Of course there was no telling how soon Halder would return either. I’d much rathernotspend a week down here while the doctor finished up his business in Raleigh.
I tried again. “You have always struck me as a godly man, Mr. Phelps.” A pained expression crossed his face, and I hurried on. “You must have a good reason for doing this. If you explain it to me, you may find that I agree with you. It may be that none of thisisnecessary.”
He stared at the wall over my head for a long moment. I picked at a loose thread on my skirt, wondering if I should push him further or not.
“Have to wait for the doctor,” he said finally. “The doctor will know what to do.”
“Mr. Phelps,” I said desperately, “we can go back to the house together right now. I’ll tell the Kents that I was lost in the woods and you found me. Then we can wait for the doctor together.”
Silence welled up between us as I waited. He scratched the back of his head again, and thescruff-scruff-scruffof his nails against his scalp rang in that small space like words.
“Miss Wilson,” he said, finally meeting my eyes. My heart sank. His tone had gone stiff and formal.
“Please,” I said, cutting him off. “Pleasejust think about it.”
“I don’t know,” he muttered, half to himself. “I don’t know.”
“Think about it. That’s all I ask.”
He nodded distractedly and reached for the lantern on the wall. I jumped. “Wait! Please!” I fought back my flare of terror. “Please leave me the light. It’s… it’s very bad in the dark.”
A startled look crossed his lean face. “Oh. Yes. It would be, I expect.” He took down the lantern, glanced around at the shed, then handed it to me. Our fingers met briefly, and I was startled by how cold his were to the touch.
“I’ll bring you more food tomorrow,” he said gruffly.
“Thank you,” I said. And then, as he stepped outside and I saw the door start to close, I tried one last time. “I don’t believe you’re a wicked man, Mr. Phelps.”
He paused on the threshold. “‘Behold, I was shaped in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.’”
If I had a better grasp of Bible verses, perhaps I could have offered something that would have swayed him to my side, but all I could think of was, “Jesus wept,” which, while apropos, did not seem persuasive. My father’s transcendentalist philosophy seemed unlikely to work. I said nothing, and after a moment he shut the door. I listened for the click of the padlock and closed my eyes briefly when it came.
My first act was to turn the lantern down as low as I could to save oil. Judging by the slosh, it was less than half full. Five, maybe six hours, if I was lucky. Certainly not enough oil to burn down the shed, which I admit, I considered. (I suspect that Phelps had thought of it too, and probably would not have handed the lantern over if he’d thought I might succeed.)
I felt a little better though. It may have been the food and the fitful sleep, but I suspect that the lantern had as much to do with it. I wondered what time it was. Late, probably. I hadn’t seen any light when he opened the door, and Phelps would hardly have returned in broad daylight.
Had the Kents discovered I was missing? I hadn’t heard anyone calling for me. Could I have slept through it?
If it was off in the distance, probably. But I’d have heard them if they were up close. I’m sure of it.
Surely they’d check the shed, wouldn’t they? They must know it’s here, even if they think it’s something innocuous.
I drank another sip of water, wondering when my captor was likely to return. There was still a biscuit in the basket. I wrapped it up in the cloth, hoping that would keep anything from laying eggs on it. It didn’t seem that he intended to starve me, anyway.
Too late it occurred to me that perhaps I should have worried about the food being drugged. I put a hand to my mouth, then snorted at myself. Why would hebotherto drug me? What was I going to do? I had nowhere to run. It wasn’t as if there was another way out.
And then I froze.
I’m an idiot. An absolute stone-cold dyed-in-the-woolidiot.
I’dseenthe light coming in. Those animals had come from somewhere, which meant that there was another way into the room, andthatmeant that there was another way out.
Granted, a hole large enough for a squirrel or a groundhog might not be large enough to accommodate a human. But this was all clay held up by boards, and I would damn well dig my way out if I had to.
I made sure the net was firmly tucked around my neck, grabbed the lantern, and shoved the drape aside.
It was amazing the difference that lantern light made, compared to a single candle. Even turned down low, I could make out the slight rise and fall of the man’s chest. The hollows of his ribs no longer looked like canyons. He looked unhealthy, but not like he was dying.
His eyes were closed. He might have been asleep. Perhaps eating rodents was exhausting. My mind skittered away from waking him up.It would be cruel to wake a man who’s obviously so miserable.
