Dennis slipped behind the counter, eyes scanning the lower counter for good stuff. He grabbed some Jolly Ranchers from a candy dish and stuck them in a pocket of his pajama bottoms. He pulled the front page of the newspaper out of the trash and scanned it, his heart jumping at the big black headline: GRUESOME MURDER ROCKS RURAL OAK KNOLL.

Dennis got so excited he thought he might pee his pants. A murder! A gruesome murder! Maybe someone had murdered Miss Navarre.

He folded up the paper and tucked it under his arm. He was about to beat it out of there with his treasures when he spotted Arlene’s purse sitting open on the desk.

The bag was huge and full of all kinds of junk that looked like it had just been thrown into it like it was a garbage bag. Her wallet was on top. Dennis glanced down the hall. No sign of the nurses coming back.

Very carefully, he opened the wallet. There was a lot of cash. Maybe a hundred dollars. He wanted to take it all, but then she would know she’d been robbed. Better to take what she wouldn’t miss right away. He pulled out a twenty from a bunch of twenties, and one ten out of four, and a couple of ones, and stuffed the money in his other pocket.

He was about to put the wallet back when his eye caught on something deeper in the bag. A yellow Bic lighter. It must have been her spare. Now that was a prize.

Dennis lifted the lighter and hurried out of the nurses’ station. He made his way back to his room the same way he had come, ducking from recessed doorway to doorway. He was halfway to his room when he heard the nurses coming back. The soles of their shoes squeaked against the floor every few steps.

Dennis held still where he was for what seemed like forever, waiting for one of them to come down the hall and catch him. But they stopped at the nurses’ station and Nurse Betty said, “Jeez, Arlene, you left your purse sitting open. You should stick it in a drawer. One of the crazies will make off with it.”

Dennis snickered to himself and shot down to the next doorway and the next doorway to his room.

He flicked the lighter a couple of times, just to watch the flame burn, excited at the prospects of what he might do with it. Burn this fucking place to the ground.

But not tonight.

Tonight he stashed all his new treasures in his special hiding place under the mattress, and climbed in bed to sleep over the top of them and dream dreams of bright orange flames ... and freedom.

Chapter 36

36

Gina had considered three different choices. She had made the wrong one.

How stupid.