Chapter 35
Matt put a towel in the still-warm water that Lily had used to clean Kara’s wound, squeezed it out, and thoroughly wiped his
face and hands. Then he ran his head under the sink, the cool water refreshing. When he dried, Lily handed him half a peanut
butter and jelly sandwich. “Since you haven’t eaten in a couple days, you need something, but not too much at once.” She had
also refilled all the water bottles and put them in the refrigerator.
“Thank you,” he said. He was still filthy, but he hadn’t wanted to shower and take the chance that Garrett’s partner might
show up.
Kara came into the kitchen and said, “The living room and eastern corner of the porch have the best vantage points to see
anyone approach.”
“Go to the living room, but stay inside for now. I’m going to find the breaker box and turn off the power. That should render
the cameras useless. Then we’ll make a plan.”
“I can walk,” Kara said.
Not far, he thought, but didn’t say. Kara was generally realistic about her capabilities, but she always pushed herself too hard.
“If the message got through to Ryder, they’ll find us before dark.” Sunset was around 8:30. It was now four. Ryder would call
the sheriff, the local FBI office—Jacksonville was closer than Atlanta. But the sheriff would be able to respond faster, and
would know exactly where they were based on the flooded cannery. If that was the case, help could arrive in less than an hour.
If Ryder got the message . . .
“I’ll be back in a few minutes,” Matt said and left.
He walked carefully down the porch steps, recognizing that they had been sabotaged much in the same way that the stairs in
the factory had been sabotaged. Had Lily triggered the only trap? Or were there more?
Matt was on edge, every nerve tuned to his surroundings. The house looked safe—but if there were traps, he might not see them until it was too late. He wanted to leave, to vanish into the woods,
but waiting out there for help that might never come didn’t seem much safer. At least with the house there was water and shelter.
“Stop it,” he muttered. “Lily and Nathan have been here since Saturday.”
Still, the unease wouldn’t let up. That fake bomb on the gas canister—was it just a distraction? A warning? It felt like Garrett
and his partner had more planned. Something worse. While logically Matt could believe that Lily would have triggered any booby
traps—like the small explosion on the porch stairs—he couldn’t be certain.
He circled the house slowly. No generator. So someone was still paying the electric bill. The waterline from the flood was
obvious—two feet up the siding, right to the porch. No wonder the basement was so waterlogged. Even with a sump pump, there
was still water in the lower slope of the basement. Maybe the house wasn’t salvageable, which was why it had been abandoned.
Had Garrett found the place like this? If so, why the electricity? Matt itched to call Ryder, to hand this whole mess over
to someone who could dig into property records, ownership, utilities—anything. The house was mostly empty now, but someone had once lived here.
Matt found the electrical panel and cut the power. The low hum vanished, leaving only silence—and the creaks of a century-old
farmhouse settling in its bones.
They were isolated. Woods on three sides, farmland to the east. No other houses in sight, just the distant silhouette of the
old cannery barely visible across the field he and Kara had crossed earlier.
He decided then that he didn’t want to stay here. Even with the cameras off, Matt didn’t trust Garrett or his partner. They
were too smart, too deliberate. They had set up the factory and the house as a series of traps, and Matt was certain they
hadn’t caught them all.
They’d grab supplies, only what the four of them could carry, and hike into the woods. It wasn’t cold at night—they wouldn’t
freeze—and he’d keep within sight of the house, in case rescue showed up.
If Ryder got the message.
He circled again, eyes scanning the foundation of the house. Basement windows. A heavy cellar door down a half flight of slick,
mud-caked stairs. Water had pooled outside it, thick and foul-smelling—like chemicals and sewage. Flood damage? Or was the
septic system ruptured?
The sunlight glinted off something in the mud. Glass?
He squatted, inspected the flash. It was a ring. He picked it up, turned it around in his fingers. A diamond wedding ring,
caked in mud. He wiped it off and it looked familiar . . . then it hit him.
He’d seen this ring in photos of Emily Henderson’s wedding. The ring hadn’t been found on her body, and they’d considered it was either lost during her ordeal, or the killer kept it as a souvenir.
Emily Henderson had been in this house. He opened the cellar door. It creaked as he pulled, but wasn’t locked. On the inside
of the door he saw matted blond hair stuck into the rough boards, as if ripped out by the roots because the long strands had
been caught on something.
Emily had been here. Had letting her escape been part of the game? To think she’d been saved only to force her into a more
deadly trap?
He went back inside the house and announced to the group, “We can’t stay here.” His voice was low and firm. He caught Kara’s
eye, and she nodded. She was with him, even though she hadn’t seen what he’d seen.
“Is she coming back?” Nathan asked.
“That, I don’t know, but it’s a risk, and I don’t want to be trapped in here. Plus, Garrett and his partner set traps all
over the abandoned factory, and I fear we’re missing something here. I suspect at least one of the other victims was kept
here.”
Lily sucked in her breath, eyes wide.
Matt said, “We’ll hike into the woods. If my team got the message, someone should be here within an hour, and we’ll see them
long before they reach the house. If they didn’t get the message, we’ll head out at dusk and find help.”
“Okay,” Kara said. When Lily hesitated, Kara told her, “It’s the smart play here. If that woman checks the cameras and sees
they’re out, we don’t know what she might do.”
“Leave your phone here,” Matt said. “She might be able to track it. If no one comes in an hour, I’ll risk calling my team
directly. She’ll know on her end, but we need to make contact.”
“You’re right,” Lily agreed and put her phone on the couch.
“I’ll get the water,” Nathan said and went to the kitchen.
“I refilled bottles and put them in the refrigerator,” Lily called after him. “Thank you,” she said quietly. “Nathan knows what’s going on. He’s nearly twelve, observant, but I didn’t want to scare him.”
“He’s a strong, smart young man,” Matt said. “You should be proud of him.”
Lily blinked back tears. “Thank you. I’ll help him. And get some food, too.”
She followed her son. Matt turned to Kara, touched her. He needed to touch her to make sure she was okay. “I found Emily Henderson’s
wedding ring outside in the mud, near the cellar doors that lead to the basement.”
“That cage,” Kara said, disgusted. “What game were they playing?”
“The Hendersons were the first. Maybe they didn’t have the factory set up yet.”
She sighed, leaned into him. “You’ve been a rock.”
“So have you.”
She shook her head. “Last night I was a mess.”
“You didn’t act like it.”
“Yes I did. I felt trapped. I hate feeling like I have no way out, like a rat in a maze. I panicked. You didn’t waiver. You
were calm, you were there. I don’t know how to explain it. But I felt . . . like we were going to make it. Together. I just
wanted you to know.”
He kissed her. “I wasn’t calm on the inside. I’ve been in a lot of dangerous situations, but the last few days have been the
worst.”
“Ditto,” she said with a half smile.
Nathan came into the living room with a grocery bag of water bottles and food. “Where’s your mom?” Matt asked.
“She went upstairs to get blankets.”
“I’ll help her,” Kara said and got up.
“You can’t go up and down stairs with that bum leg,” Matt said. “You and Nathan go out to the oak tree. We’ll meet you there.”
“It’s you and me, kid,” Kara said and steered Nathan toward the door.
Matt’s foot hit the first stair just as the whole house groaned, a low, hungry sound that filled him with dread. The floor
tilted under his feet. A sharp crack echoed somewhere in the basement, support beams splintering. He froze for a half second,
heart hammering.
Crunch.
The sound came from below, deep and sickening, a crunch crunch crunch. The stairs pitched and shuddered. Matt grabbed the railing for balance. The old wood flexed unnaturally beneath his hand.
“Lily!” he shouted as he ran halfway up the stairs, needing her to hear him. “Get down here now!”
In a gut-punch moment, it all clicked: the chemical tang he’d smelled in the basement, the steady drips that he’d dismissed
as water. Another trap, just like Garrett and his partner had done in the factory. A chemical solvent dissolving the old wood
of the support beams. Acid or lye, something that worked slowly over time until the house collapsed.
He feared turning off the electricity had accelerated the collapse. Or their captor had noticed the cameras were down and
somehow set off the chain of events. Either way, they had to get out now.
“Lily!”
Lily appeared at the top of the stairs, blankets bundled in her arms, face pale and panicked.
“Drop it! Hurry!” He reached out his arm, urging her to run down the stairs.
The house lurched again, sharper this time, like a boat slamming against the dock. Lily stumbled forward, blankets spilling
from her arms, as she tumbled down the stairs.
The banister snapped under her weight and she fell. Matt tried to catch her, but she rolled over the edge into the hall.
He rushed over to Lily and helped her up. The floor shifted again. The boards in the old wood floor visibly separated beneath their feet. Matt grabbed her around the waist as the house continued to fall apart around them.