“I’m through.” Dominique pulls an envelope from her purse. “See this? This is a letter of resignation. I’m dropping out of the internship program and quitting school. Is Foletta in his office?”

“You know he’s not.”

“Fine, then I’ll leave this with Marvis. Buzz me up to the seventh floor, if you think you can handle it.”

Raymond eyes her suspiciously. He activates the elevator, pressing the button on his console for the seventh floor, then watches her on the security-camera monitor.

Marvis is about to leave his desk to find Barnes when the elevator door opens. “Dominique? What are you doing here?”

She leads Marvis by the arm and walks him around the desk, turning him away from the elevator and the hallway leading to Mick’s pod. “I wanted to talk to you, but I don’t want that orderly Barnes to hear.”

“Hear what?”

Dominique shows him the envelope. “I’m resigning.”

“Why? Your semester’s almost over.”

Her eyes well with tears. “My—my father died in a boating accident.”

“Damn. Hey, I’m sorry.”

She gives a sob, then allows Marvis to comfort her. She lays her head on his shoulder, her eyes focused on the corridor leading to pod 7-C.

Mick staggers out of his room, dressed in Barnes’s uniform and baseball cap. He slams the door shut and heads for the elevator.

Dominique places her hand on Marvis’s neck as if hugging him, making sure he doesn’t turn around. “Would you do me a favor and make sure Dr. Foletta gets this letter?”

“Yeah, sure. Hey, you wanna hang out, you know, talk or something?”

The elevator doors open. Mick staggers inside.

She pulls away. “No, I’m already late. I have to get on the road. The funeral ceremony’s tomorrow morning. Barnes, hold the elevator, please—”

A white sleeve prevents the doors from closing.

Dominique kisses Marvis on the cheek. “Take care of yourself.”

“Yeah, you too.”

Dominique hustles for the elevator, stepping inside just as the doors close. Instead of looking at Mick, she stares directly up at the camera situated in the far corner of the elevator’s ceiling.

Casually, she reaches into her purse. “What floor, Mr.Barnes?”

“Three.”

She can hear the fatigue in his voice. She holds up three fingers to the camera, then one finger, continuing to stare at the lens as Mick takes the heavy pair of wire cutters from her other hand and pockets them.

The elevator stops at the third floor. The doors open.

Mick stumbles out, nearly falling on his face.

The doors close.

Mick finds himself alone in the corridor. He staggers forward, the green-tiled hallway spinning in his head. The heavy dose of Thorazine is pulling him under, and there is nothing he can do now to fight back. He falls twice, then leans against the drywall and wills himself to the courtyard.