“Jesus,” she said, catching sight of the opening.
I brought a finger to my lips in a shushing gesture.
“Is somebody in there?” she whispered.
“I don’t know, but we need to find out.”
“I’ve got a flashlight in my tote bag. Let me grab it.”
While she hurried back to the car, I studied the building, holding my breath. Could this really be where Shannon was? I certainly didn’t relish the idea of going inside. If she was hiding here of her own free will, it meant she’d become unhinged and we could end up in a difficult confrontation. If she’d been abducted, well, then, the situation might prove a whole lot scarier. There was also, I knew, the chance that we’d find Shannon’s body inside.
And, of course, there was still the chance that this wasn’t the place the caller had meant at all.
As soon as Alice returned with a flashlight big enough to explore a mine shaft, I eased the door all the way open and we stepped inside.
Alice slowly trained the beam around the room. With that and the little bit of daylight seeping through the windows, we could see well enough, and yet there was really nothing more than what we’d glimpsed from the outside. As the beam of the flashlight briefly settled on the floor, we caught sight of a field mouse zipping along the baseboard.
Then something else caught my eye. There were marks on the floorboards where the layer of dust had been disturbed, as if someone had walked through here—and not all that long ago. I supposed it could have been a rep from the diocese collecting chairs or other furniture that had been left behind.
Or it could have been someone else.
My stomach knotted as a warning flare launched in my head.
“Look,” Alice whispered behind me. I turned and saw that she was now facing the short wall on the right and directing the beam at two doors several feet apart from each other. Together, we tiptoed toward the closest one.
With Alice still holding the light, I tugged open the first door. Behind it we found a small half bathroom, both the sink basin and toilet bowl brown with mineral stains and reeking of sulfur. There was no indication that either had been used recently.
Maybe a storage room, I thought, as I reached for the next door, but as soon as I eased it open, the beam of the flashlight fell onto a staircase plunging into darkness. To a basement. Oh, beautiful. Just what I was hoping for.
“Should we check it out?” Alice asked, with an expression that said, “I’ll give you a thousand bucks if you say no.”
I could relate to her fear. The idea of going downstairs practically made my knees weak. But there was a chance that Shannon was below, and if she was still alive, she would need our help immediately.
I nodded. As Alice stepped ahead with the flashlight, ready to descend, I motioned with a finger for her to wait. I tiptoed to one of the old folding chairs and carried it back, then leaned it against the open basement door. The last thing we needed was for it to slam shut with us on the wrong side.
Since Alice had the light, I ended up following her downthe stairs, both of us cautiously hugging the wall as we went. After about a dozen steps, the basement opened up beneath us.
It turned out to be finished, with fake wood paneling and a row of small, high windows at the rear, which allowed a tiny bit of sunshine to creep in. Even before Alice directed the beam around, I could see the space was empty except for a couple more folding chairs and a decrepit whiteboard easel. It smelled as if mold was growing in every crevice.
“Nothing here,” Alice said.
Except, I realized, as my pulse began to race, the dust on the paved cement floor had been disturbed, too. There appeared to be fairly fresh footprints, and they led toward the wall at the far end.
“Run the light over there, will you?” I told Alice, pointing with my chin.
It was more fake wood paneling, with a small furnace at one end and the base of the fireplace at the other. The scuff marks, oddly, stopped at the middle of the wall. As Alice bounced the beam over the surface, I finally saw the three cut lines. We were actually looking at a door in the middle of the wall, one that was flush with the paneling. A tiny metal latch poked out from the seam on the right.
“It’s got to be some kind of storage space,” Alice said, seeing it, too.
“Right. We’d better check inside.”
I didn’t have a good feeling. Someone had been down in the basement lately and either had removed objects from the storage space or put something there.
I crossed the floor, reached out, grabbed the little latch between my fingers, and pulled.
It didn’t budge at first, and I wondered if the door had been sealed. I jiggled the latch back and forth. Finally it stopped fighting me, and I heard a shifting sound behind the door and pressure against my arm. Whatever was inside was trying to get out.
I lurched back, and the cupboard door flew open. Something dark, and long, and slippery spilled out, slamming against my thighs. A huge trash bag.
