Chapter Thirty

“Yes, I’m still here,” Anne answers from her end of the phone in her old office. “I need to know what your next flight out of town is,” a brief pause, “That’s fine. I don’t care where. Just book me a ticket and I’ll be right there.” Anne gives the travel agent her information over the phone and charges the ticket to her credit card. A card she has memorized the number too, but doesn’t have on her.
Anne hangs up the phone and starts to get up from the desk, but then sits back down. Once again, she picks up the phone and dials. This time the woman knows the number.
“Yes, I need a taxi at the west side exit of the hospital please,” and after brief pause, “about how soon?”
Now the doctor places the phone back down and gets up from the desk. She takes a few steps over to the window and cautiously looks outside and down along the building toward the west side exit and does not see anyone or anything suspicious.
“Five more minutes, that’s all I need,” Anne says to herself as she looks down at her watch. “In another 30 I can hopefully be out of this town for good.” After another quick glance out the window, she makes her way across the room and to the door. Slowly, she opens the doorway and checks out her path down the hallway to the exit door. With no signs of trouble, the woman exits her old office for the last time and slowly walks down the hallway, keeping her head down and focused on the white tile floor trying to keep her face hidden from view.
Approaching the door, Anne notices through the window that a Katahdin Taxi is driving up to the door. She steps outside and quickly flags the driver down and the car pulls up and stops. The woman opens the door to the backseat and jumps in closing the door behind her. As she is strapping on the seatbelt, “To the airport please. Quickly.”
Her seatbelt snaps into place when she hears a male voice say, “Sorry, Anne but there is a change in plans. You will be going to Penobscot Avenue.”
“Excuse me?” Anne says as she looks up to see Detective Miller sitting in the driver’s seat looking back at her.
“Hi, Mrs. Johnson. I’m Detective Miller with the State of Maine Police department and you are under arrest for your involvements regarding The Katahdin Mental Institute,” the detective smiles proudly while saying the words.
“Like Hell,” Anne quickly grabs at her seatbelt but before she can get it unclasped, the detective steps on the gas hard and the woman falls back onto the seat.
The taxi speeds quickly out of the drive leading to the west side of the hospital and rounds the corner causing Anne to slide into the window next to her. She spots two police cruisers moving up behind the taxi as it rounds the corner.
“You can jump if you’d like,” Detective Miller says, “But I wouldn’t advise it.” The detective laughs as the taxi speeds down Somerset headed to the station.