by Karen Leabo
A faint squeaking noise startled her. Oh, God, rats, she thought as panic welled up inside her. No, no, maybe they weren’t rats, but little field mice. She could handle that. And as long as she didn’t see them, she would never know how big they were. Still, she stepped carefully as she made her way around piles of boxes and lumber. If she stepped on one she would scream.
Finally she found a window. It was above her head, wide but not very tall. She wouldn’t have any problem getting through it if she could boost herself up that far. Getting it open was the biggest challenge, she soon discovered. It wouldn’t budge.
She needed something to stand on, but if she walked away from the window to search, would she find it again? Well, she’d have to, she reasoned. With her hands extended in front of her, she groped through the darkness, running into various unidentifiable objects. At last she stumbled into something she was able to recognize as a metal folding chair. Perfect.
Before she could drag it to the window, she heard a commotion at the top of the steps. What now? Surely Odell wouldn’t change her mind and bring Amanda upstairs. It was Odell’s voice, all right.
“We’ll see if you’re laughing tomorrow morning,” she said, sounding very angry. A sliver of light spilled down the stairs as the door opened and someone was thrust into the basement.
“You can’t do this to me.” It was Terri! “That bitch is crazy! She’ll beat me up.”
It took Amanda a moment to realize Terri was talking about her. But Odell didn’t respond except to slam the basement door.
“Hey, Amanda,” Terri called out. “I’m coming down there. You wouldn’t beat up a poor, defenseless, fat, pregnant girl, would you?”
Amanda wanted to laugh. She moved toward the stairs. “Just stay away from me,” she called back, in case Odell was listening.
Terri’s tennis shoes made slow, quiet thuds as she worked her way cautiously down the stairs. When she reached the bottom Amanda was there. They found each other in the darkness and hugged so hard it hurt.
“What are you doing down here?” Amanda whispered.
“I couldn’t let you do this alone,” Terri whispered back. “So I started laughing when Henry hauled you off, saying it served you right. Odell didn’t like that, and as mad as she was, it didn’t take much to provoke her. Now I can help you escape. Maybe I can boost you out the window, or distract the dogs while you run. I have a whole pocketful of meat.”
“Oh, but Terri, when Odell finds out I’m gone, she’ll blame you for helping me! I hate to think what she might do to you.”
“Please, I can handle Odell. As long as I know help is coming, I can take anything she dishes out. Are you okay? Man, does that old broad know how to slap, or what?”
Amanda rubbed her face, which still smarted. “I’m okay. How about you?”
“I’m great. God, it’s so neat actually to be able to talk to you!”
“I know. But let’s not get too carried away. We’ve got work to do. How many windows are there down here?” she asked.
“Uh, one, two, three...four, I think. They’re painted over so no light gets through.”
Ah, no wonder it was so dark. “There’s a slight problem,” Amanda said. “Henry didn’t tell me which window has the loose bars. We’ll just have to try them all. Let’s start with this one over here—if I can find it again.”
Amanda found the window, and between her and Terri they managed to pry it open by sticking a board under the handle. Unfortunately, the burglar bars were as secure as Fort Knox.
“There’s another window on this wall, further down here,” Terri said, undaunted. “Let’s try it next. Don’t worry, we’ve got all night.”
“We do?” Amanda was under the impression that her sentence to the dungeon would be a mere hour or two. “Odell actually leaves people in this disgusting place overnight? She would make a good character in a Dickens novel.”
“A what novel?”
“Never mind.”
“I’ve spent the night here a couple of times. Didn’t you hear her? She said she’d see if I was laughing in the morning.”
“Oh, that’s right. Well, for once, I’m glad Odell is a sadist. Surely we can get the right window open and the bars off before morning.”
And they did. The third window, which was almost behind the furnace, proved to be the one. Once they got it open, the bars pushed easily away. “Give me that meat you’ve been saving,” Amanda said.
“Gladly. But don’t you think we should wait until later when everyone’s asleep? What if Odell steps outside and sees you?”
“I’m afraid to wait. Besides, last I saw, Phoebe was still inside. I don’t know where Bella is, but the fewer dogs I have to deal with, the better.”
“Okay, if you say so. Uck, this meat loaf is disgusting.”
“My God, how long have you been saving this junk?”
“Couple of days.” Terri transferred the cold, slimy bundle of meat into Amanda’s hand.
Amanda cringed as she slid it up her sleeve. “The damn dog will probably take my arm off,” she muttered. “Okay, I’m set. Wish me luck and I’m outta here. Can you boost me up?”
“Amanda, wait.”
“What?”
“I want to go with you.”
Amanda actually laughed. “You’ve got to be kidding. You’re almost nine months’ pregnant. A ten-mile hike will send you into labor at the very least, and kill you at the worst. That’s assuming you can fit through the window and under the fence.”
“I don’t have to go the whole way with you. Just get me on the other side of the fence, and I’ll wait in the woods until you bring help.”
“But why don’t you just wait here? Once I’m free, it won’t take long—a few hours at the most.”
“I might not have a few hours,” Terri said, her voice suddenly thick with tears. “The baby has dropped, my back’s been hurting all day...I’m afraid I’ll go into labor before you can bring help, and then what’ll happen to me? The old witch will kill me, that’s what.”
“But, Terri—”
“And I’m in good shape, thanks to all that exercise Odell makes us do. I probably could hike ten miles. Please, Amanda, don’t leave me here. I’d rather have my baby in the woods than here.”
Amanda saw her carefully constructed plan crumbling. It would be difficult for her to escape alone, much less with Terri in tow.
“Besides,” Terri added, “when we get free, we can separate. Then if Odell and her dogs come after us, there’s more chance that at least one of us can make it all the way to safety. It’ll confuse Phoebe. She’ll have a harder time tracking two people. And if it comes down to one of us distracting the dogs while the other one gets away...”
“Oh, sure, and the one left behind gets eaten. No, Terri, this isn’t going to work. Let’s just stick to the plan. I’ll bring help back before anything can happen to you or the baby, I promise.”
Terri snuffled. “Okay,” she said meekly.
Amanda had heard her use that same tone of voice with Odell, when she was feigning cooperation. It made Amanda uneasy. “Come on, move that chair closer,” she said gruffly, afraid that if she showed any softening, Terri would get her way.
Taking a deep breath, Amanda pushed the bars aside and crawled through the window. The yard was almost as dark as the basement. She could see only a few faint stars peeking through the clouds and the vague outlines of trees and buildings. Thank God Bella was nowhere in sight.
Well, there was no going back now. She turned to replace the security bars in front of the window, so nothing would readily appear out of place in the morning.
“Ouch! Hold it a second, I’m right behind you.”
“Terri! Get back inside.”
“I think I’m stuck.”
Exasperated, Amanda grabbed Terri by the shoulders and started to push. “Get back inside.”
“No. I’m coming with you and that’s that. Ow! Quit pushing. I can’t go backward, I can only go for
ward.”
“Oh, for God’s sake.” Defeated, Amanda began pulling instead of pushing. If she didn’t help Terri get unstuck, she might remain there all night.
“There, see? I’m already out,” Terri said triumphantly as she laboriously maneuvered herself to her knees, then her feet. “We’re as good as free.”
“We’re going to be dog food if you don’t lower your voice,” Amanda whispered as she put the bars back where they belonged. “I don’t want to hear a single complaint from you about being cold or hungry or tired—”
“I won’t! Let’s go see what kind of hole Henry dug for you.”
They strolled brazenly across the yard toward the storage shed. Amanda’s senses were alert for any sign of man or beast, but all was quiet. Once they were behind the shed and out of sight from the house, she breathed a little easier. She felt along the bottom of the chain-link fence with her foot until she found a small depression.
Small was the operative word.
Amanda dropped to her knees and explored the hole with her hands. “Oh, for God’s sake, this hole isn’t big enough for me, much less you. How did Henry even imagine I could fit through there?”
“Now what are we going to do?” Terri asked.
“We’re going to dig a bigger hole, that’s what. Look around and see if you can find a sharp rock or a stick or something.” Amanda began to scoop dirt out of the hole, digging into the firm red earth with her fingernails.
“Ha, found something better than a rock,” Terri said. “Henry left his shovel out here.”
“Great, give it here. I’ll have this hole so big we can sail the Queen Mary through it.” Amanda tried to sound confident, despite the fact that she’d never used a shovel in her life.
“The Queen Mary? How about the Goodyear blimp?” Terri hunkered down beside the hole, raking dirt away with her hands as Amanda loosened it with the shovel. It was slow-going, though, and Amanda grew more nervous with each passing minute. Odell didn’t carry that shotgun around for decorative purposes.
“Uh-oh,” Terri said. “I think we got company.”
Amanda froze. Sure enough, she could hear a dog’s tags tinkling in the still of the night. That noise was followed by a low, menacing growl.
“Bella?” Amanda ventured, turning to face the dog. She could just make out those shiny, white teeth in the darkness, only a few feet away.
Terri took the shovel and continued working while Amanda pulled a piece of meat from her sleeve.
“Look, Bella, see the pretty meat? Mmm, yummy, yummy.”
The growling stopped, replaced by a confused whine, then a sharp bark.
“Shhh! Quiet, Bella,” Amanda said in a soothing voice, holding out the meat. She felt the German shepherd’s warm breath on her hand a split second before its powerful jaws snapped closed around the tidbit. “How’s it coming?” she asked Terri.
“Just a little more.”
“Hurry. I don’t know how long the meat will last.” The meat loaf was little more than crumbles, which Bella eagerly snuffled out of Amanda’s hand. Next came another piece of roast beef, and then a slice of ham. “Good dog, good dog,” she crooned the whole time.
“Okay, I think I can get through now,” Terri said just as the front door of the house opened and a shaft of light from inside pierced through the darkness. The light didn’t reach far enough behind the shed to reveal their hiding place, but both girls stopped cold.
“Bella?” Odell called questioningly from the direction of the front porch.
“Go on, Bella,” Amanda urged in a voice that was barely a whisper. She pointed urgently toward the house. “Go to your mistress.”
The dog looked over its shoulder toward the house when Odell called again, then dismissed the summons in favor of the possibility of more treats from Amanda.
“Terri, go now,” Amanda ordered. She had only one piece of meat left, and she was breaking it up into small bites to make it last longer. She could hear Terri scuffling and grunting with the effort of squeezing under the fence. Odell called the dog halfheartedly once more, and then the door closed and it was dark once again.
“Okay, I’m through,” Terri said, her breathing labored. “It’ll be a cinch for you.”
Amanda threw the last bit of meat a few feet away, forcing Bella to hunt for it, then turned and dived through the hole. She managed to wiggle through just as the dog came looking for more, whining and jumping at Amanda’s retreating legs.
“Here,” Terri said, “we can block the hole with this log so she won’t follow us.”
“Good thinking.” Amanda hadn’t even considered that possibility. With a few tugs and pushes, they wedged the rotting tree trunk into the hole as a confused Bella continued to whine. After one final shove, Amanda grabbed Terri’s sleeve so they wouldn’t lose each other in the darkness, and they set off into the woods. Bella’s whines turned back into growls.
“We did it,” Amanda said when the blackness of the thick trees had swallowed them up. She could scarcely believe they were free of The Good Shepherd Maternity Home. “We did it,” she repeated, her elation growing. “But I’ll feel better once we put some distance between us and that hellhole.”
Terri said nothing.
“Terri?”
“My water just broke.”
* * *
Austin hunched lower into his bomber jacket to ward off the cold as he and Tony walked up the alley toward the rental house. Part of him looked forward to another twelve-hour shift with Caro. He felt energized when he was around her—more alive and alert, constantly challenged, not to mention perennially turned on. On the other hand, it was pure torture being so close to her and not being able to touch her. By the end of his shift yesterday they’d both been a little cranky. He worried that by the end of this assignment, Caro would be thoroughly sick of him, and any chance they had of connecting would be dead.
Maybe that was just as well, he told himself. It probably wouldn’t work out, for the reasons she’d brought up on New Year’s Day. He would rather count Caro among his friends than end up with bitterness between them.
“Are we taking the van out today?” Tony asked.
“Yeah.”
“Good. I’m sick of sitting around, waiting for something to happen.”
“You and me both,” Austin said. They slipped through the back gate and onto the patio, where Austin tapped on the glass door.
Corporal Penny Hart, one of the best-liked detectives working in CAPERS, answered. “Hi, guys,” she said cheerfully. She was big and loud and redheaded, and she could be counted on to come up with a tension-breaking wisecrack. Austin had felt perfectly at ease leaving Caro in Penny’s competent hands overnight.
“All’s quiet, I trust.”
“Boringly so, I’m afraid,” Penny said. “There’s doughnuts in the kitchen. Where’s the car? I want to get home in time to see my urchins before they’re off to daycare.”
“Parked on the street at the east end of the alley.” Austin handed her the key. They tried to make the shift change as unobtrusively as possible, but he could only hope Odell wasn’t watching the back door. Seeing two men arrive and a woman leave at seven in the morning would completely blow their cover. “Where’s Caro?”
“In the shower,” Penny said. “She’ll be along in a minute. I’m outta here. And I hope I won’t have to see you tonight.”
Austin couldn’t agree more.
When Caro appeared a half hour later, Austin and Tony were seated at the kitchen table cleaning up the last of the doughnuts. She was wearing a long pink sweater Austin had seen on her before, but instead of her usual black trousers or full skirt, she had on a pair of wildly patterned tights that showed off her slender legs to perfection. Her hair was pulled into a ponytail with a bright pink ribbon. She made Austin think of a fancy confection behind the window at a candy shop—and he was the little boy pressing his nose against the glass.
“Is this teenagerish enough?” she asked, holding her arms
out and twirling around.
“You look great,” Tony said in a tone of voice out-of-kilter with his customary big-brother attitude. Austin stared into his coffee, not trusting himself to speak.
“In that case,” Caro said, oblivious to the effect she was having on her male colleagues, “will someone wire me up?” She held out the body mike and a roll of tape.
Tony and Austin exchanged a look of purely male understanding. “I’ll do it,” Tony said, much to Austin’s relief. He didn’t completely trust himself to lift Caro’s sweater and touch her warm skin just now, not even in the line of duty. He didn’t particularly want to watch Tony touching her, either, so instead, he busied himself pouring more coffee, adding cream and sugar, and stirring until he thought the spoon might dissolve.
“There, I think that’ll do it,” Tony said.
“Great. Hey, did you pigs eat all the doughnuts?” Caro asked, wiggling her shoulders as she accustomed herself to her new hard wiring.
The evidence didn’t lie. An empty bakery box sat on the table, with only a few powdered-sugar flecks in the bottom.
“Er, uh,” Tony said.
“We thought you’d already eaten,” Austin said, quickly searching through the cabinets for a likely substitute. “Here, how about some Twinkies?”
She wrinkled her nose. “Gross. What I’d really like is some shredded wheat and skim milk. Any chance?”
After pocketing one of the packages of Twinkies, Austin opened another cabinet. “Just Cocoa Puffs. And no milk. I sorta forgot that.”
“Okay, I’m making a grocery list. That’s the plan, right? Drive to the grocery store and hope Odell tries to nab me? Might as well make the trip count for something—in case it doesn’t work, that is.”
“Your faith in my plan is underwhelming,” Austin said.
Caro stole the pen from Tony’s shirt pocket and began scribbling on a paper towel. “Milk. Cereal—something non-chocolate. Veggies for salad. Salad dressing. Cheese. Chicken—”