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“Of course!” he said, enthusiastically.
“Great. You can do the first watch with me, then Charlie and Will can do the second,” Valerie explained.
“What about me?” Doctor Whitmore asked.
“You don’t need to put yourself in the firing line, Doctor Whitmore,” Charlie said. “We can handle this.”
“If it’s all the same to you,” Doctor Whitmore said. “I’d like to help. I took an oath to do no harm, it seems to me that if I just go to bed waiting for another of my patients to be murdered, I’m not fulfilling that oath.”
Valerie admired the doctor’s sentiment. “Okay, but you’ll need to follow our instructions to the letter.”
“Agreed.”
The group then finished their drinks and left the study.
“Val, come get me if you need me,” Charlie said, seeming more concerned than usual.
“I’ll be fine,” Valerie said. “I have the intrepid Officer Sam Teller by my side.”
Sam blushed. “Thanks.”
“And me,” Doctor Whitmore added. “You know I did box once back at Harvard.”
“How did that go?” asked Charlie.
Doctor Whitmore smirked. “You should have seen the other guy... standing over me as I took a nap on the canvas.”
Charlie patted the doctor on his back. “It happens to the best of us.”
Valerie heard rainfall outside.
“Ah, we’re going to get soaked going into the main building,” Doctor Whitmore said. “But I suppose there’s nothing else for it.”
“It’s only rain,” said Valerie. “We could be about to face far worse.”
Valerie then headed toward the storm.
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
Doctor Whitmore hated to admit it, but he was enjoying himself. Valerie Law and Sam Teller had been good company for nearly two hours as they walked around the quiet hallways of Elmwood.
Valerie was extremely knowledgeable about psychiatric conditions, especially violent ones. And Sam Teller was a bundle of youthful verve, keen to learn anything he could.
They walked through the empty hallways of Elmwood. The only sound was the echo of their footsteps. Doctor Whitmore talked to Sam and Valerie, telling them how strange Elmwood seemed at night, without the hustle and bustle of patients moving around. It was eerie.
“It’s like a different place,” Doctor Whitmore said. “I feel like I’m in a dream. Elmwood is usually so busy during the day. But now, it’s so quiet.”
“I know what you mean,” said Sam. “It’s like the whole place is haunted.”
Doctor Whitmore chuckled. “I don’t think it’s quite that bad. But it is strange, isn’t it?”
He looked out the window at the darkened grounds. There was a layer of fog hovering above the ground, swirling around the trees and bushes.
“It’s too dark to see much,” said Doctor Whitmore, “but I guess it’s just as well. There’s not much happening out there.”
Valerie looked out the window with him.
“Let’s hope there’s nothing happening at all.”