Everyone looked at her sideways. Even Papa. Like she was the stupidest person on earth.
“Oh dearie,” Papa said. “Even I know that.” Papa indicated to thin pipes coming out of the wall. “If things ever get out of control, or when introducing fresh meat, he gases us.”
“‘He’ gases?” Evie asked. “You mean, Igor?”
Back snorted. “Does Igor look like he can fucking rig a dead man’s switch or track down and capture the Back Door rapist?”
Door stood up abruptly. “Why do you always have to do that? We’re having a perfectly good reminiscence and then you’ve got to go and take credit for my work.”
Back wasn’t intimidated at all, though. “Bullshit. Look who he took down first. Me. The original.”
Door shook his head. “No way. You were just the easier mark.”
Papa interrupted the two rapists’ argument. “We don’t know who pulls the strings behind the curtain, but he certainly is thorough.”
Door and Back went back to bickering as Darion leaned into Evie.
“Like I said. Escape is impossible.”
Andrew took a nice big bite of cupcake. “You know, you can say anything you want about the ole ‘Zard, but dang, can he cook!”
* * *
Jake parked in front of a nice, suburban, upscale house. Mr. Woldham’s nice upscale house. He got out of the car and walked up the driveway. There was a BMW in front of the house. He checked the hood. It was cold. That car hadn’t been driven in a while.
He made his way past some nice rosebushes to the front door. He used the large brass elephant knocker.
“Mr. Woldham?”
He knocked again. The same lack of response. Jake looked over his shoulder to make sure that the neighborhood watch wasn’t out, then pulled his lockpicking equipment from his pocket.
“Hello?” Jake announced again. “Breaking and entering now.” As the metal pick slid into the lock, Jake continued. “Speak up now or forever forfeit your right to press charges against me…”
The lock clicked and Jake turned the knob. It went smoothly, only he couldn’t open the door.
“Crap, that could be a body,” Jake said, looking down at his phone. “Backup is only a call away…”
But he was so far off the reservation that his backup would more than likely arrest him, rather than help him out. Therefore, Jake put his shoulder into it and finally hefted the thing open a few inches. He peered inside. No body, but a huge pile of mail that was blocking the door. He heaved in a few more inches, then started checking the mail. The usual. Mostly junk mail. A few overdue bills.
Not finding anything of interest, Jake stepped over the large pile and walked deeper into the house. “Officer of the peace…” No one seemed to be home, but he had to be sure. “Here to serve and protect.”
He made his way through the swanky living room, past the dining room, set for an elegant dinner party, and into the kitchen. Jake pulled out his phone and called the number one speed dial.
“Brad here.”
“Yeah, dude,” Jake said. “It doesn’t look like Mr. Woldham has been here in a while. Jake opened the fridge, took out a carton of milk, and sniffed it. Wrong thing to do. Gagging and retching, Jake poured the clotted, spoiled milk down the sink.
“Weeks, maybe months,” Jake said, as soon as he quit gagging.
“I’m not surprised,” Brad said. “There’s been no activity on his credit cards in over five months.”
Was that a sound from the other room? Jake pulled his gun. “Brad, hang on.”
Jake made his way from the kitchen to a den-like room with a large sliding glass door out to the pool. A man stood in the middle of the room.
“Police,” Jake announced. “Hands where I can see them.”
The man’s hands flew to his head as he stood there shaking. Jake patted the man door quickly. No weapons.
“So did you guys find my landlord?” The guy asked.
Jake cocked his head. “Landlord?
The tenant threw a thumb toward a small house beyond the pool. “Yes, I rent the guest house.”
Jake holstered his weapon. This guy was no threat, except for possibly being a really, really poor judgment in landlords. “When did you report Mr. Woldham missing?”
The tenant shrugged. “I don’t know. About four months ago. I mean, he travels a lot, for weeks at a time, but when he didn’t show for the rent check, I knew something was wrong.”
“And did the police investigate?”
The tenant nodded. “Yeah, a few cops came out, but they just thought he’d gone on a long vacation.”
“With his car still parked in the driveway.”
“Mr. Woldham always took a taxi when he left.”
“What kind?” Jake asked.
“I don’t know?” the tenant said with a shrug. “A yellow one?”
Hey, this guy was just full of information. He lived a hundred feet from the guy, but didn’t even know which cab company he used.
“So it didn’t occur to you to call the police again when he missed another rent check? Or another?” Jake asked. “Or why bother, right? Free rent as long as he is missing.”
“That’s not a crime, is it?” the tenant asked, squirming a bit.
“Against, humanity? Yes. Against the law? Not so much.” Jake turned his attention to his phone again. “Brad, did you get all of that?”
“Yeah, yeah,” Brad said. “But this guy was not leaving town when he’d go off for weeks. He wasn’t laying out that kind of money.”’
“So he must have been going off to his killing grounds.”
“Killing grounds?” the tenant asked, his voice cracking. “What do you mean ‘killing grounds?’”
“Except…” Brad said. “Hold on, hold on, once a year Mr. Woldham was making a single rather large cash payment… Which was due two months ago.”
Jake headed back to the pile of mail. Maybe the address of that payment was in this pile. “Great. Thanks, Brad, I’ll get back to you.”
He hung up the phone and started really searching through the pile in front of him. The tenant joined him, but didn’t help, of course.
“Is Mr. Woldham a killer?”
“Let’s just say, if he ever does show back up, I’d have that rent money ready.”
That got the tenant skedaddling off to leave Jake to sort through the mail in peace. He found a cable bill. Water bill. Pool maintenance bill. Nothing that would help Jake track Starvin’ Marvin down.
Then he found it. An overdue notice for a storage unit. Jake kissed the envelope.
“Oh, I’ve got you now!”
CHAPTER 13
The dungeon was quiet except for the hushed murmur of people nursing their assorted wounds. Evie was one amongst them, although her small nicks and scrapes were nothing next to Darion’s and Back’s wounds. Of course, Clyde and Esau had paid the ultimate price. Both were in their cells awaiting Igor’s arrival.
“This is freaking me out,” Andrew said.
Papa snorted. “You child, had a hand in creating this carnage.”
Andrew, however, seemed proud of that fact. “I know.” His chest swelled. “My first kill inside. Four total.”
“Okay,” Door said. “I think that there has to be some kind of condition on what constitutes a kill.”
“Like they have to still be fucking moving?” Back offered.
“Or they have got more than ten minutes left to live, or something,” Door added.
Evie could feel the pressure build as the men squabbled. Why weren’t they focused on the big picture?
“Look,” Andrew protested. “That wasn’t my point.” He pointed to the air. “Listen,” he urged. “It’s too quiet.” He gulped. “Ever since I got here, Esau’s been preaching. It was like…soothing.”
“You’re right,” Door agreed. “Maybe we should say something.”
“Jesus,” Back barked. “You two are such pussies.”
Evie couldn’t hold it toget
her any more. “Shut up!”
Back leaned on the bars separating their cells. “Ohh… Are you trying to turn me on?”
Evie didn’t back down, though. She’d had enough from all of them, but especially of Back. “You think you are so tough?”
The rapist stood to his full height. “Yeah, I do.”
“Then why aren’t you trying to get out of here?” Evie pressed as she pointed to the cameras that lined the walls. “Why are you his bitch? His circus monkey?”
“Hey!” Back shouted, slamming his fists against the balls. “Who the fuck do you think you are?”’
Across the aisle, Door fell off of his cot he was laughing so hard.
“And you?” Evie challenged. “You want to prove that you’re the Back Door Rapist? Then do something that requires balls.”
“Bitch,” Back sneered. “You’re going to pay and pay and fucking pay for that.”
“Okay,” Evie said, throwing her hands up into the air. “Sure. You’ll ride me until I’m raw.” She was so done with this dungeon. “What then? No one thinks I’m going to survive the week. What are you going to do then? Wait and wait, and wait until the ‘Zard gets in a mood to give you another woman?” Evie ran out of breath and had to take a deep draw of air to continue. “A woman trapped in a dungeon, completely outnumbered, I might add. Now that’s showing off your masculine prowess.”
Back was so pissed off that all he could do was make a sound that might have been “fuck” if he could have articulated it fully.
Darion lowered his head. “You might want to think about quitting while you are ahead.”
Evie turned on her “benefactor.” “Like you?” she challenged Darion. “A little C-4 and you back off?”
“There was nothing little about it,” Darion snapped back.
“But that S&M guy showed you how to neutralize the explosives,” Evie pleaded. Couldn’t they see? They could get out if they only tried.
“Then he promptly got electrocuted and then eaten.”
“Fine,” Evie said, plunking down onto the cot. “We’ll just have to figure out a way to deactivate our collars.”
Darion took another rag and worked on his wounds, turning away from her.
“But we’ve tried, child,” Papa said. “They deliver a shock if tampered with in any way.”
“Then it will take some trial and error to figure it out,” Evie said.
Darion turned back to her, sneering. “Easy to say when you’re not wearing one.”
Frustrated, Evie was on her feet again, pacing. She looked to Back, who was practically drooling.
“You know that all this impassioned shouting is just turning me on. I so badly want to bend you over.”
Door nodded. “I was going to go easy on you.”
She looked to the only one who hadn’t weighed in yet, Andrew. He just smiled and offered her a cupcake. “I can slide one over to you.”
“Ugh!” Evie shouted, turning away from the other men. Time to work on Darion again. “And you.” She pointed a figure at him. “You strut around here like you’re better than everyone else. Prove it.”
Darion, instead of getting upset, casually sat down and leaned back against the wall as if none of this had ever happened. “You do realize that he’s recording everything that we say? One flip of a switch and we’re all gassed into unconsciousness. Then, when we wake up, we’ll get zapped until we wished we’d never spoken the word, ‘escape.’”
Evie wouldn’t let it end there, though. She had too much at stake. “How do you know that he doesn’t relish the thought of thwarting us? That he doesn’t like it if we challenge him?”
Darion didn’t answer her. Instead, he made a sweeping motion to Back as if to give him the floor.
For once, Back seemed subdued. He sat down, rubbed his face, then began. “It happened just before Darion got here. I don’t think the ‘Zard had been doing this for long. There were only four of us in here.” The rapist paused, taking in a few breaths before continuing. “We were so full of ourselves. So sure we could break out…so sure we could…”
Silence lingered as Back closed his eyes. He seemed to be living through the events again in his mind. “Then it went down just like Darion said… The gas. The collars. Two died that night, and the Sarasota Strangler was never right in the head after that.”
Door picked up the story. “Darion made mincemeat out of the Strangler during his first free-for-all, or so the legend goes.” Door looked to Back, who nodded solemnly.
Despair hung in the air. If Back was afraid to try to escape, what hope did any of them have? Then Papa’s door clicked open. The older man’s face transformed from hopeless to hopeful.
“Child, I agree with you,” he said. “These others have been in here too long to remember what freedom tastes like.” Papa indicated to himself, then to Evie. “Like you, I’d rather die trying to return to my world than surrender to this life of purgatory. Together we can do this.”
“Yeah, that’s your specialty. Teamwork,” Door snorted.
Evie glanced to Darion, but he seemed intent on his wounds and didn’t lift his eyes to meet hers.
“I tried so hard to remove my collar,” Papa said, “when I first got here, but that was by myself. With you…I will withstand as much pain as it takes to remove it.”
Could that really work? Could she trust Papa to do as he said?
“Yes!” Back announced. “Tubby over there, and Xena, are breaking out of here!”
Andrew jumped up and down clapping. “Oh, I wish I could sell tickets. This is going to be so good!”
Darion finally looked up and locked his gaze with the older man. “Papa, before she hitches her star to your wagon, how about you tell Evie why you’re in here?’
“Don’t listen to him,” Papa scoffed. “He just wants you for his carnal pleasure. He’s trying to keep you to himself.”
“Actually,” Andrew chimed in, “Papa is Starv—”
Back interrupted the teen. “Shut up. Let her fucking figure it out for herself.”
Evie took a step toward Darion. She had to get through to him how important this was. “I can’t stay here,” she explained.
Darion shrugged. “Your life.”
“It was,” Evie said, finding it hard to find the words to convince him. “It was my life.” She wiped away a stray tear. “Yeah, maybe from the outside it looked boring. Like I was a complete and utter loser. I can’t even keep a hamster alive for long.”
That got a grin out of Darion. Evie went on. “But I thought this was the town where I could settle down. I was through running from my past. This is where I could—”
Evie couldn’t stop the tears or the fact that her throat was swelling shut. She had to shove all that aside, though. “I could get everything I wanted. You know?”
Darion looked her up and down. His features seemed to soften, but then that wall went up again. “I don’t even remember my life before this…” He indicated to the dungeon around them. “I’m sorry, but there’s just nothing out there that I’m willing to die for.”
Anger surged through Evie, drying the tears, clearing her throat. “You’re right, because you are thinking like a man. I’m… I’m…” There were those damned hot tears again.
“If he,” Evie said nodding to Back, then to Door. “If either one of them gets to me, or whoever comes through that door next…” Evie had to shut her eyelids hard, squeezing out the terrible images of what could and probably would happen to her. “Once they’re done with me, even if I make it out of here, it won’t be the same. I will never be the same.” She looked into his eyes. He’d protected her once, would he do it again? “You know that. If I don’t try this now, there’ll be no point in ever trying.”
* * *
Darion searched her face. Evie was so brave, yet so vulnerable. His heart ached for her—it truly ached, and here he thought his heart had died years ago. In the end, though, he had to look out for himself.
“I wish I c
ould help,” he said, meaning it.
Tears streaked down her face. “If you won’t help, then I’ll just wait until our door opens then go with Papa.”
Darion shrugged. “You won’t have to wait.” He indicated to the base of the door. “It unlocked half an hour ago. The cloth got stuck and didn’t let it spring open.”
Evie walked over and, seeming both relieved and upset, tested the door. Sure enough, it opened once she pushed on it.
“Before you go,” Darion said, “know that he’s the worst.” He indicated to Papa. “Spend ten minutes with him and you won’t be the same.”
Evie’s eyes narrowed. “Your concern is touching…” She picked up several of the cloth strips. “But I’ve learned a thing or two.”
Without a look back ,she left the cell and crossed the aisle and went into Papa’s cell. What could he do? He’d tried to warn her. In the end it was her life. If she wanted to try the folly of escaping, and doing so with Starvin’ Marvin, who was Darion to stop her?
Papa, of course, kept up his grandfather act, greeting her at the door, all warm and cuddly. “Oh, thank goodness,” Papa gushed. “Finally. I was so worried about you.”
He spread his arms wide for a hug.
Darion had to give it to Evie, though, she didn’t take the bait.
“You’re kidding, right?” Evie said, then held up the strips.
“Turn around.”
“What?” Papa said, seeming truly surprised. Did he expect Evie to offer herself up on a silver platter? “I don’t understand.”
Andrew, though, seemed to understand quite well. “Bondage! Yippee!”
Evie’s gaze remained fixed on Papa, though. “If you really want out,” Evie said, “you’ll let me tie you up while I work on your collar.”
Papa took a step back. “I don’t see how—”
Evie pulled out her metal fragment. “Those are the terms,” she explained.
“Do it, man,” Door encouraged.
Papa finally sighed. “If I must.”
The rotund man turned around, putting his wrists behind his back. It was a tight stretch. However, he gave the oddest wink to Darion. Evie was no more safe with Papa tied up than if he was loose, but Darion guessed Evie would just have to figure that out for herself.
Don't Read After Dark: Keep the lights on while reading these! (A McCray Horror Collection) Page 9