The Devil in Silver Read Online Free Page A

found himself still staring through the plastic window.
    “If you understand English, then step away from the door,” the voice continued.
    But Pepper didn’t move fast enough. Before he could stand up, stand back, and turn around, he felt fingers grip his wrist.
    After having three cops wrestle him to the ground in a high-school parking lot, then being handcuffed to a chair, Pepper really wasn’t in the mood to get hemmed up one more time. No more hands on him tonight. He turned and
yoked
the person grabbing him. He actually pulled off a pretty sophisticated move, mostly through momentum and a great weight advantage. He yanked his wrist free from the person’s grip, turned and enveloped the body behind him, and lifted it into the air.
    When it was over, Pepper had a seventy-six-year-old woman in a bear hug.
    And before he could apologize, or loosen his grip, or set her back down on her feet, what did the old woman do?
    She kissed him right on the mouth.
    He dropped her and she landed harder on one foot than the other, yipping like a dog whose tail has been caught.
    Now Pepper bent to cradle her on instinct, in case she’d been badly injured. But the old woman threw her arms out to stop him.
    “You like it a little too rough for me,” she said.
    The door of the conference room finally opened and Dr. Anand’s round head peeked out. He watched them both for a moment. Pepper and the old woman turned their attention to him.
    “I see you’ve met Dorry,” the doctor said. “She’s our unofficial ambassador.”
    “Hello, Captain.” She saluted him, any hint of leg pain hidden.
    Dr. Anand tipped his head toward her slightly, then looked back down the hall, deeper into the unit, toward the TV sounds.
    “Miss Chris is late again,” Dr. Anand said.
    Dorry patted her chest. “She deputized me.”
    She looked up at Pepper. “I can take him to his room.”
    She jabbed Pepper in the belly. The new admit looked comically large next to Dorry, like a sheepdog beside a shih tzu.
    Dr. Anand looked down the hallway once more, but Miss Chris made no appearance. He said, “Take him to his room, Dorry, but don’t go
in
his room.”
    Dorry poked Pepper’s belly again.
    “Dr. Anand thinks I’m a raging
slut
,” she said.
    Dr. Anand stepped all the way into the hallway and waved his arms as if clearing smoke. “I never said that, Dorry! Now come on.”
    Pepper couldn’t help it, he laughed. The old woman made him feel at ease. The blush burning across Dr. Anand’s brown face also helped. Pepper decided to join in the banter. He set one hand on Dorry’s shoulder and said, “Maybe me and her will just run away together.”
    Dorry quickly slipped away from Pepper’s hand as Dr. Anand stepped toward them with surprising quickness. “There is
no
intimacy allowed between patients on the unit. Do you understand?”
    Pepper wanted to point out how ridiculous the warning was. What they were just doing counted as intimacy, too. But he knew, from past experience, no one likes a nitpicker. Especially not one who looked like him. Such a small act as begging to differ, from such a large man, tended to make people particularly angry. In general, people thought he took up too much room on the subway and often sighed or grunted to let him know. The only benefit to his great mass was that he could lift heavy things. He’d been a professional mover for eleven years.
    As Dr. Anand continued to glare, Pepper stepped back an arm’s length from the old woman. Then he stuck his arm out and wiggled his fingers to show the distance. The playful moment over, Pepper again felt the gravity of this night—
I’m locked in a mental hospital—
as dead weight in his legs.
    Dr. Anand nodded at Dorry. “He’s in five.” The doctor reentered the conference room and shut the door behind him with a click.
    The old woman was right beside Pepper, pinching the back of his left hand. “I thought you were going to tell him about how you kissed me