Her Darkest Nightmare Read Online Free Page A

the sound quite comforting.
    â€œI guess it’s a wise thing to have.”
    â€œIt is.” Especially because Lorraine’s husband had moved out six months ago and she was now living alone. Evelyn thought it might provide her with some peace of mind—once she became accustomed to how it worked.
    â€œI’d better get back downstairs before all hell breaks loose,” Lorraine said. “But I wanted to ask you … have you heard anything from Danielle?”
    â€œConnelly? The gal you hired to help in the kitchen? Not yet. Why?”
    â€œShe didn’t come in this morning.”
    â€œHave you tried calling her house?”
    â€œOf course. Over and over. There’s no answer.”
    â€œAre you sure she didn’t talk to the warden or another member of the team? Maybe she’s sick. Maybe she turned off the ringer on her phone so she could get some sleep.”
    A knock interrupted, right before her assistant, four-foot-nine Penny Singh, poked her head into the room. “Receiving just called. Anthony Garza has arrived.”
    â€œThank you.”
    â€œDid you plan to talk to the marshals?” Penny asked.
    â€œOf course.” Evelyn felt it was important to thank the escorts. Sometimes they had warnings or other information to convey. She also made it a habit to meet with every single inmate as soon as he received his jumpsuit and other essentials so she could create his chart, make some initial notes on his attitude and psychological state and whether he was likely to be a problem.
    â€œYou’ll have to hurry,” Penny prodded. “They can’t wait. They’re worried about missing their flight, are afraid they’ll get snowed in.”
    Evelyn couldn’t blame them for being antsy. With the monstrous cold fronts that rolled through Anchorage, getting snowed in was a real possibility—and it could mean they’d be trapped for a week or longer. “I’m coming.” She turned to Lorraine. “About Danielle—can you get away long enough to drive by her house?”
    â€œNot during work hours. Not when I’m short staffed. But I’ll stop on my way home.”
    â€œPerfect. Call me if for some reason she’s not there.”
    Lorraine nodded as Evelyn brushed past. But it wasn’t fifteen minutes later that Evelyn forgot Danielle. While the staff in Receiving checked Garza in, she met with the marshals in the warden’s conference room. What they had to say about Anthony made her nervous. So she was already on edge when, right after they left, the intermittent honk of the emergency alarm sounded, punching her heart into her throat.

 
    2
    I always had a fetish for murder and death.
    â€”DAVID BERKOWITZ, THE SON OF SAM
    They’d had to sedate him. That was what the marshals told Evelyn before they left. They said he was so difficult and dangerous, to himself and others, that the only way to get Garza safely from one place to another was to medicate him. A registered nurse at ADX Florence in Colorado, where he’d been incarcerated before, had administered three hundred milligrams of Ryzolt four hours ago. There was a note on his chart.
    But the tranquilizer had worn off by the time he arrived at HH. According to the COs in Receiving he’d come in slightly agitated and, despite his chains and cuffs, quickly grown violent, going so far as to head-butt an officer. At that point, someone had sounded the alarm while others wrestled Garza to the ground and replaced his cuffs with a straightjacket, further restricting his range of motion. Now he had four officers flanking him instead of two. They’d just dragged him into the holding cell across from her and had to support him so he wouldn’t trip on his ankle chains because he wouldn’t settle down. He was raving like a lunatic, threatening to dismember anyone he came into contact with.
    â€œI won’t stay in this godforsaken