Had a Great Fall (An Olivia Thompson Mystery) (10 page)

Dani sat motionless on the floor of her cell. She hadn’t moved in hours. Eli had come downstairs the previous night, right on schedule. She had expected him to come for her again and make good on his promise. But he had walked right past her cell, opening Tina’s door with a loud screech.

For the next hour, Dani had listened to her new friend’s screams. Eli had taken his time, doing things that Dani could only imagine as she sat helplessly on the other side of the cement wall. At the same time as she was sobbing for Tina, she was also thankful that he hadn’t come for her.

When he was done, he came and stood in front of Dani’s cell. He didn’t say anything, just watched her through the bars. She stared right back, too frightened to move. Just as he was beginning to turn away, she found enough courage to say, “You’re a monster.”

He stopped, turning back to her. Unblinking, he stared straight into her eyes. “Maybe I am. But I wasn’t always like this.”

Then he was gone.

Several times, Dani called out to Tina. She was desperate to know that her only human contact was okay. Tina never replied. After a few hours, Dani heard faint crying. She was relieved, because it meant that Tina was still alive.

That was all that Dani needed to find the strength to act. Since waking up in the basement, she had been attempting to escape. For a while, she had yanked on her chains, hoping for a weak link. When that had proven futile, she had thoroughly examined the lock. It looked pretty simple and Dani thought that if she could just find something small and sharp, she could pick it.

The only problem with that plan was that there was nothing in the room but her mattress. Then she remembered the springs that had poked her in the back. If she could break off a piece, it should do the trick.

She had set about spending her days working the metal back and forth, hoping it would be weak enough to snap. Unfortunately, the spring was thicker and stronger than she had thought. But after what had just happened to Tina, she was re-determined to get free.

One night, after Melanie had been taken away, Eli had brought another girl to the basement. He had taken her into Melanie’s old cell to enact his perverted activities upon her. But something had gone wrong because a short time later, the girl had darted down the hallway. She was barefoot and her clothes were ripped, but she was free.

On her way to the stairs, she stopped and looked Dani in the eye, a guilty expression on her face. Dani understood right away that she felt like she should try to free the other girls. But Dani also knew that their best chance of survival was if the girl got away. She couldn’t risk getting caught. So Dani had softly shaken her head, giving the girl permission to leave her behind.

When no one came for them after that night, Dani assumed that Eli had caught the girl and killed her as punishment. It should have deterred her own escape attempt, but it had the opposite effect. She would do anything to be free again, even if it was a short-lived freedom.

Dani pushed herself off the floor with renewed energy. Daylight had come and she had hours to finish her plan. After what had happened to Tina, she worried that this might be the last day alive for one or both of them if she didn’t act now.

The spring had weakened with her bending and twisting. She knew that she was close to breaking off a piece of the metal. With a glimmer of hope in front of her, she summoned all of her strength. When it finally did break, she almost didn’t believe it. For several seconds, she stared at the piece that lay in her hand. It was about the size of a nail, but twice as thick. Shockingly, it fit perfectly into the lock.

“No way,” she muttered under her breath. It didn’t seem right that she could get this lucky. But after an hour of trying unsuccessfully to unlock the shackle on her wrist, she realized it wasn’t going to be that easy after all. In fact, she nearly gave up completely when her fingers started to cramp so badly that she could barely move them.

But then the lock clicked, and the shackle slipped from her arm.

Delighted, she rubbed at the raw skin on her wrist. The sunlight was already beginning to fade and she worried that it had taken too long and Eli would return in the midst of her escape. Unlike the other girl, Dani had no intention of leaving Tina behind.

She assumed that she would have to pick the cell door lock as well, but when she pushed against it, the door swung open. Apparently Eli had only been pretending to lock it. It hadn’t been necessary for an actual lock since each of the girls had been chained to the wall.

“Sneaky bastard,” she said, stepping into the dark hallway.

Tina’s door was also unlocked and she found her neighbor huddled in a ball on a blanket. She didn’t even have a mattress.

“Tina,” Dani said, kneeling next to the girl. “It’s going to be okay. I’m going to get us out of here.”

Tina didn’t move.

Dani put her hand on the girl’s arm. “Tina. You need to pull yourself together. I need your help to pull this off.”

“We can’t,” Tina breathed. Her eyes stared blankly straight ahead as she rocked gently. “He’ll kill us.”

“He’s going to kill us anyway,” Dani said bluntly. “He already killed Melanie and my friend Madison. Our only chance of surviving is to get the hell out of here.”

Tina whimpered slightly.

Without waiting for her permission, Dani grabbed Tina’s arm and started working on the lock. This time, she knew exactly how she needed to position the spring. It only took her a couple of minutes to get it unlocked.

“Can you stand?” Dani asked. She wasn’t sure exactly how badly Tina had been injured. They wouldn’t get very far if Dani had to carry her.

When Tina didn’t answer, Dani took matters into her own hands. She pulled Tina to her feet and was relieved when she only wobbled slightly. Then she grabbed her hand and pulled her into the hallway. Dani checked each of the other cells to make sure they were empty. She wasn’t going to leave anyone behind.

At the end of the hall, she took the stairs upward. She was so close to freedom that she could smell the fresh air leaking through the gap under the door. Dani twisted the doorknob and shoved, exhaling hard when her body crashed against the firm door.

It was locked.

Nate wasn’t surprised when he wasn’t able to reach Vince on his phone. After calling him incessantly over the last week, his partner had started to avoid his calls. He probably assumed that Nate was just checking in again. It was risky for Nate to enter the station while he was still suspended, but he needed to update Vince on what he had learned from Jenna.

The station was crowded and full of activity when Nate arrived. That wasn’t uncommon on a Saturday night. It wasn’t hard for Nate to sneak in without being noticed, but before he could find Vince he was stopped by the person he least wanted to see.

“Tucker. Breaking the rules yet again, I see.” Barnes stepped in front of Nate purposefully. “You just can’t do as you are told.”

“I don’t have time for this, Barnes.” Nate’s voice was clipped. “Is Vince around?”

“He’s out interviewing a new witness from the scene of Jenna’s accident.” Barnes’ eyes narrowed. “You’re being less obnoxious than usual. What’s going on?”

Nate knew that he should tell Barnes about Jenna. They were on the same side, after all, and they needed to work together to solve the case. “Jenna is awake. I was just at the hospital and she gave me some new information.”

“Awake?” His jaw tightened. “Does she remember who took her?”

“Vague details. But she had a little more insight into where she was being held. We should get officers out to patrol the area right away.” Nate was surprised when Barnes’ shook his head.

“We’ve already beefed up patrols on all campuses. No one is available to pursue a lead that might not be accurate.” Barnes sighed. “If you want, you can come with me and we can check it out. If it seems legit, we can always call for backup.”

Nate wanted to say no. He didn’t want to spend any time alone with the guy, but it was time for him to put aside his personal feelings. Barnes’ offer was reasonable. “Alright. Let’s go now.”

“Sure. Just let me grab something from my desk.” He gave Nate a cautioning look. “You should wait here so Sarge doesn’t see you.”

He had yet another piece of reasonable advice. Nate begrudgingly waited in the hall for Barnes to return. As added salt in the wound, Barnes insisted on driving. Nate tried calling Vince several more times during the drive, but the calls continued to go unanswered.

“Quarreling with Monroe?” Barnes asked with a smirk.

“Just drive, Barnes.” Nate wasn’t in the mood to play any of his twisted games. “Don’t mistake this ride-along as friendship.”

“So you won’t be coming over to my place tonight for the pillow fight?” Barnes floored the gas and sped through a red light. In an unmarked car, it was a risky move. “Where exactly am I headed?”

“Jenna thought that she was taken within a mile of where she was found. But she also wasn’t wearing any shoes, so I’m betting it was actually only a few blocks. If she had been running through a residential area, we would have a lot more witnesses than we do.” Nate pulled up the map he had loaded onto his phone. “Most of these streets are pretty major, except for this one that runs perpendicular to the park. I think we should start there.”

“Alright.” Barnes turned the wheel. He had removed his suit jacket and his sleeves were rolled up to his elbows. Nate noticed that he had deep scratch marks on his arm.

“Wild night?” he asked.

Barnes took a second to process the question before smiling. “I wish. I tried to give my dog a bath. Not a good idea.”

“I wouldn’t have expected you to be a dog person,” Nate said. Truth was, he hadn’t spent much time at all thinking about what kind of person Barnes might be. “What kind?”

“Lab.” He coughed and stepped hard on the brakes. “We don’t need to take an interested in each other, Tucker. Let’s just focus on our jobs.”

“Gladly,” Nate agreed as he stepped out of the car. The air was cool and smelled like snow. It was hard to explain that to someone who had never lived in a cold-weather climate, but you actually could smell snow. “We should check out any abandoned buildings first. Jenna mentioned that she was held in a cement basement.”

They walked down the street in silence, much to Nate’s relief. After passing a few single-family homes, Nate worried that his guess had been wildly inaccurate. It certainly didn’t look like the type of place where a serial killer would set up a lair.

“You’re getting rusty,” Barnes said.

“We aren’t done yet.”

Nate felt less confident than he sounded. They were nearly at the end of the block and the only building they hadn’t checked was a school. He nearly suggested they head back, but the school appeared to have been shut down so it was probably worth a quick look.

“I doubt the girls are being kept the school basement,” Barnes said.

“It will only take a minute to check it out.”

“Sure. If you really want to waste time instead of actually finding the girls…” Barnes bounced on his feet.

Nate had never seen him so anxious. “What’s wrong? Do you need to take a leak?”

In the distance, a faint banging noise echoed from around the side of the school. Nate instantly turned in that direction.

“It was probably an animal,” Barnes said in a high voice.

Nate ignored him and headed around the brick building. The banging started again, like a windowpane rattling. He glanced at each floor, but didn’t see anything suspicious. Then he glanced toward the ground where the dingy basement windows were nearly hidden. Using his trusty flashlight, he scanned each one.

“Nothing,” Barnes said smugly.

Nate was about to agree when he saw a faint movement in the very last window. “There’s someone in there,” he said, moving closer.

A hand smacked against the glass, leaving a dirty streak. It had been the hand of a young woman. He had no doubt that the girls were inside.

A metal door stood a few feet to the left of the window. It was padlocked.

“We have to get in there,” Nate said. He knew that in the movies, people always shot locks to break them open. In reality, it was never that easy.

“Here. Let me.” Barnes shoved him aside. “I’m good with locks.”

Nate watched suspiciously as Barnes manipulated the lock. He kept himself firmly in front of it, preventing Nate from seeing what he was actually doing. A few seconds later, he pulled open the door.

“Tada.” Barnes flashed his usual arrogant grin. “After you.”

The whole thing felt strange to Nate. He didn’t for a second believe that Barnes had been able to so easily pick the lock. But he was also in a hurry to get to the missing girls. It was possible that they were in imminent danger. So he stepped past Barnes and glanced down the stairs. Because he was on suspension, he hadn’t brought his gun with him to the hospital. Now, that felt like a huge mistake.

“Maybe you should go first. I’m unarmed.” Nate started to step back, but he was shoved hard from behind. The force knocked him forward until he lost his balance, tumbling head first down the stairs.