‘What is it?’
Feli had been calling Nele’s name the whole time but wasn’t getting any response down here in this disgusting basement corridor with rooms lining both sides like medieval dungeons.
Luckily her phone had a good flashlight, but now that Livio was calling her she had to stop using it for the moment.
‘Did you find her?’ Feli asked, excited.
‘No,’ she heard him say. ‘But something’s not right here.’
‘What?’
‘There’s a camera tripod in a stall. Standing at what looks like someone’s sickbed.’
‘Say that again?’
‘Just like I said. The whole deal looks like some real perverted filming. Like someone’s shooting sodomy porn. It’s even got an animal cage.’
‘Oh, God.’
She heard Livio cough, his voice becoming muffled. He was apparently moving.
‘Where are you heading?’ she said.
‘I’m gonna keep taking a look around.’
‘No, wait,’ Feli told him. ‘I’m coming your way.’
‘Okay, meet you back at the stalls.’
She took a deep breath and had to cough. No wonder, with all the dust down here.
‘Sounds good. Give me a couple minutes. There’s something I need to check out here too.’
Feli hung up and directed her phone’s flashlight back at the ground.
At that round wooden slab she’d discovered right before Livio called.
It looked like the cover for a well.