Penned In - Lynn Cahoon Page 0,19
is amazing.”
“Yeah. I know we’re close to town but you’d think we were out in the boonies here.” He shoved a rock in the door. He kicked a coffee can and sand flew out of it. “Looks like people take smoke breaks out here.”
“What do you think of Glen, Marty, and Bridget?” Angie let Dom loose on his leash to find the perfect spot. She was glad when he decided it was just time to water the lawn. She didn’t want to have to pull out her pooper scooper bags, carry his refuse back inside and dump it in the toilet. Sometimes being a responsible pet owner wasn’t a fun job.
“I’m worried about them. Yeah, they are probably just sleeping on couches in the break room, but what if they aren’t? I hate to think that the killer got them too.” He glanced toward the door. “I messed up by booking this thing. Next time, it’s a trip to POJO’s Fun Palace where the hardest thing is laser tag.”
“Matt, this is not on you. You couldn’t predict a murder. And unless you killed the guy, you’re not responsible for his death.” Dom sat at her feet, watching her. “I need to get him some water anyway. Let’s go visit the break room.”
“Sounds like a plan.” He held open the door and they went from the gentle star light into pitch black. Matt flipped on the flashlight. “I can’t believe how dark it is in here.”
“We got used to it.” Angie tried to stay in the middle of the walkway, not that she was afraid of random hands and arms reaching out and grabbing her from the dark shadows. At least, not very afraid. They paused at the table where Ian sat.
“Everything okay?” Ian greeted Dom as he talked, rubbing the big dog’s ears.
“Sure. We need to get the big guy some water so he can go out again.” Angie grabbed a plastic bowl from the middle of the table. It held candy, but was almost empty now. “We’ll be right back.”
She didn’t mention that they were looking for the three missing hosts as well, but she didn’t think Ian would be fooled. He could read her like a book sometimes. They wandered through the empty display rooms until they reached the one that had posters of all the famous inmates.
“This is totally creepy in the dark. It’s like they’re all looking at you.” Matt shined the light on all of the posters.
“Then stop with the light stuff. Shine it on this wall. I thought I saw a door here earlier.”
Sure enough, there was a door marked Staff Only. Angie opened the door and they went inside. There were tables, couches, vending machines, and a fridge, but no people. It was completely empty.
“Okay, so where are they?” Matt rechecked the room, shining the light in all the corners.
Angie moved to the sink to fill Dom’s bowl. She sat it on the floor and looked around while he slurped it up. “I don’t know.”
A banging from the right side of the room made her jump. “Matt, shine your light over there.”
When he did, they saw a new door. Matt whistled and said, “It appears the banging is coming from there.”
Angie glanced around the room and picked up an empty vase. She moved around Dom who was still drinking and toward the door. “Okay, you open the door and I’ll hit them with the vase.”
Matt nodded and they moved slowly toward the door. When they got there, they realized the outside had a latch on it. He pulled the latch slowly aside and pulled open the door.
Three people fell out of the small closet. Glen was the first to stand up. When he saw Angie’s upstretched hands holding the vase, he gently took it away from her. “Thank god you came looking for us. We’ve been locked in that closet for hours.”
“Don’t exaggerate, Glen.” Bridget looked at her watch. “Okay, maybe it was a couple of hours. It felt like eternity. What’s been going on?”
Matt shrugged. “Not much. We’ve got a group sleeping. And the others are sitting and waiting. No new murders.”
Dom barked his opinion.
Marty dusted his pants off as he stood up. Then he went to the fridge and opened the door. “I’m dying of thirst.”
“Hand me a cola.” Bridget said as she sat down at the table. “All of my muscles hurt from being shoved in there.”
“Who locked you up?”
The three of them looked at each other. Bridget finally answered