Fifteen

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BEDTIME AT LYLE HOUSE was nine, with the lights out and the no-talking rule coming into effect an hour later when the nurses retired. Each side of the upper level had a bedroom for its assigned nurse. Liz had said there was no door linking the boys’ and girls’ areas, but according to Rae, there was one between the nurses’ rooms, which gave them quick access to the whole upper floor in an emergency.

So while Rae swore Mrs. Talbot was a quick and sound sleeper, we had to take Miss Van Dop into account, too. An early break-in was too risky. Rae set the alarm on her sports watch for 2:30 and we went to sleep.

***

At 2:30, the house was still and silent. Too still and too silent. Every creaking floorboard sounded like a gunshot. And in an old house, most boards creak.

Rae followed me into the kitchen, where we took two juice boxes from the fridge and set them on the counter. Then I opened the pantry door, turned on the light, and returned to the hall, leaving both doors half open.

Dr. Gill’s office was at the west end, near the boys’ stairs. Rae had checked out the lock a week ago. It was only a regular interior key lock, not much tougher than the kind you can pick with a coin. Or so she said. I’d never had any reason to open a household lock—probably because I didn’t have siblings. So I watched and took mental notes. All part of gaining life experience.

Rae had watched Dr. Gill get her file out once, during her session, so she knew where they were kept. The office had an all-in-one printer, which made things easy. I stood guard. The only hitch came when she copied the pages, the swoosh-shoosh of the scanner head loud enough to make me nervous. But the files must have been short because by the time I looked in, she was returning them to the folder, copies made.

She passed me two sheets, folded in half, then she returned the file to the drawer. We backed out of the room. As she reengaged the lock, the unmistakable sound of a creaking floorboard made us both freeze. A long moment of silence passed. Then a fresh creak. Someone was coming down the boys’ stairs.

We took off, padding barefooted down the hall. At the half-open kitchen door, we darted inside, then into the open pantry.

“Come on,” I stage-whispered. “Just pick something already.”

“I can’t find the Rice Krispie bars. I know there were some last week.”

“The guys probably—” I stopped, then hissed. “Someone’s coming. Get the light!”

She flipped the switch as I closed the door all but a crack. As I peered through the gap, Derek stopped inside the kitchen door. He left the light off as he looked around, moonbeams from the window casting a glow on his face. His gaze swept the kitchen and came to rest on the pantry door.

I pushed it open and stepped out.

“Cracker?” I said, holding up a box.

He looked at me and, in a flash, I was back in the basement, sailing through the air. My smile fell away and I shoved the box into his hands.

“We were getting a snack,” Rae said.

He kept watching me, eyes narrowing.

“I’ll get the juice,” Rae said, squeezing past.

Derek looked over at the boxes we’d left on the counter. Proof that we’d only been raiding the kitchen. It had been my plan, and I thought it was so clever, but as his gaze swung back my way, the hairs on my neck rose and I knew he didn’t buy it.

I stepped forward. For a second, he didn’t move and all. I could hear was his breathing, feel the sheer size of him, looming there.

He stepped aside.

As I passed, he took a cracker sleeve from the box and held it out. “Forgot these.”

“Right. Thanks.”

I took one and fled into the hall, Rae behind me. Derek followed us out but headed the other way, toward the boys’ side. When I turned to go up the stairs, I glanced down the hall. He’d stopped outside Dr. Gill’s office and stood looking at the door.

***

We lay in bed with the lights out for fifteen minutes, long enough for Derek to either tell the nurses on us or just go back to bed. My fingers kept brushing the pages I’d stuffed in my pajama waistband. Finally, Rae scooted over to my bed, flashlight in hand.

“That was a close call,” she said.

“Do you think he’ll tell the nurses?”

“Nah. He was getting a snack himself. He wouldn’t dare tattle.”

So Derek had just happened to get up for a snack while we were breaking into Dr. Gill’s office? I hated coincidence, but surely the printer hadn’t made enough noise for him to hear it upstairs.

I pulled the sheets out and smoothed them on the mattress.

“That’s Derek’s,” Rae whispered as she turned on the flashlight.

I tugged the second page free and held it out. “You want Simon’s?”

She shook her head. “That’s Derek’s second page. There wasn’t one for Simon.”

“You couldn’t find it?”

“No, there wasn’t one. The dividers in the drawer are marked with our names, then the file folders are marked again. There wasn’t a divider or a file for Simon.”

“That’s—”

“Weird, I know. Maybe they keep it someplace else. Anyway, you wanted Derek’s, so I figured I shouldn’t waste time searching for Simon’s. Now, let’s see what Frankenstein is in for.” She moved the beam to the top of the page. “Derek Souza. Birth date, blah, blah, blah.”

She shifted the light to the next section. “Huh. He was brought to Lyle House by a children’s services agency. No mention of that father they’re always talking about. If child services is involved, then you can bet he’s no dad of the year. Oh, here it is. Diagnosis … antisocial personality disorder.” She snorted a laugh. “Yeah? Tell me something I didn’t know. Is that really an illness? Being rude? What kind of meds do they give you for that?”

“Whatever it is, they aren’t working.”

She grinned. “Got that right. No wonder he’s been stuck here so long—”

The hall light clicked on. Rae dove for her bed, leaving the flashlight behind. I turned it off as the bathroom door closed. When I made a motion to toss it to her, she shook her head, then leaned out and whispered, “You finish up. Find anything interesting? Tell me in the morning.”

Whoever was in the bathroom—Tori or Mrs. Talbot—seemed to take forever. By the time the toilet flushed, Rae was asleep. I waited a few minutes, then turned on the flashlight and read.

With each sentence, the ball of dread in my stomach grew. Antisocial personality disorder had nothing to do with being rude. It meant someone who showed a complete disregard for others, who lacked the ability to empathize—to put himself in another person’s shoes. The disorder was characterized by a violent temper and fits of rage, which only made it worse. If you didn’t understand that you were hurting someone, what would make you stop?

I flipped to the second page, labeled “background.”

Performing a standard background check on DS has proved difficult. No birth certificate or other identifying records could be found. They likely exist, but the lack of concrete information on his early life makes a proper search impossible. According to DS and his foster brother, SB, Derek came to live with them at approximately five years of age. DS does not recall—or refused to share—the details of his life before this, though his responses suggest he may have been raised in an institutional setting.

Simon’s father, Christopher Bae, appears to have taken de facto custody of DS, with no record of a formal adoption or fostering arrangement. The boys were enrolled in school as “Simon Kim” and “Derek Brown.” The reason for the false names is not known.

School records suggest DS’s behavioral problems began in seventh grade. Never an outgoing or cheerful child, he became increasingly sullen, his withdrawal punctuated by bouts of misplaced anger, often culminating in violent outbursts.

Violent outbursts …

The bruises on my arms throbbed and I absently rubbed them, wincing.

No incidents have been properly documented, making a complete forensic study of the disorder’s progression impossible. DS seems to have avoided expulsion or other serious disciplinary action until an altercation described by witnesses as “a normal school yard fight.” DS violently attacked three youths in what officers suspected was a chemically fueled rage. An adrenaline surge may also explain the display of extraordinary strength reported by witnesses. By the time authorities interceded, one youth had suffered spinal fractures. Medical experts fear he may never walk again.

The single-spaced page of background detail continued, but the words vanished, and all I could see was the floor whipping past as Derek flung me across the laundry room.

Extraordinary strength …

Violent outbursts …

May never walk again …

They’d taken Liz away for throwing pencils and hair gel bottles, and they kept Derek? A huge guy with a history of violent rages? With a disorder that meant he didn’t care who he hurt or how badly?

Why hadn’t someone warned me?

Why wasn’t he locked up?

I shoved the pages under my mattress. I didn’t need to read the rest. I knew what it would say. That he was being medicated. That he was being rehabilitated. That he was cooperating and had shown no signs of violence while at Lyle House. That his condition was under control.

I shone the flashlight on my arm. The finger marks were turning purple.