CHAPTER THIRTY
Danny sliced through the cloth strips tied around Miriana’s ankles. His face lit up as though a happy thought had suddenly struck him. He knelt on the floor and stared at her. “I’m real good with locks. I opens locks on cabin doors when I want to. Then I locks the doors. Nobody knows I been there.”
“Good for you, Danny,” Miriana said. “Now, please cut my arms loose, Danny.”
“You wanna hear how I sneak into these cabins and watch people sleepin’?”
Miriana inhaled a great rush of air into her lungs and held it. “I would love to hear all about it, Danny. But not right now.”
Danny frowned.
“Come on, Danny. We have to get out of here. We can go tell your mama you are big hero.”
The smile returned to Danny’s face. “Yeah!”
He cut through the strips of material that bound her wrists to the bedposts, then stepped back and wiped the knife blade on his dungarees.
Miriana threw off the bedspread and rolled naked onto the floor. She had lost circulation in her feet while they were tied. She used the side of the bed to pull herself up from the floor and sat on the bed, rubbing her feet until they no longer felt prickly.
Danny gaped at her nakedness. She realized he’d probably never seen a naked woman. She scrambled over to her suitcase and grabbed underwear, a pair of jeans, a lightweight sweatshirt, and a pair of athletic shoes. After dressing quickly, she’d started for the door when the sound of an arriving car sent a burning spike of fear through her. She froze where she stood.
She didn’t know what to do, unable to take any action. Fear engulfed her and her body shook. It took all her self-control to keep from screaming.
Danny calmly took her hand and led her to the trapdoor.
Vitas figured he’d spend a couple of hours with the girl before killing her. He looked at his watch. It was now 7 p.m. He could be gone by midnight. “Miriana, honey,” he sang out after unlocking the cabin’s door, “your lover is home.” He laughed while he walked toward the bedroom. He felt his blood rushing, his body hot with excitement.
Vitas roared when he saw the empty bed. He hadn’t been gone more than twenty minutes. One goddamed phone call to that asshole, Paulus Tomavic. How could she have gotten away? Then he saw the cleanly sliced strips of cloth on the bed. In a rage, he pulled the mattress off the bed and threw it against the wall.
He took a flashlight from his bag, ran outside, and searched around the cabin. Two sets of footprints in the dirt led away from the back of the cabin.
Then he noticed the loose boards. He kicked at the boards, sending them flying into the crawlspace. He peered into the darkness but saw only empty space. He moved the flashlight’s beam and saw the dirt had been disturbed under the cabin. After crawling through the opening, he shone the beam up at the cabin floor. A trapdoor! With a quick jerk, he pulled back the bolt on the latch and opened the door. Vitas stood up in the opening and looked around the inside of the cabin. How could she have gotten to the latch? Someone else must have opened it from below. Someone else now knows I’m here.
“Dupa!” he shouted. “How could I be so stupid?”
Vitas started to climb into the cabin when something snarled under him. He felt a sudden pain in his right calf. He leaped up and onto the cabin floor with a yell. A huge raccoon clung to his leg, its teeth imbedded in the meaty part of his calf, its claws hooked around his leg.
YOU ARE READING
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...
