building and into a dark blue car. She’d caught a glimpse of the license plate but couldn’t remember what it was anymore. Not that it would do her any good now.
From the looks of it, there wouldn’t be anyone to tell about her ordeal. No one who would care, anyway.
Didn’t mean she wasn’t going to find a way out of here.
She stared around the small room, taking stock. Concrete walls and floor, both of which had seen better days, a small window high up on the wall, too small for her to fit through and too high for her to get to. Without getting to her feet, she strained to look out. The sun was still up, which meant it was daytime, although she wasn’t sure what day it was. It didn’t take long to realize she couldn’t see anything except for the grimy glass and what appeared to be weeds on the other side. So she was in a basement? What else had that sort of view?
Probably not a good escape route option.
Continuing on, she noticed a set of stairs leading up, presumably into the house. It was visible through the bars that kept her contained to this side of the room. It looked as though the space had been split down the middle, a cheap metal cot and a portable toilet on this side, nothing but the stairs on the other. The door wasn’t made of bars, though. It was solid, with a couple of slots—one at the bottom, another in the middle. Like a pass-thru for bigger things than what might fit through the bars.
The stairs would be her only option, the door her biggest obstacle.
Above her head, she heard footsteps. Every now and then, she could almost make out someone talking, but it wasn’t the man who had taken her. No, she knew his voice, remembered it. This was a woman.
Oh, God. Please, someone help me.
Cori didn’t dare speak the words aloud. The last thing she wanted was to anger her captors in any way. He’d already hit her once, told her to sit down and shut up or he would smash her head in. The rage she’d heard had convinced her he wasn’t lying. It had taken her completely by surprise considering she’d known him for what felt like her entire life, and never had she seen him angry. Not like that. And the look in his eyes… Definitely not the same treatment she’d encountered when he had been the principal of her high school. But it was definitely Principal Dugan who had knocked on her door, held a gun to her face, and forced her to leave with him.
What she couldn’t understand was why.
A clanking sound had her looking up from the cot she’d been on since he had tossed her into this cell. He must’ve used something to knock her out, because she’d been drowsy, drifting in and out during the car ride, more when she’d arrived here. She had no idea where he’d taken her, how long the drive had been.
The door at the top of the stairs creaked open, followed by footsteps. They were lighter than his, which meant this was the woman coming down. Cori hadn’t yet seen her face. The one and only time she’d been down here before, her long, stringy hair had been hanging down, shielding her face.
There was a clank as the pass-thru at the bottom of the door was opened. The scrape of plastic on concrete drew Cori to a sitting position even as the woman slammed the little door closed, locked it as though Cori might possibly be able to squeeze out of that tiny opening. It was hardly big enough for the tray of food to pass through.
When the woman started up the stairs, Cori was on her feet in an instant, racing over to the bars, gripping them tightly. “Please let me out! I need to go home! Please!”
The shuffle of feet was the only sound she heard, but even that was drowned out by the sobs that escaped as she let herself slide down to her butt.
That woman wasn’t going to save her.
Chapter Thirteen
The security cameras were a bust, but with the way their luck was going, Brantley had expected no less.
“Kinda convenient, don’t you think?” Reese said as Brantley steered his way toward the capitol building.
“Too damn convenient.” No way it was a coincidence, and Brantley was almost positive the squirrelly leasing agent had something to do with the recording’s