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Opening my purse, I quickly pulled on my gloves. Grabbing a wet wipe, I wiped the door handle, the drawer handles—the usual places one would find fingerprints. I closed the drawers he had left opened, arranged the objects that were clattered on the floor, and surveyed the room before I walked downstairs and went back to the guy who got me in.

“What took you so long? Are you okay?”

“I think I should leave,” I whispered, abashedly looking away from him. “My stomach… I’m not feeling very well.”

He nodded quickly, his lips pinching at the sides. “I’ll take you home,” he said, but I knew he didn’t want to leave yet. I gave him a reassuring smile.

“It’s fine. I came in my car,” I said. He nodded and squeezed my hand.

“Goodnight. Take care!”

“Night.”

It took me twenty minutes to get back to the Hollow Inn. Wondering where Asher was, I opened the tracker app to find he was on his way back to Hollowhaven.

How was he traveling? Where did the suit come from, the disguises?

It looked like he did plan it to the last detail before committing himself to the asylum.

I removed the cameras and bugs, packed my bags, and slept restlessly, dreaming about monsters and men. When my alarm rang the next morning, I woke up with a smile, took a quick shower, changed into a dress, and walked out.

I was itching to see Asher, to show him how easy it was to catch him.

He was too reckless, too blinded by his fury to see the bigger picture. He needed to be taught a lesson. Something that would keep him out of prison.

The receptionist smiled when I handed her the keys.

“Leaving? I hope everything went well last night?”

“Yeah, it was alright. Bye, Rexy.”

I walked to my car and took off. I had a feeling Vincent would be making a visit to the asylum soon.

“Oh, Ash. I don’t know whether I should kill you or…”

I parked my car and walked toward Hollowhaven. Sliding the door open, I walked in before softly closing it behind me. The place was unusually quiet today.

I went to the nurses’ station. Nurse Becca and Nurse Shelly looked up from their files.

“Need anything?” Becca asked. “You’re back so soon.”

“I need Doctor T’s patient files. I will take some of his patients and hand over the rest to Doctor Stanley and Camille.”

“Did the Sheriff's department find his key, Doctor? I can’t seem to find it anywhere?”

“I don’t think they did,” I said with a frown.

“We have another set for emergencies,” Shelly said, sliding open a steel locker. She searched through things before she grabbed a bunch of keys and handed them to me. “Here you go.”

Thanking her, I went to Doctor T’s office and stifled a yelp when I saw Asher on the chair like he belonged here, leafing through something. He stilled, and then his eyes went into slits.

“What? You got bored already? You said you’d be spending the night with Vincent.”

“Yeah, I came back earlier because I missed you,” I said with a snarky smile, walking closer to him. “What are you doing here? You stole his keys, didn’t you?”

“Smart,” he said. “And deadly.” Sliding himself out of the chair, he leaned closer. “Poison, isn’t it? Your tool of the trade. But the hand… what did you do with Doctor Dawson's hand?”

I did nothing with Toby's hand. It was all Layne.