Chapter 18: Night Float

We stood in the corridor and looked at the little plastic cap in Dolores's palm.

"How long has it been there?" I asked.

"I don't know. The detector isn't on the maintenance list, so somebody who wasn't maintenance put it in."

"Is it on?"

"It's got a battery in the base. It's been blinking green since I found it."

I felt the blood leave my face.

"Call room two," I said. "That's where..."

"I know where," said Dolores.

"The first night. The bunk. The night with the pager."

"Honey, I know."

Kurt said nothing at all.

He took the little cap from her hand, turned it over, and read the tiny serial number on the base.

Then he put it carefully in his pocket, and I realized how quiet his rage was.

It was a still, flat kind of quiet.

"Pembrey has video of us," I said.

"Probably," said Kurt.

"Of..."

"Yes."

"Of me."

"Gretchen." He took my elbow. "Look at me."

I looked.

"He is not going to use that. I will make sure of it, or I will end him."

I had never heard him say a threat before.

It sounded like a diagnosis.

"The only room in this building he can't reach," said Dolores, "is the Chief's office."

"Nobody but the Chief holds a key to it, and nobody can see past the blinds."

"I've swept it myself," Kurt said. "Twice."

"Then that's where you two sleep," said Dolores. "Until we figure out what he has."

"We don't sleep in the Chief's office."

"Do whatever you like in it," she said, and walked off, with her clogs squeaking.

That night, at one, I let myself into his office with the spare key he'd pressed into my palm.

The blinds were shut, and a lamp was on.

On the long leather couch under the window he'd laid a folded blanket, and on top of it, a butterscotch candy.

I put it in my mouth and sat down.