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He was getting bored Wouldn’t she do anything? Wouldn’t she start yelling? Soo when at last she raised her head and he saw tears strea down her cheeks

This was better Soon she would be ready to listen to him Soon now He would hold off on another shot for an hour or so He turned away and unlocked the door of the tiny roo She could feel the wet on her face, taste the salt when it trickled into her ? Ja from the wound over his left ear He’d been so still, so very still Beadermeyer had promised he wasn’t dead How could she believe that devil?

He had to be all right She looked at the soft silk gown that slithered against her skin It was a lovely peach color ide silk straps over her shoulders Unfortunately it bagged on her now She looked at the needle ed her five tiin to clear, slowly, so very slowly More things, h, take shape and substance

She had to get out of here before he either killed her or took her soht of James He could find her if anyone could

She forced herself to her feet She took one step, then another Soon she alking slowly, carefully, but naturally She stood in front of the narro and stared out onto the sanitariuood hundred yards before it butted against a heavily wooded area Surely she could walk that far; she had before She just had to get to those woods She could get lost in those woods, just as she had before Eventually she’d found her way out She would again

She walked back to the closet There was a bathrobe and twoelse No pants, no dresses, no underwear

She didn’t care She would walk in her bathrobe, to the ends of the earth if necessary Then another veil lifted in her brain, and she remembered that she’d stolen one of the nurse’s pantsuits that first tiain?

Who had done this to her? She kneasn’t her father He was long dead It had to be theto be her father, the man who’d called her, who’d appeared at her bedroomIt could have been Scott, it could have been Dr Beadermeyer, it could have been some man either of them had hired

But not her father, thank God That miserable bastard was finally dead She prayed there really was a hell If there was, she kneas there, in the deepest pit

She had to get to her mother Noelle would help her Noelle would protect her, once she knew the truth But why hadn’t Noelle ever co the six hter was here? As far as Sally knew, Noelle hadn’t done anything to help her Did she believe her daughter was crazy? She’d believed her husband? She’d believed Sally’s husband?

How to get out of here?

Aentlemen care for a cup of coffee?"

"No," Quinlan said curtly "Tell us where Sally is"

Ahed and motioned the two men to sit down "Listen, Jaotten scared when she saw you were hurt, and she ran That’s the only explanation Sally’s not a strong girl She’s been through a lot She was even in an asylum You don’t look shocked I’ like that shouldn’t be talked about

"But listen, she was very ill She still is It ain, just like she ran away froo to Thelone from James’s room Isn’t that odd? She left not even a memory of herself in that room

"It was like she wanted to erase her very self" She paused a ypsy’s voice, "It’s almost as if she’d never really been there at all, as if we all just iined she was here"

Quinlan ju as hell, but David didn’t say a word, just waited Quinlan stuck his face very near hers and said slowly and very distinctly, "That’s bullshit, Amabel Sally wasn’t an apparition, nor was she nuts, as you iine hearing a wo her father’s face at her bedrooht You tried to make her doubt herself, didn’t you, Amabel? You tried to make her think she was crazy"