Her Darkest Nightmare (The Evelyn Talbot Chronicles #1) - Brenda Novak Page 0,4

come back to work?” Besides, Evelyn felt duty bound to carry the heaviest load. She was largely the reason they were all stuck in the middle of nowhere with thirty-seven of the worst serial killers in America. The other 213 inmates were also diagnosed as psychopathic but were in for lesser crimes and would one day be released.

“You could if you wanted to,” Lorraine insisted.

“I don’t want to. There’re only four other productive members of the team right now. I can handle him.” The men she’d come here to study manipulated her constantly, or tried to. Why should she expect Hugo to be any different? Especially with the way their first meeting had gone?

“He’s very nice whenever I see him in the dining hall.” Lorraine put a sack lunch on the desk. She came over to the mental health wing quite often to make sure Evelyn had food to eat, regardless of the meal.

Evelyn peeked in at her lunch: carrots, an apple, a cup of chicken noodle soup and a chocolate-chip cookie. “You can’t trust nice.” Jasper had once been nice, too. And look what he did.

Lorraine adjusted an earring that was hanging too low. “Dr. Fitzpatrick says everyone dons a mask. With psychopaths, that mask is more like a mirror. Whatever they think you want to see, that’s what they reflect back at you. They’re empty.”

No, not empty. Evelyn didn’t believe that for a second. She’d once seen the bared soul of a psychopath, stared into his eyes in a way Dr. Fitzpatrick never had and, God willing, never would. The men they treated were far from empty; “empty” was too synonymous with “neutral, harmless.” If she were a religious person she might substitute “soulless” and find it quite fitting, but she hadn’t been to church in over a decade.

“They know how to blend in,” she corrected. “How to appear as emotionally invested as those around them. They’re wolves in sheep’s clothing, which is why they’re able to cause so much pain and destruction.” And why the truly caring individuals involved in their lives usually suffered for it.

Lorraine seemed to measure Evelyn more closely. “Are you sure it’s only Hugo that’s got you down? You look … frazzled.”

And it was only Monday. Not a great way to start out the week. “I didn’t sleep well last night.”

“Why don’t you go home and lie down, get some rest?”

Evelyn waved her off. “It’s not even noon.”

“Listen, this place won’t fall apart if you take a couple of hours. Everyone admires your commitment—no one more than me—but you’ll run yourself into a brick wall if you don’t slow down.”

Evelyn shook a daily vitamin from the bottle she kept in her desk and tossed it back with a drink of water. “Don’t be so dramatic. I’m fine. And I can’t leave.” She checked the clock hanging on her wall. “Our new inmate will be here any minute.”

“Anthony Garza? I thought he wasn’t due until four.”

“Weather report says we’ve got another storm coming in. So they caught an earlier flight. You didn’t get the message?”

Lorraine adjusted her hairnet. “I haven’t checked my e-mail this morning. I’ve been too busy in the kitchen.”

“One of the federal marshals called just before I met with Hugo. The plane’s already landed in Anchorage.” Because of the amount of security required to move the high-profile killers they often received, arrivals were always a big deal. The entire on-site staff was alerted … just in case—although Lorraine’s presence wasn’t as high a priority as the warden, the COs and the mental health team. The last thing they needed was for someone to make a careless mistake that would result in an escape or injury. As the first institution of its kind, Hanover House was perceived to be a radical new approach to the psychopathy problem, which meant they had to prove themselves professional and effective or risk losing the public support they’d worked so hard to achieve. Just because Hilltop hadn’t mounted much resistance to having a maximum-security mental facility built on the outskirts of town—nothing like the other locations the government considered—didn’t mean they wouldn’t rally at the prodding of an inciting event. For the most part, the locals who weren’t working at the center seemed to be reserving judgment, but they weren’t welcoming her or her brainchild with open arms, especially Amarok, the handsome Alaska State Trooper who was about the town’s only police presence.

“What do we know about Garza?” Lorraine asked.

That question made Evelyn uncomfortable. The inmates