Warren lowered the magazine again. “Now I’m hungry.”
“Is the kid sleeping?” Carl asked again.
“Can’t tell. Too dark in there. Why?”
“Want to see something scary?” Carl reached across the control board and flicked thedelayswitch to the off position.
Warren dropped the magazine and nearly fell out of his chair as he jumped and smacked the switch back on. “What the fuck, Carl!?”
“Doesn’t matter. Not if he’s sleeping.”
“I don’t care if he’s hog-tied, duct-taped, cuffed, and wearing that mask of his—don’t ever fuck with the switch!”
Carl reached over and flicked the switch off again.
Warren slammed it back. “I will beat you if you do that one more time!”
Carl held up both his hands. “Okay! Okay! I surrender. Just trying to liven things up. I’m bored to death over here.”
“Maybe zero in on a hobby that doesn’t involve the two of us dying.”
“If that switch broke, do you think anyone would notice?”
“I’m sure they test it,” Warren said.
“Like all the other safety protocols we never see? Yeah, I’m sure someone tests it. I’ll bet someone is all over that.”
Warren had turned to the thick glass window. “I can’t see him in there. Can you?”
“That’s why I asked you if he was sleeping. I don’t think he’s on his bed.”
“It’s too fucking dark in there. They need to switch that red night-light thing back on.”
“The kid told the doctor he couldn’t sleep well with that little light on. She had it removed.”
“Well, I don’t think he’s in his bed.”
“Maybe he’s in the shitter.”
“Maybe. I don’t see him on the infrared, either.”
“Well, he didn’t get out and go for a walk. Turn the light on for a second.”
“No way. I’m not getting written up.”
Carl frowned. “They won’t write us up for checking on him. If they don’t want us to turn the light on to do our job, they should have fought the doc on the night-light. We’ll just flick the light on for a second, figure out what he’s doing, then shut it down again. No harm done.”
Warren let out a breath. “Okay, but fast. If he’s sleeping, we don’t want to wake him.”
Carl reached back to the control board and flicked on the lights.
Warren leaned over the board, close to the observation window. “I don’t see him, do you?”
Carl stood, leaned forward, looked too.
“Do you see him?”
Carl shook his head and pressed microphone button. “Hey, kid, where are you?”
