My phone rang again. Unknown number—probably dispatch calling me back. But at that same moment, I saw the first flash of blue lights pushing through the wooded stretch of road.
Relief hit so hard, I could physically feel it. It was like someone had finally let go of my lungs after squeezing the breath out of them.
“Sunny,” Mochi said in his cheerful little voice. “It’s sunny.”
I watched the police car come the whole way over the one-mile stretch connecting the Breakers to the mainland. Whenthe cruiser pulled up beside me, I hurried toward the officer climbing out. He looked ...casual. Not alarmed. Not even curious. Nothing about his face said he’d just arrived at a scene where a woman was locked in a basement.
Which was exactly what I’d told them.
“I’m the one who called,” I said quickly. “Follow me. She’s right here.”
We went inside as the officers fired questions at me. Was I hurt? Did I live here? Who owned the home? I set Mochi on a chair in the kitchen, my hands moving fast, my words even faster.
“This way. Please help her.”
The officer followed, radio crackling faintly at his shoulder. When I opened the yellow door, he looked down at the staircase and raised a brow.
“They tell people not to go down because the stairs are dangerous,” I explained, pointing. “But I think that’s just what whoever keeps her down here wants people to believe. To keep them out.”
His expression flicked to the staircase. The wood looked splintered and warped. A few of the steps sagged in the middle.
“You have to step on every second one,” I added quickly. “Those are the solid ones. See?”
“Ma’am, wait! This doesn’t look sa—”
But I was already moving. He followed slowly.
At the bottom, he took out his flashlight, clicked it on, and let his hand rest near the grip of his holstered gun.
“This way,” I said.
I started to move ahead, but he stopped me short with one arm stretched across my path. “Ma’am, please stay behind me.”
“Right. Yes. Of course.”
His voice remained calm, but there was a thread of doubt woven into it when he asked, “Where exactly is the woman?”
Like he didn’t believe me. Like the strange looks he’d been giving me since the moment he arrived hadn’t already said it all.
“She’s down this way,” I said, motioning. “Follow the lights on the wall.”
We reached the point where the tunnel split.
We turned right. Just like before. The air was colder, more still. The smell of stone and old moisture hung around us like fog.
“She’s right there,” I said, pointing. “There’s an entrance in the rock. It leads to a door.”
The officer shone his flashlight in the direction I was pointing.
I froze.
There was nothing.
Just rock.
“I...I don’t understand.” My hands slid over the wall, which felt cool and solid beneath my fingertips. “The entrance. It was here. Right here.”
I turned in place, scanning the space like the opening would suddenly reappear. “Shine over there,” I said, pointing down the tunnel.
