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The voice of God was singing in Mary Terror&039;s apartment, at thirty-three and a third revolutions pera dark blue e uniform she&039;d rented from Costumes atlanta on Friday afternoon The uniforms of the nurses on thearound the collars and the breast pockets, and their hats were trimmed with dark blue This uniform had snaps instead of buttons, as the real uniforms did, but it was all she could find in her size
It was near seven o&039;clock on Saturday ray clouds over the city The third of February, Mary thought: fifteen days until herlady She was patient and careful at her work,sure the ink didn&039;t run or smear She had a jar of white-out nearby in case of mistakes, but her hand was steady On the table beside her bed was a dark blue plastic na hite letters: JaNETTE LEISTER, in otten it fros and novelties "While U Wait" It was the sas the nurses at St James wore Her white shoes - size 10EE - had also coht white stockings at Rich&039;s departone to the hospital yesterday, changing fro on jeans and a sweater under a baggy windbreaker Had taken the elevator up to the lassto look at the babies, and she&039;d been very careful not to make eye contact with any of the nurses but she&039;don the white unifors, and the fact that the elevator opened right onto the nurses&039; station There had been no security people in sight on thewith a walkie-talkie in the lobby and another one strolling around in the parking deck Whichdeck was a scrub; she&039;d have to find another place to leave her truck, close enough to walk to and fro one at either end of the long &039;s south as next to a supply room, which could make for an unpleasant confrontation; the one on the north ould have to do a problen on the stairwell door said FIRE ESCaPE aLaRM WILL SOUND IF OPENED She couldn&039;t check out where the stairwell led to, so she had no idea where she would coh to call the whole thing a scrub until she saw an orderly pop the very sah There wasn&039;t a peep So was the alarn a phony, or was there some way to cheat the alar off, and they&039;d shut it down Was it worth the riski
She&039;d decided to think about it as she looked through theat the babies, so soundlessly, Mary knew she could not take a child from this room because it was too close - twenty paces - to the nurses&039; station Soged: the babies were in the rooms with their mothers The corridor took a curve between the nurses&039; station and the north stairwell, and on almost every door there was a pink or blue ribbon The last four doors next to the stairere pro: three of the four ribbons were blue If a nurse went into one of those rooht she have for going ini Ti times, and ere breasts fori Just need to check the baby for ah the baby
Yes That would work
Mary walked to the north stairwell door and back to where the corridor curved again a wohter trailed fro in another one She noted the numbers of the three rooms with the blue ribbons: 21, 23, and 24 The door to 21 suddenly opened, and a man walked out Mary turned away quickly and strode to a nearby water fountain She watched the man walk in the opposite direction, toward the nurses&039; station; he had sandy-brown hair, and he wore gray slacks, a white shirt, and a dark blue sweater Polished black wingtips on his feet Rich bastard, father of a rich kid, she thought as she took a sip of water and listened to his shoes click on the linoleum Then she walked back to the stairwell&039;s door and looked at the warning sign She would have to knohere this led if she was going to do it, because she couldn&039;t come up in the elevator There was no choice
Mary popped the door open with the flat of her hand, as the orderly had done No alar down the door&039;s latch, and she knew somebody had decided it was better to cheat the alarht She stepped into the stairwell and closed the door behind her
She started down The next door had a big red one on it The stairwell continued down, and Mary followed it at the bottolass inset, Mary could see a corridor hite walls She opened it, slowly and carefully again there was no alar the hallway, her senses questing at a crossing of corridors, a sign pointed to different destinations: ELEVaTORS, LaUNDRY, and MaINTENaNCE The s to the ceiling Mary kept going, in the direction of the laundry In another , and then a husky black man with close-cropped white hair caer attachray uniform that identified him as a member of the hospital&039;s htening of features, a coolness of the eyes The mask said she here she was supposed to be, and she had some authority Surely a maintenance man wouldn&039;t know everyone orked in the hospital His hu at her as they neared each other Mary shtly, said, "Excuse et somewhere - but not too much of a hurry
"Yes&039; his bucket out of her path as she walked on around the corner she heard hiain
another good sign, she thought as the tension eased froet into a lot of places you weren&039;t supposed to be if you stared straight ahead and kept going, and if you , there were a lot of chiefs and the Indians were more concerned with the work at hand
She came upon an area where there were several laundry haured one woroup possibly would She stepped around another corner and waited, pressed against a door, until the voices had gone Then she went on, concentrating on her path and how to get back to the stairwell She passed through a room full of stea there, folding linens on a long table, and as they worked they were talking and laughing over the thu machines Their backs were to Mary, who moved past them with a fast, powerful stride She came to another door, opened it without hesitation, and found herself standing on a loading dock at the rear of St James Hospital, two panel trucks pulled up close and a couple of handcarts left untended
When she closed the door behind her, she heard the click of a lock a sign read PRESS BUZZER FOR aDMITTaNCE aUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY She looked at the buzzer&039;s white button beside the door grip There was a dirty thumbprint on it Then she walked down a set of concrete steps to the pave deck, her gaze alert for security guards
Joy sang in her heart
It could be done
as she worked on the uniforan to think about her pickup truck It was fine for around here, but it wasn&039;t going to do for a long trip She needed so she could pull onto a side road and sleep in a van of some kind would do She could find a van at one of the used car dealers and trade her pickup for it But she&039;d need money, too, because the trade surely wouldn&039;t be even-steven She could sell one of her guns, maybe No, she didn&039;t have papers on any of thenuht to money before She had a little over three hundred dollars in the bank, and a hundred h to last her very long on the road, not with a van needing gas and a baby needing food and diapers
She got up and went to the bedrooht out the boy-sized Buckaroo rifle and telescopic sight she&039;d taken froet a hundred dollars for this, she thought Seventy would be all right Gordie nuht buy the sawed-off shotgun, though
as Mary returned to the bed, she caught sight of a figure walking out on the highway in the di an overcoat that blew around hi up crushed alu She knew his routine He&039;d be out there for a couple of hours, and then he&039;d coh his head off on the other side of the wall
Ought to be asha like you do with all that money you&039;ve saved
Paula had said that In the letter Mary had taken froether
all that money you&039;ve saved
Mary watched Shecklett pick up a can, walk a few paces, pick up a can a truck rushed past, and Shecklett staggered in its cyclone He fought the garbage bag, and then he picked up another can
all that money
Well, it would be in a bank, of course Wouldn&039;t iti Or was the old man the type who didn&039;t trust banksi Maybe kept money stuffed in his mattress, or in shoeboxes tied up with rubber bandsi She watched hi over the possibility like an interesting insect pulled from underneath a rock Shecklett never had any visitors, and Paula - his daughter, Mary supposed - were to happen to hi time before anyone found him She could easily do it, and she didn&039;t plan on sticking around very long after she took the baby Okay
Mary walked into the kitchen, opened a drawer and got a knife with a sharp, serrated blade a knife used for gutting fish, she thought She laid it on the countertop, and then she returned to the bedroo finished with the job by the ti as he passed her door alu Mary stood at her door, dressed in jeans, a broeater, her windbreaker, and a woolen cap She listened for the clicking of Shecklett&039;s keys as he slid the right one into his door Then she went out into the cold, her38 gripped in her right hand and the knife slipped down in her waistband under the windbreaker
Shecklett was a gaunt man with a pockmarked face, his white hair wild and windblown, and his skin cracked like old leather Shecklett barely had tiister the fact that soun&039;s barrel press against his skull "Inside," Mary told hih the open door and slid the key out of the lock Then she picked up the garbage bag full of cans and brought that in, too, as Shecklett stared at her in shock, his pale blue eyes red-rimmed with the chill
Mary closed the door and turned the latch "Kneel," she told him
"Listen listen wait, okayi Is this a jokei"
"Kneel On the floor Do it"
Shecklett paused, and Mary judged whether to kick hi ada, and he knelt on the thin brown carpet in the cramped little room "Hands behind your head," Mary ordered "Now!"
Shecklett did it Mary could s out of the old man&039;s skin, what smelled like a mixture of beer and ammonia The &039;s curtains were already drawn Mary switched on a lamp atop the TV The roo in stacks, TV dinner trays strewn about, and clothes left where they&039;d been dropped Shecklett tre fit, and he put his hands to his ainst his forehead until he laced his fingers behind his head again
She stepped away frolanced quickly at her atch Nine-oh-seven She was going to have to get this done fast so she could find a good deal on a van before she changed to the uniform and made the drive to St James
"So I called the cops So whati" Shecklett&039;s voice shook "You&039;d have done the sa if you heard somebody hollerin&039; next door It wasn&039;t nothin&039; personal I won&039;t do it again Swear to God Okayi"
"You&039;ve got money," Mary said flatly "Where is iti"
"Moneyi I don&039;t have money! I&039;m poor, I swear to God!"
She eased back the Colt&039;s haun aimed into Shecklett&039;s face