Her shoulders sagged and chin dipped as the rest of her defenses fell away.“One peek.”She turned the knob, then frowned.She tried again to no avail.
“Is something the matter?”Ezekiel asked.
“We don’t lock the doors unless absolutely necessary.It’s a fire precaution.”She knocked on the door.“It’s Nurse Abbott.Is everything all right?”
Someone screamed for help.
Ezekiel’s stomach dropped to the floor.Was that Nora?
Nurse Abbott fumbled with her keys, but the key wouldn’t fit into the slot.“Something is jammed into the hole.I can’t get the door unlocked.”
A jumble of sounds and more screams indicated a struggle was occurring.
“Move aside.”Ezekiel rammed the door.
“Don’t waste your energy.Look.The door opens outward.”Miss Plane dropped to her knees and dumped her oversize reticule.“We’ll have more luck taking the door off the hinges.”
“Thosewere your necessities?”Ezekiel stared at the odd assortment of tools on the floor.
“You might not have planned to break Nora out, but I certainlydid.”She pried the chisel between the hinge’s pin and the barrel, then struck it with a small hammer.
Poor Nurse Abbott looked torn between relief and horror.
“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that.”Detective Hall plucked a screwdriver from the random assortment.“I’ll get the top loose.You get the middle.”
Ezekiel gripped the pin with pliers and wiggled it free.
A blood-curdling scream erupted from inside.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
“THE WONDERFUL THING ABOUT YOURcommittal is that your death won’t be questioned.”Mrs.Reed pressed the plunger of the syringe until a brief stream of liquid shot out.“Or if it is, the scandal of it will be swept under the rug for the sake of the asylum.Who can blame the new nurse for defending herself and her wards when you experience a violent paroxysm?”
Nora glanced around for anything sufficient for defense, but every possible danger to patients had been removed.Even the writing utensils had been locked into a desk drawer when Nora was brought in.The only thing at her disposal was the book of manners at her feet and an out-of-reach stack of other books near Mrs.Reed.
Behind Nora, Mrs.Beaumont’s voice trembled.“What’s happening?”
She and Mrs.Reed were in a game of cat and mouse, that was what.Only Nora had more than herself to worry about.Keeping Mrs.Reed at a distance was first priority, and the only object capable of serving as a shield was the chair Nora had been sitting in.Lord, give me strength.The medicine and days of lethargy had left her feeling weak.The movement was clumsy, but she swung the chair around and held it so that its legs protruded toward Mrs.Reed.
“Yes,Nora.What’s happening?”
Mrs.Reed stepped forward, syringe gripped in a stabbing position.Surely she wouldn’t dive at Nora and chance Nora ramming the legs into her instead.
“You appear agitated.”
The doorknob jiggled.
Mrs.Reed looked more pleased than Tristan with a can of sardines.With an audience on the other side, she had the upper hand.
The door jiggled again.“It’s Nurse Abbott.Is everything all right?”
Praise God!Of all the nurses, she would be the only one who might believe Nora.“Help!”
Mrs.Reed gripped the bottom of a nearby desk and flipped it into another one.The crash elicited a scream from the other patients.
“Calm yourself, Nora, or you might hurt one of the other patients.”
“Nora?”Mrs.Beaumont’s frail voice drew Mrs.Reed’s attention ...and her wicked smile.
