14
Minutes of watching Kyle’s cage didn’t alter the fact that I couldn’t see him, yet I refused to change my focus. “You been here long?”
Leaning back against the bars lining the front of her enclosure, Lauren had sunk to her rear, her folded knees gathered in her arms. “’Bout seven weeks ... I think.” I caught her shrug. “Only two others were here then, besides me.”
“That why you know so much?”
“I guess. Plus, I listen ... a lot. Mostly when they think I’m not.” Her tone altered as if she smiled. “I pretend to be asleep, and they talk around me. Or I pretend to take longer on my bathroom breaks and press my ear to the door.” A blown out breath drifted up. “Sometimes, they just talk around me, anyway, like they think I’m too dumb to understand. They’re the dumb ones.”
I lowered my chi
