I reread the notes twice, then closed the file and went to find Dr. Mercer in her office.
She was packing up for the day, sliding files into a worn leather bag that looked older than I was.
“So, the fight from this morning, is the other patient okay?” I kept my voice steady, but my fingernail found the inside of my thumb, rubbing in small, anxious circles.
“Doyle will live. Needs overnight observation, but Blackwood must’ve held back.” She scribbled notes, her handwriting as chaotic as the last hour had been. “Could’ve been worse. Much worse.”
Held back? If that was restraint, I didn’t want to see him unleashed.
“Come on.” She grabbed her bag and a set of keys. “Help me lock up. I’ll walk you through end-of-shift protocol.”
I followed her into the hallway, fluorescent lights buzzing overhead like mechanical insects. The infirmary felt different now that it was empty. Quieter. The kind of quiet that made you aware of your own breathing.
“Hopefully, they’ll send us a new orderly soon,” she mused, checking the lock on a medicine closet.
“An orderly?”
Dr. Mercer’s key paused. “Doyle’s the infirmary orderly. Was, I should say. He won’t be back for a while. Maybe ever, depending on how this shakes out.”
“You don’t seem upset.”
“Between you and me, Doyle was a creep. The kind who’d stand too close when you were charting. Who’d find reasons to brush past you in doorways. I caught him once, standing in the corner of the exam room while a nurse was bending over. Just … watching. Said he was ‘waiting to assist.’” She shook her head. “And the way he looked at women nurses. Not just looked. Studied. Like he was cataloging weaknesses.”
A chill crept down my spine.
“One time, I could’ve sworn I saw him rubbing himself through his pants while watching a nurse bend over to grab supplies. But he stopped the second I turned around. Denied it, of course.” She checked her cell phone, shaking her head. “I asked the warden weeks ago to reassign him. Give me someone else. Anyone else.”
“And?”
“And nothing. He hadn’ttechnicallydone anything wrong, so either the prison didn’t have capacity to deal with it or they haven’t gotten to it yet.” She locked another door, her keysjangling in the quiet. “So, no, I won’t be shedding any tears over Doyle’s absence.”
But Doyle was the victim here. Knox was the aggressor. That was the math.
Right?
I thought of Knox’s silver eyes when he’d looked at my scar. The way his voice had dropped, almost gentle, when he asked who gave it to me. The way he’d made himself smaller somehow, less threatening, like he was trying not to spook a wounded animal.
I shook the thought loose before it could settle.
“Anyway, how was treating Blackwood?” Dr. Mercer asked, moving to the second medicine cabinet, this one with a combination lock.
“Fine.” I heard how clipped my voice sounded. Too clipped.
Dr. Mercer glanced at me, one eyebrow raised. “You weren’t scared?”
Hell to the yes I was scared.“No.”
“Good. Wouldn’t have blamed you if you were though.” She said it casually, her attention on the cabinet. “He’s got quite the reputation. Most dangerous inmate at Coldwater, or so the rumors go.”
My stomach dropped. “He’s the most dangerous guy here?”
Her hands froze on the lock. She snapped her eyes to me, and I watched her trip over her own words. “Sorry. Should’ve given you a rundown before today. I forget sometimes that not everyone knows the local legends.” She finished with the cabinet and turned to face me fully. “For the other inmates, he’s basically the bogeyman. But he’s never hurt medical staff. If he had a history of violence toward doctors or nurses, I wouldn’t have left you alone with him.”
“What makes him the most dangerous?” I wondered aloud. “Is he a serial killer?”
She actually laughed at that. “No. At least, not that anyone’s told me. Story goes, not long after he arrived, he got into some kind of altercation. I don’t know the details, but whatever happened, it was bad enough to cement his reputation. After that?” She shrugged. “Nobody messed with Knox Blackwood. And I mean, nobody. Which is probably why the other inmates won’t exactly weep if he makes parole this year.”
Parole.
