waste management landfill. They reported they found a young naked woman in one of their trucks. We need to fill in that gap. And we’re hoping you can help with that.”

  “When was I found at the landfill?” She tried to get a grasp of how long she’d been at the hospital. Everything was a blur.

  “You’ve been in a coma for about six days.”

  “What?” She leaned forward in her bed, tugging at the IV in her arm, the bruises triggering a sharp pain in her shoulder. She winced as the machine beeped next to her.

  The nurse hurried in. “I knew this was a bad idea, officer. You need to come back-”

  “No, please. I need to talk to him. There’s no time. You have to catch the Warden. You have to save the others!” She couldn’t help blurting out things these people weren’t ready for.

  She’d been in a coma for a week. The officer’s words struck her like a blow. It’d been a week since she’d left the prison. Not hours. Not even days. A week. Anything could have happened within that time.

  “Now I gotta redo your IV, sweetie. You can’t jump up like that or we can’t have visitors.” She pulled the IV out of her arm and pressed a piece of gauze to the site.

  She didn’t feel the pain. She pushed the tray away and turned to the officer. “If it’s been a full week since I’ve been here, then we’re too late. We’ll never catch him.”

  “Tell me who he is.”

  “I only know him as the Warden. He kidnapped me. Locked us up. There were so many of us. Arie, Megan, the tattooed man.” She couldn’t get her thoughts together and words and sentences spilled out of her mouth like verbal vomit.

  “Hold on. How about I ask the questions, and you give me simple answers. We’ll figure this out, okay? Your family in Ohio has already been notified. We weren’t able to tell them sooner because we didn’t know who you were until you woke up, okay? Marcus claims to be your boyfriend? Your colleague?”

  “Yeah. I mean… “ She wanted to blurt out that they were friends. But she remembered what he said in the hallway. She wanted to see him. Perhaps the argument was stronger if they were together. “He’s my boyfriend,” she told the police officer.

  “We’ll get him up here as soon as we’re done here, okay?”

  She nodded, lifted her hand, and wiped her eyes. As she put her hand back down, the nurse took it. “Hang in there, dear. Your arm has had enough.” She looked over at the police officer. “And I’ve only stuck her twice. There were bruises before she got here.”

  “How’d you get those bruises, Raine?” he asked, his voice calm.

  “We were drugged often. I was unconscious a lot in the prison.”

  “The prison. Can you tell me where or what this is?”

  She took a deep breath as the nurse stuck the needle through her thin skin. The fluids hydrated her veins.

  “It was a skyscraper… “ She breathed and looked past the guard… No, not the guard, the police officer… to the window where the sunlight poured in. “The Warden owned the skyscraper. And he’d turned the penthouse into a prison. That’s where he kept us. In tiny cages the size of dog kennels.”

  The nurse looked as if she’d just seen a ghost. She backed up to the door.

  The police officer looked at her before he gripped the pen tighter, balancing the notepad on his knee. “That’s a pretty incredible claim, Raine. Are you sure?”

  She looke
d at him. Her eye twitched as she nodded.

  He smiled at her and scrawled into his notebook. He continued, “Do you know anything else about this man you’re calling the Warden?”

  She thought for a moment. “Well I know what he looks like, which some of the other victims can’t say.”

  He scratched something down, and looked up at the nurse. “My partner went down for coffee, can you tell him we need to get a sketch artist down here?”

  “No.” The nurse shot back.

  “Excuse me?”

  “I ain’t one of your minions. I’m here to see that my patient stays comfortable. I’m not leavin’ her. Tell your partner that figuring out her safety is more important than his coffee.”

  The officer sighed. “Right. Raine, what else do you know about this man?”

  Raine looked from the nurse back to the cop. She liked the nurse. She took care of her and had her best interests at heart. She wanted to tell this officer everything, but the more things that came out of her mouth, the more bizarre they sounded, even to her. And if they sounded weird to her, what would the average person think? She sounded like a crazy person. She felt like a crazy person.

  “One of the girls called him Allen. That’s all,” she said quietly. Defeated. “There are others there. He took them, too. He’s hurt people. He’s raped. He’s killed.” She leaned forward and grabbed the officer’s arm. “You have to find him.”

  He looked down at her hand. “That’s why I’m here.” He stood up, allowing her IVed hand to fall back to the bed. “Why don’t we take a break here? I need to make a few phone calls-” He looked up at the nurse “-and find my partner. If the hospital allows it, you should let her see her boyfriend.” He nodded to Raine. “We’ll talk again.”