Evil Never Dies

Kitally moved ahead of her. “I’ll take care of her.”

“Hello,” Dixie said as they approached the nurses’ office. “Glad to see you have your badge on this time.”

Betty brightened. “I told you she was a good girl.”

“I don’t know if someone else has taken care of it,” Kitally said, “and I hate to be a tattletale, but I just saw Cecil sneak out through the back door. The one that leads right out to the parking lot.”

“Oh, lord.” Dixie huffed past them. “Thanks for telling me,” she called back, then disappeared around the corner.

“It worked,” Kitally said before she realized Betty had already grabbed the file room key from the nurses’ office and was making her way down the hall with it. She had the file room open and had disappeared inside before Kitally could catch up.

“Here,” she said when Kitally entered the room. “Put the key back on the little hook just inside the nurses’ office door and then hurry back.”

Kitally did as she said. The file room was exactly that—a twelve-by-twelve room with wall-to-wall filing cabinets. According to Betty, they were looking for any document or file with the names of any of five residents she believed had died under suspicious circumstances: Helsie Valentine, De

Kitally came up with something almost immediately, in a basket labeled “To Be Filed” atop the nearest file cabinet. “Well, here’s something strange,” she said.

“What is it?”

“This is a bill for Helsie Valentine, but the date stamped on the form is for just two days ago. Shady Oaks charged over three hundred dollars for bringing Helsie special meals and delivering packages, and another five hundred dollars for administering medication.”

Betty scampered her way and hovered over her. “See if you can find anything on Marty Balch.”

Kitally dug through the basket. “Yep, here it is. There’s a file for Marty. He was charged for a bed, food, and medication. When did Marty pass away?”

“Nine months ago,” Betty said.

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

“Absolutely,” Betty said. “They’re killing Shady Oaks residents and then filling the beds and collecting double the money.”

Betty nudged Kitally to the side and rifled through the files herself. She gasped when she pulled out a file.

“What is it?”

“Lisa Coriell. She died three years ago.”

“This has been going on for a while.”

They both froze when they heard a voice. It sounded as if Dixie was on the phone.

“Dixie must have returned.”

Kitally looked at Betty. “What are we going to do?”

“Put this file inside your pants, and button your sweater up.”

There was no time to question the idea. Kitally did as she said.

Betty gestured toward the door. “Come on. Let’s go.”

Kitally locked the door from the inside and pulled it shut after them.

“Act natural,” Betty whispered. “Tell Dixie I kept insisting the bathroom was this way.”

The minute Dixie noticed them coming up the hallway, she marched up to them and grabbed hold of Kitally’s arm.

“Ouch. What are you doing?”

“That’s what I want to know. I’m taking you straight to the director. Betty Ackley hasn’t been any trouble for us until you started coming around.”

“Betty told me there was a bathroom down the hall,” Kitally said in a firm voice. “I’ve done nothing wrong.”

A sniffling and then a mewing cry sounded as Betty began to weep. It was the most pitiful sound Kitally had ever heard. She yanked her arm out of the woman’s grasp and turned toward Betty. “What’s wrong?”

“I need to go to the bathroom. Why won’t any of you take me to the bathroom?”

There was a distinct trickling noise, and something splashed against Kitally’s ankle.

Dixie and Kitally looked down and saw a yellow puddle spreading on the tile between Betty’s feet.

“Look what you’ve done,” Kitally said. “You scared her. If you don’t let me take care of Betty and get her cleaned up and back to her room, I’m going straight to the police to report you, along with the rest of the staffers in this place!”

“You take her back to her room and clean her up,” Dixie said through clenched teeth, “but if I see you inside Shady Oaks again, I’m going to make sure you get thrown out of here. Do we understand each other?”

“That’s fine. But you better be ready to do just that, because I’ll be checking on Betty from here on out.”

Dixie and Kitally stared each other down until Dixie finally gave in and turned away.

Kitally took hold of Betty’s elbow and ushered her back to her room, leaving a trail of urine for Dixie to clean up.

“Are you OK?” Kitally asked, her voice low.

“Never been better. I really did have to go.”

He stretched out the tarp he’d dragged from the garage and then rolled Gillian’s body onto it until she was faceup. He then took a breath and plunked his hands on his hips. She was deadweight, and she was heavy.

He looked around. So much blood had seeped into the cracks and crevices of the stone floor. “Look at this mess you’ve made, Gillian. Everything was going perfectly until you came along and complicated matters. Are you happy? Huh?”

He kicked her in the side. It felt good, so he did it again.

She just looked at him with that blank, lifeless stare of hers.

Dead or alive—it didn’t matter. She looked the same. He’d never once seen any fire in her eyes. Even when she was dying, she’d shown all the animation of a carp.

The nosy bitch had gotten what she deserved. He hated her more than he’d ever hated anyone. For a while there, Gillian had a small semblance of control over him, and he hadn’t liked it one bit.

A knock on the door jolted him. His heart rate soared.

Judging by the silhouette, it was a small boy. It was the neighbor, Landon. The boy used his hands to cup both sides of his face as he tried to see through the decorative glass.

“Go away, kid,” he said in a loud voice. “I’m busy.”

“What are you doing? Are you having a party in there?”

With a sigh, he walked over to the door, unlocked the dead bolt and padlock, then opened the door just an inch or two so he could see the expression on the boy’s face, see if the kid knew too much. “Why do you ask?”

“I heard some loud noises. And then just now I heard you talking to someone.”

“I had my music on really loud before. And after that you must have heard me singing to myself.” Nosy kid.

“Oh. Are you painting another picture?”

“Not at the moment.”

Landon pointed at his chest. “You’ve got some red paint on your shirt.”

“Oh, well, would you look at that. You’re right. I do.” He thought about inviting the kid inside and finishing him off, but he had enough on his plate as it was. In any event, his mother chose that moment to call her son back home. “Your mom’s calling you. You better skedaddle.”

“Skedaddle?”

Get lost, kid. “It means hurry home.”

“Oh.” The kid turned and ran a few feet before he turned around and said, “I’ll see you later, sir.”

He shut the door and locked it. He had work to do. And he didn’t have much time if he pla

Lizzy pulled up in front of her sister’s house, turned off the engine, and sat there for a moment in the quiet. The last time she was here, Cathy and Richard had been fighting. Had her sister really left him?

It was time to find out.

She climbed out of the car and was halfway up the walkway when the door opened. Brittany stood there with a grin on her face.