CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Danny Farrell heard heavy footfalls on the cabin’s front steps and sneaked out from the stand of trees to the corner of the cabin. He peeked around at the front and saw the big man drive away. When he couldn’t hear the car anymore, he returned to the back of the cabin and carefully removed two of the boards covering the crawlspace underneath the cabin floor. He scooted across the earth until he came under the trapdoor and reached up to remove the bolt holding the trapdoor shut. But a movement to his left caught his eye and he froze. It was a raccoon. Danny chittered at the animal, trying to reassure it. It moved back into deeper shadow.
Crouched under the floor, Danny reached up and released the bolt. Pineview Lodge was a bootlegger’s place back during something called Probishun – at least that’s what his daddy had called it. And Daddy told him how the trapdoors were bolted from the outside now to keep motel guests from opening them and falling through. Danny thought that was funny. People falling through the trapdoors.
Danny liked sneaking into the cabins when they were empty, and he liked sneaking into them when they weren’t empty, too. He’d watch the people while they slept. And he almost always took something – a watch, a ring, a piece of clothing. Then he’d listen to the people yell at each other, “What’d you do with my watch? Where’s my jacket?” Then he’d put the stuff back. That really confused them.
Danny quietly lowered the trapdoor and silently pulled himself into the cabin.
Miriana opened her eyes and saw a young man wearing a light blue work shirt, jeans, and a red baseball cap standing in the middle of the room. He peered down at her, tilting his head one way, then the other, as though he was trying to understand what he saw. He stared at her near-nakedness, seemingly more confused and intrigued than interested in a lascivious way.
He walked around the bed, inspecting the way her arms and legs were tied to the bedposts. He even pulled on the knots. He had the silky, immature growth of hair of a teenager on his cheeks and over his upper lip. His honey-blond hair stuck out of the cap on his forehead and hung several inches down his neck. The way he looked around the room, the expression on his face reminded her of a little boy. The only thing about him that contradicted the impression she’d formed was how he moved – like a stalking animal. Powerful, but light on his feet. Soundless.
Danny focused on Miriana’s eyes – that pleading look – just like Mama’s when Daddy got liquored up and beat on her. Danny went down on his knees next to the bed. He tugged again at the knot that tied her right hand to the bedpost.
“Wh . . . why you be tied up like that?” he asked.
Miriana groaned.
Danny reached for the gag, but then jerked his hand back. “Mama says I should mind ma own bizness,” he said. “Don’t be stickin’ my nose where it don’t belong.”
But he couldn’t help himself. Slowly, he moved his hand toward Miriana’s face and touched her cheek. How soft her skin felt!Her eyes bored into him, pleading.
“You know you pissed yourself,” he said, as matter-of-factly as though he was commenting on the weather.
Danny stood and padded over to the two suitcases lying open in a corner. One of them had girl’s things in it. He lifted a blue-and-gold silk scarf to his face. He’d never smelled anything so good. It made him feel lightheaded. He went back to the bed, bent over, and smelled the girl’s hair and face. The same wonderful smell.
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EVIL DEEDS
Mystery / ThrillerEvil Deeds is the first in a 4-book series that follows the Danforth family from the kidnapping of their 2-year-old son in Greece in 1971 to present day. The book (and series) is a roller coaster ride of action and suspense. This book, as with all o...
