Smelled rotten.
An odor, anaurathat had changed the second she slid through the doorway.
She studied the altar.
Plop!
A thick drip from above. Cool. Sticky. Landing in her hair.
“What the—?”
Creak.
Old wood straining.
Plop!
Another heavy drip. She brushed at her hair and shined her light upward, tilting her face toward the hole in the roof.
A coagulated drop hit her in the forehead just as she saw the body.
A woman dangling upside down from a crossbeam that groaned with her weight.
Drips of dried blood dyed the blond hair falling over her face in ghastly, dark red streaks.
Nikki screamed and backed up toward the door, then noticed the woman’s arms, stretched downward toward the pit, where she saw more blood had pooled and dried. One of the woman’s hands was open, fingers splayed, as if in supplication. The other hand was fisted, fingers clutched around a smooth stone.
“No,” Nikki whispered.
As the dead body swayed slightly, the overhead beam creaking, the blond hair shifted.
Nikki saw her face.
Upside down.
Gray.
Bloated.
The distinct profile of Naomi Kittle.
Chapter 36
Horrified, her heart trip-hammering, Nikki backed up a step.
The back of her legs touched something furry.
She jumped.
A low growl erupted.
Panicked, she whirled, leveling her flashlight at the snarling beast.
Arlo.
Crouching in the doorway, ears flattened, eyes glittering, he stared up at the suspended woman.
“Let’s go,” she ordered. “Go, go, go!”
