Page 45 of The Whispering Girls

“What’s wrong?” he said.

“It doesn’t seem right. Things are different.”

“What?”

“We haven’t seen anyone since we got here.”

“Didn’t the chief say he just received a sedative to sleep? There had to be someone here.”

Katie nodded.

“But you want to make sure?”

“Yes.”

McGaven looked ahead and then back behind in the hallway. “Okay. I’ll go this way,” he said, pointing.

“I’ll go back the other way and then we’ll meet up.” Katie turned. “Have your cell open and put your earbuds in, okay?”

“Copy that.”

Katie wasn’t completely sure if her concerns were warranted, but she wanted to cross it off the list. The town and many of the situations she’d experienced seemed to be not what they were supposed to be.

She stopped at the chief’s room and he appeared to be sleeping still. She could see his chest subtly rise and fall. The monitors were beeping and seemed to indicate his breathing was normal. She moved on, keeping her wits and focus alert. The only sound was her boots making a subtle squeak on the waxed floor.

For half a second, she thought they were being silly and they were wasting their time.

She passed two nurses’ stations, which were also empty. Katie looked at one of the desks and it was clear—no drink, no files, no computer—and there wasn’t any indication anyone had been there today. She kept moving. The next station had a personal water bottle with a cute pink cartoon character. There was a notebook and a key ring with several keys.

The lights were dark, but were on a motion system the farther she walked. There were storage rooms and some vending machines with chairs in the vicinity.

Where was everyone?

Katie could hear breathing in her ears. McGaven was moving faster searching his area and his breath seemed to be elevated.

“Gav, everything okay?” she said quietly.

“Ten-four.”

“Copy that.”

Katie sensed McGaven wasn’t being totally honest. He must’ve felt uneasy about the seemingly empty hospital—she did.

There were several closed doors that belonged to doctors and another door partially open that looked like a staff lounge. Katie slowed and tried the closed doors but they were all locked. When she peered into the lounge, she saw half a dozen round tables with chairs. There was a comfortable-looking sofa toward one end. No one was in there and the tables were clean and the chairs neatly pushed up against the tables.

“Anything?” she said.

“Negative.”

Katie stood in the center of the room taking a three hundred sixty turn, but nothing appeared to be out of place. She glanced into the garbage can, but it was empty and the trash bag was new. It suddenly hit her that looking at the interior of the hospital reminded her of Theresa’s apartment—neat and everything perfectly in place. But there was a sanitized feeling, as if someone wanted to give the façade of what was supposed to be.

Was this what they wanted them to see?

Who?

Why?

“Gav, does everything seem to be perfectly in place?”