Page 61 of Wicked Shadows
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CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
“Doyou know where they’re keeping Katrina?” Elle asked.
“No. You think she’s here too?” Beth rose from the bed and walked to the window. “It would make sense. Honestly, I haven’t been able to think past finding you and getting out of here.”
“They don’t lock the bedroom doors. Maybe we should go look around. I don’t even know how long we’ve been here, but when I first woke up, I got as far as the front yard. There’s a tall brick fence around the property as far as I could see.”
Elle told Beth the rest of the details she remembered from that night. Together, they agreed to explore as much of the house as they could before anyone stopped them. Since no one knew where they were, they couldn’t wait and chance being rescued. They’d have to be their own heroes in this real-life thriller.
Elle opened the door and stepped into the hall. Something about the dead space gave her a sick feeling each time, as if a monster hid behind one of the doors, waiting to devour her.That’s probably not far off the mark, actually, she thought as she approached the next closed door. Much like she’d done when she searched for Beth, she inspected the room for any sign of inhabitants and moved to the next one. Beth checked the doors on the opposite side, also holding her breath until a flood of relief washed over her when she realized the coast was clear.
“Katrina?” Beth’s voice carried down the hall to Elle.
Elle’s gaze snapped to Beth’s, waiting to learn the fate of their mutual friend.
Beth stepped inside the room, and Elle heard muffled cries. Without a second thought, she ran to the room and found the two women in a tight embrace. Katrina looked up at Elle and stretched out one of her arms to her. Elle immediately joined in, wrapping her arms around them both and clinging to them in the comfort of shared misery. When Katrina could release them, Elle and Beth stepped back to visually inspect her for wounds.
“I’m okay. No one has hurt me. It’s so odd, though. Not that I want them to do anything to me, but I almost feel like we’re part of some rich, eccentric guy’s collection. A life-size doll collection.” Katrina walked to the window and pointed outside. “Look. Do you recognize where we are? I don’t see any landmarks I know from around LA.”
They joined her at the window and took a minute to memorize the landscape. Knowing the layout of the grounds and what awaited on the other side of the brick wall would be helpful in an escape attempt.
“Wait a minute—that looks so familiar.” Elle pointed at a rocky outcrop in the distance.
“Rocks on the Pacific shore look familiar?” Beth asked. “They all look the same to me.”
“No, it’s the unique shape they make. Mark and I used to laugh about how it’s shaped like a breast. I think we’re close to my family’s vineyard.”
“Where no one is looking for us,” Beth replied gloomily.
Elle and Beth gave Katrina a condensed version of what they knew, ending with Detective Gough’s involvement with their imprisonment while being assigned to find them. Katrina listened carefully, doing her best to keep up with the details while keeping her panic under control.
“Wait—did you just say she’s assigned to Jax’s disappearance case, too?” Katrina asked.
“Yeah. What are you thinking?” Elle asked.
“It just seems like Jax is a common denominator in this whole sordid mess. Do you think he could be behind it?”
“Even he couldn’t afford this place,” Elle replied. “But that doesn’t mean he’s not involved somehow. I just don’t know how or why. The movie production will be put on hiatus with me gone—it’s too late to replace me, and the sound stage has already been booked for the next movie anyway.”
“So it’s a coincidence I rejected him just before I was taken?”
“I don’t believe in coincidences.” Elle turned the facts over in her mind, examining them from various angles. But like a jigsaw puzzle with the picture missing, she couldn’t make the pieces fit together and make any sense. Her only hope was she knew her family wouldn’t give up until they got to the bottom of her recorded message fiasco.
“Ladies, come with me, please.” The butler stood in the doorway eying them, no doubt eavesdropping on their conversation.
“Where are you taking us?” Beth asked defiantly.
“My employer wishes to have a word with you. It’s best not to keep him waiting.”
The three ladies followed him down the hall, across the foyer, and down the stairs at the back of the kitchen. The narrow staircase opened into a large basement. Bile rose in Elle’s throat, and her neck muscles worked to swallow it down. The floor, walls, and ceiling were covered in thick black sheets of plastic. In Elle’s mind, there was only one reason why that would be found in a multimillion-dollar mansion.
“Ladies, have a seat, please,” the voice behind them instructed. They gasped and turned to see who’d joined them. A handsome older man, distinguished by the strands of gray at his temples and salt-and-pepper smattering throughout, gestured to the four folding chairs. His face was vaguely familiar, though Elle couldn’t place where she’d seen him before.
“Carrie? Carrie Snow?” With a slack jaw and wide eyes, Katrina stared at the woman beside him.
He gently pushed Carrie forward as she nodded at Katrina, confirming her identity.
