The next day Dandy arrived with his entourage. By that time, the Monsignor had spoken with his superiors. The sale of Briarcliff had been a hasty but legal thing. When Dandy's representative had approached them under the umbrella of an investment group offering a great deal more than the facility was worth, the church had jumped at the chance. They would be rid of the debt the asylum had accumulated and might even be able to reopen some of the long-closed wings.

It was only after the deal was signed and everything notarized that they discovered who was actually financing the group and by then it was too late. Briarcliff, in title, belonged to Dandy Mott. There was nothing the church could do: They had no legal recourse and no financial leverage. To make an issue of an escaped patient owning the asylum would only call attention to the fact that they'd let him escape in the first place.

They were stuck with having a convicted murderer in charge.

One of the first things Dandy did was pay a visit to Dr. Heath. The chief surgeon wasn't exactly thrilled to see the young man but Dandy expected that. Dr. Heath was a smart man. When one outsmarted a smart man, there were bound to be some hard feelings. Dandy suspected he would be upset if someone outsmarted him. That was why he decided to meet with the doctor in private, man to man.

"I just want to say I am so very pleased to have this hospital in my portfolio," he told Dr. Heath enthusiastically.

"Why did you buy this place?" the doctor wanted to know. He had his theories but would rather hear it from the source. "If not to shut us down?"

Dandy smiled and sat up straighter. "I love Briarcliff! Why, it's the best thing to ever happen to me. No, really!" He could see the strange way Dr. Heath was looking at him. "Before I came here, I was angry. I wanted to hurt people. Now I understand my purpose. I have goals! A life! I was wasting away before in my mother's house. Doing nothing. Feeling nothing. Briarcliff changed all that!"

Heath was convinced the young man should still be locked up, but he tactfully kept that to himself. "If you like Briarcliff why did you escape?"

Dandy's smile took on a predatory edge. "Oh, but I didn't, doctor. I was released. You're going to sign the order yourself. And you're going to 'lose' any files you have here on me."

The doctor's brows knit. "What makes you think I'm going to do that?"

"Because, Doctor," Dandy said, sitting back in his chair. "If you don't, I'll blow the whistle on this place and have it shut down. You've nothing to lose by doing things my way and everything to lose if you don't. Now. Are we in business?"

—

After the issue with his paperwork was taken care of, Dandy continued his tour with his entourage: A lawyer and a bodyguard respectively. The next stop was Dr. Haddonfield's ward. Like Dr. Heath, the man had his own private tunnel of rooms filled with his experiments. Dandy introduced himself to the man since they hadn't met previously. He let the doctor know what to expect and moved on to the next, Dr. Pennhurst, and had a similar conversation. He trusted the department heads would let their underlings know anything they might need to.

Along the way he encountered his friend, Boyd. It was a disappointing encounter. The man's lobotomy had rendered him a verbal vegetable. He could still manage the basics: He could eat if he was given food. He could bathe himself if he was given soap. Conversation, however, was beyond the man.

Dandy decided to give Boyd the special position of Enforcer. Since he could follow basic instructions, Dandy knew he could tell him something like "Boyd, hit him" and the man would do it. Boyd still loved candies and he remembered that he liked Dandy. Between those things, he made a perfect brute for the rich man's cause.

Once he was finished debriefing the staff, Dandy went down to the common room. Protocol said he and his entourage had to have a facility escort so a pair of orderlies went with them. Both Cecil and Patrick knew who Dandy was and they exchanged looks behind the young man's back that said they both found it nuts to be giving an escaped inmate the royal treatment.

Dominique was playing on the record player when Dandy entered the commons. He noticed the holiday fir tree in the corner before catching sight of Violet at a nearby chair cluster. He smiled and headed her way, heedless to the fact that she was sitting next to Tate. The other young man mattered little to him.

"Violet!" he greeted enthusiastically when he was near enough to speak without having to raise his voice. "I told you I would come back."

She looked up at him in open surprise, trying to sort out how he could be in the commons wearing a suit. The men behind him didn't help straighten things out at a glance. More suits and a pair of orderlies could mean anything.

He laughed at her obvious confusion. "I've purchased Briarcliff. It's my Christmas present to me!" He beamed a brilliant smile at her, feeling terribly clever. He opened his arms, expecting her to hug him.

"Wow," Violet said. She didn't get up. "Far out." A wrinkle appeared between her brows as she looked from him to the men behind him. The medication was surely interfering with her being able to understand this new development. "They're not going to lock you up?"

Dandy shook his head and lowered his arms. "My record is clean. I'm a free man! And the new owner of this fine facility."

Tate snorted derisively. He'd been trying to keep quiet, but the pompous guy was chafing him just by being there. No one should be able to get away with the things Dandy was getting away with. All because he had money. It wasn't fair.

"Ah, my former roommate," Dandy said, looking the other young man over. Then he got an idea. "Cecil? Are they still doing the races?"

The buff orderly looked surprised. No one talked about the inmate fights or races openly. Not before, anyway. The man shifted his weight. "Yeah."

"Wonderful! I think our friend here would make an excellent contender," Dandy said quite seriously. "He has the spirit of an unbroken bronco. Make sure he's in the next race."

It sounded to Tate like the dark-haired guy was complimenting him, but he didn't trust that one bit. "I don't race."

Dandy ignored him and focused on Violet instead. "Walk with me, Violet?"

Suddenly the girl found herself in an awkward spot. She looked at Tate, who looked back at her with wide, dark eyes.

"I won't keep you long," Dandy promised. "I just want to speak with you more privately before I have to leave."

Violet nodded and pushed herself up, finding that a reasonable request. "I'll be back," she told Tate, who was already starting to brood.

Dandy escorted her out of the commons, followed by his entourage. With two orderlies, a lawyer, a bodyguard, Boyd, and Violet now in the group, they were quite the assemblage, touring the place like royalty. Dandy hooked her arm and patted it. Technically physical contact wasn't permitted but neither of the orderlies said anything. They headed back through the halls, past the nurse's station.

"So, tell me," he said to her, leaning in toward her in a confidential way. "How have things been here since I left?"

Violet thought about that, fully aware of the staff ears nearby. "Same old, same old," she said carefully. "Do you really own this place now?"

"Lock, stock, and barrel!" Dandy beamed. Then he looked thoughtful. "I never quite understood what that meant. Daddy used to say it." He shrugged the matter off and smiled again. "And I have a surprise for you."

They stopped outside one of the rooms they usually reserved for invalids. He started to lead her in but paused to say to the group behind them: "Give us a moment, please?"

"I can't leave you alone with the patient," Patrick said, trying to adhere to protocol.

Dandy shifted his attention to the big man. He assessed him briefly then smiled a charming smile. "I appreciate you're trying to do your duty... Patrick, is it? Patrick. Yes. Your concern is noted, but I own this place now. I make the rules and the rules say I can be alone with this patient. Do you have a problem with that?"

Pat cleared his throat. "No, sir."

Dandy's smile brightened. "If you'll excuse us."

He walked Violet into the room then and looked around. The room was spacious compared to the regular cells, having a bed in the center of the room and two night stands as well as counter space. The idea behind the invalid rooms was that they were to be used by patients who were bedridden or required large equipment to keep them alive. Without the life support machines, the room was cavernous to Violet.

"Welcome to your new room," Dandy told her. "Merry Christmas!"

She looked at him uncertainly, not sure if he was joking. "What?"

"You've been moved," he said. "This part of the ward is quieter and safer, plus you'll have all this space to yourself. No roommate, I've insisted."

She looked around at the room again, trying to believe the huge space was hers. "Why?"

He patted her arm before releasing her. "Because you deserve nice things. If you look in the nightstands, you'll find your things have already been moved. They're bringing clean bedding by later."

He went and sat on the edge of the bare mattress and raised his brows at her. A stray lock of dark hair slipped down over his forehead, giving him a rakish look. His cheeks were still scarred but it didn't harm his looks, to her eyes. It just gave him more of a rogue's air. "Is there anything else you'd like? A chair? A rug? Just ask."

She smiled crookedly at him, suddenly aware of how dumpy she must look. "A brush would be nice. I hate the combs here." She came over and sat down beside him. She was about to ask him about extra bedding when something finally penetrated the sedative haze. "Hey. You can fire people, can't you?"

Dandy shrugged. "Well, yes. That would come with being an owner." He looked puzzled. "Is there someone you want fired?"

"Yes," she said firmly. "Max. God, I would love it if you fired that bastard."

Dandy had never had problems with the man, so her vehemence surprised him. "Consider him as good as gone. What did he do?"

Violet hesitated and her lips made a lemony purse. "He abuses patients."

Dandy's brows knit. "How do you mean?" There was a pause then: "Did he do something to you?"

She glanced at him but didn't want to see his expression when she answered, so she looked at her hands instead. "He makes the girls have sex with him." She thought about leaving it at that, but the fire she wanted to set required the full amount of fuel. "Including me. I...don't want to get into details, okay? I just want him gone."

Everything Dandy had been through over the past few months was nothing compared to the shock Violet's words gave him. In his world, the orderly had violently deflowered his maiden fair. The rage that was growing out of that notion would require time to reach its full peak. For the moment he was too stunned to think.

"I...am very sorry, Violet," he said, struggling with his words. He grabbed her in a hard hug then. "I will right this wrong. He'll pay for what he's done."

The words were simple but deadly in tone. Then he was up, off the bed and heading for the door. Violet wondered if she'd just started something she would regret later. After all, it was said that Dandy had killed a man before. But if he did kill Max, she knew it would make her happy. She never wanted his hands on her again.

...

Author's Note:

I didn't outline a romance between Violet and Dandy. I keep hoping Violet will tell him to back off but I guess he's too charming or something. Maybe she's too drugged. I don't know why these characters are complicating a story I'm trying to wrap up in an episode-and-a-half.

Next time: Tate finally gets a visit from his mother. Do you think she'll bring him a present?