The Warden by Madeleine Roux Read Free Book Online

wasn’t fast enough for Jocelyn, who couldn’t help whipping her head around to make sure Crawford wasn’t there, breathing down their necks. The other orderlies watched them, curious, and her nerves began to twitch again. Why were they staring like that? And why couldn’t this idiot hurry up and just find the right key. . . .
    Her pulse only raced faster as he unlocked Lucy’s door and swung it open. They had come to the part of the plan Jocelyn hadn’t wanted to consider at all. What if Lucy fought them too hard? What if Jocelyn couldn’t get her to leave the room without having another episode?
    But she wouldn’t allow the orderly to see her worry. Instead, she breezed through the door, Madge following, and then slowed when she found Lucy standing in the middle of the room, alert, eyes wide, as if she had been waiting for them.
    â€œHello again, Lucy,” Jocelyn said gently. “I’m here to take you upstairs, all right? Will you come along with us?”
    To her surprise, Lucy jumped forward, practically sprinting out of the room. On the way, she took Jocelyn and Madge by the hands, her grip strong for her size and condition.
    â€œThat was easy,” Madge murmured, taking a quick glance back as they hurried down the corridor.
    â€œWould you want to stay in that cell?” Jocelyn whispered back. “She must be desperate for air.”

L ucy almost spoiled the plot right after they reached the main level.
    For a moment, Jocelyn was certain Tanner had abandoned them, but then he came around the corner, wheelchair gleaming like a chariot, and Jocelyn felt a spike of hope. Unfortunately, that hope was immediately dashed as they crossed in front of Crawford’s office. Lucy recognized the name or the door, seizing in their grasp, her mouth opening wide in horror.
    Jocelyn anticipated the scream just in time, clapping her hand over Lucy’s mouth and wrestling her down into the wheelchair.
    â€œNo, no, no,” she whispered. “Not him. We’re not going to see him. Tanner, go!”
    â€œGo where ?”
    â€œThe lobby, the doors! Take her outside!”
    â€œOutside!?” Madge hiss-whispered, trotting after Jocelyn and Tanner. The wheelchair squeaked as they turned it around and raced down the corridor, through the lobby, past the bewildered nurses at the station, and toward the front doors. “You’re going to get us fired, Joss!”
    â€œRelax, it’s just for a minute, just so she can get some air and see the sky,” Jocelyn replied, sounding much more calm and confident than she felt.
    For her part, Lucy was behaving, sitting quietly, her hands clutching the handles of the wheelchair for dear life but her mouth clamped shut. Good. They might actually make it out the doors without the whole of Brookline being alerted.
    Jocelyn dodged around the wheelchair, breaking into a run and reaching the doors before Tanner could crash into them. Flinging the doors wide, she couldn’t help but smile, absorbing the look of wonder and excitement that broke across Lucy’s face as the sunshine fell in her lap.
    â€œIs there a point to this?” Madge asked, watching as Tanner wheeled the girl down the walkway and toward a shaded patch just to the right of the hospital. They paused near a bed of tulips, the flowers all bowed from so many nights of rain, but a few petals still clinging on. “Other than getting us all sacked, of course . . .”
    â€œIsn’t the ‘program’ all about unorthodox treatments?” Jocelyn said with a shrug. “Maybe she just needed some fresh air. It couldn’t hurt.”
    â€œYes, it could,” Madge replied. “What if she runs off and we can’t catch her?”
    â€œThere’s a fence.”
    â€œWhat if it’s . . . I don’t know, overstimulating or something!? What if she has a deathly allergy to tulips? Or grass? What if she catches pneumonia and