Outside The Land’s End Bed and Breakfast Hotel, Dr. Paula Burnett stood on the icy sidewalk and noted on her clipboard that Emma’s heart rate and blood pressure were once again within acceptable norms as she roused from sleep to start her morning routine. Contrary to the brisk weather, Paula still wore a stark-white lab coat, high heels and her hair tied up neatly into a tight bun.
On the sidewalk, a tall, thin shadow appeared and loomed up over her own. Paula spun around and saw that it was only her colleague, Stanley. He was about six inches taller than her and today he wore a ridiculous suit with white gloves, a thin mustache, and a silver bow tie. He also carried an equally ludicrous black cane with a white tip.
“You can choose any form you like and yet you choose that one,” he asked derisively. He must have noticed her twitch of disapproval.
“Unlike you, I choose to blend in,” she answered dryly.
“Ah, yes, I see… And you blend right in with your glaring white lab coat and clipboard. How many people do you see walking around like that in this dreadful weather?” Stanley breathed in deeply through his pointed nose, “Where’s your sense of style? Where’s your … imagination.”
As much as she hated to admit it, Stanley did have a point. She wasn’t exactly dressing in warm functional layers like the locals did. The truth was she found this form the most comforting and writing things down on a clipboard always gave her a sense of organization, even if it was a bit silly given the circumstances. Besides, other than Sheriff Hank McCarthy, who always seemed to have his head on a swivel, most of the residents were so self-absorbed that they were rarely aware of her presence. Usually they went about their business from point A to point B almost as if they had blinders on. Still, she hated to concede to someone as patronizing as Stanley. “Well, you look ridiculous,” she snapped back. “And where the hell have you been anyway?”
She must have hurt his feelings because he was pouting now. “May I remind you there are over two dozen candidates…,” he said, holding up two fingers on either side of the word candidates, “…in our fair little town of HavenPort.” His tone became a more impertinent one. “Your little junkie ballerina isn’t the only one. Besides it wouldn’t do for you to know everything I’m up to or it wouldn’t be a fair test for the candidates, now would it?”
Unfortunately Stanley was right about that too, or at least their superior’s would agree with him. Her job was to observe the candidates as they went about their days, taking care to note down all their choices good or bad. Stanley’s sole job here was to provide the candidates with the temptation to make the wrong ones. Without him, there was no proof in the pudding, as it were.
“Sorry, it’s just that ever since something scared the life out of poor Emma on her first day,” she growled, collected herself, and began again. “If I hadn’t intervened in time, we would have had another dead candidate on our hands. I still haven’t figured out what frightened her so bad in the first place. This project can’t afford to have a high mortality rate let alone another loose cannon. Either way it’s not going to happen to one of my candidates ever again.”
Stanley’s tone softened ever so slightly. “Paula. You had nothing to do with the death of that raging psychopath, Simon Privet. Although even I admit, his continued existence in this place is a tad bit … unnerving. That kind of thing was definitely not part of the design.”
Maybe I have Stanley all wrong. Maybe under that snobbish exterior he’s really not such a bad guy.
“Curious though,” he said, “Seeing as Emma and Hank are your primary responsibilities, weren’t you watching her on her first day?”
Nope. He’s an elitist jerk.
Paula could have told a lie and said she was watching someone else. Unless multiple candidates were in the same place at the same time, even they could only watch one at a time, and even that wasn’t 24/7. But she opted to tell the truth. “It was weird, one minute she was in her hotel room and the next, she was gone.”
“What do you mean, gone?” Stanley asked, seemingly genuinely concerned, but she couldn’t be certain.
“Like vanished. I couldn’t find her anywhere.”
Stanley scoffed. “That’s impossible. You obviously weren’t looking hard enough. Did you inform management about this?”
Paula hesitated before answering. She had heard of other candidates vanishing under the radar several times before but she’d never witnessed it firsthand. She was pretty sure this kind of lack of attention was what got her predecessor removed from the project, but then, maybe it hadn’t been his fault. “No. Not yet. I wanted to make sure Emma was okay first.”
“And … has your precious little candidate recovered now?”
Did she detect a moment of concern in his voice? Was that even possible? She decided not to set herself up again for disappointment and sighed before answering, “Yes, her regular nightmares seem to be fading and her interactions with the other candidates seems to suggest she’s recovered, however we won’t know what kind of long term psychological damage has been done until we’ve completed a full workup.”
“Maybe you should turn her over to me. You seem a little to … attached.”
Stanley’s smug face caused the anger to swell in her, “You just remember that you’ve been warned once already. There shouldn’t be any more shenanigans like you pulled with Wanda.”
Stanley feigned shock, his mouth forming a giant O. “Paula, don’t tell me you believe those nasty rumors too. I thought you were above that sort of thing.”
“I’m serious, Stanley. If I find out you had anything to do with that poor woman’s death, I’ll find a way to make them send you packing.”
Stanley’s eyes narrowed as he peered down at her. “First of all, I have no idea what you’re talking about. Second, as you very well know, I don’t answer to you. Third, I am not required to warn you of any tests and I hadn’t planned on testing your precious pet project anytime soon in any case.” Then he grinned, “Besides, who do you think they could find to replace me, hmmm?”
As much as she hated to admit it, Stanley was right again, as he often was. Changing the subject she asked, “Where’s our third? I thought we were all meeting this morning to compare notes?”
Stanley’s nostrils flared, “Absent as usual.” Making certain the third wasn’t indeed present, he added, “I swear, Clemens spends more time in Havenport than even I do.”
Trying not to take sides, Paula said, “Maybe Hank chose this morning to wake up and be lucid. Clemens was expecting it might be soon.”
“He might have had the decency to reschedule,” Stanley muttered.
“Where do you have to be that’s so much more important?” He was such an oddball.
“This place doesn’t run itself you know. A lot of maintenance goes in to keeping everything just as it should be. What about you? Aren’t you on break after this?”
She nodded, “Horatio’s taking over for me at the diner.”
“Well, enjoy your free time.” He smiled and turned to go.
“Stanley … do me a favor. Be careful.”
“Awwww … aren’t you sweet. And just when I thought we weren’t getting along. Fear not Milady, I hold all the cards. I practically built this place. To these people … I am God.” That said, Stanley stepped off the curb twirling his ridiculous cane.
Watching him go Paula muttered to herself, “If that’s true, then heaven help us all.”