DiNolfo continued scanning the apartment, careful not to touch anything. She opened the bathroom door and ripped back the shower curtain, but there was no one there. Her senses had risen to an alert state. She listened intently, trying to determine if she was alone. She could hear construction workers talking outside. A bird chirping on a telephone wire. She could hear her heart beating and her lungs taking in the stale air. She was definitely alone. A bit more relaxed, she moved to the door at the back of the apartment. She assumed this would lead to a bedroom. She was right. A barren room with no furniture and black-out curtains. This was so bizarre. Who lives like this? She pulled a curtain to allow the sun to shine in, giving the room some light. Finally, she turned around and shock hit her like a ton of bricks.
All across the far wall of the bedroom nearest the door was a collage of pictures. From floor to ceiling, photographs of a dark haired woman. DiNolfo approached the wall slowly, suddenly realizing that it wasn’t just pictures of Catherine on the wall, but pictures of Tristan too. Hundreds of pictures cut out and pinned on the wall. Scanning the wall, she stood in disbelief. Bernard Kendricks was a Grade A stalker, and he wasn’t just obsessed with Catherine. She wished she had remembered her camera now. She now knew, without a shadow of a doubt, whom they were looking for.
*
Tristan was still staring out her hospital window when the orderly arrived. She took in the black messy hair that fell around his face, wire rim glasses over his eyes, not really bothering to take in his face. She had more important things to worry about. The man didn't say a word, just pushed her slowly down the hallway to the double doors of the Emergency Room. He pushed a red button on the wall, and the doors swung open. Quietly, they maneuvered the hallways, the sound of rubber wheels moving steadily against the dated linoleum floor. Tristan allowed her thoughts to relax. She would be safe now… wouldn't she? She did the impossible. She got away, and Dr. Branson did seem awfully sure of his hospital's safety standards. Maybe it was okay to finally relax. She closed her eyes and let the repetitive sound of the wheels send her mind into a calmer state.
Several minutes had passed and they were still maneuvering through the hallways.
How far was the Radiology department?
She looked to her left at the sign on the wall that read Radiology with an arrow pointing left. This must be a really large hospital. But then, when the hospital bed continued going straight, she began to worry.
“Where are you taking me?” she asked.
“Just around this corner,” the orderly said in a hoarse voice.
“Radiology was back that way.”
“We have to go this way first.”
Tristan laid back down on her bed, and decided to trust the orderly. It was not his fault that she was on edge. She closed her eyes trying to relax again, but for some reason, her body wouldn't allow it. Sure, she had been through a lot, but there was something her subconscious was trying to tell her. It was screaming at her: “Wake up!”
Suddenly, Tristan opened her eyes and looked up at the orderly. He looked familiar, and she couldn't pinpoint from where. She stared up at him, pretending to look at the ceiling. She watched as the orderly continued to push her down the hallway, a serious look furrowing his brow. At one point he reached up with his right hand to scratch his nose. Concealing his face, it was his eyes that caught her. She knew those eyes, and no disguise, no matter how drastic could hide them. Behind the tinted contact lenses, hair dye, and fake tan, Tristan Morrow saw right through Bernard Kendricks’ disguise.
She leapt off of the hospital bed, pushing it towards Kendricks, knocking him over as she limped as quickly as she could down the hallway. She yelled for help, but she now noticed that he had led her to a section of the hospital that was under renovation. The construction crew was out to lunch, apparently. How convenient for him. She continued limping down the hallway, until she couldn't bare anymore weight on her leg. She hid behind a quiet corner far down the hall, foolishly hoping he had given up the chase. She knew he wouldn't, but she could still hope. She stood there quietly for a moment just listening, but the sound of her heart was the only audible thing she could hear. Slowly, she crept to the corner hoping to get a glimpse of the hallway, hoping that he was still on the ground where she left him. She grabbed the edges of the wall with her fingers and pulled herself so that she could peak around the corner. She would not get the glimpse she sought. The second she looked around the corner, he was there, his hand over her mouth, his other around her midsection dragging her swiftly down the hallway and towards the exit door that glared violently with sunlight at the far end of the corridor.
Try as he might to conceal her scream, a horrible shriek escaped from her lungs. It bounced off of everything, from floor to ceiling, echoing down the corridor and into the other arteries of the hospital. Though lessening with power with each square inch, the sound reached the person she intended.