Lullabies and Lies - By Mallory Kane Page 0,63
She glanced at the male volunteer, but he was still busily checking his list. Why hadn’t he told her Bess was going to be moved?
“She is.” The woman shouldered the door open so Sunny could exit. “Go left, down to the end of the hall and turn left again.”
The volunteer waited until Sunny passed her. There were no patient rooms on the hall. Its doors were marked STORAGE, HOUSEKEEPING CLOSET, LINENS.
“The elevators are about halfway down.”
Sunny peered down the hall. “I thought the elevators were on the front side of the hospital.”
“These are the service elevators. They’re quicker. We’re going to the first floor.”
Sunny frowned as she stepped into the elevator. “First? There aren’t any patient rooms down there, are there?”
The woman stepped inside and stood beside her, sending her a bland smile. “This is a shortcut. Ms. Raymond was moved to the new wing. To get there, we have to go to the lobby and take a different set of elevators.”
Sunny pressed the button marked 1.
“I’m so glad my—friend is doing better. I’ve been worried.”
“We all have.”
Sunny frowned at the woman. That was an odd thing to say. Her scalp tingled. “Do you know Bess Raymond?”
The woman smiled. “Of course. She raised me.”
The little sign in Bess’s front yard and the children’s toys and playground. “You were in her day care center. She’s good with children?”
“The best.” The woman coughed.
“Here we are,” she said as the elevator doors opened. “I just need to check in with my supervisor for a moment.”
Anxious and impatient, Sunny waited while the woman stepped over to the front desk and asked to use the phone. She made a quick call, then hung up.
She glanced around the lobby, then returned to Sunny’s side.
“Which way is the new wing?” Sunny asked.
“Listen to me.” The woman stepped up close behind Sunny and thrust something hard into the middle of her back.
A gun. Sunny gasped and froze. “What—”
“Shut up. Go straight down this hall and out the end door. A taxi will be here to pick us up in a couple of minutes.
The gun dug into the sensitive flesh between Sunny’s ribs. She could barely breathe, her chest was so tight with fear. “What are you doing? Do you have Emily—?”
“I said shut up.” The woman coughed. “You make the slightest move to get away or alert anyone and I will shoot you in the back.”
Sunny swallowed the scream that pushed at her throat. There was a note of confidence in the woman’s voice. She meant what she said.
“Do you believe me?”
Sunny nodded. “Y-yes. You shot Bess, didn’t you?”
“Keep moving.”
Sunny glanced at a young man in green scrubs who passed them going in the opposite direction. He didn’t even look at them.
“Who are you?” she whispered.
The gun jabbed into her ribs. “What did Bess tell you?”
“I haven’t talked to her. I was waiting. I thought you—”
“You’re lying. I called over an hour ago, told them I was her cousin. They said she was awake. Now open the door.”
Sunny’s knees shook. Her head spun. Terror cramped her muscles. This was the woman who had shot Bess.
She pushed on the exit door. It opened into an employee parking lot. There were a lot of cars and no people. Even if Sunny had found the courage to alert someone, there was no one around.
“Walk to your right, up to the main driveway. And stop looking so damn scared.”
She did as she was told.
Just as they reached the driveway, her cell phone rang.
The woman cursed, then stuck out her left hand. “Give me your damn purse.”
Sunny looked down. Shock turned her heart to ice. The woman’s hand was missing two fingers—the ring finger and the pinkie.
She tried to speak, but her throat wouldn’t work. A sob shook her.
Finally she found her voice. “It was you. You took my baby,” she choked out. She couldn’t even cry. Her chest felt crushed in a vise. “Where is she? Please tell me.”
The phone rang again, and again.
The woman jerked Sunny’s purse out of her numb hands, and dug out the cell phone. “Shut up!”
After glancing around to be sure no one was watching, she dropped the phone onto the concrete pavement and stomped on it.
The metallic crunch screeched through Sunny’s brain, accompanied by the crunch of tires on gravel as the taxi stopped.
“Get in! And keep your mouth shut.” The woman pushed Sunny into the car and climbed in beside her.
Sunny clasped her hands in her lap and stared at the back of the taxi