The person in black thought it was a good idea.
“Yes,” the person in black replied to Dr. Dubose’s suggestion. “Yes, I think you’re right. She’ll do better without you here.”
“So, I’ll step away then,” Dr. Dubose said. “For the time being.”
“Yes.” The person in black had accepted that what Dr. Dubose had said before was true—it was good that this young woman, Everly, had arrived. And now the person in black was thinking rapidly through possibilities and scenarios, calculations and stray factors. “You have become a comfortable figure for her. We need to take that away, see how she reacts. We need to give her the freedom to become lost in the building on her own.” That was how it had happened in the past, after all. Patterns were made to repeat.
“What would you suggest in the interim?”
The person in black shrugged, though Dr. Dubose, on the other side of the canvas divider, could not see this. “We have spare rooms down here, for emergencies. Take up residency in one of the vacant apartments, wait out the month. I will continue to observe her.”
“And then?”
“And then when she is cast free in the building without limitations or expectations, we will see where she goes. I know her, her mind. Sooner or later, she will find herself in a scenario where she cannot leave. Or wouldn’t want to. And then you may return—for the grand conclusion.”
“In the meantime,” Dr. Dubose said, “I want to increase the testing.”
“We have already been increasing it. You know this.”
“Yes, but now it is more important than ever.”
The person in black paused. “You cannot be seen. Not by her, at least.”
“Then have Jamie do it. He has more of a stomach for those affairs than me, anyhow. But this is just as necessary as securing her presence here.”
“Very well,” the person in black said, contemplative. “Since you are so sure it is necessary.”
“I am,” Dr. Dubose asserted fervently. “Oh, I’ve never been more sure of anything.”