Into the Darkness

by L. T. Ryan

  We dashed to the carport. The truck’s hood felt warm. It had been running within the past hour. There was trash on the front seat, an empty pack of cigarettes, some energy drink bottles, receipts, and a few empty Budweiser twelve-packs. I checked the glove box for a registration and found a piece of yellow legal paper with an address scrawled on it.

  “Look familiar?” I held it up for Cervantes to see.

  He shrugged and took it from me. “I’ll follow up on it afterward. Let’s move to the greenhouse.”

  The humidity ratcheted up a notch inside the building. The place was alive with tomato plants, some other vegetables, and a section of flowers. Maybe Novak did sell floral arrangements. Two long rows of tables covered in dirt and green. At the far end were two large racks filled with empty planters, bags of dirt and fertilizer, and tools.

  I headed to the other side while Sam and Cervantes moved the tables to check behind and underneath.

  The ground was packed dirt in some places, gravel in others. I stopped every few feet and kicked at the ground for evidence of recent digging. The greenhouse would make a decent graveyard for someone intent on hiding the dead.

  The other property popped into my thoughts once again. Was it possible that Novak had used that location as well before he had been caught? I dragged my heel across the ground in front of me. What if someone had paved over the ground to further conceal the contents underneath? I made a note to have Cervantes follow up on that. They could get a guy out to perform a sonar check and look for anything buried there.

  “What do you have down there, Mitch?” Sam said.

  I’d spent a couple minutes poking around the supplies and checking behind and underneath the racks. “Nothing, man.”

  “Let’s move on to the next greenhouse,” Cervantes said.

  The second building was set up much the same as the first. Dirt and gravel floor. Two rows of tables topped with vegetables and flowers with a walkway down the middle. At the end was one supply rack and an empty space next to it.

  Our assignments remained the same. Sam and Cervantes began sliding tables around, while I took my time walking to the other end, looking for anything that seemed out of place.

  Sam came up with something right away. “Check this out.”

  I turned and saw him holding up a shotgun outfitted with a pistol grip and holders for additional rounds.

  “Where was that?”

  “Duct taped under the table.” He checked the weapon. “And it is ready to go.”

  “Hang onto that,” Cervantes said. “Might need it.”

  I had been focused before, but it reached a new level. We’d entered the hive. Time to figure out how to penetrate the core.

  At the end of the path stood the single supply rack. It contained some of the same items as the other greenhouse, but I also found lye. Now, I never had much of a green thumb. Momma did and kept it all to herself. But I couldn’t think of any uses in a greenhouse for lye off the top of my head.

  I moved around the side of the unit and pried my fingers between it and the wall while grabbing a shelf with my other hand. It took a few tries to move the unit six inches out. Other than a few cobwebs, only a shovel on the floor hid behind the shelving. Had it been placed there on purpose?

  I took a few steps back and crouched down. My body teetered to the right as though I were off-center on a large balance board. I reached down and brushed the loose dirt aside. My hand grazed against something solid that led to a thin groove. The groove ran about eighteen inches in either direction, cornered, and went behind me. I moved to the side and worked my fingernails in the small gap until I could lift it high enough for my fingertips to grip underneath.

  Dry, musky air rushed out. I eased the trapdoor up a few more inches and peered into the darkness. Enough light filtered through to illuminate what appeared to be a corridor. I set the top down and stood up.

  “You guys might want to come check this out.”

  Chapter Sixty-Four

  “Alice!” Cassie lightly slapped the young woman’s pale cheek. Her eyes opened to slits, revealing bloodshot whites. Drool trickled from the corner of her mouth. A puddle of vomit pooled on the floor near the bed. Cassie searched Alice’s arm and found a small trickle of blood.

  Novak had drugged her before he came in to do the same to Cassie. It had been strong enough to knock Novak out the moment she plunged the juice into him, and he was twice Alice’s size. Cassie had felt the effects before, too. She feared the young woman had overdosed.

  Normally she wouldn’t hesitate to carry the other woman out of their prison, but Cassie was underfed and over-drugged. She felt weak and she feared for her life. Taking Alice with her reduced her own chances of escaping.

  But what if the effects on Novak wore off too soon? What if the other guy showed up? Cassie leaving would mean they took their rage out on Alice.

  She gave the room a once-over, looking for something to put on Alice. Novak had left her nude except for dirt-stained panties. Cassie found a balled up dress in the corner of the room. She recognized it from the pictures she had seen of Alice early on in the investigation. Had it been what she wore when Novak killed her roommates and abducted her? Or had he returned to the house to retrieve it for her?

  “I need you to sit up, Alice,” Cassie said, threading her arm around the woman’s back to assist her. “Come on, we don’t have time to linger.”

  Alice groaned as Cassie lifted her back off the bed.

  “That’s a girl,” Cassie said. “Keep talking to me.”

  Alice groaned again. Cassie’s skin pricked and she swung her head around, expecting to see Novak in the doorway.

  It was empty.

  Alice’s torso leaned forward. Cassie shifted her weight against the woman to hold her up. Alice’s drool-soaked cheek slid down Cassie’s shoulder and upper arm.

  “Help me out, girl.” Cassie worked Alice’s arms through the bottom of the dress and out the arm holes with little assistance from the woman. Then she wrapped her arms around Alice and pulled her to her feet. “I need everything you’ve got, girl. I know you feel weak right now, like you’re asleep, but you’re with me, Alice. You and me, we can get out of here, but we have to work together. You hear me? You can do this.”

  Alice’s eyelids fluttered open. Her eyes rolled forward, made contact with Cassie.

  “I don’t want to leave you here,” Cassie said. “Please don’t make me leave you.”

  Alice’s grip on Cassie’s arm was hard. Her words were slurred, but understandable. “Let’s get out of here.”

  Chapter Sixty-Five

  Pennington stopped and leaned against the earthen wall. The first time he heard the tapping sound, he blew it off. But twice was a sign that something was wrong. Novak was supposed to be at the house. He had explicitly told the idiot to remain there until Pennington arrived. There was a chance of the operation being exposed. He needed everyone present to coordinate the next move.

  Had Novak been stupid enough to ignore him?

  Pennington unholstered his Smith and Wesson and turned back the way he had come. The tunnel snaked underneath the woods for a quarter-mile or so, running from the greenhouse to the old home. Nature had overtaken the house. It was impossible to spot it from the road or the air. You’d have to stumble into it to know it existed.

  A few minutes passed. No noise. No breeze blowing past like he expected when the trap door opened. Just his imagination. It had been a long time since it had acted up like this. It had also been a long time since he was at risk of being outed as a psychopath. Not since he lived in Delaware when Novak had lost control. Relocating both of them had been a good thing.

  He changed direction again and continued back to the house. How would Cassie take the news? He’d seen her in the cellar on more than one occasion. She had been so drugged that even when she looked him in the eye, she had no idea who he was. A twinge of guilt ate at him. His plan had been to free her. Be the hero. Maybe she’d thank him in
more ways than one.

  But now that he’d possibly been compromised, his plans had changed.

  Chapter Sixty-Six

  Cassie planted her foot on the next step and braced her arm against the wall. Alice’s dead weight threatened to send them both tumbling down the steep concrete stairs. If Cassie didn’t die on the way down, she’d be critically injured with nothing to do but wait for Novak to wake from his slumber.

  The feeling that it was a mistake leaving him alive nagged at her. Every step she took she heard the voices telling her to finish the man. But it wasn’t her place to decide his fate. She would be as bad as him if she took his life.

  Cassie butted her thigh and knee against the back of Alice’s leg and drove the woman up and forward. “Come on, Alice. Five more just like that.”

  Freedom existed beyond the splintered door at the top of the stairs. She had to believe it did or she wouldn’t have the strength to move them any further.

  Two more steps took close to two minutes of work. She wondered if she’d have the strength to make it to a road once they escaped the place. Out there, she could conceal Alice. At least she hoped so.

  The wonder over what came next ate at her until she finally sat Alice down on a step, resting her head and torso against the wall and crossing her legs in a way to help prevent her from falling. Cassie climbed to the top and rested there with her ear against the door. She watched the bar of light that seeped from underneath. A minute passed. Then another. Was she frozen with fear, or being extra cautious? She could no longer tell the difference between the two feelings.

  Alice moaned as she lifted her hand to her head. Cassie stepped down to her.

  “It’s okay. We’re getting out of here. I need you to find every ounce of fight you have in you for the next step. You got it?”

  Alice nodded, said, “Yeah, I can do this.”

  A good sign. The most Cassie had gotten out of the woman yet.

  Emboldened by Alice’s newfound strength, Cassie rediscovered her own. She marched up the steps and grabbed the door handle. It felt like ice on her hot skin. She twisted the knob and cracked the door. Daylight poured in through a dirty window. She shielded her eyes, allowing them to adjust. How long had it been since she’d seen sunlight? Days? Weeks? She had no idea if her sleep had lasted minutes or hours.

  Cassie returned to help Alice the rest of the way up the stairs. The younger woman managed to climb them on all fours with Cassie’s help. She plastered both hands on Alice’s rear end and pushed. At the top, Alice managed to stand on her own. They emerged from the cellar into a dusty kitchen. Cobwebs hovered in the corners. The sink was piled high with pans. Dirty dishes lined the counters. She scanned the room and found two points of egress.

  “Come with me.” She grabbed Alice’s hand and led her toward the hallway with more light. Turning a corner, a wide door with a large stained-glass window appeared. They were almost free.

  A figure blocked out the vibrant reds and yellows and blues, turning them dull.

  Cassie froze in place as the knob turned. Instincts took over. She spun on her heel and located a hall closet. With her hand on Alice’s back, she shoved the girl toward the closet.

  “Get in and don’t come out no matter what you hear.”

  The front door creaked open.

  Cassie felt a puff of wind as Alice pulled the closet door closed.

  A breeze whipped down the hallway.

  She spun around. Her knees went weak when she saw him. For a moment, she thought she was safe. But that illusion faded quickly.

  “Hello, Detective.”

  Pennington’s smile spread as he raised his pistol and aimed it at her.

  “Hello, my dear Cassie.”

  Chapter Sixty-Seven

  We emerged from the earthen tunnel inside a structure. The smell of smoke didn’t register until I spotted it seeping out of the overhead vent. I’d be lying if there wasn’t a part of my brain saying, fool, don’t go in there. It was no coincidence the house was on fire. Question was, who was inside?

  Cervantes pushed past me and wasted no time barreling through the door, not bothering to stop as he kicked it in. Plates of stained glass broke free in sheets and shattered on the old pine floors. Shards skated across the room. Smoke wafted along the ceiling. The fire was in the walls, hopefully slowed by old plaster and lath and not accelerating through the hundred-year-old wood.

  All three of us knew the risks being inside. The house could collapse at any moment. We ripped doors open with reckless abandon. I found the kitchen and reached for what I figured to be a closet.

  “Found one!” Sam’s deep voice tore through the room.

  I followed it and saw him holding up Alice. The girl could barely stand. She struggled to form words as Sam asked her simple questions.

  I hurried back to the kitchen and pulled the door open. A set of concrete stairs descended into the darkness. Somebody was on the floor at the bottom.

  “Cassie?” I yelled down into the chamber.

  They didn’t respond.

  “Sam, I’m going down.”

  A loud bang erupted from the other end of the house.

  “Christ!” Cervantes yelled as he ran into the kitchen. “It’s coming down. We gotta get out of here.”

  “There’s someone down there,” I said, pointing down the staircase.

  He craned his head to get a look, then glanced toward the front of the house. “Sam, get the girl out.” He put his hand on my back and pushed lightly. “Come on, let’s get them and go.”

  A light flicked on over my shoulder. The end of his large flashlight pushed past my face. Halfway down the stairs I knew the body was not Cassie’s.

  I hopped over it and squatted next to the man’s head, grabbing hold of his hair and yanking his face off the floor.

  “Where is she?” I yelled.

  Novak looked worse-off than Alice. I slapped him across the face. Didn’t even register with the guy.

  “You drag him up,” I said. “I’m gonna check the room. Give me your flashlight.”

  The floor overhead rattled, sending plumes of dust down.

  He handed the light over. “I’m not coming back down, Tanner.”

  “I wouldn’t expect you to.” I spun and swung the light around, getting a lay of the land. There were four doors. Two were open and two were closed. The closed ones were closest, so I started with them. I kicked the first open and aimed the light inside to see a stripped-down bed and nothing else. Before moving on to the next, I shone the light up the stairs.

  “Shit.”

  Smoke billowed in through the doorway. The kitchen was on fire now.

  “Hurry up, Tanner!” Cervantes’s voice barely reached me.

  I pushed the next door open, found the room much like the first.

  A large table dominated the foyer area. I hurried around it to the first open door. I gagged on the smell of human feces. It was strong enough to overpower the fire. Bedsheets covered the floor. Blood stained the mattress. The name Alice was written on the wall in blood or maybe something else. I had no intention of getting close enough to find out.

  One more room. Not enough time to check it out. I ran into it anyhow.

  The bed only had three posts. The fourth lay on the floor, the end of it coated in blood. The sheets were in disarray. Clothing was balled up and against the wall. It smelled awful as well, but I must’ve adjusted because I didn’t feel like throwing up. I reached down for the bedpost and spotted a syringe on the floor, so I scooped that up, too.

  By the time I reached the stairwell, orange glow filled the upper third. I closed my eyes and pictured the layout of the house. We’d come in from the right. The left had collapsed moments before I took my first step down toward the dungeon. There’d been a window somewhere in the kitchen.

  I sprinted up the stairs like I’d just blasted past the left tackle and had a direct line to an unsuspecting quarterback with his back to me. Pain seared through my knee as I took
the steps two at a time.

  At the top, flames danced on the walls and ceiling. I knew the room to the left was a smoldering pile of rubble, so I darted to the right as soon as I emerged from the stairwell and stopped dead in my tracks. The wall had collapsed. I could see the front door wide open. But I couldn’t get to it.

  The intense heat burned my skin. The smoke thickened and threatened to choke me out. I saw the one way out. I grabbed a kitchen chair and placed it in front of the sink. Then I backed against the wall and made another dash forward. My foot hit the seat. I swung the bed post overhead and brought it down diagonally, smashing the window. Then I covered my face with my forearm and closed my eyes. It wasn’t pretty. I sliced my arm, shoulder, and thigh. It felt like my wrist broke when I collided with the ground.

  But goddammit I was alive and knew right then and there I would stay that way at least until I found Cassie.

  Chapter Sixty-Eight

  The night went by in a blur. Pennington had injected Cassie with whatever Novak had been using. He had dragged her back down to the cellar where they found Novak stumbling around the room. Pennington snapped while confronting the man. He exploded into a fit of rage, pounding Novak in the face until he collapsed on the ground. Then he pulled Cassie back upstairs, where he injected her with the drug. The effects weren’t as strong immediately, and she wondered if she had become immune to it.

  Before leaving the house, Pennington lit the drapes on fire. It wouldn’t take long for the blaze to take over. Cassie’s legs grew heavier as they plodded through the woods. Pennington yanked on her arm, urging her to keep pace or he’d kill her right then and there. That was bullshit. But she couldn’t call him out on it. Her mouth had lost the ability to form the words.

  She remembered a van. Then a woman giving them her car. The lady stared into Cassie’s eyes and asked if she was all right. Pennington answered for her, said she needed medical help right away. The woman tossed over her keys and that was that.