"I'm not planning to stay very long," she said, though the idea of a bed in a quiet farmhouse appealed to her after over a day without sleep. After she stopped the killer she would have plenty of time to rest. He gave her a phone number in case she changed her mind and then dropped her at the front gates of the St. John's Senior Community.
The rusty gates were open enough for her to walk through, up a pothole-laden path to a brick house coated in ivy. Over a bronze plaque that had probably once given the name of the prep school, someone had posted a plywood sign with 'St. Johns Senior Comm' printed in spray paint. A laminated paper sign beneath this instructed her to ring the doorbell.
She waited a minute at the door before a thin woman in a nurse's uniform appeared in the doorway. The nurse trembled as if a cold wind were blowing. "Can I help you?" she asked, her voice little more than a breeze.
"I'm here to see a patient," Samantha said.
"We don't have any patients. The hospital is down the road in Meyersville," the nurse said.
Samantha took out her badge. "I need to see the occupant of room 2207 immediately."
"Oh my. Let me call-"
Samantha pushed the nurse out of the doorway. She didn't have time for any more of this nonsense. "You can't-" the nurse started to say until a glare from Samantha quieted her.
"Has anyone else been here today? A woman about my height, brown skin, black hair?"
"I don't think so."
"If she shows up, call the police." Samantha left the slow-witted nurse in the foyer and began her search of the building for room 2207. She passed numerous old people shuffling around, none of them as happy and vibrant as in the brochure.
She checked both floors of the building without finding a room 2207. This doesn't make any sense, she thought. She paused at a window, where a number of residents in wheelchairs were gathered to stare out at the lush green lawn. Beyond this, Samantha saw the tennis courts-empty-and a pair of buildings similar to this one.
She raced down the stairs and across the lawn. The first building she came to had a '2' painted over the doorway. She went inside and found rooms 2100 to 2109. It must be upstairs, she thought. An old man shouted for her to slow down as she ran down the corridor to the stairway and climbed up.
Three doors down the corridor she stood before 2207. Before she reached for the doorknob she pulled out her gun. She took a deep breath and turned the knob.