Chapter 19 Chapter 19
"The truth wasn’t hiding in the shadows,
it was standing in plain sight, smiling like a monster.”
Clara had no idea how she and Trinity ended up sneaking between offices at Saint Ridge before breakfast, but once Trinity caught a spark of curiosity, there was no dragging her back. They had spent two hours trying to squeeze answers from officers who acted like their tongues would fall off if they spoke a word about Hale Maddox or Peterson Brattfield.
Surely boys from families that influential shouldn’t have ended up here, not unless what they did was unspeakably bad but every officer they questioned turned to stone the second their names were mentioned.
No slip ups, No hints, Nothing online.
No traces of public cases, no news headlines, not even a rumor floating around.
It was maddening.
“We’re wasting our time,” Trinity groaned, dragging her hands down her face. “If one more officer tells me to ‘mind my duty,’ I’ll scream and murder everyone.”
Clara sighed, already feeling the sting of defeat. They were about to turn back when someone bumped into Trinity, a young woman balancing a stack of files so high it nearly swallowed her head.
Her name tag read; Harley Truth
Perfect.
She had that bright eyed, new-on-the-job look… the kind of person who didn’t yet know which secrets were forbidden.
Trinity didn’t hesitate.
“Hey, Harley. Do you know anything about Maddox and his lap dog’s case?”
Harley’s eyes lit up, ready to gossip.
“Ohhh, you mean the juicy stuff? Come.”
She herded them into a corner like a mother hen guarding her chicks, scanning left and right before lowering her voice.
“You didn’t hear this from me, but Hale Maddox wasn’t just thrown in here… he was dumped. Because he’s unstable. And dangerous and cannot be tamed or controlled.”
Clara frowned. “Dangerous how?”
Harley inhaled dramatically.
“He murdered his parents and little brother.”
Clara blinked. “What?”
“There wasn’t enough evidence at first," Harley continued eagerly, “but only because Peterson cleaned up after him. And I mean cleaned every single thing. That boy would've wiped blood off the sky if he had to.”
Clara shook her head. “I… don’t think Hale is dangerous. He’s… he can be unstable sometimes but he isn’t...."
Harley burst into loud laughter.
“Oh sweetheart, you should’ve seen him in court. He snapped. Went on a full rampage. They had to use a dart gun to sedate him. A whole dart gun! People died that day. It was awful.”
Trinity wrinkled her nose.
“How is it that something that big didn’t make the news?”
“Because his grandfather shut it down.” Harley shrugged like that explained everything.
“But why?” Trinity pressed. “Why cover up for him if he killed his own son?”
“Daughter,” Harley corrected. “His mother. Maddox is his maternal family. Old money. Old influence. You get it.”
Clara folded her arms. “I still don’t believe he’s a monster.”
“Believe what you want,” Harley chirped. “But there’s nothing remotely safe about Maddox. And honestly? I still don’t understand why people are assigned to him. Or to anyone here. Saint Ridge isn’t a place for… interns.”
Trinity scoffed.
“And what about Peterson? He’s just jailed for cleaning up crime scenes? That’s hardly fair!”
Harley’s smile shifted, sharper, calculating.
“Oh, honey… Peterson Kane is not innocent. Not even close. He just hides his sins better. Trust me.”
That silenced both girls.
Harley walked off, humming like she’d just told them the weather.
Clara and Trinity were left staring at each other, rattled. Their discovery dawning on them slowly.
After a long silence, Trinity whispered, “Clara… think about it. We’re the only ones who’ve stayed this long. And the number of people here is twenty-six with the new inmate.."
Clara blinked. “But… three died.”
“Exactly. The math isn’t mathing.” Trinity folded her arms. “And half the inmates act too well behaved. Too perfect. Like they’re reading a script and accidentally forgetting their lines sometimes.”
Clara swallowed because in as much as she wanted to deny it, it was the truth.
The strange days that didn’t feel real.
The vivid dreams that felt like shared hallucinations.
The way everything seemed off, just a little. Not too much for one to casually notice.
Something was wrong with Saint Ridge.
Terribly wrong and they needed answers, very fast.
Later that evening, Clara crept through Hale’s door, her heart pounding as she scanned the room. Today he’d been absent again, one of his unexplained disappearances. Too many of those days were piling up lately.
Trinity peeked in nervously. “Hurry. If he catches us, we’re dead. Like clinically dead, you know that better than I do."
“I just need to find something,” Clara whispered. “Anything.”
She rifled through drawers, careful not to disturb anything too obviously. Trinity hovered by the door, shaking like a leaf.
Then....the door clicked
Both girls froze.
“Hide!” Trinity hissed.
Trinity darted under the bed.
Clara sprinted into the bathroom, slamming the door softly behind her.
Footsteps shuffled inside the room. Someone moved things. Papers rustled. A drawer opened. The air went still.
Then the door opened again. Closed. Silence.
Clara peeked out. Trinity slid from under the bed, both of them exhaling shakily.
They shared a whispered prayer before giggling nervously.... Someone had almost caught them then...
“What are you girls doing in my room?”
The voice behind them froze their blood.
They didn’t turn, didn’t need to.
They couldn’t.
Fear crawled up their spines, eating them whole. They knew that voice too well.
And they knew they were unsure they'll make it out intact, they looked at each other praying the voice was something just in their head...