Page 54 of A Secret In The Garden

My feet moved quickly, the weight on the balls of my feet to keep my steps silent. I didn’t have time to make it all the way across the house, so I took a sharp left, away from the more-used spaces and into spaces I hadn’t seen before, closer to Jasper’s office. I really needed to look through there, but I still wasn’t ballsy enough to attempt that, which was a shame, because that was probably my best bet for finding information.

I passed Jasper’s office and picked a random door. I pressed my ear against it to listen. Silence. I tested the doorknob, and it opened into a surprisingly small room that reminded me of a mudroom that looked to not be in use. The inside didn’t fit the aesthetic of the rest of the house; even the walls looked older and more worn, with dents and scratches. The soles of my shoes tapped the floor, and I realized it was concrete covered in stains. The air was musty and cold with the same scent as an old basement. It was dark with no windows. I pulled my phone out and pulled up the flashlight, so I could close the door behind me and still see inside of the near dark room. The dim spotlight glinted on something, and I froze, the organ in my chest filling my throat and blocking the flow of air. Just a doorknob. I let out a sigh and moved toward the door a few steps down in the back of the room as I glanced at the time on my phone. This better be worth it. I was going to have to take the fastest shower of my life and leave my hair wet.

As I got closer to the door, I heard it.

Muffled cries. Thuds. Grunts. Crying. Centipedes of goose bumps skittered across my skin. Someone was in there, behind the door, and they were in pain—a lot of pain by the sounds of it. The blood drained from my face into my toes as I looked back at the dark stains that patterned the cement floor. Blood.

Oh my god.

Someone was being held captive. In Blackwood Manor.

My hand covered my mouth with jerking, shaking movements. I gripped the round knob, feeling my arms and legs vibrate and tremble in near hysteria.

I had to open it.

Thuds shook the door from the other side. More screams. Begging. I couldn’t make out the words, but I didn’t need to—the pleas were a sound I’d never forget. Every hair on my body stood on end as panic vibrated through me. My breathing was heavy and ragged, ricocheting off the metal door and back into my face, warming it with the scent of the coffee I’d finished before leaving the conservatory. I turned the knob and opened the door.

My scream lodged in my throat as it tried to escape, but my hands clapped over my mouth.

A black-haired man blanketed in a sheen of sweat was on his knees, hunched over himself on the floor, his clothes soaked in blood and covered in yellow and brown stains.

With Jasper looming over him with a pistol in his hand.

Both their eyes snapped to mine.

“Eliza,” Jasper said, surprised.

“Help me! Please! He’s going to kill me, please! He’s a fucking psycho!” the man on the ground shouted at me desperately.

“Oh my god” was all that came out.

A raw darkness dripped off Jasper. He looked like a monster, but I couldn’t figure out why. He was calm and controlled like always. But then I saw: it was his eyes. They looked completely unhinged.

“Help me! Before he⁠—”

I flinched and slapped my hands over my ears as the loud gunshot tore through the room and echoed in my head.

The man crumpled to the floor. His silence was louder than any sound I’d ever heard.

I locked eyes with Jasper and tried to run to the door but not before a strong hand gripped my arm and stopped me.

“Wait, Eliza,” Jasper commanded.

I went ballistic, kicking and clawing at him until I freed myself and made it to the door. I pulled it open, and it slammed closed. Jasper moved in front of it, his face cold. It was terrifying. I glanced at the man on the floor. It looked like he was still moving a little.

My arm pulled back to hit Jasper in the balls, the only advantage I thought I might possibly have over him, but his hand gripped my wrist with bruising force, blocking my hit. His light chuckle made my eyes widen.

“Maybe I shouldn’t be so worried about you protecting yourself.”

Words were somewhere in the back of my head, but they were out of my reach. I tried to shove off him and move myself backward, but it only made him pull me firmer against him.

“This looks pretty bad, huh?” he said, a lightness in his tone.

My eyes bugged out of my head as I trembled.

He took in every detail of my face, reading me. “You’re pretty scared of me right now.”

His hands fell from my arms before he grabbed my hand, and I felt warm steel in my palm. He’d put the gun in my hand. Instinctively I clutched it and pointed it at his stomach with shaking arms.