Page 46 of Kill Me

“Okay, Quinn, now we've managed to calm you down, it's time for the procedure to begin. You’ll be put to sleep, and your vitals will be monitored. Once that happens, we will press the button.” She points to the machine. “Which will deliver a series of brief electrical pulses to your brain. Your muscles in your face, hands and feet may twitch. That is the seizure that we have induced happening.”

“How many seizures will you cause?”

“Usually it would be one. But in your case I’ll decide once you’re under, and I see how you respond to the first one. If you respond well, I may do another one so we can complete the treatment in a lesser amount of time. The seizure will be controlled. They usually last between twenty and fifty seconds.”

I’m resigned to the fact that this is happening. Every instance in which I feel some of my fight for life coming back, something comes from the sidelines and eliminates it from my being.

Richard squeezes some kind of liquid onto the pads and places the electrodes on my temples, making sure they are secure. Dr Stephanie walks over to the trolley and pulls out two vials of liquid.

“This first injection will relax your muscles. The second will put you to sleep.”

She fills the syringe with the liquid, and I watch out of the corner of my eye as she injects it into my veins before asking me to count down from ten and repeating her actions with the second one.

“Ten…”

“Nine…”

“Eight…”

“Sev—”

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Harley - Present Day

Today is the day. It’s time to rescue Quinn. X and I took the long drive out to the hospital today in a van disguised as a roadworks vehicle. We have been watching from a distance. My neck aches from being sat in a cramped space, and anxiety is rife within me. I’m unsettled, and I won't be settled until I know she is safe. I’ve brought Ted with us just in case human interaction is too much. Bless him, he’s a good boy; he’s sat waiting, watching. He knows the routine by now, but it always surprises me how he manages to thrive no matter the disruption to his daily habits.

From what we’ve seen, besides Stephanie, it looks like there are only two members of staff who seem to live on the premises. I haven’t seen either of them leave, anyway. One man and one woman.

Based on the blueprints of the building, there is the bigger house at the front and a smaller one in the back. We’ve been using thermal cameras via a drone, and based on heat signatures, it looks like the people inside are divided between the two buildings. One smaller one that, from what we’ve seen on camera, looks dilapidated. At first I thought it was abandoned, and then I saw heat signatures in different parts of the building, some even lying down, so it looks like it’s definitely inhabited. It should surprise me that Stephanie would put people in these situations, and if it was anyone else, it would. But with her, she’s always ten steps ahead, and you’re just lagging behind.

There is one part of the property to the left, separated from the rest of the buildings, that is what I can only describe as an outhouse building. Inside, there are three different signatures. One is lying down, and the other two are standing on either side. If I had to guess, that would be the treatment room. Stephanie would never allow someone to accidentally walk in on her doing a procedure. God forbid someone should witness her off-the-book actions and ruin her reputation. But, to our advantage, there are no electric fences for us to combat. From an outside perspective, it looks like a building completely separate from the main property.

The bigger building to the front of the property seems to be well maintained, but there are fences surrounding it with barbed wire on the top and signs telling you to stay away or be electrocuted. But if I know Stephanie, she wouldn’t want to pay for the extra electricity, so we’ve hacked into her emails, and I’m currently looking through her bills.

“Ah! Got ya, you little bitch.” Now, normally you would never catch me talking about a woman like this, but let’s be honest here, she’s an actual cunt. Ted jumps at my outburst, furious at me for disturbing his nap.

“What have you found?” X asks as he rubs Ted’s head affectionately.

“I had an inkling that the electric fences weren’t charged. She’s a bill skirter. She pays for what she needs and nothing more, and it was niggling at me why all of a sudden that would change for her.”

“Well, based on what you’ve told me about her and what we’ve seen, I would imagine paying the extra to keep the patients in the facility would be beneficial to preserving her reputation. If they got out, they could do some serious damage.”

“Yes, but most of the patients she has, I can almost guarantee, are guinea pigs and don’t actually need to be there. She will be using them for some kind of research. What kind, I have yet to figure out. Anyway, her bills haven’t changed. Every month they’re the exact same amount, no surges for different times of the evening or the hours of free electricity. It’s one solid amount each month.”

“Okay?” X looks at me like I’ve lost the plot.

“If she was supplying electricity to the fences on top of the supply to the rest of the buildings, her monthly bill would be much higher. Based on what she’s specified to the company, they’re only supplying electricity to the one main building with an added surcharge for the outhouse.”

He catches my drift before his face shows concern. “But what about the building with the people in the back?”

“It doesn’t look like that building gets anything extra. Even the gas bill is extremely low, and considering we’ve not long come out of winter, you would expect the last 6 months of bills to be a lot higher. Yet, they’re borderline with the summer months. There’s barely any increase, which tells me they also get minimal heating and hot water. The residents that were here before Quinn must have had one hell of a winter. Especially this far up the mountains.”

“So she’s sadistic as well as a psychopath? How fun for us.” X chuckles to himself.

“I wish I could put into words the lengths I’ve seen this woman go to. But take it from me, there is nothing she won’t do to protect herself. She’s a loner. She collects people who benefit her, and then when they’re no longer beneficial for her, they’re tossed to the side without a second thought.”

“How has no one ever been able to bring a case against her?”