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Their most recentinteraction, in the basement boiler room of this hospital, came after Hannahhad to hide in a safe house after Pierce escaped from custody. Ultimately,Hannah got the upper hand in that encounter too, stabbing the killer in theneck with her own knife, which directly led to Pierce’s coma.
The combination ofexperiences had led to what Hannah imagined a soldier’s PTSD might be like, asjust the thought of being in such proximity to Pierce was making her sweat andher heart palpitate wildly. But as she approached the checkpoint to the secureunit, where a guard was watching her closely, she took note of something elsemixed in with her nerves and fear. At first she thought it was pure anger overwhat she’d been put through, but then she identified another emotion:anticipation.
She was lookingforward to confronting the woman who had upended her life, and almost ended it.She wanted to face her down. She wanted to provide some payback. As she walked,she felt that old, familiar bloodlust licking at her heels.
“Can I help you?”the guard asked when she arrived at the checkpoint, which included a metaldetector.
“Yes,” she said,adopting the persona of a teenager, which she technically was, who was nervousto even be here. “I’m meeting nurse Jenny Callahan. She told me to be here atten.”
“What’s thepurpose of your visit?” the paunchy, thirty-something guard wanted to know, hismustache twitching slightly.
Hannah noticedthat he’d done a rushed job of shaving, missing several small patches. His eyeswere bloodshot, and he was perspiring slightly in his uniform. She suspectedthat he’d had a late, boozy night and was now suffering the consequences. Shedecided to use that to her advantage.
“Yeah,” she said,switching into her most annoying, Instagirl mode, her words tumbling out hermouth fast and furious “so Jenny’s a friend of my older sister’s and when sheheard that I was interested in nursing school, she said I should come by andshe’d show me what it was like to be at the nurses’ station. But I’ve been inschool all this time and I’m only just now finally on winter break and I can’tcome in after Christmas, so this was the only day that would work. But she saidshe was working in the secure unit so there wouldn’t be much I could see on theward, but I said ‘anything is better than nothing, girl.’ So she said come ondown, which is why I’m h—.”
“Enough,” theguard said irritably, waving his arm to shut her up. “Just put your personalitems in the bin and walk through the metal detector.”
She did as heasked, moving quickly so he wouldn’t change his mind. Once she was through andcollected her items, she added one last nugget for his benefit.
“Do you want to bein the TikTok I’m doing for my class at school?” she asked. “I could totallyinterview you.”
“No videos arepermitted in this unit,” he said, sounding exhausted to still be speaking withher.
“Got it,” she saidperkily, noting that despite his obvious distaste for her, he was eyeing herlasciviously as she shoved her phone in her back pocket. She’d use that laterif needed.
But for now, shehurried down the hall toward the nurses’ station, where she encountered thewoman she assumed was Jenny. In truth, she had never actually met the nurse andonly knew her from Kat’s description. But as soon as she saw the blondetwenty-something with the hot pink sneakers, she knew she was in the rightplace.
“Jenny?” she askedcautiously as she reached the counter.
“You must beHannah,” the woman said with a warm smile. “Nice to meet you.”
“You too,” Hannahreplied, “although if that guard out front asks, you’re friends with my sisterand I asked to visit because of a college project.”
“He won’t ask,”Jenny assured her. “Ernie only does enough work to stay employed. By asking youanything at all, he’s already exceeded his typical security efforts for theday. That won’t be the case with the folks who actually watch Pierce though.”
“Right,” Hannahsaid, glad that Jenny seemed intent on getting down to business. “So whatexactly am I dealing with here?”
“Before I answerthat,” Jenny said, looking hesitant for the first time, “what exactly are youtrying to accomplish here? Kat used to come to observe Pierce before thatbecame a no-no. The only reason I agreed to let you come is because I felt sobad about what happened with her fiancé. I just couldn’t tell her ‘no,’ pointblank. But this is my job, and even with Kat blessing you, I can’t just let youwalk in there if you’re planning something dramatic. I could get fired.”
Hannah had beenhoping to just wing this whole thing, but now that she was being asked a directquestion by someone’s whose employment was at stake, she felt an obligation togive an honest answer.
“Truthfully, I’mnot a hundred percent sure,” she admitted. “I’ve looked over all the studiesthat Kat compiled on amnesia, and I was hoping that if I could get up close andpersonal with Pierce, I might be able to tell if she’s legit or full of crap.”
“Good luck withthat,” Jenny said cynically. “I’ve been caring for her for weeks now and Istill can’t tell.”
“You don’t have agut feeling?” Hannah asked.
“Sure I do,” Jennyreplied. “I think she’s totally full of it, that she’s working everyone tocreate doubt because she knows what’s facing her. The longer she can makepeople question if she’s still the same person who murdered all those people,the better chance she has of finding a way out. That’s what I suspect, but haveI seen anything that would definitely prove that? No, not a thing.”
“Well, I may haveone advantage over you in that department.”
“What’s that?”Jenny asked.
“This woman triedto kill me—twice. I’ve looked in her eyes when she tried to do it. I know thereal her. And if anyone is going to make her let down her guard, even for amoment, it’s me.”
She neglected toinclude the little detail that in both those encounters, Hannah had ended upalmost killing Pierce.
“Jesus,” Jennymuttered. “I didn’t realize that you were that Hannah, as in HannahDorsey. I just thought you were someone who worked with Kat at her detectiveagency. I’m starting to have second thoughts about letting you go in. It’salmost malpractice for me to let you get in close proximity to someone you havethis kind of history with.”
