Safe Haven | Demi Lovato

23

Demi

I got to work and instantly was greeted by a huge pile of paperwork. I groaned and fell back into my chair, staring at it high stack of manilla folders. Emily walked in and smiled grimly at me.

"The psych evaluation from the courts is getting here in an hour. You should start prepping, because it's gonna take you all day. They're going to try for an insanity plea."

I closed my eyes for a moment. "What did she do?"

Emily took a deep breath. "She killed four kids under the age of six."

My heart felt like it had dropped into my stomach. "Oh my god."

I still hadn't figured out how I would be able to sit in front of this woman and be objective about the situation. Killing four kids had to make you insane in some sort of capacity, but at the same time I didn't want her to get a lessened sentence for it.

"Alright, I've got to start going through these. Put Sanders on Jessica, Liv on Mia. I want reports on both of them every two hours. Kelly Fitzgerald needs a meeting with Olivia as well, she needs a new diet plan because she's clearly not comfortable with the amount of food on her plate. Go for richer foods, quality not quantity."

Emily nodded, her fingers typing on her iPad at an amazing speed. "What about Sophia and Aimee?"

I wracked my brain. "Andrews should have an open slot, and if he can't take both we'll just rotate them in extra group therapy and I'll resume my one-on-one's when I'm back on my normal schedule."

"Okay... I'll move your parent meetings for tomorrow?"

"The day after tomorrow." I shook my head. "I'm escorting Mia off-campus tomorrow."

She nodded, rearranging things. "And... Jessica's guardian is coming in on Thursday to discuss the... incident."

I sighed, a new anger towards Stevens flaring up inside of me. "Make sure they know they are our priority. We don't want a lawsuit."

"Okay... I've got it all. Anything else?"

"Just let me know when the court case gets here."

Emily smiled widely. "You know, you're really getting good at this."

~*~

This woman is a monster. Four kids, gone. It was no wonder why she was pleading for insanity; even in her mug shot she looked possessed. We often did court cases but none of them were to this caliber. We never had a serial killer.

I glanced at the clock, and saw I had fifteen minutes until the woman, Jerry Sanders, got here. I picked up the phone and hit the intercom button.

"This is a code six-oh-six. All patients report to your rooms and all four-oh-two stand report to the conference room immediately."

I didn't want the resident patients to be walking around when they brought Saunders through, I didn't know what this woman was capable of doing or saying.

All of the staff were waiting for me in the conference room. When I arrived they all looked up at me expectantly and I realized this was the first time I had addressed them all as the Chief of Psychiatry.

"Okay guys, we have a court case coming through in ten. I don't want any o the residents in the North wing until I've complete my evaluation and she is far, far away. If there is a 9-1-1 page Emily and she'll get me, but I'm going to be focused on this. Your patient list has been updated but if you see any issues try and work with me or find Emily and she'll figure something out. Go about your regular duties and please, don't stare if you see her." Everyone nodded and I smiled. "Thank you. When you hear the code six-nine-eight, you will know that the patients can have free reign again. I want you all to radio a head count and have everyone accounted for in their rooms. Have nurses do rooms checks every half hour, I know a lot of the girls don't like being cooped up, but it's for their safety. That will be all."

Everyone filed out until only Olivia, Emily, and I remained.

"Emily, can you go make sure everyone's schedules work?"

She walked away and Olivia smirked. "Spoken like a true chief."

I smiled back weakly. "This woman... I don't know how I'm going to do this, Liv."

"Just don't let her get into your head. She will they and manipulate you by your expression, and tone of voice. Don't let her in no matter what she says t shake you." I nodded, and she reached over to take my hand. "And whatever you do, don't agree to testify. Your written statement is enough. You have better things to do than have your entire career questioned by some idiot lawyer."

~*~

I've been watching Saunders for twenty minutes now. she looked normal; sane. I wanted to see how she did in isolation, but now it was time to go in. I glanced at her lawyer; a smug balding guy wearing an expensive suit. I knew that they were hunting on this, that he thought she would be able to lie to me. She had confessed, but there were still bodies not found. The immunity deal was off the table, but she had been given an evaluation in exchange for their location.

As soon as I opened the door, her head snapped up and she gave me a sick smile.

"Hello."

Her voice made my stomach twist but I kept my face even as I sat down. "Good morning, Miss Saunders." I said, making eye contact with her. "Today I'm going to ask you a couple of questions about yourself and all you need to do is be honest with me when you answer."

"Can do." She drawled, leaning back in her chair as far as she could with the handcuffs attached to the table.

"Good... Do you know why you are here today?"

"Yup." She popped her lips on the 'p'. "I'm here so you can put me in the loony bin." She crossed her eyes and stuck out her tongue. "You're here to tell me I'm batshit crazy."

I shook my head. "I'm here to decide if you are mentally competent to stand trial. I'm here because I'm good at what I do, and I'm goo at telling when people are lying to me to get what they want."

Saunders grinned. "Is that so?" She leaned back in the chair again. "Then you better get started."

The evaluation was one, and grueling. I had to sit there and listen to her horror stories about why she did it, what she felt, and how she felt no remorse for it. I took Liv's advice and didn't allow my face to show the shock and horror I felt, but in the end I had made my decision.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I know these are shorter chapters than my usual stories, but that's because they're all already written in a notebook, I'm just typing them and releasing them! This is going to become a trilogy!

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Twitter: Lovatic_Chica

-Rachel