Silence for the Dead(99)

“Nina.” I fell to my knees, pressed my hand to her forehead and her temple. She didn’t move, didn’t groan. She was out cold. I had no idea what to do, of course, if there was anything to be done. But the stocking I could take care of. I lunged for my own bed and felt under the mattress.

My knife wasn’t there.

Cold steel touched my throat. “Looking for this?”

I froze.

“Interesting,” said Creeton. “One of our own nurses was armed. I guess you were a little bit suspicious of us.”

I glanced over my bed. All of my things had been rifled through, my bedding disturbed. Martha’s and Nina’s things had been searched as well, their undergarments taken from the drawers. Practical Nursing lay facedown on the floor as if someone had shaken and dropped it. I’d noticed none of this when I’d come in; I’d seen only Nina.

“What do you want?” I managed.

I was still crouched beside my bed, my hands on the mattress. Creeton shifted behind me, and I could hear his heavy breath. “You know what I want. I wrote a little note and put it on Yates’s pillow. You’ve all found it by now.”

“‘Eliminate the weak,’” I quoted.

“Do you hear it?” said Creeton. “He’s telling me. I can hear it in my head. Only at night at first, but lately it’s been stronger and stronger. There. I can hear him now. Can you?”

I heard nothing but the pounding of my own heart. “He isn’t real. It’s this place, Creeton. I told you.”

“In my mind, he’s real. But then, I’m mad, aren’t I?” The knife drew tighter against my throat. “I’d like to try killing you. You’ve never liked me and I’ve never liked you. But you aren’t the assignment. You’re a means to an end. So was the other nurse.”

“What end?” I choked out. “For God’s sake, what do you want?”

“The key to the west wing,” said Creeton. “I’ve tried to get in there but all the doors are barred. Just one is locked. I want the key, and I want my Luger. I want the combination to the safe where it’s kept.”

“I don’t know of any safe.”

“That’s a nice lie,” he said. “But I already questioned the other nurse, and she told me that’s where it is. But she didn’t have the combination. I was finished with her.” He leaned closer, exhaling in my ear as he spoke. “I think you have it. I think you have both.”

I thought frantically. There was no point in stalling him; everyone was busy with the patients two floors down, and no one was coming this way. If I screamed, how quickly would they come? And would he kill me before they got here?

Creeton pressed the tip of the knife harder into my throat. “Don’t scream. I can see you thinking about it. If you try, I’ll cut you with this, and then I’ll cut her. I swear it.”

“Jack Yates has the combination to the safe,” I choked. “He has your gun.”

“Another lie.” His face grew red, and then he sneered. “Oh, perfect Jack, your little lover. Snuck into his room at night, did you? I know all about it. Has he had you yet? Does he know what you are?”

I was blinded by white-hot anger. “You can stick it, you disgusting pig.”

He laughed at that. “You’re not one of the weak. Not you. I’ll get my gun from him; never worry. Now give me the key to the west wing.”

Again, I could have put him off. Only the orderlies had the keys to the west wing, but I still had the ring of keys I’d taken off Paulus’s belt the night before. At least, if I gave Creeton the key, I’d be able to tell Jack where we could find him. “It’s in the pocket of my apron,” I said.

“Don’t reach,” he said. “Keep your hands on the bed where I can see them. I’ll get it myself.”

He took his time about it, putting his beefy hands into my pockets, making sure his fingers grabbed and pinched me through the layers of fabric. He finally found the right key ring and held it out in front of me. “Is this it?”

“Yes,” I said.

“Good girl.” He laughed low and put his hand down again, this time grabbing my backside the way he had the first day. “Very nice.”

Tears stung my eyes. “You can’t hurt me,” I said to him. “I’ve been hurt by worse than you, and he’s dead now, or dying.”

He dropped his hand. “I would have done it, you know. That day. I could have saved everyone a lot of trouble. I’m one of the weak. My father knows it, and so do I. It would have been best if I’d gone that day, because it’s best if the weak are eliminated. But now I have an assignment to carry out. It’s the only reason he hasn’t had me kill myself already.”

“Then go do it,” I spat, “and leave me alone.”

“Business first. Put your wrists together.”

He pulled out another of Nina’s stockings. I couldn’t do it; it was foolish perhaps, but I’d given in too many times in my life, and all my instincts rose up. I fought him as he grabbed my wrists. I thrashed hard and I screamed. He swore and stuffed the stocking into my mouth, then grabbed another as I choked on it, and he yanked my wrists again.

Still I fought. It was a grim struggle, the two of us on the ground, I trying to kick him or jab him with my knees, Creeton using his big bulk to pin me down. I was bruised and straining by the end of it, the stocking thick and foul in my mouth, sweat running down my forehead and onto my temples, tears flowing down my face. But he won. He finally wound the stocking around both of my wrists and tied me to the leg of my bedstead, just as he had done to Nina.