“I’m coming in, one way or the other. Tell Dr. Meng I’ve got a lot of things to report.”
Five seconds later, the door buzzed. I pulled it open and Jenna followed me inside. She looked worried. There was something about mental institutions that made people nervous.
There was a waiting room inside, but it was empty. Nothing but dusty, green-upholstered furniture and a few well-worn magazines. A TV mounted high in one corner played a video loop of health ads. Maybe visiting hours really were over. I didn’t care.
There was only one set of doors, so I pushed through them. They led into a hallway that looked vaguely familiar. My earliest memories were of this place. These walls didn’t fill me with a homey feeling, however. Quite the opposite.
When we reached the nurses’ station, there was no one there. A phone blinked on hold. Another TV was tuned to security cameras, showing the exterior of the building. A cup of coffee, half-empty, sat next to a keyboard. Closed doors lined the hallways beyond the station. Each door was built with thick steel and had a small glass window above the handle. The windows were crisscrossed with silvery wire.
“Miranda?” I called.
No response came back, not even an echo. I looked around and realized the entire floor was quiet. Since when was a building full of crazy people as silent as a morgue? I frowned. When I’d been here before, I’d figured it was around 5:00 a.m. so the other patients were asleep. But that excuse wasn’t working for me now.
“Where is everyone?” Jenna whispered to me. She was standing close to me now, almost leaning up against me.
All I could hear was the buzz of fluorescent lights overhead. I glanced at Jenna, and wondered for the hundredth time since entering whether it was a colossal mistake for her to be here.
“This place is really creepy,” she said. “Should we ring the bell or call someone?”
I looked at her. “Why don’t you go back outside and wait?”
I could see in her face she liked the idea. She seriously considered it. She’d faced a few security guys before, and had seen the air shimmer and open up to other places. But this was different, somehow. We were invading a dangerous place and we had no backup plan to escape.
Jenna’s face tightened and she shook her head. “No. I’m in this with you.”
I didn’t have time to argue with her, so I nodded and led her down the hallway to Dr. Meng’s office. I didn’t bother to tap on the door; I just tried to open it. The door was locked, so I used my sunglasses and let myself in, Jenna behind me. If they could be rude, so could I.
Dr. Meng was inside. She didn’t look at all surprised to see me. She wore a welcoming smile. When she saw Jenna following me, however, she paused and raised her eyebrows.
“Hello, Quentin,” she said. “Who’s your friend?”
Jenna spoke up before I could tell her not to identify herself. “I’m Jenna Townsend,” she said.
“Oh,” Meng said, nodding. “The bride, of course. Please come in and make yourselves comfortable.”
We walked in, but we didn’t sit down. Jenna walked closer to the doctor’s desk and stared at her. “You know who I am? You know what happened to Robert, don’t you?”
“I know of him, yes,” Dr. Meng said. “Please sit down.”
“No, I don’t think so,” Jenna said. “Not until you tell me—”
Jenna broke off then. Her face had gone blank. Frowning, I stared from her to Dr. Meng, who had something in her hand now. I recognized it. A metal object of old bronze. It was the hood ornament. She lifted it up and placed it on the desk between us. I eyed the small figure of a woman in a gown with wings upraised.
“I know you’re doing something to Jenna,” I said, digging in my pocket for my pistol. “Let her go.”
“This is my place, Mr. Draith. I make the rules here. Don’t be rude and upset me.”
I wasn’t entirely sure what she could do, but I recalled the time she’d somehow thrown me out of her building. Maybe my talisman would protect me from such things—but maybe it wouldn’t. It was untested. I decided to play it as coolly as I could.
“OK,” I said, sitting down. “Is that thing supposed to be an angel?”
Dr. Meng ignored me, turning to Jenna. “Now, my dear, for the third time, sit down.”
Jenna immediately did as she was told. If the chair hadn’t been right there, she would flopped onto the floor. I saw the wooden way she moved.
Jenna stared expressionlessly. Her anger was gone. She just stared at Dr. Meng.