She spit at him, and this time she didn’t miss. She watched him wipe his mouth and his cheek with the back of his hand. Then he smiled down at her. She had a stark memory of him smiling down at her in the sanitarium. “No,” she whispered, but it didn’t change anything.
He struck her hard and she fell into blackness. Her last thought was that she was grateful he hadn’t given her more drugs.
30
“WE’RE IN DEEP shit,” Quinlan said and meant it, but he wasn’t thinking about himself and the other agents, he was thinking about Sally. If she was here in this black hole, she was still unconscious. Or dead.
There was a grunt from Thomas Shredder and a “yeah” from Corey Harper. It was true. They were in very deep shit. It was also true that it was as black as the bottom of a witch’s cauldron in this room where they were being kept.
No, it wasn’t a room. It was a shed with a dirt floor. Probably the shed behind Doc Spiver’s cottage.
“Look,” Thomas said, “Quinlan’s right. We are in deep shit, but we’re trained agents. We can get out of this. If we don’t, they’ll fire us. We’ll lose our careers and our federal pensions. I sure as hell don’t want to lose my federal health benefits.”
Corey Harper laughed despite the cramps in her ankles. Her hands were okay. They hadn’t tied them all that tightly, probably because she was a woman. Still, the knots were secure and weren’t about to slip or slide.
“That’s the funniest thing I’ve ever heard you say, Thomas.”
Quinlan said, as he tugged at the ropes at his wrists, “One of these clowns must have been in the Navy in World War II. These ropes are very well tied, not a bit of give to them. Anybody want to try hands or teeth?”
“I would,” Corey said, “but I’m tied to the wall over here. Yeah, there’s a rope around my waist, and I can feel it’s wrapped around one of the wall boards. And yes, it’s solid. Even with big teeth and a long reach, I couldn’t get to you.”
“I’m tied too,” Thomas said, “Damn.”
“At least everyone’s alive,” Quinlan said. “I wonder what happened to David?” But he was wondering about Sally. He was just afraid to say her name aloud.
“He probably ran off the road,” Thomas said matter-of-factly. “He isn’t here. Maybe he’s already dead.”
“Or maybe somebody rescued him,” Corey said.
“What do you mean ‘already dead’?” Quinlan said, wishing he could see just an outline of something, anything. He kept working on the ropes, but they wouldn’t budge.
“Do you think they’re going to keep us here for the next ten years?”
“I hope not,” Quinlan said. “They’re all so old they’d be dead themselves by then. I’d hate to be forgotten.”
“You’re not funny, Quinlan.”
“Maybe not, but I’m trying.”
“Keep trying,” Corey said. “I don’t want to fall into a funk. We’ve got to think. First of all, who did this to us?”
“That’s pretty damned obvious, isn’t it?” Thomas said. “That damned old relic. She probably had Martha bring her the Amaretto and she put something into it. I was out like a light the second I lay down on my bed.”
“Where’s Sally?” Corey asked suddenly.
“I don’t know,” Quinlan said. “I don’t know.”
He’d prayed she was locked up with them, still unconscious from the drug. “Everyone stretch your legs out in front of you. Let’s see how big this shed is.”
Quinlan could just barely touch Thomas’s toe.
“Now lean to one side and then the other.”
Quinlan got a pinch of Corey’s blouse.
No Sally.
“Sally isn’t in here with us,” Quinlan said. “Where’d they take her?” Oh, Jesus, why had he asked that question aloud? He didn’t want to hear what Thomas had to say.
Thomas said, “Good question. Why would they bother to separate us anyway?”
“Because,” Quinlan said slowly, “Sally’s Aunt Amabel is a part of this. Maybe she has Sally. Maybe she’ll protect her.”
Thomas sighed. To Quinlan’s surprise, he said, “Let’s pray you’re right. Damn, my head feels like a drum in a rock band.”
“Mine too,” Corey said. “But I can still think. Now, Quinlan, you think the whole town is part of a conspiracy? You think the whole bloody town has killed at least sixty people in the past three to four years? For their money? And then they buried all of them in their cemetery?”