Chapter 16: Tuesday

The guard unscrewed the bottle with his teeth.

He tipped it over my water glass, and a clear liquid ran down the side with a sharp chemical smell.

Then he set my pill bottle next to it, and arranged the label to face the lamp.

He was staging the table.

I opened my eyes.

"That's a lot of effort for a man who already took my notebooks," I said.

He jumped back, and the bottle dropped.

"Ms. Winslow," the detective said from the doorway. "Stay down."

She had her gun out.

The younger one was behind her, and both of them were shouting.

The guard did not run.

He grabbed me instead, a fist in my blouse, and dragged me halfway off the bed.

I felt the wire tear off my ribs.

"Move and she dies," he said, and the towel in his other hand went over my mouth.

It was soaked.

The sweet stink of it reached my throat.

I held my breath.

I kicked, and my heel hit the table, and the glass went over.

Then the bathroom door slammed back against the wall.

Nathaniel crossed the room in two strides.

He did not say a word.

He hit the guard under the ear with his right fist, and the white scar on his knuckle split open.

The guard let go of me and fell against the wall.

Nathaniel hit him again and caught him by the collar before he hit the floor.

"Mr. Rhodes," the detective barked.

"I heard you."

"Stand back."

He stood back, shaking, with blood on his hand.

The detective cuffed the guard face down on the floorboards, over the spilled liquid.

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