Page 58 of The Girl He Crowned

“Caroline,” shesaid. “I need a favor.”

“What kind offavor?” the other woman asked.

“I need to look atthe records here. I need to find a female patient here who might have had achance to come into contact with Adam, however briefly, probably suffering fromsome kind of asocial personality disorder, but not here permanently.”

Caroline gave hera serious look then. “You know I should ask you for a warrant, Paige.”

“I know,” Paigesaid. “And maybe I’ll be able to get one, but it will take time, and I’m notsure we have time. There’s a killer out there, and I need to find her. Please,Caroline, it’s me.”

Paige hated havingto use an old friend like this, but it was the only way to start to get to thetruth of the Exsanguination Killer. For that, Paige would do a lot worse.

“I shouldn’t,”Caroline said, “but I guess if you promise that no one finds out where you gotthe information…”

“No one will heara word from me,” Paige assured her.

Caroline steppedback, letting Paige use her terminal. Paige started to look through the patientfiles, looking for women who had been in the facility at the same time as Adam,who were about the right age to have carried out the killings, and crucially, whowere in the outside world now. That was enough to narrow down the list, butthen Paige had to look through the files, trying to find anyone who wassufficiently dangerous that she might actually be the killer.

One name stoodout: Ann Dawson, who suffered from anti-social personality disorder, but whosecrimes hadn’t warranted a life in an institution. She was out there somewherenow.

Was she theExsanguination Killer? Paige didn’t know. She would need to talk to her forthat, or to someone who knew her.

“Is there any wayof finding out if Ann Dawson had any roommates or friends here?” Paige asked.

“Ann Dawson, AnnDawson…” Caroline seemed to be trying to remember. “Oh, I remember her.Something very cold about her. But she did have a roommate for a while. Louisasomething. Here, let me.”

She started to gothrough the files. “Ah, here we are: Louisa Fischer. An arsonist who killedthree people. She’s still here with us.”

Paige knew thenthat she needed to talk to Louisa. If Adam had found out who the ExsanguinationKiller was, then maybe her roommate had too. If so, if she could point Paige inthe right direction, then maybe Paige could finally get answers about who hadkilled her father.

*

Adam was back inhis cell, alone once again. He lay back on his bed and smiled to himself, alltraces of the anger that he’d exhibited around Paige earlier vanished as ifthey had never been there.

It had beenimportant to appear angry, important to appear as if he had lost control of thesituation. It would make everything he’d “let slip” to Paige appear morebelievable.

Of course it wasbelievable; it had been no more than the truth, just not in the way shethought. Already, he could imagine her working away at the evidence he’d givenher, trying to get closer to the truth of things.

Sooner or later,she would realize that the only way to get the full truth was to do what herequired. She would kill someone, the way Adam wanted. She would tell herselfthat it was an accident, or something she had to do in the course of herduties, but she would do it. She would learn that she was truly like Adam.

Not that it wouldsave her. She had gone too far when she had shot him and put him back in thisplace. Adam wasn’t showing her what she truly was anymore to help her; he wasdoing it because he knew that the realization that she was a killer would hurtPaige more than anything.

Once she hadrealized it,thenhe would be free to kill her.

In the meantime,though, he should probably warn the Exsanguination Killer that Paige King wascoming for her.