Total pages in book: 63
Estimated words: 63139 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 316(@200wpm)___ 253(@250wpm)___ 210(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 63139 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 316(@200wpm)___ 253(@250wpm)___ 210(@300wpm)
I shuffle around the furniture for a bit, but nothing stands out. I move to the boxes, flicking a few open, but once again, there is nothing there. I’m just about to walk to the old bathroom down here when the door opening alerts me to people coming in. Heart racing, I rush over to the boxes and duck down behind them. Shit, I was hoping nobody was coming down this soon.
The light flicks on, and I push myself farther behind the boxes, praying they don’t come over here because if they do, I’m screwed. I hear the voices of my father and Bradley as they descend down the stairs, getting clearer and clearer as they get closer.
“I told you, it’s clean, there is nothing left in here.”
“Doesn’t take much,” Dad growls. “The tiniest bit of evidence and we’re finished, Bradley.”
“I’ve cleaned it, scrubbed the walls with bleach, checked every inch of this basement. There is nothing left they can find.”
“No,” Dad barks. “Then what the fuck is that?”
I peer around in time to see my father angrily point to something on the wall. I stretch out a little further and see there is a chain coming off the heavy brick. It is bolted into the wall and is about five or six feet long, and thick. It hasn’t got anything on the end of it, but I imagine once it did. What the hell is there a chain shackled to the wall for?
“I was coming down to remove that tonight,” Brad answers, his voice a little less firm than it was before.
“And what if the fuckin’ cops came in tonight? You should have moved that a year ago, Bradley. What the fuck is wrong with you?”
“Me?” Brad barks. “You’re the one who got us into this mess, fuck, I should have just reported you back then.”
My father lashes out quickly, hands going around Bradley’s throat as he backs him up to the wall and slams him against it. “You be very fucking careful, son. Whatever happens to me, happens to you a thousand times worse. You were the one who helped me, you are not innocent in this.”
“We’ll go away for life,” Brad gasps. “Fucking life.”
“Not if we’re smart. I have a plan, but you need to trust me. Clean this room again, I want every fucking inch gone over. There needs to be nothing left of her here, not a god damned hair ...”
Her?
What. The. Hell?
Sickness swirls in my stomach as I listen to them leave the room, walking back up the stairs. For a minute, I can’t move. So many things are running through my mind, but mostly, I want to know who she is. What happened down here? Was there someone in this basement? If so, where is she now? What did they do to her? Worse, how the fuck didn’t I know?
I wait for ten minutes and then with shaky legs, I get the hell out of there.
Something went down here.
Something big.
I’m going to find out what it was.
8
“HEY, HAVE YOU EVER heard of any big missing persons cases around here?” I ask Rhett the next night as I lie in his bed, staring at the fan swirling around and around.
“Fuckin’ random question.”
“Have you, though?”
“What are you lookin’ into missing persons for?”
I roll to my side. “I’m just curious, I, ah, love listening to crime podcasts, and it makes me wonder if we’ve had any big crimes here, you know?”
He narrows his eyes, as if he doesn’t believe me, but he answers anyway. “There have been a few.”
“Anyone that stands out?”
“Why are you so interested in this?”
“Can you just answer me?” I snap.
He pulls his head back. “What’s goin’ on, Gab?”
“Nothing, you’re just full of questions when I’m only asking a basic one. Nothing is going on. I don’t know why you have to interrogate me.”
He looks confused, his handsome face tightening. “You’re actin’ fuckin’ weird and you’re goin’ to tell me why.”
“I’m not telling you shit,” I mutter, pushing up and climbing out of his bed. “I’m going.”
“Hey, wait up.” He jerks upright now too, standing and coming after me as I storm out the door.
My mind is spinning and I have been off all day. Remy got pissed at me because I wasn’t paying attention at work, and also because I ignored him most of the day. My brain is having a hard time switching off. I need to know what my father and brother have been doing. It got me thinking today about missing people, and I very much plan on going home right now and doing some research.
It’s a good start.
“Gabriella,” Rhett barks as I reach my car. “Fuckin’ stop.”
I spin around. “What?”
“What’s goin’ on? It ain’t like you to be so angry.”
“I’m having a bad day, okay. I just need to be alone.”