Page 72 of Return of the Spider

“C’mon, Bunny,” he said. “Time to wake up, my friend.”

Bunny opened her eyes groggily and made confused whining noises when he pulled her toward him by the ankles. She shrank when he reached for the tape across her mouth.

“Do you want to be able to speak or not?” Soneji asked.

The stripper stared at him, still dazed, puzzled. Then she nodded, shivering.

Soneji slowly peeled the tape off her mouth.

“There now,” he said. “Let’s get you inside by a nice warm fire. Poor thing. Scooch forward a little more so I can undo your ankles.”

He knew what he was doing. He’d read about how captives’ minds could be turned, controlled even.

Bunny’s teeth were starting to chatter when she slid toward him through the leaves and trash. He tore the tape from her ankles and wrists and supported her by the elbow when she tried to stand up.

“Easy,” he said. “I think someone overserved you last night.”

Soneji led her toward the cabin. Bunny blinked slowly, as if trying to remember something. As they neared the porch, she slurred, “Where are we?”

“My cabin,” Soneji said. “I told you all about it, Bunny. You said you wanted to see it. Don’t you remember?”

She shook her head, yawning, but continued to shuffle along as he led her up to the porch. “Tired.”

“I’m sure you are,” he said, fishing in his pocket for the key. He slid it in the lock, opened the door, and brought her inside. “But then again, I told you about this place more than two years ago. It’s no wonder you forgot.”

She looked bewildered as he brought her to a couch. It was then he took note of the sleek ring she wore on her left fourth finger, two small rectangular diamonds flanking a larger emerald-cut diamond in an unusual setting.

“You engaged, Bunny?” he asked after she plopped down on the couch.

“Yeah. Billy’s at sea.”

“Nice ring.”

“Isn’t it something? Billy says it’s art deco style or something like that. Diamonds are real. Platinum is too. His grandmother got it made in the 1920s.”

“Real nice,” he said. “Billy a navy man, then?”

“No,” she said, still sounding dazed. “Merchant marine. I gotta pee.”

“Oh, of course,” he said. He led her through the kitchen and out the back door to the outhouse. “I’ll wait right here for you.”

After a moment, she opened the door to the outhouse and went in. Soneji kept it spotless. He knew she’d approve.

But when she came back out a few minutes later, she gazed at him with eyes that were less confused than they’d been before.

“Why am I here?”

“You wanted to see my place,” he said.

“No, you put a gun to my head in my driveway. You made me eat those pills and drink the rest of that bottle.”

“A gun?” he said and managed a chuckle. “Me? Not a chance. And Imadeyou? No, you gulped that down all on your own. But you must be hungry, Bunny. Thirsty.”

He could tell she did not want to admit it, but she bobbed her head.

“Then let’s go inside and cook you up some eggs and bacon and toast. Maybe a cup of coffee with a little hair of the dog in it?”

“God, yes,” Bunny said and she let him lead her back inside. He sat her down in front of a Formica table in one of the two ladder-back chairs that still had intact wicker seats.