Page 1 of Say Now
PROLOGUE
Dr.Rachel Kent stood at the window of her small office and watched the snow falling outside.She was working late again, and the sun had set some time ago, but the darkness had not taken over.A layer of snow covered the ground, the tops of buildings, parked cars, and stood in tall ridges atop road signs and traffic lights.The white blanket amplified the light from the moon.It was night, but it felt like dusk or dawn.
She turned from the window to go back to her desk.There was something beautiful about the clean covering of snow, but she knew it would make her commute home a little more slippery.Still, the later it got, the less traffic was out on the roads, and this was not her first Montana winter.
Rachel sat down and opened the thick manila folder stamped with the words ‘CONFIDENTIAL.’Inside were court orders, psychiatric assessments, interview transcripts, police statements, crime scene photos, and a medical history.The defendant was charged with a violent crime gruesome enough to make most people recoil, but she’d seen far worse and become hardened to the content like she was hardened to the harsh winters.
So, are you mentally fit to stand trial?Is this all an act, or are you actually insane?
A snap of cold pierced Rachel’s chest as she heard something in the office.Not in the room she was in, but the wider office.She looked toward the door and into the darkness beyond, which suddenly held untold dangers.It was not unusual for someone else to be in the office late at night, but she was sure she was alone.
She got up from the desk, went to the window, and checked the parking lot outside.Her car was parked there, and one other car was parked there, but she remembered the other one being there for the last couple of days.She had no idea who it belonged to.She turned to face the darkness of the office again.Outside was night, bitter and cold, but it felt far safer than the confines of the office.
"Hello?"she called out.
Rachel waited for the warm and friendly reply of another, but no sound came.
She took a deep breath and walked past the tall bookcase on the right-hand wall, filled with weighty law tomes and old case files.Her head snapped to the right to look into cold eyes.She almost gasped until she realized they were her own reflected in the glass of her framed law degree.
Her hands reached out for the doorframe, and she held on as if for dear life, pulling her body forward to peek out of the room.Four desks were arranged symmetrically in the center of the larger room, and around them, open office doors of other professionals.No lights were on in any of the offices.
"Hello?"she offered again.
Rachel took a long, quiet breath and bit her bottom lip.She stood gripping the door frame, listening for another sound, but it was quiet.The entire building held its breath.It wasn’t only the absence of sound; it felt like the building sucked all sound from the air.
She had faced the worst of the worst in court and been in interview rooms with some hardened criminals.Her bravery and stubbornness took over, and she exited the false safety of her office.
Then again.The sound was faint, but a pitter-pattering that almost sounded like footsteps.She went toward it, telling herself that if she wasn’t afraid of it, then there was nothing to be afraid of.Yet, the closer she got to the source of the sound, the more she realized that her thought process was pretty stupid for someone so intelligent.
Rachel spun.
A growl from her right.
Then the same sound of footsteps.
And…the HVAC system kicked in, flooding the office with warm air.It had sounded like footsteps, but it wasn’t.
Rachel looked up at the metal vent connected to the furnace in the basement, and she glared at it.
"You gave me a scare!"
The swirling fire within was soon replaced by relief as the tightness in her muscles dissipated.She shook her head as she went back to her office.There was enough noise from the heating system to hide the sound of someone creeping around the office, but now that she knew what the noise was, she felt much more at ease.
Rachel entered her office, the desk immaculately polished oak, everything placed neatly as it should be, and the bowl of mints glinting like marbles with the light from the window.
Let’s get this done so I can finally go home.
She rounded her desk and sat down, looking over the files she had spread out.The clock on the wall locked with sharp precision.She couldn’t remember the sound from before she left the office to explore—her mind must have become used to it and blocked it out.
Then something that truly puzzled her—this time, not a figment of her imagination.Among the files of the case was a crime scene photo that didn't belong.It was from her most notorious case: Vincent Torres.She had deemed him too dangerous to be released, but had approved his transfer to a less secure facility.He was kept off the streets, but that didn't stop him from being a danger.Locked up securely with other inmates and guards had led to him killing two of those fellow inmates and one guard.
Rachel picked up the photo, not turned off by the amount of blood splattered across the wall.
"What are you doing in here?You don't belong here."
A creak.
This one didn't come from the HVAC system or any other machinery in the office.Someone caused this creak, and that someone stood in her office doorway.The figure was bathed in shadow, cutting off her only escape route.
