Page 19

Eighteen

The Mine

Shivering, Olivia pulled the dusty blanket around her as she sat on the stinking mattress and stared at the moss on the damp wall.

Overnight, water had leaked through a small fissure high in the roof of the cave and trickled down, making large wet patches across one of the walls.

The water spilled across the floor and vanished down a crack.

She wished she could follow the water and escape.

Two of her friends had vanished, and deep inside, she understood their fate.

The weird man had murdered them. He had no conscience, no remorse, and seemed to find their predicament funny.

She made up games to pass the time. In the dim light the moss resembled a map and she tried to fit countries to the shape of the green patches.

She picked up a tiny speck of a leaf and allowed it to flow across the floor and vanish down the hole.

Did it join an underground stream that rushed all the way to the river?

Or did it keep on going down to fill a subterranean cave with stalagmites and stalactites?

No sounds came from other cells and yet Isabella and Chloe hadn’t been taken away.

They’d all talked until they had nothing left to say.

Depression set in and hopelessness was written all over their faces.

They’d both given up fighting and had accepted that they’d be murdered.

Olivia had tried to talk them around, giving them hope that they’d be rescued, but after seeing what had happened to Samantha, they’d shut down completely.

Olivia pushed to her feet and went to the barred window in her door.

She shook the door but it wouldn’t move.

All that achieved was to make the spiders run around trying to get away.

“Hey, you two. Why are you so quiet? Maybe we should sing or something. If anyone was searching for us, they might hear us.”

“You’ve finally lost your mind.” Chloe’s pale face appeared at the window, and her eyes looked too big for her face. I’m trying to prepare myself for when that animal drags me out of here and rapes me before whatever end he has planned for me.”

Olivia shook her head. “We don’t know he killed our friends. He keeps his face covered and wears gloves. He doesn’t want us to recognize him. He might have let them go.”

“Pigs might fly.” Isabella barked a cynical laugh.

“You’re the smart one. You must know he’s killed them.

He has an agenda like he’s proving a point or something.

He only wants females to humiliate, doesn’t he?

That’s why he murdered the guys. Somewhere in his twisted mind he’s living out a fantasy.

I’ve watched shows about serial killers and they all have some kind of story to validate killing people.

The dog barking made me do it. Every time I hear the name Jill, I want to murder someone, things like that.

He’s no different. I bet we’re a few in a long line of girls he’s murdered. It’s just a game to him.”

“See, we’re never getting out of here alive.

” Chloe blew out a sigh and pushed her matted dark hair behind her ears.

“None of us are strong enough to fight him. He’s huge.

If we could get out of here, it might be different.

Three of us could run at him in the hope that one escapes but he’s never going to risk it. ”

Olivia pursed her lips, thinking. “Maybe we can ask him if we can have a shower. He’ll complain about the hot water and we can say we’ll all shower together.

He’s a pervert. He’ll likely find that interesting.

” She looked from one to the other. “We’d need to select our clothes beforehand so we can grab them and run. We wouldn’t survive outside naked.”

“You wouldn’t survive outside without water either.” Isabella sighed. “I’m in if you can convince him. If it doesn’t work, at least we’ll be clean.”

A short time later, footsteps echoed through the mineshaft and the beam of a flashlight bobbed in the distance.

The metal gate squeaked and the man walked in, leaving the gate open.

He carried supplies and dumped them on the desk before moving his gaze across the cell doors.

Heart pounding, Olivia pressed her face against the bars.

He didn’t like it if they spoke, so she waited. He’d usually ask them questions.

“Look at me.” The man stood in the center of the cave and swiveled his head to look from one to the other.

“This time you choose. I want a very cooperative girl to come with me. You must be nice to me. If you do exactly what I say, I’ll leave you on the bench outside the old library.

” He moved his black gaze from one girl to the next and back again slowly.

Nobody said a word.

“We’ll be real good if we can have a shower. We know the hot water is precious so we’ll shower all together. You can choose then which one of us to take to the library.” Chloe blinked at him, her eyes like an owl’s.

“Ah, no.” He shook his head. “That just ain’t gonna happen. The one I take will have a shower after she shows me just how obedient she can be.”

A shiver of mind-numbing dread slid down Olivia’s spine. She cringed away as he came closer. It was plain to see, he only had one thing on his mind.