Emily couldn’t say, and had no control over it.But she had what she needed for the article now, that was certain, and she felt a little shiver of thrill at the knowledge.But she also had something else of value: a bargaining chip to use against Stone to secure Annie’s release.She could blackmail the doctor, threaten to expose the details of Annie’s file, her treatment, if Stone didn’t agree to sign off on her discharge.And she could always expose Stone anyway, after Annie’s release was finalized.Emily didn’t feel any need to adhere to her side of such an agreement, and Stone certainly didn’t deserve Emily’s integrity.But regardless, she still had plenty of evidence beneath her mattress about the drug trials, the file proving Stone was deliberately infecting the Mercer women and getting paid by the drug company to test their products.On top of it all, she had June’s testimony that Stone was also accepting bribes from inmates on the side in exchange for preferential treatment.Add in Emily’s own testimony and experience of the deplorable living conditions and abuse at the hands of the matrons, and the Mercer might just get shut down.
It all tasted of bitter triumph.Nellie Bly had felt similarly, upon exposing the treatment of patients at the Blackwell’s Island lunatic asylum in New York.She’d described the guilt she’d felt at leaving, as though she were abandoning those women to whatever fate the State had in store for them.Emily understood that sentiment now, because she knew that the State did not spare much thought for the fate of women.The bottom line was even lower than it was for men in the same situation.Women were always expendable.
Emily rolled over, tugging the blanket as closely around her body as she could, tucking her socked feet up close to her bottom.She stared at the grey wall across from her, stinging eyes a little out of focus.It was all on her, now.
Shivering and coughing, Emily struggled to fall asleep to the distant cries of the psych patients begging for deliverance.She knew they were keeping other inmates on the floor awake, too, because some of the regular population had begun shouting back.
“Shut the hell up, would you!”
“JesusChrist, we’re trying to sleep!”
“Couldn’t you just drug them?!”
The pleas continued through the night.
Everyone heard.
But no one was listening.
CHAPTER 32
EMILY
December 18, 1961
Day 182 (1 to go)
The day after the fire, the smell of smoke still hung thick on the air despite the circulation from the open windows, which, as Emily had predicted, seemed to have merely frozen the inmates and done nothing whatsoever to curb the stench of the blaze.What had before been a comforting scent that called to Emily’s mind memories of summer campfires and Christmas in her parents’ cozy living room now stank of adrenaline and the chilblains she’d woken up with on her second and third toes after the frigid night’s fitful rest.
She’d risen with the others at the sound of the bell, wondering how many of the prisoners had gotten any sleep at all, with the combined onslaught of the wintry air and the psych inmates’ cries.After lining up outside her cell for the morning roll call and Chamber Pot Parade, she’d followed her fellow inmates, all half numb and grumbling, past the psych-wing gate toward the staircase.She peered down the hall and saw the open doors, the splintered wood around the lock and handle area from the firemen’s axes.Several of the psych inmates were moaning and talking, one was screaming for a man named Lester.
“Oh would you SHUT THE HELL UP?!”a woman shouted on her way by, then launched herself at the gate, giving it a furious rattle.“SHUT UP!”
The matrons didn’t even admonish her, and several women in line cheered their support.Emily’s insides clenched.The state of the prison today was all her fault.But, she reminded herself as she descended the stone stairs to the dining room—which felt slightly warmer by virtue of the stoves in the kitchen—this was all for the good of these women, when all was said and done.Ifshe could succeed with her article.She simply had to make something of this whole debacle.She must.
When they reached the main floor, there was a flurry of conversation and pointing down the east corridor.Emily saw that the burned-out factory had been blocked off with tape.She didn’t have factory duty today, but wondered how the women who did would be re-deployed.They would probably just languish in one of the empty classrooms.
Emily thought back to the two times she’d tried to teach the women typing, and Stone’s assault when one of the inmates—Thelma, most certainly—squealed on her.The surge of rage she felt at the woman—or women—who had betrayed her reinforced for her how tired she really was of being held in such a terrible place with these women who often didn’t seem to know what was best for them.But then, she knew rationally that she couldn’t entirely blame them for it, not when so many of them were coming from situations where they were forced to eat what they killed, always on the lookout for an opportunity to secure some sort of favour or leverage for themselves.They were never handed advantages.They had to scrape and snatch them wherever they could.It was the whole system’s fault they behaved the way they did, not the individual women’s.
In the dining hall, Emily filled her tray, then made a beeline for Annie’s table.The relief she felt at seeing Annie safe and well was profound.She set her tray down and slid into the hard seat.
“Good Lord, Emily,” Annie said, setting down her fork and reaching out a hand.“Last night…that wasdreadful.Are you all right?Was anyone hurt?What happened?”
Emily searched her blue eyes.“Everyone’s okay.It was uh—” Emily shifted in her seat.“It was part of a plan to get some records out of Stone’s office.It didn’t exactly go as I thought it would, but…”
“Youstarted the fire?”Annie blanched.
“No.Well, sort of.I don’t have time to explain, I’m sorry.”She shoved it all aside.She had to speak to Annie, and had absolutely no idea how much time she had before Stone and the warden came down on her and ejected her from the prison, or had her arrested.Surely, by now, Stone would be informed and seeking answers.She would have seen that her files from the drug trial were deliberately targeted, and the other matrons would tell her that Emily and Eliza had emerged from the prison much later than all the others after the fire broke out.Emily would be at the top of the doctor’s suspect list, a place cemented by her clash with Stone over the typing classes.She was already a “problem” inmate.She could come for Emily any time now.
But not if Emily got to her first.
“Emily—”
“Annie, if you got out of here, what would you do?”Emily asked without preamble.
Annie blinked in confusion.“What?I…I don’t know.It used to be all I thought about, but…” She shrugged.“Why do you ask?What’s going on?”
“You would want to see your son, surely?”Emily pressed.“Get some custody of him?”
