Page 86 of Sleep No More
Fenner’s office had not been left in chaos. Whoever had gone through his files and records had been careful not to leave any obvious tracks except when it came to the medication locker. The door of the locked closet had been forced open and there were some empty places on the shelves. It was the only space in the Institute that looked as if it had been searched. That was not an accident, Ambrose thought. The killer had wanted to make it appear that someone had broken in to steal drugs. Just another add-on to the media story of a drug ring operating out of the Institute. No loose ends.
Ambrose headed for the rear door. He had spent too much time searching the old mansion. He needed to get back to Pallas. He could no longer ignore the frisson of dread that was icing the back of his neck.
CHAPTER FORTY
It was rainingwhen Ambrose braked to a violent stop in front of the entrance to Carnelian Memorial Gardens. Ignoring the downpour, he ran to the caretaker’s cottage and pounded on the front door.
Ron Quinn opened the door and stared at him, first in surprise and then in concern. “You’re the writer, the guy who is helping Ms.Llewellyn with the podcast investigation. What’s wrong?”
“Where were the asylum patients buried?” Ambrose asked.
“What?” Ron looked past Ambrose and saw the car. He frowned. “Is Ms.Llewellyn okay?”
“No. She’s been kidnapped.”
Ron looked stunned. “Who would want to grab her?”
“Got a feeling we’re dealing with Moore and Guthrie,” Ambrose said. “They have to be involved in this thing. I think they’re panicking. My best guess is that they will try to make Pallas disappear the same way they did Emery Geddings. The same way Geddings made Brooke Kendrick vanish.”
“Who is Brooke Kendrick?”
“Later,” Ambrose said. “The point is the bodies of Geddings and Kendrick were never found. People assume Geddings left town to escape his competitors in the drug business. Nobody even noticed that Kendrick had vanished. I think they were concealed in the one place no one would think to look. The asylum cemetery.”
“I don’t understand.”
“You said the inmates who died at the hospital were buried in numbered caskets and the only way to identify the dead was with a directory that had been destroyed in a fire. You told Pallas and me the deceased were now in the equivalent of unmarked graves.”
“That’s right.”
“Where is the asylum cemetery? I’ve been out there a few times and I never saw a graveyard.”
Comprehension lit Ron’s eyes. “Because there wasn’t one. The dead were stored in a crypt in the basement of the hospital.”
“There’s a basement?”
“The entrance was concealed behind the main staircase. It connected to one of the old smugglers’ tunnels. Why are you so interested in it?”
“I think someone is using it to make people vanish.”
Ron’s eyes narrowed. “You think whoever kidnapped Ms.Llewellyn will take her to the crypt?”
“It seems like the most likely scenario. People tend to stick with whatever worked in the past.”
“Any idea how many people we’re talking about here?”
“Two, I think, Moore and Guthrie.”
Quinn watched him intently. “Ms.Llewellyn may already be dead.”
“No,” Ambrose said, very certain now. “I’d know if she was dead. But time is running out. I need to move fast.”
Ron nodded, accepting the statement as fact. “I’ve been inside the hospital a few times over the years. I know where the door to the crypt used to be, but like I said, it’s been walled.”
“There must be a way in,” Ambrose said. “I’m sure Geddings used the crypt on a regular basis for his drug-dealing business and maybe to hide Kendrick’s body.”
“Huh.” Quinn got a knowing look. “If you’re dealing with a couple of kidnappers, you don’t want to go in through the front door. They’ll use Ms.Llewellyn as a hostage.”
“Got a better idea?”