The Southbridge police department had only two jail cells. There wasn’t a lot of crime in Southbridge. Evan Steffers had spent the night in one. His parents hadn’t felt like posting bail.
“He’s eighteen now,” his father said. “He’s old enough to vote, old enough to join the army, old enough to behave himself.”
“I think it takes a few more years,” said his mother, who wasn’t really his mother, although they had adopted him. She was more of a step-grandmother. His father was actually his grandfather, and held the boy to high standards. Higher than Evan was willing to meet.
Rick Falco reported early for his shift, bringing a breakfast burrito for the prisoner.
“Still here, huh?” he said as he handed it through the bars.
Evan didn’t answer, didn’t thank him. He only glowered.
“If you weren’t still here, I’d have eaten it myself,” Rick said. “But I kind of thought you would be.”
Evan continued to glower. But he was hungry, so he ate the burrito.
Rick came back when he had finished it. “Now then. Who’s this Dominican guy you sold the girl to?”
He watched carefully. He saw the merest instant of surprise. So he knew Evan hadn’t sold anyone.
Then where was she? Had he killed her?
“You don’t remember?” he asked. He knew Maddie hadn’t returned home all night. He had checked. He’d called her cell phone, got only voicemail, and called her home phone. He didn’t think they’d be sleeping if she hadn’t come home, and he was right.
Evan sat back on his cot and closed his eyes.
“So where is she?” Rick asked.
“Don’t know,” said Evan, with his eyes still closed. “Isn’t she home?”
“No, she’s not. That’s why I’m asking. Quite frankly, I don’t believe in your Dominican, unless you give me a name.”
“Pedro,” said Evan. “Pedro Juan. No, wait a minute. It’s Juan Pedro.”
“Last name.”
“I never knew his last name.”
“How’d you meet him?”
Evan shrugged. “I got connections.”
“You’re going to have to be a little more specific.”
Evan’s eyes opened wide. “I don’t have to tell you anything. I want my lawyer.”
“I doubt your lawyer’s up yet. Don’t you know what time it is? No, I guess you don’t.” They had taken Evan’s watch when they put him in the cell.
It was getting time for Rick to set off on his rounds. He said goodbye to Evan and left.
He hated to leave. Evan did know where Maddie was, but Rick didn’t want him to know he cared.
* * * *
The sun was up. We could see the back of the garage but not the front. I kept wishing they had some sort of lavatory down in the basement, or at least a sink. Obviously, it was not a basement where anyone spent a lot of time.
“Did you ever pick a lock?” Cree asked.
I tried to remember. “If I knew how, we could be out of here already.”
“I don’t know either,” she said. For good measure, she added, “Damn!”
“Let’s concentrate on what we can do.” I tried to think what that might be, and came up with nothing.
“This is stupid,” I finally decided. “We’re walking around freely, we’re not tied up or anything, at least not anymore, but we can’t get out of here. Why can’t we? Because we’re stupid.”
“We’re not stupid. We just haven’t thought of the right thing yet. That’s not stupidity, it’s chance.”
Okay, she was right about that. But how do you get un-stupid when you need to?
I went over and studied the windows. They were much too small and high up. And I couldn’t see that they opened.
“Think,” I said.
“I’m thinking.”
“Think harder.”
She didn’t bother answering me that time.
* * * *
Rhoda Canfield made up her mind. She would cancel all her appointments that day. At least the morning ones to start with. If it turned out Maddie had spent the night with a friend and forgot to tell her, she would be furious, but she’d deal with that later. It wasn’t like Maddie not to tell them. And obviously it wasn’t Rick she spent the night with. Did she have a new boyfriend?
Rhoda hoped so. For Maddie’s sake. But it wasn’t like her not to tell her parents.
At nine o’clock, she called her secretary. “You’d better cancel all of them. The whole day,” she told the woman. “Then at least some people have a little bit of notice. I hate to do this.”
“But your daughter,” said the woman. “I hope she’s all right.”
“So do I,” Rhoda said.
It wasn’t like her not to call. Or something. She wasn’t the flighty type to get carried away by a new boyfriend. That is, she never had been.
Now then, what was Rhoda going to do about it? Maddie said to check with Evan Steffers. But how to find Evan Steffers? All Rhoda knew was, his father wasn’t his real father, he had a different last name, and Rhoda had no idea what that name could be. She couldn’t even find where they lived unless she knew the name. The school wouldn’t give it to her. They thought Evan was God.
“Oh, why does life have to be so complicated?” she asked the walls. Henry had already left for work.
“Think,” Rhoda told herself. “Think.”
Maddie’s car was out there. How could she get to school without her car? She couldn’t be so infatuated she would drop out of school.
It must have been Evan. Could he possibly have sold her, as he said? How would he do that? How could he do that?
* * * *
Cree had found a very small screwdriver. She was poking at the lock with it. I thought you needed special tools to pick a lock.
She didn’t know what she was doing. It was an exercise in futility.
It didn’t occur to me we might never get out. Alive, that is. We just would. The only question was when. Evan would come bringing food, as he said he would.
The next moment I was sure he wouldn’t come. And he didn’t. We would have to get ourselves out. It got lighter and lighter and after a while the house sounds went away. Evan would be at school. At Lakeside, where I used to go.
Cree tried different tools that she found on the bench. None of them worked. Why wasn’t I helping her? I was thinking. Or trying to.
And getting really hungry. We hadn’t had dinner last night, much less anything this morning. Last night I had been so upset I didn’t think I could ever eat again but now I wanted to. There are people all over the world who never get enough to eat. Maybe they get used to it but probably not, because I’m sure they eat when they can.
This was not what I was supposed to be thinking about. I told Cree, “I don’t even know what a lock-picking tool looks like. I don’t know how it’s supposed to work.”
“Something’s got to work,” she said. We were getting bolder now, talking in normal tones instead of whispering, and not caring how much noise we made at the door. I was sure everybody’d left for work. And school. And there we were, still locked in that stupid basement. Just one tiny lock between the outside world and us.
* * * *
The guy at the desk said he’d never heard of that before, a lawyer putting up bail for his client.
“It’s because I’m such a swell guy,” Evan explained as he took possession of all that had been removed from his person the day before. His wallet, his wristwatch, his keys.
Now what? His car was still at the school, or should be. Unless the police used it to go joyriding last night. Why wouldn’t they? They’d had the keys. He supposed he could call a taxi.
Which is what he did.
And found his car right where he left it.
* * * *
It opened! Cree’s efforts paid off and the door actually opened.
I don’t know how long it took. I was too excited to think of looking at my watch. It must have been hours.
She opened it very slowly at first, and carefully looked around to see if there were any humans nearby.
“Did we leave anything?” she asked.
“Only the ropes,” I said. “We’ll leave them right where they are.”
Cautiously we crept out of the basement. I had never been in that house before, if it was actually Evan’s. I couldn’t be sure of that either. I only knew I wanted to get out of it.
The kitchen was closest of any room. We were very careful to be sure nobody was there. It did have an outside door. We hustled over to it, fumbled with the lock, and got it open.
“Freedom,” she breathed, and stepped out into the sunshine.
Then I thought to look at my watch. It was twenty after three. I said, “We missed a whole day at school.”
“That’s fine with me. Now where do we go from here?”
“I don’t even know where we are.”
Her gold-flecked eyes turned to look at me. “Is this his house? Weren’t you ever here?”
“No,” I admitted. “He always came to my place.”
“Weird,” she said. “Okay, we’re in back of the house. First we go around to the front.”
We started to.
And ran smack into Evan.
He caught me. I couldn’t believe it.
Yes, I could. This was my destiny.
No, it wasn’t. I would not be dominated by Evan Steffers.
He had his hand on my mouth, so tightly I couldn’t bite it. I couldn’t see where Cree went.
“How’d you get out?” he asked.
I went limp. He had to hold me up and it was too hard, so he let me fall onto the grass.
He bent down, looked me straight in the eye, and asked again, “How’d you get out?”
“The usual way,” I said. “We climbed the stairs and opened the door.”
“Get up,” he said.
“What if I don’t?”
“Listen. I’ve been in jail almost twenty-four hours and I am short-tempered.”
“You always were.” I raised my voice. “Cree, if you’re anywhere, make a run for it. Call the police.”
She didn’t answer. She must already have made a run for it.
Evan grabbed my arm and pulled me up. I had to scramble to get my feet under me. He almost pulled my arm out of its socket.
With his face in mine, he said, “I told you to get up. Didn’t you hear me?”
I didn’t answer. He was going to hurt me anyway and I didn’t feel like letting him know I was afraid.
Trying to keep my voice steady, I asked, “What were you in jail for?”
He didn’t answer. He, too, wanted to show his strength and he had more of it than I did. Physical strength, that is. Did I have more mental strength? How could I get out of this?
He marched me back toward the kitchen door. We should have locked it. But then he changed course and marched me around to the front where his car was.
There he stopped. “We need something to tie you up with,” he said.
No. I had just been tied up. I couldn’t go through that again.
“I’ll behave,” I told him, without meaning to say it.
He said angrily, “You didn’t behave the last time you were tied up.” He walked me around to the back again and tried to open the kitchen door.
It wouldn’t open. He twisted the knob back and forth and hit the door with his knee. “How’d you get out?” he demanded.
I didn’t answer. I thought it probably locked itself but I didn’t really know.
He whirled me around to face him but still kept hold of my arm. On his face I saw hate. Real, genuine hate. And he used to say he loved me.
“I’m sorry,” I said.
“You’re sorry. About what?”
“Everything.” I couldn’t say more. I thought I was going to cry. Could love and hate really be that close? Or was it a different kind of love?
“You used to love me,” I said.
That time he gave me only a passing glance. Full of hate.
Okay, Madelyn, think. There was no sense in trying for physical strength. If I could get away from him, I could run. But he could run faster. He was, after all, a football player and his legs were longer.
“Now you hate me.” It didn’t matter why I thought he did.
He surprised me. “You wrote that article.”
“But I—” He was right. I had given him a phony name but he could see right through it. I’d thought I was finished with him. In a wave of despair, I saw I would never be finished with him.
I wasn’t going to apologize. He was the one who owed an apology, not to me but to the world.
“You shouldn’t have done it,” I said.
“I was drunk. So was she.”
“But you didn’t have to—oh, what’s the use?”
I looked past him and saw Cree. She was creeping up behind him, with something concealed down at her side.
Luckily, he wasn’t looking at me just then or he would have caught that flash of something that I know I betrayed before my face went blank. I looked down at the grass. Had to keep him engaged so he wouldn’t turn around.
I brushed an imaginary leaf out of his hair. He thought I was going to punch his nose, and grabbed my arm.
Cree swung her weapon. It was a log from downstairs. Evan had moved just then, grabbing my arm, and the log hit him sideways.
He whirled around. He snatched the log away from her and hit her with it. He didn’t knock her out, but he knocked her down. She made the mistake of sitting up and he hit her again. That time she moved so the hit wasn’t straight. She rolled over and crawled away.
“Stop!” I said, and grabbed onto him with my arms and legs. I pounded his head with my fist. Of course, it didn’t accomplish anything, it only made him angrier. He tried to hit me with the log but I was on his back and he couldn’t get to me. He kept spinning around, trying to knock me off.
“Run!” I shouted to Cree. “Get help!”
She refused to leave me and she was still dizzy. She tried to get the log away from Evan. He tried to hit her with it again. She danced away. He pounded at my legs, which were curled around him. Cree got the log and bashed at his face.
He was totally furious now. He roared his frustration and shook himself until I fell off. He grabbed for the log but Cree ran away with it.
He turned back to me. In a flash, the only thing I could think of was to play dead.
It didn’t fool him. He kicked my head. I saw stars. Cree danced back and hit him again. He turned on her. It gave me time to get up and tackle his legs. He went down. Cree hit him still again.
Now it was his turn to play dead.
Or maybe he really was. I crept closer and felt his neck. A pulse was beating strongly. I leapt away.
Cree dug in his pocket and found his car keys.
She gave them to me. “Go ahead. Start it. I’ll be right there.”
His car was in front of the garage. I started it and saw her by the kitchen door. She found it locked, as he had. I didn’t know who locked it. Then I saw her dragging a hose over to where he lay. She gave him a good squirting, turned off the hose, then ran and got in the car.
I drove us to my house but didn’t know how we were going to get in.
Rhoda’s car was there. I tried the front door. It opened. I fell into her arms.
“Maddie! Where were you?”
“Lock it,” I said, then turned around and did so. I couldn’t imagine how Evan would get there when we had his car, but I didn’t dare put anything past him.
“Where were you?” Rhoda asked again.
“At Evan’s house. He had us—” I found I was panting and tried to calm down, “—tied up in the basement. It took all day. As soon as we got outside, he came home. He said he was in jail. We had a fight, we left him—prostrate on the lawn.”
“The back yard,” Cree corrected me.
“The back yard,” I said. “I hope he’s all right. We didn’t want to kill him but I think he’d have killed me if he could. Probably both of us. Why aren’t you at work?”
“I took the day off,” she said. “I wanted to find you but I didn’t know where to start. I know you said to check with him but I didn’t know where he was.”
She hugged me again and said, “I’d better call your father.”
She went to telephone Daddy. I checked to be sure the door was locked, and then hugged the dogs, who were jumping all over me.
A telephone rang, very faintly. It wasn’t the one Rhoda was using.
Cree found it. My purse. Rhoda must have brought it in from my car.
I took out the cell. By then the call had gone to voicemail but it said it was Rick. I called him.
“Where are you?” he asked in surprise.
“At home. I just got here. Cree and I were tied up in Evan’s basement all last night and most of today.”
“His basement?” Now it was Rick’s turn to be confused. “He told me he sold you but he wouldn’t say to whom. I didn’t believe him, but I never thought of his basement.”
“But you arrested him,” I said.
“Yes. For rape. His attorney posted bail. His parents wouldn’t.”
“Wow,” was all I could think of.