A sob. A woman’s sob.
Laura ran in the direction of the sound, pushing the sheet out of her way. There, at the far end of the basement – there she was! She was standing on the platform, attached to the wall itself beside a stepladder, and the timer on her chest –
Sixty seconds.
Laura dropped her gun in her panic, knowing she needed a hand free. Nothing else mattered, not for the next minute – she had to get up there – she grabbed the stepladder, found it unstable, the legs not set out properly, not balanced.
Fifty seconds until the platform gave way. It wasn’t enough. She couldn’t get up there. Laura thought fast, dragging the stepladder away from the wall and moving it, repositioning it at the end of the platform. There was clearance between them.
Forty seconds. Laura kicked out the legs desperately, getting them to lock into place. There wasn’t even time to test that it was set up properly. She climbed onto the first step, and it held her weight. Thirty seconds. The woman was sobbing desperately, making high-pitched sounds behind the gag, like she was trying to scream. Laura climbed the rest of the way to the top.
Twenty seconds. She was shorter than Paul Payne, couldn’t reach as far as he could. The end of the platform was right in front of her body, the woman standing just a little way beyond. Fifteen. The platform would drop, and even though it would drop ont
o the stepladder, Laura didn’t know if it was enough. There would still be a fall. Not enough to break her neck. Maybe enough to choke her.
Ten seconds. Laura had no more time to think. She lunged, throwing her body weight forward. She grabbed her by the legs, getting her own feet balanced on the wooden platform, standing –
The timer hit zero and there was a sickening lurch as the platform gave way –
Then another one as it hit the ladder, making Laura struggle to retain her balance, holding onto the woman desperately, and then…
She steadied herself and took a breath.
“Okay,” she said. She didn’t know whether she was trying to calm down the sobs of the woman she was holding in her arms, or trying to reassure herself, counteract the adrenaline making her feel like she was on fire. “Okay. Just hold still a moment. I’m going to cut the ropes, and we can climb down together.”
CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR
Laura looked up, as if she’d sensed him coming somehow, just at the moment that Nate stepped into the basement. He had to duck his head to get through the doorway and hunched all the way down the stairs as if he was afraid of hitting his head. It was only when he joined her, standing next to the seat she had found on an upturned crate, that he straightened up.
And he said nothing.
Laura looked at him, watched his face as he took it all in. The basement. The ropes. The platform, which was still supported on the ladder, everything preserved as much as possible for scene of crime photography.
“It’s…” he said. Then he stopped. There were only a few other people down here: the photographers had to finish their job before the other professionals could move in and start interacting with the environment, dusting things for prints, bagging up evidence, and all the rest. They were isolated enough in the space within the large basement that they could talk freely – but it seemed that he didn’t want to.
“It’s exactly how I described it?” Laura suggested, thinking he was having a problem with admitting it. Strangely, she felt calm. Calmer than she had in a long while. Maybe because this was it – the moment of truth. He couldn’t avoid it any longer. He would have to see that she was serious about her abilities.
There was a long pause.
“Yeah,” Nate said. There was a tone in his voice like he was still trying to figure out how she’d done that.
“That’s because I saw it,” she said. “I told you, Nate.”
“Yeah.” He didn’t say anything else. He was still looking out at the scene, his hands on his hips, like he was having a hard time understanding it and needed to keep looking.
And then he looked at her at last, and Laura saw it in his eyes. He believed her. He did.
But there was something else, something she couldn’t quite fully define.
Fear?
Mistrust?
Disgust?
Whatever it was, it wasn’t positive.
He was looking at her like he was seeing her fully for the first time, and he couldn’t believe he’d tolerated her for so long.