* * *
Clifford
As we argued on the legalities and indications of Occum’s disappearance, Suzie rose in my periphery. She moved like a person possessed.
There was a bat in her hand.
“I’m going upstairs,” she said.
Gretchen and I were in tow. I wasn’t going to stop her. I would only support her from here on out.
“Now, wait just a minute. I know you’re upset, Short Fuse. But let’s not—”
I glowered at Ka-Bar. “Suzie gave her wages for years. Way I see it, she can do whatever the fuck she wants.” I reached toward my pocket. It only held my phone. He didn’t know that. “Now I suggest you back the fuck off.”
Ka-Bar nodded.
We followed her down the hall. Occum’s office looked as though it had been ransacked. Suzie just kept heading toward the back stairs. I motioned to Gretchen and we scurried farther along the corridor to a wider staircase. I lead her to the room where I had broken through the glass. Suzie stood in the center of the room where I’d found her as Occum’s prisoner. The trap door was flipped open next to her. The glass had been swept toward one of the walls but dried blood still stained the floor. Her face was unreadable.
“This door locks from the outside?” she asked me as she motioned toward the trap door.
I nodded.
“It wasn’t in the blueprint?”
I shook my head. “When he gave me the tour, he had the light off in that room. But the dimensions didn’t add up. At first, I thought it was a movie booth or something. But then I saw the hidden entrance.”
Her eyes closed for a minute. Under her breath I barely heard her say, “Locked in against their will.”
Without warning, she screamed like I’d never heard anything—like a wild animal crying out in pain. She kicked the trap door closed then lifted the bat above her head. The bat connected with one of the remaining mirrors. It shattered with an ear-splitting cacophony of sound. A small cut seeped blood on her cheek.
“You asshole!” Her screams were muffled, instantly absorbed into the padded soundproofing of the outer rooms. “You sick son of a bitch!” The bat swung in wild arcs.
More glass shattered. Suzie screamed another war cry.
I stood motionless by the mirror I had broken as she took out her rage. I felt Gretchen’s presence next to me. But my eyes were glued to Suzie, watching for additional cuts, knowing that her rage needed to expend itself before she’d allow me to look after her. Suzie’s face was twisted with fury as she made sure every mirror in the room was broken. And then when there were no more glass walls, she hit the frames and even the trap door.
By the time she crouched in the middle of the room, hunched over and spent, the whole area was obliterated. She panted as tears streamed down her face.
“I’ll take Jack home. You take care of our girl.” Gretchen left.
Only Suzie’s ragged breaths filled the silence of the room. I stepped forward, shoes crunching on broken glass. I bent to scoop her into my arms but she stopped me.
“No.” When she lifted her face to mine, I was surprised to see her smile through tear-streaked cheeks. Blood dribbled lightly down one of them. “I’m walking out of here. On my own.”
She grasped my proffered hand and stood with effort. She lifted her chin, straightened her shoulders, and walked out of what was left of that horrible room. At the threshold to the stairs she said, “I’m free.”
Chapter 32
Clifford
After I cleaned her cuts, we wordlessly got in my car and left. I wasn’t sure if it was too soon to go back to my place, so I drove through the winding country roads of the Great Smokey Mountains without any direction. Suzie sat with her head propped on the window.
After a long while, when I had thought she might have fallen asleep, she asked, “You went to the G-Spot to buy my freedom?”
I cleared my throat. “It was the least I could do after I fucked up so bad.”
She sat up with her arms wrapped tightly around her. I clicked up the heat. “With what money?”
