Page 60 of Locked Out

So, he’d searched. He didn’t look in every nook and cranny because he knew she wouldn’t be found in the house, but he’d looked in enough of them to find several secret stashes of drugs and other paraphernalia from former and perhaps current guests. He also found the document that Davenport was missing. It was in the library, behind a couch. He, of course, insisted he hadn’t had the document in the library and surprisingly, Cash was inclined to believe him but that led to a whole other raft of questions. Who had taken the papers and left them in the library? Vanessa? That didn’t make sense.

“Any sign of her?” Archer asked.

Cash shook his head. “She’s not here.”

“How did she get out without any cameras picking it up?”

“I don’t know. She wouldn’t go to see Umberti alone. That man terrifies her. Not to mention we were shot at last time we were there. She’s not crazy enough to venture out to see him on her own.”

Archer said, “She went somewhere on her own. Everyone else is accounted for.”

Cash stared at the video monitors. The last time he’d seen Riss she was heading up the stairs after breakfast. No one had seen her at lunch. So where the hell could she have gone? His stomach churned as acid and fear crept up his esophagus. Riss was a marked woman; someone wanted her dead. He knew if he didn’t find her soon, it would be too late.

* * *

Riss panted as she glanced over her shoulder. She’d slipped in with a large tour group and then taken off at a run putting them between her and the guy following her. She’d turned down a small alley and hid behind a planter that someone had out. She longed for her phone. Cash coming to get her now would be helpful. You can’t have your cake and eat it too.

She closed her eyes and retraced her route in her mind. If she wasn’t mistaken, she’d overshot where she needed to be, but not by much, maybe a few blocks. But she’d have to backtrack to get there. Which meant possibly running into the man following her. She decided she needed to wait a bit so she didn’t run into him. She parked herself behind the planter for another few minutes and then she went back to the entrance of the alleyway. She looked in both directions but didn’t see the man who’d been following her.

She went to the right and sped through the crowd. She went across a bridge and then back across a main thoroughfare. Things were starting to look a bit familiar. She was about to turn down the alley when someone yelled. She jerked her head around in time to see the man push a woman out of the way. Riss took off at a dead run. The street curved and she flew through the crowd. Glancing back, she cursed. The man was gaining on her.

The alley that ran next to the back garden of the Society’s house was in view. She glanced back again, and the guy was eating up the distance between them. If she went down the alley it would be close. She might not make it into the garden in time, but at least she’d be on camera.

She headed for the alley, taking one last glance backward. The guy had stopped running. He was watching her but he wasn’t making a move. She turned into the alley and then slowed down. Why wasn’t he chasing her? He had a good chance of getting her before she got into the garden. Shit, was someone waiting for her? She came to a halt.

The other narrow alley. The one that ran behind Mrs. Turchetta’s house, where was it? She tried to remember. It was before the curve in this alley. Good. She went forward slowly and then made a mad dash into it. She turned into the tiny space between the buildings, and her shoulders scraped the rock walls surrounding her. This gap was pitch black, without a speck of light available to help her see. She longed for her cell flashlight.

She put her hands out and felt her way along to where she thought the dog door was, give or take a few feet.

She bent down and felt along with her hands until a few feet later, she found it. She pushed on the door but nothing happened. She pushed a second time. Then it hit her. She needed Biscotti to be out in the yard near the door to unlock it. He had a mechanism on his collar that unlocked it. She was locked out.

Riss sat there huffing, trying to figure out what to do.

There was a sound and Riss turned to look at the mouth of the narrow space. The guy who’d been chasing her walked by. She held her breath for a moment but nothing happened. He appeared to be gone. Her legs were starting to cramp. She was about to stand up when the man appeared at the opening again. She froze.

The guy turned on a flashlight and shone it towards her. She held her breath again and prayed she was far enough away that the light wouldn’t reach her. He moved the beam around but then lowered it. He turned sideways and started into the space.

Riss’s heart stopped beating. She was a dead woman. If he came any closer, he couldn’t help but see her. She looked in the other direction but there was only blackness. She was pretty sure it ended in a brick wall a few feet away plus she would make so much noise moving that he would hear her for sure. She watched as he moved farther into the space. He pulled out his cell and shone it into the darkness. Riss was sure he could see her but then he stopped moving. He seemed to be struggling with something. It was as if he was stuck. He was a huge guy, and the space had barely enough room for her to pass, so maybe it was possible. He shone the light again but then cursed as his cell rang.

“Yeah. No, she’s not here. She must’ve gone back out to the main street. I don’t know where the hell she was headed. She probably doesn’t know.” There was a silence and then “I’ll go back to O’Toole’s shop and see if they’re there.” He clicked off the call and walked backward out of the space.

Riss waited a full five minutes before she let herself breathe normally. Then she waited another minute or two before standing up. Her legs didn’t want to hold her but her thighs were on fire from crouching so long. She stood there staring at the brick wall for a while trying to think of a way to contact Cash.

It started to rain. She didn’t get wet at first but then as the rain picked up, the drainpipe on Mrs. Turchetta’s house filled up and overflowed. Riss was getting drenched. She swore.

A moment later she heard the most blessed sound. Biscotti barked and barked again. Then the click of the dog door unlocking reached her ears, and she bent down. She took a deep breath and crawled through only to come face to knees with not only Cash but Archer Gray. Biscotti stood next to them and wagged his tail. At least someone was happy to see her.

Cash seized her elbow, and none too gently dragged her into the house.

“Are you for fucking real?” Cash snarled for the umpteenth time as he paced in the kitchen.

Riss sat on a stool at the breakfast bar, hot cup of tea in front of her and a towel around her neck. She longed for a hot shower, but she wasn’t going to get one anytime soon if the looks on Archer and Cash’s face were anything to go by.

“I knew the risks and weighed them against the chance I might find out something about my family. And I did. It wasn’t until I left that someone followed me.” She frowned. “I have no idea how they found me. No one knew where I was going.” Dominick and Mrs. Munari had scurried from the kitchen when they’d all trooped in. She wasn’t about to give them up. Riss knew that they hadn’t ratted her out. They had no reason to, and they were nice to her. She needed that more than she could say at the moment.

“Did it ever occur to you that you could be killed?” Cash demanded through gritted teeth.

“Yes, it did, but as I said, I weighed the odds and decided it was safe to go.”

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