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THIRTY-NINE
Heart thundering in her chest, Poppy waited as the footsteps disappeared and then crumpled to the smelly mattress, too scared to move a muscle for at least an hour, before daring to stand. Disregarding her lack of clothing, she edged her way down the passageway. At the end, a metal gate barred her way. Closing her fingers around the cold iron, she pulled and pushed, but the gate was locked. Ahead, another passageway revealed a line of six cells, each with a metal door with the same peephole as the others. Not a sound came from within. No footsteps or heavy breathing—nothing. Convinced her jailor had left, she turned and hurried back and slid open the bolt on Susie’s cell. “Help me to search for anything we can use as a weapon.”
“What about the CCTV camera?” Susie was keeping her distance, her eyes wide with fear. “He’ll be back and punish us if he catches us out of the cells.”
Poppy had taken the opportunity to look for the camera when she’d cleaned up the mess from the previous murder. She hadn’t spotted any cameras pointing toward their cells. A small lens set high in the roof of the cave pointed to the area where her jailer murdered his victims. She turned to Susie. “I figure he only films himself murdering his victims. I think everything else is just a threat to keep us in check. Don’t worry, he’s not coming back for a time. I know his routine. If he comes by early, he leaves around this time and doesn’t come back for hours, sometimes days. It will be hours this time, because when he’s going away for a few days, he always restocks our food supplies and this time he hasn’t.”
“I’m not sure I want to take that chance.” Susie backed away from her.
Poppy wanted to shake Susie into action, but the woman just stared at her round-eyed. She glanced down at herself and guessed that taking orders from a blood splattered naked woman would be difficult. Turning away, she went to the desk and pulled out the bag of clothes. She sorted through them finding something suitable to wear and pulled on a T-shirt and a pair of jeans. She found some sweatpants and a T-shirt and thrust them at Susie. “Put these on. It will make you feel more comfortable and then we’d better start searching this place from top to bottom. Look for anything we can use.”
“It’s a cave. Where could anything possibly be hidden in here?” Susie pulled on the clothes and stepped tentatively out of the cell.
“Look anyway.” Poppy headed back down the passageway. “I’m going to find the recording device. It has to be in here somewhere. We need to turn it off so we can move around.”
Reaching up high, Poppy followed the cable leading from the CCTV camera and back toward the alcove near her cell. The dim light in the tunnels hid the small critters living in the cracks and crevices. Disturbed by her probing fingers, they scattered and ran over her hands and up her arms. Unable to control her shrieks of disgust, she brushed them away and shuddered. Determined to find the recording device, she ran her fingers over the cable. It led to high above the desk, and after searching all around, she noticed a small shelf set into the roof of the cave. She climbed onto the desk and, expecting to discover a recording device of some description, she gaped in astonishment at the laptop sitting on the shelf. She touched the keyboard and the screen lit up, showing the live feed of the killing area. Taking a deep breath, she pressed pause on the program and the live feed froze on the screen. “I’ve paused the video. It was pointing the other way anyway. He wouldn’t be able to see us, but he might hear us.”
“Is that a laptop?” Susie stood on tiptoes and stared at her. “See if it has an email service. It must have some type of wireless connection or it wouldn’t be able to feed him a live stream.”
It took Poppy a few seconds to find the email application. When she’d arrived at the sheriff’s department, Maggie had informed her everyone in the office’s email address was their last name, at Black Rock Falls Sheriff’s Department. She sent an email to Kane.
I’m a prisoner in cells cut into underground caves with Suzie Hartwig and others. Can you get a fix on this laptop? Poppy.
She turned to look down at Suzie. “I’ve sent an email to Kane. It should go to his phone. The last one I sent him, he replied really fast.”
“You should have sent it to the sheriff. You know she’ll be out looking for me.” Susie looked distraught. “I’ve looked everywhere. There’s nothing here to use as a weapon, unless you count soap and a couple of towels. If Deputy Kane doesn’t reply soon, you’d better delete that email or we’ll be in big trouble. It will be better if this lunatic doesn’t know we’ve been in contact with the sheriff’s department.”
Poppy waited, her legs trembling as she stood on the desk. A reply popped into the box.
Are you in danger right now? Kane
Typing, Poppy made the message to the point, giving as much information as possible.
No, killer left an hour or so ago. He is usually gone for a few hours. Average height, thick build, brown eyes and hair, smoker, smells of sweat. Poppy
Stand by. It will take time to trace. Thirty mins. Delete each email. Kane
Poppy turned up the volume on the laptop so she could hear the alert when the next message arrived, deleted the emails, and climbed down. She looked at Susie’s hopeful expression. “Now we wait.”
“How long?” Susie slumped against the wall.
Poppy shrugged. “Half an hour, maybe longer, before they can pinpoint the laptop’s location. Don’t worry. They’ll find us now.” She scanned the files on the laptop and bile seeped up the back of her throat. “Oh my God, he taped all the murders.”
“The sick freak.” Susie rubbed a trembling finger under her nose. “Why don’t you go and wash off the blood? It’s all through your hair. If this all goes to hell, he’ll know something is up if you haven’t taken a shower.” She dashed a hand through her hair. “I’ll listen for the email, and if I hear him coming back, I’ll take the recorder off pause, and go back into my cell.”
Nodding, Poppy stared down the tunnel. “You’ll hear his vehicle’s engine. It will give you time to do what you need to do. You have to be brave. Ready?”
“Okay. Go.” Susie pushed off the wall and walked a little unsteadily down the tunnel.
