Patty looked up and down the hall, and Vi did too. All clear.
“I’m supposed to be on a bathroom break and I’ve gotta get back to the nurses’ station before Sal or Nancy gets suspicious.”
Sal was usually one of the nighttime orderlies—he spent his overnights lifting weights in the exercise room and eating hard-boiled eggs and green bananas, which he said built muscles.
Nancy was the oldest nurse, older than Gran maybe. She painted her eyebrows orange and had thin hair that she dyed black, but really the dye just stuck to her scalp. Vi and Eric called her Mrs. Halloween.
Vi nodded.
Patty thrust the key to Gran’s office into Vi’s hand. “I’m putting my job on the line. You get that, right?”
Vi nodded more vigorously.
“I’m not doing this ever again, just so you know.” She crossed her arms over her chest.
“I know,” Vi said, “I really appreciate—”
“Leave the key here when you’re done,” Patty interrupted her, patting the windowsill. Her breath smelled like bubble gum. “I’ll come back in a couple hours, grab it, and put it away before anyone notices it’s missing.”
Vi held the key tight in her palm.
“Be careful,” Patty said. “Do not get caught.”
“I won’t,” Vi promised.
“And if you do get caught,” Patty said, “I had nothing to do with this. You broke into the office somehow and got that key on your own.”
“Of course,” Vi said. “But I won’t get caught. Don’t worry.”
Patty checked her watch, then scurried down the hall toward the stairs. Vi knew she was heading up to the rooms where the residents were all tucked in for the night.
As she heard Patty’s footsteps trotting up the stairs, she turned left, praying to the God of Silence, the God of Invisibility, to help her walk without being seen or heard. She knew there weren’t many employees working the overnight shift: usually just two nurses and an orderly. Sometimes Miss Ev would come swooping in if there was an emergency or a nighttime intake. The lights in the hallways and entryway were all dimmed way down, only emergency lighting on so everyone could find their way out if there was a fire. EXIT signs glowed above all the doors. Vi hurried down the tiled hallway, passing Dr. Hutchins’s office, the rooms they used for intakes, exams, and therapy sessions.
Gran’s office was at the very end of the hall, on the left just before the Oak Room, where they held staff meetings. Its big, dark-wood-paneled door had a brass plaque on it: DIRECTOR’S OFFICE and beneath that, a smaller sign with her name: DR. HELEN E. HILDRETH. Vi slid the key into the lock and turned. A satisfying click. She checked to make sure no one had spotted her, then slipped into the cool, dark room.
She’d been in this office before, but never without Gran. And never at night, in darkness. She looked around, letting her eyes adjust.
It felt all wrong, and she knew that if Gran were to catch her, she’d be in big trouble, the worst trouble of her life, probably.
But she needed to do this.
She needed to do this for her sister.
I promised her.
And it was more than that now. She needed to learn the truth.
The room smelled of lemon furniture polish, cigarettes, and Gran’s Jean Naté. A comforting smell, but a little unsettling too, because it made her feel like Gran was right there in the room with her, standing in the corner, watching.
Just what do you think you’re doing, Violet Hildreth?
Vi checked the two windows and saw that the blinds and curtains were drawn tight. Still, she didn’t dare flip on the overhead light. Too risky. What if Miss Evil woke up and looked out her window and saw a light on in Gran’s office?