hut behind Arnulfo, the sound of the s

ne m

e a grey dress lay folded. It was modest, high-necked, the color of wet pavement. She

. It was her only link

d the cold brass handle. She held her breath

icked

surged in her chest. She

walls was disturbing-abstract faces twisted in silent screams, painte

tairs were. She turned a sharp corner

alling onto the runner

black housekeeper's uniform. Her hair was pulled back so tight

her lip curling in a sneer. "Th

woman. Higgins reached out, her fingers like talons,

ng. You are not pe

he couldn't scream. She opened her mouth and, in a fit

n was immediate. She swung her hand, a hea

cheek but caught her shoulder, send

oug

but it carried the we

edroom. He was wearing a white bathrobe, open at the chest

owed her head, her voice dripping with fal

mpletely. He walked toward Erline,

oked bored. He pulled a sma

h," h

n on the screen. It was

nium shutters began to descend over the floor-to-ceiling windows. Clang. Clang. Clang. The s

lsed above the

locked. It had been sealed.

the shutters, h

ng her into the wall. He smel

e no exit

ny, taken from a distance. A woman in a hospital gown sat on

"She liked to run, too. Now she resides in a f

ff and slipped the pho

refer not to send you to Switze

was a threat of erasure. He could make her disappear, an

," Arnulfo said. "Don'

stairs with a mock-polite sweep of her

ept her head down, sliding past Arnulfo.

m, he reached ou

her grey dress, smoothin

e murmured. "Insign

airs two at a time, fleeing