“Gav,” she said. “I think I found something interesting.” She slid the apparatus which made a dull clunk followed by an echoing sound within the wall.
A breeze drifted in and instantly the smell of the outdoors lingered for a moment. It gave her a chill.
“What is that?” he said.
“I think it’s a secret…” She pulled the bookcase toward her and the entire wall moved with a loud creak. “Entrance or room,” she finished.
“Like in an old mystery novel,” he said.
“Something like that.” Looking at the staircase around the corner which was quite narrow, she said, “I think it was used for people to sneak between the first and second floors without anyone knowing.”
“But, it’s close to the stairs. Why?”
“I mean, in the middle of the night. The stairs are open and make a lot of noise when people walk up and down, but this staircase is enclosed and would be fairly quiet.” She began to go up the secret staircase.
“Wait.”
“What?”
“This house was condemned, right?”
“Yeah.”
“How do you know if those stairs are safe?”
“They’re still standing,” she said, and began to climb.
McGaven let out a sigh as he reluctantly followed.
Katie strained her eyes to be able to see the outline of the stairs. There was no handrail and the darkness was unsettling, made you feel like you were floating in a deep abyss. She used her cell phone’s flashlight application and slowly moved forward. Finally, she arrived at the top where there was a thin door with a simple piece of stained wood that turned one way to lock it and the other to unlock. When Katie opened the door, she found herself in a hallway just across from a large bedroom.
“I don’t know why I’m following you,” said McGaven with a look of relief once on the second floor.
“Because you always have your partner’s back.” She looked around at the other rooms and realized that the room across from the secret passage was separated from the rest of the other bedrooms, buffering it from noise. “This would make sense, if what Tanis Jones told us were true about Candace having sex with Keller. The other girls might not have known or heard anything.”
“So this is just a special entrance for their sexual encounters.”
“Looks like a possibility. But…”
“I know that look.”
“I’m sure there’s more to this house and the foster home than we know. We need to talk to Tanis again.”
“And pressure Shelly. Maybe talking with the DA, we can dangle early release for more information?”
Turning to McGaven, she said, “Maybe.”
“Seen enough? I don’t think there’s anything here that will blow this case wide open.”
Katie took another look around the second floor and agreed. “There’s nothing here.”
“Maybe another secret room?”
“I thought of that. I don’t think another room, but you don’t build a secret staircase unless you’ve got something to hide. Why would the Slovnicks build this? What’s the significance?”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know for sure…”
“I agree we need to talk to Tanis again.”
“Let’s go.” She headed toward the regular staircase.
“What? Not back down the dizzying stairs made for little people?”
She laughed. “I still want to check out the metal storage containers before we leave.”
“I’m right behind you.”
Katie walked out the front door of the mansion and the cool air was a welcoming change from the musty house. She thought about what the secret passage might have been used for and how they managed to keep it such a secret—or did they?
“We need to see all the reports from the social services, or at least everything they have,” she said.
“I keep playing phone tag with the social worker, Jerry Weaver.”
“Maybe we need to set up an appointment? Might want to see if he can send us copies or drop them off?”
“I was going to, but wanted to actually speak to the guy and get his impression about this place.”
They jogged down the hill and over to the large metal containers. Two of the containers were secured with double locks. The third one was closed but there wasn’t a lock.
Katie took a look around them, trying to find a name of a company that supplied them, but there didn’t seem to be any branding. “Strange,” she said.
McGaven walked over to her.
“There doesn’t seem to be a name or anything.”
“Maybe it’s on the inside.”
“Wouldn’t they want to advertise?” she said.
He looked around up high, low, and around the doors.
Katie pulled open the door. The inside of the storage container had corrugated walls with twelve-inch-square vented areas along both sides as well as the end. It was about twenty-six feet long and seven and half feet tall. Stacked inside she could see a pair of vintage doors and mantel from the fireplace. “There’s stuff in here, but it wasn’t locked,” she said and took a couple of steps inside, still looking for the name of the company.
McGaven walked in and said, “You know, we could ask the construction company.”
“I know, but I just wanted to see it. There should be identifying numbers too. All these types of containers have numbers—like license plates or VIN numbers.”
“These are nice pieces from the house that I’m sure people will want to buy for their remodels.” He referred to heavy, craftsman-style interior doors with carvings and carved glass doorknobs. Each door had to have weighed 200 pounds. There were also crown molding pieces in every length, and piles of intricately carved gingerbread bric-a-brac from the windows.
“What are you thinking?” he asked, looking at Katie curiously.
Katie was still searching the interior for some type of identification. She didn’t know exactly why but it bothered her. Then she saw at the bottom, behind one of the old interior doors with carved glass knobs, there was some information printed on the lower wall. She switched her cell phone to the flashlight mode and read: ETL Express, Moving & Storage LLC.
“ETL,” she whispered.
“What?” McGaven asked. He looked to see what she was talking about. “There’s the name, ETL Express. How does that help?”
“Oh my, wait a minute.” She frantically searched her cell phone photos where she had taken a photo of the piece of paper that was folded in her locker at the police department. She hadn’t bothered to tell McGaven about it because it could have been nothing. “I didn’t think it meant anything, but I still kept it and took a photo of it. So glad I did… I actually forgot all about it.”
“What are you talking about?”
“This,” she said, and turned her phone for McGaven to see.
He said out loud, “ETL Express. Where did you get this?”
“I found it folded at the bottom of my locker.”
“At the department?”
She nodded. “Yes.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?” he asked. “Did anyone see anything? I know the security cameras are at the parking lot and the main door, but not the interior.”
“No. Nothing. I checked when I had the chance. First, I thought it was something and then I thought it was probably nothing. I didn’t think about it until now.”
“It seems strange that these are related, but you can’t dismiss it either.”
Katie’s phone rang.
“I better get this,” she said, seeing it was Chad. “Hi.”
Chad said, “You doing okay?”
“Just fine, Gav and I are at the Elm Hill Mansion checking out some storage containers—”
McGaven urgently said, “Hey!”
Cisco barked rapidly in the distance.
Katie looked over to see the silhouette of a man standing at the entrance of the container, dressed a
ll in black with a hoodie over his head. His face was obscured. “Wait!” she yelled as she dropped her cell.
Both McGaven and Katie rushed the door just as it was closed, secured, and some type of lock was engaged.
“Katie!” Chad yelled down the cell phone.
“Open the door!” Katie screamed, hammering her fists. “We’re police officers, let us out now!”
McGaven joined in, kicking and punching the metal door—to no avail.
With no windows, it was now completely dark inside.
Out of breath, Katie said to McGaven, “Now what?”
“Your phone.”
Katie stumbled around and found her phone. She picked it up, “Chad? Are you there?”
Static crackled and then there were three loud beeps—then nothing.
“Shit!” She frantically kept trying to call him back but couldn’t make a connection. “It’s this container that’s interfering.” She moved around, trying to get a signal. “Nothing.”
“Me neither,” said McGaven moving his cell phone around. “What do you think Chad heard?”
“I’m not sure.”
The sound of a large earthmover started up in the distance and the smell of diesel fuel drifted through the air vents. Katie heard the construction machine shift and began moving—it became louder as it approached them. The floor beneath their feet vibrated.
“What the hell?” McGaven said.
“You don’t think—” was all she managed to say before the bulldozer slammed into the side of the container causing it to lurch, throwing Katie and McGaven to the floor.
Thirty-One
Saturday 1105 hours
The second hit was harder than the first—a deafening ringing throughout the metal container that rattled through Katie’s body as she was slammed against the corrugated wall. Pain spread throughout her body. She tried to gulp and cough to catch her breath, but the rumble of the giant earthmover brought back horrific memories from the battlefield. Things she never wanted to remember. Images of blood, casualties and broken bodies flooded her mind. She could actually smell gunfire and feel the intense heat of the afternoon on her face. The traumas that she had so carefully hidden away in the recesses of her mind broke free and swarmed her.
Realizing her cell had once again dislodged with the impact, she scrambled around for it in the pitch darkness, found it and stashed it deeply in her pocket. Pushing a door out of her way she managed to stand and call out for her partner.
“Gav?”
There was no response.
“Gav?” she called again, more frantic. She heard a noise—movement and a gasp. “Where are you?” she said more quietly, not wanting the person on the outside to hear her.
Reaching down, she moved through the container with her hands out in front of her, not wanting to lose her phone again, until she found McGaven, caught between a heavy piece of lumber and a door.
“Gav,” she said, putting her hands on his face—he stirred slightly. He had been knocked unconscious. She felt blood coming from his scalp. “You okay? Can you move at all?”
“No,” he muttered.
“Where’s the pain?”
“No pain. Just hard to breathe…”
Feeling around, Katie discovered that the door had wedged against him and was pressing hard into his chest. “Take it easy. Breathe slowly, evenly if you can. Let me see what I can do, okay?”
Though her hands were shaking uncontrollably, Katie moved around the door trapping McGaven and the dent of the container pushing in toward him. Shifting back and bracing herself, she put her feet up against the door and pushed with everything she had. But it wasn’t enough. Using her hands as her eyes, she found part of a piece of lumber to use like a crowbar.
It took her a moment to get it ready. The sound of the earthmover roared up again—prowling, hunting, and eager to do some damage.
“Gav, we have to brace for another hit.”
“Okay,” he barely said.
Katie wedged the wood as best she could and pulled down hard, putting all of her 125 pounds against it. She let out a yell of anger trying to shift it away from her partner. It moved a little… then a little more… then enough to free McGaven.
The diesel beast revved and was bearing down on the container.
“C’mon,” she said.
McGaven wiggled free. He grabbed Katie to maintain balance and headed for the door where there was the least number of stored items.
The third hit battered them hard. The ringing through the container was almost unbearable.
McGaven tried to use his weight and size to protect Katie, but they crashed against the side like floppy rag dolls.
Light trickled in, illuminating the metal container a little. They saw that there was a hole the size of a dinner plate where McGaven had been pinned. The strike would have crushed him if he had still been there. Now the metal was torn and folded from the impact.
The bulldozer seemed to be having trouble backing up as part of it was caught on the side of the container. Revving dangerously high, bumping up and down, screeching and groaning, it finally broke free.
Katie could hear Cisco barking, loud and nonstop from the car. He knew that Katie was in trouble and needed help. He was probably doing everything a dog could do to get to her. The back window had been left down about six inches. She wondered if he could get out.
“Cisco,” she shouted with torment in her voice. “What if he tries to bulldoze the cars?”
“Wait, where’s your back-door release?”
“I… I don’t have it on me,” she said. “I didn’t think I needed it. No… Cisco…” She kept back the tears.
“Where’s your gun?” said McGaven.
“I have a snub nose Colt right here.” She showed him her concealed holster on her side.
“Five shots?”
“Yeah,” she said.
“Try to shoot the lock.”
“That’s not…” She abruptly didn’t finish because there was no time for negativity. Instead, she got into position.
McGaven covered his ears and gave her a nod.
She aimed at an angle that hopefully wouldn’t ricochet the bullet and hit one of them. Hearing the diesel engine and Cisco barking, she focused, stood back to the side, and squeezed the trigger. The .38 bullet hammered at the area, but nothing changed. People and events flashed through her mind: Cisco, her uncle, her parents, her dad barbecuing, hiking with Chad, and being sworn in at the sheriff’s department as a new detective.
“Again,” McGaven said, turning away from the impact.
Katie repeated the same action twice, hitting the same area, mutilating the metal. “I only have two shots left,” she said.
“Use them!”
Katie squeezed the trigger and fired twice. “Nothing. It didn’t break free.”
“I have my gun, but it came free when I was hit by the door. I have to find it…”
Katie tried to calm her breathing; she knew that her adrenalin wasn’t helping her focus or the situation. It caused her to tremble and her vision became slightly blurred.
They heard the sound of the construction equipment start up and rev again—this time at a different pitch.
“Why does it sound different?” she said.
“That’s because it’s a forklift,” he said and began to move to find a place where they could brace themselves.
“What?” Katie said not completely understanding.
“Lifting equipment, so he can push us…”
“… off the side of the property,” she finished the sentence. They were going to be tipped into the pit where Candace Harlan’s body was discovered.
“Hang on!” was the last thing that Katie heard McGaven shout.
They braced for the impact.
The equipment hit them, but it wasn’t as severe as the previous ones.
Katie loosened her grip and looked at McGaven; he had the same expression of wonderment.
Then it happened�
�
They felt the metal container move beneath their feet. The moment of stillness just before the fateful drop on the roller coaster. The storage unit shifted slowly, rattling everything inside including Katie’s bones.
“We have to find your gun!” she said and began urgently looking anywhere where it could have landed.
McGaven copied her, but had to stop and catch his breath.
“You okay?” she said nervously, looking over to where she could just make out his outline.
“I’m okay…” he panted and began to search again.
The container seemed to sit idle for a moment.
“Stop,” she demanded McGaven. “Stay still and breathe slowly. I’m going to find the gun.” She looked back and he began to help her. “I mean it, stay still!” she ordered.
The equipment outside powered up again and the container began to move slowly towards the edge, like a slow sinking ship. It wouldn’t be long before they plunged to their fate over the edge of the pit.
Katie knew their time was running out.
The metal container began to move faster. Then she felt the drop as her body was thrown into a free fall and the container tumbled.
Thirty-Two
Saturday 1345 hours
A faint buzzing brought Katie back to a wakeful state—she didn’t know how long she had been knocked out. Moving her head slightly, she groaned. She still felt dizzy and nauseous from the drop and not being able to see anything but—darkness—again. Her lips were dry and it was difficult to find her voice.
Finally she said, “Gav, you okay?” Her voice a hoarse whisper.
Swallowing several times, she said again, “Gav, you okay?”
Booming sounds reverberated all around.
“Katie?” said McGaven. His voice was clear and calm.
Relief filled her heart. Closing her eyes for a moment, she said a silent prayer of thanks.
“I’m okay,” he said. “You okay?”
“I… think so.” Katie went to move and realized that her right leg was stuck underneath something. It didn’t hurt but she couldn’t get it free. “I’m stuck.”
“Let me try to get to you,” he said, moving slowly and carefully, pushing bits of wood and metal out of the way.
Last Girls Alive: A totally addictive crime thriller and mystery novel (Detective Katie Scott Book 4) Page 16