CHAPTER NINE

Making Friends

True to his word Jeremy had Jenny reduce the amount of exercise. It was a relief but it didn't help the steady increase of ghosts and headaches that were plaguing me. What was worse I was still having trouble sleeping and the curtain I drew in my mind to protect me from the worst of the horrors was now decidedly frail. My temper was at permanent breaking point and I knew I was close to losing control. Peter's warning about the substituted injections seemed more and more reasonable. I could think of no other reason why I should be feeling so near the edge.

I wandered casually along the clinic corridor despite it being well into the afternoon and way past my own treatment time. As expected, Peter was wandering the corridors close to the clinic and Jenny.

'What is it you're proposing?' I asked.

'You believe me then?'

'Maybe, just tell me what you were planning.'

'You need to persuade Jenny to leave. To do that you'll have to keep a clear head. I know a way to substitute the fake bottle of vitamins for the real ones.'

'So she would be loading the machine with the real vitamins not whatever else she is pumping into me?'

'Right. We won't get away with it indefinitely, Jeremy will wonder why he's not getting the results he's expecting.'

'How long?'

'A few days, maybe. Enough time for you to get friendly with Jenny and warn her of the danger she's in.'

'And then?'

'We'll come up with a plan to get you out preferably before Jeremy gets too suspicious.'

What option did I have? I would have to get to the Penningtons and sort something out once I was free.

I nodded. 'Okay. When?'

'I'll exchange the injections tonight. Tomorrow you should be getting the vitamins. I'll be there to make sure.'

I nodded again.

'Get to know Jenny, you need to be able to tell her about the danger she's in and have her believe you.'

I had no idea how I was going to do that in a few days. She and I had not exactly been best friends up to now. In fact I think she was still bearing a grudge over me walking out on her.

'I'll do my best. But I'm not sure how that'll go. We don't have much in common.' In fact, I thought, he'd be hard pushed to find two people more poles apart.

'She likes dogs.'

'Dogs?'

'Yes, start a conversation about your dog.'

'I don't have a dog.'

'Pretend.'

'I know nothing about dogs.'

'Make it up.'

'Does she paint?'

'Paint what?'

'Never mind. I'll think of something.'

The next morning I took a deep breath and entered the treatment room with a cheerful smile pasted on my face. Jenny did a double-take and stared at me before saying, 'Anything wrong, Grace?'

I toned the smile down a notch. 'Just nice to see you.'

'Really?'

'Of course.'

Peter was skulking in a corner and gave me the thumbs up.

'Well, it's good to see you too, Grace. Are you ready to begin?'

I sat on the examination couch as she wrapped the cuff of the blood pressure machine around my arm.

'You know one of the worst things about being here is how I miss my dog,' I said trying to adjust the smile to incorporate a sad frown.

Jenny looked at me as she pumped the air into the cuff squeezing my arm. 'You have a dog?'

'Oh, yes. I love dogs.'

'Hey, me too,' and for the first time since I had walked out on her she gave me a genuine smile.

Piece of cake I thought.

'What kind of dog is it?' she asked.

'It's a...a pekingese.'

'Oh, how cute.'

'Yes, she is. Do you have a dog?'

'I have two miniature schnauzers.'

'Oh, nice.'

'I miss them too.'

For the next half hour we chatted about dogs, hers mostly, and the cost of vets bills and by the time I left my jaws were aching from the perpetual and unaccustomed smile. But I felt we had made progress.

'How's that?' I asked Peter as he drifted alongside me.

'Great, I think she is beginning to like you.'

'I am trusting you kept your side of the bargain?'

'Yes. It was definitely the vitamins you were given today.'

'Good.'

'Tomorrow she will get the first unexpected results. Jeremy usually checks the logs in the evening. I don't think he will be too suspicious at first but he will be keeping a close eye on them.'

'Any thoughts about getting us out of here?'

'There is a level below the cells that houses the boiler room. It has an old passage out to the street which the maintenance crew and operators used before the boilers were automated. There's a good chance you can still get out that way. I'm going to check it out.'

'Below the cells? Isn't that the basement where the most dangerous patients are kept?'

'It's a level between the basement and the cells. You won't have to go into the basement.'

The second day with Jenny was much like the first. By the third day, however, Peter came to my room early morning to tell me that Jeremy had replaced the vitamins with the serum once more.

'Great, so we get out tonight. One day of that stuff is more than enough.'

'You have to speak to Jenny today and get her to see sense. Jeremy had a right go at her this morning about mixing up the bottles. I can't swap them again it would be too dangerous for her.'

When I entered the treatment room Jenny looked as though she had been crying.

'You okay?' I asked.

'Fine, just work stuff.'

'Oh?'

'It's nothing just a silly misunderstanding.'

'You know, Jenny,' I said as I settled onto the couch, 'this doesn't seem like the safest place to work. Have you ever thought of leaving and getting a job somewhere less stressful?'

'I can't.'

'Of course you can. Just hand in your notice and leave.'

'You don't understand, I have to be here.'

'Why?'

'I just do.'

'Are you afraid to ask to leave? Do you think they will try and stop you?'

'No. Why would they? It's just a job.'

'Then go.'

She shook her head.

I eyed Peter standing in his usual corner.

I took a breath and said softly, 'Is it because of Peter?'

She looked at me alarmed. 'How do you know about Peter? Who else knows?'

'No one,' I reassured her. 'Just me.'

'How do you know I've been looking for Peter?'

Peter had come to stand beside her and was shaking his head.

I ignored him. 'Because he told me.'

He threw up his arms and staked away.

'You've seen him? He's alive? Where is he?'

'Do you know what I am, Jenny? Of what I can do?'

'What do you mean?'

'Do you know what kind of patients are at this clinic? Who it is designed to help?'

'The sick, those that need it. Jeremy explained they all have some,' she looked uncomfortable and started fiddling with the sphygmomanometer, 'some mental health issues.'

Great, so she thought I was mentally ill. It wasn't going to help. 'I am a err, spiritualist,' no need to scare her to death I reasoned, 'I see and communicate with the dead.'

She stared at me.

'I have spoken with Peter and he's worried about you. He wants me to tell you to leave and not come back.'

'That's rubbish.' She went very red then said, 'Sorry, I don't mean to be rude. I know you believe that but that's just until we adjust your medication and...'

'Believe me, the last thing I need is medication. Peter is right here. I nodded toward him. Ask him something.'

Peter returned to stand next to her.

'I think we should get your tests done.' She wrapped the cuff around my arm with unnecessary brusqueness.

'Jenny, please, you have to listen, Peter was killed right here in this clinic.'

'Stop.' Jenny put her hands over her ears. 'I don't want to hear. Peter is alive. I just have to find him. You are sick and I can't believe anything you say.'

God, this was why I never got involved in this sort of thing. I looked to Peter for help.

'Tell her I know the names of her dogs. It's Minky and Marmaduke.'

'He says your dogs are called, Minky and Marmaduke.'

Her eyes narrowed, 'You've been snooping in my office, you've seen the pictures.'

'No, no, Jenny I haven't. I don't even know where your office is.'

She ripped off the cuff and pointed to the monitoring chair.

'Get on the chair.'

'Tell her we first made love...'

'Really?' I spun on him. 'Not 'first picnic', or 'first kiss'?'

'We made love for the first time on her father's boat under a full moon.'

'Jeez, I really needed to hear that.'

'Just tell her.'

'He says you first made love on your father's boat under the moon.'

'Full moon.'

'Full moon,' I repeated.'

'How do you know that?'

'Because he just told me and believe me I wish he hadn't bothered.'

'You're not lying?'

'How could I lie about that?'

'So he's really dead?'

I put my hand on her arm. 'Yes.'

She pulled away. 'How? Why?'

'See? This is why I didn't want you to tell her.'

'Well it wasn't working out your way was it. I didn't have much choice.'

'Are you talking to... Peter?'

'Yes, he's pissed 'cause I told you he was dead.'

'Why?'

'No idea.'

'Because she has to stay calm and appear as though she knows nothing about what's going on so she can get out of here safely, that's why.'

'He's worried for your safety.'

'Why?'

'Jenny, this is not a safe place for you. You need to leave. There is nothing you can do for Peter.'

'How did he die?'

I looked at Peter. 'She has the right to know. She can't be left wondering.'

He nodded.

'First you must remember that after I tell you, you have to act as normally as possible. The clinic must never suspect you know anything about this or that you know what I am. Understand?'

She nodded.

'Peter was murdered when he tried to help someone much like me escape.'

Jenny's face drained of what little color it had left and she sunk onto the chair. 'Oh my god. Jeremy? Jeremy had him killed?'

'You have to stay in control. When you hand your notice in today you have to look perfectly calm.'

Tears were sliding down her cheeks, 'I have been wondering. No one ever mentioned him you see. I hadn't told them that I knew him because I thought it would help me find out the truth. So I wasn't able to ask about him.'

'And that probably saved your life. You have to keep it that way. At the end of your shift hand in your notice and go home. Don't come back. Ever.'

'What if I just walk out now. I could. They don't keep tabs on me.'

'That would be too suspicious. They would wonder why. And there's a good chance they would come looking for you to find out what you knew. This way it will simply look like the ticking off you got this morning will be the reason.'

'You know about that?'

'Yes, Peter told me. He's been keeping an eye on you.'

'So it really is true?'

'Jenny, I really, really don't want that injection today...'

'You know about that too?'

'Yes, it was Peter who swapped the bottles so I would get normal vitamins.'

'I always wondered why that bottle was only for you. What is it?'

'It's better you don't know but I would be grateful if you didn't give me it today.'

'Someone else will give you it tomorrow.'

Not if I could help it, I thought. Hopefully, I would be long gone. 'I'll worry about that tomorrow.'

'Okay, I'll suppress the injection but we really need to take your blood and everything else or Jeremy will wonder why when he comes for the stats.'

'Agreed.'

'Well, that went better than I expected,' I said to Peter after we left the treatment room.

'It would have been better if you hadn't told her about me.'

I dodged a particularly angry-looking ghost and said, 'Just think about that for a moment, will you? Not only was there a very good chance she would not have left but for the rest of her life she would be wondering where you were. How cruel is that?'

'Yeah, I suppose.'

'Stop worrying. For her to have followed you here and stuck it out so long she has to be a lot tougher than she looks. She'll pull it off. And any suspicious behavior she shows will likely be put down to Jeremy yelling at her this morning.'

'I hope you're right. Just you to get out now. I'll come for you and take you down to the boiler room after the evening meal. The majority of the guards go for their meal around then.'