“A black SUV. An Escalade I think.”
Graham pulled out his phone and pressed a number. “Yeah. It’s Grassi. I’ve got a witness who saw Connie Difico and an unknown male accomplice in a black hoodie drive away from 7225 Cleveland Avenue twenty minutes ago in what’s likely a black Cadillac Escalade. I want everyone looking for that car, and I need backup here five minutes ago.”
He ended the call and stood in front of her. “This is good. We could get them. They don’t have a lot of time on us, and if it weren’t for you, we wouldn’t know when they’d left. But that doesn’t mean the house is clear. I need to go through every room and make sure no one else is here.”
Mickey staggered to her feet. “I’ll go with you. I’m not staying down here by myself.”
“How about I start down here and then we can argue about where you’ll go once I move upstairs.”
She glanced around the room. “Graham, no one else is in the basement.”
“You’re probably right. But I need to check anyway.”
He turned his phone light on, the thin beam of light joining with hers, and stepped away from her. The lack of his body next to hers made her all too aware of the untold horrors of where she sat, and she hurried to follow behind him.
“The ceiling’s low, so watch your head.” Graham lowered his head and crept into the black ink of the basement. “Stay close.”
She reached out and grabbed his hand. His strong grip steadied her and calmed the anxiety bouncing between her organs. She ducked and the damp wood brushed against the top of her head, snagging frayed strands of her hair. Her gaze followed the light and her stomach muscles clenched. A jacketlaid bunched in one corner of the room, a dirty tennis shoe in another. They followed along the walls of the small basement and then turned back toward where they’d started. Five dirty cots lined the back wall. The tattered blankets on the beds were no more than glorified sheets filled with holes.
“What are the buckets for?” She pointed at two five-gallon buckets set up in the corner. The heavy scent of ammonia and feces made her question moot, but she hoped beyond reason they weren’t what she assumed.
“Makeshift bathrooms.” His voice was hard and he tightened his grip on her hand.
She dug her heels into the ground and dropped his hand. Bending at the waist, she hugged her middle and took deep breaths to fight against the nausea swimming in her stomach. It only made it worse as the air-clogging stench filtered into her mouth. “I…I can’t do this. I’m going to be sick.”
A gentle hand pressed against her back, circling between her shoulder blades. “Do you want to wait outside? You shouldn’t be down here anyway. It’s not safe.”
“No. I don’t want to be by myself. And if there’s something here that could help, we need to find it now. Enough time has been wasted because of me.” She straightened and pinched the bridge of her nose. She evened out her breaths but couldn’t stop her heart from beating against her ribcage. She couldn’t stop the quiver in her limbs or the hole of despair in her soul from growing bigger and bigger. “Even though I can’t deny what a sick monster Pete is any longer, actually seeing where Becca and those other girls have been locked up like animals makes the picture so much clearer. So much worse. It’s a lot to take in.”
“We can go upstairs. No one is down here, and this area will be swept over by professionals once they get here. You witnessing the nightmare Becca’s been forced to endure won’tsolve anything. Besides, I still need to clear the rest of the house.”
Red beady eyes lit up in the darkness and streaked across the dirty floor, flittering over her naked toe. Tiny claws poked into her skin and coarse fur brushed against her ankle. Her breath hitched in her throat and she stumbled backward until she pressed up against something hard. “Oh my God. A rat just ran over my foot.” She shook her foot, as if the rat still lingered on it and a shudder of disgust rippled through her. She glanced behind her, taking in the empty rows of an oak bookcase.
“I think you’ll live.”Graham stepped beside her and skimmed his hands along the shelves still supporting her weight. “Why do they have a bookcase down here?”
He lifted the light to examine the empty dust-filled shelves and something caught her eye. She lifted her finger, pointing to the small scrap of paper trapped on the edge of the bookcase. Only one corner was visible, the rest of the paper seemingly hidden behind the case. “What’s that?” She reached out to pull it out, but it wouldn’t budge from behind the heavy wood.
“I don’t know, but don’t tear it.” Lifting the phone closer, Graham leaned forward. He traced a finger along the edge of the bookcase. “Take my phone. I’m going to move it out and see if I can get it.”
She grabbed the phone and took a step back to give him some room. He studied the bookcase for a minute, and then used his fingertips to shimmy the side from the wall. Little by little, inch by inch, he moved it forward. The paper floated to the ground and she crouched down and picked it up. Carefully, she unfolded it.
Help
The large letters were barely visible on the wrinkled paper, as if whatever was used to write with barely contained enough ink to get the message out. Her heart froze in her chest. Fogginess clouded her vision and her knees buckled beneath her.
“I got you,” Graham murmured in her ear as he wrapped his arms around her waist and held her against him. “Take it easy.”
Her mind couldn’t find any words, so she pressed the note in the palm of his hand.
He lifted it in front of his eyes. “Shit.”
“Becca wrote this note.” Confidence filled her voice even as disbelief stole the function of her muscles.
Graham lifted the paper close to his face and narrowed his eyes as he studied it. “Are you sure?”
“Absolutely. She always adds a little flourish to the bottom of her p’s.” Mickey used her pinky to point it out and couldn’t help the sad smile from forming on her lips. “You see the swirl? That has Becca written all over it. She’s a smart girl. She wouldn’t have stuck this behind a bookcase for no reason.”
Graham didn’t needany more convincing. “I need to move this out more. It doesn’t look like there’s a wall behind it. Can you stand?”
