The Ragdoll

Mansion

Emily paced back and forth in the room, trying to figure out what to do about Sarah. Emily needed her, she had not seen her in so long. There was something in the child that just made her feel so complete. Oliver was sitting on the floor shirtless, watching Emily pace.

"What am I gonna do, Oliver?" Emily asked. She was frantic. She couldn't let Sarah go with that millionaire for the rest of her life.

"The man's name is Christopher Candie," Oliver said. "I know where he lives. A few friends of mine have robbed his place before."

"Oliver," Emily said. "Take me there, now."

"Are you kidding me? Emily, it's so late."

"So? What, are you afraid of the dark?" she mocked.

Oliver glared at her and stood up. He got close to her face.

"You'd be stupid not to be," he whispered. "If you saw the kind of things that I've seen in the dark, you'd never take another step out of this apartment in your life."

"So what makes you so fearless?" she replied.

Oliver turned away from her and pulled on his sweater.

"Because I'm one of those things."

The two killers walked down the sidewalk. The streets were abandoned, nobody wanted to be out that late with psychopaths running amuck.

"So who's Christopher Candie?" Emily asked.

"You've never heard of him? He's the richest man in the city besides the Byrds. He only has one biological child, Rebecca. But she's a teenager, she's distant. So, he's been looking for another child to fill the void. Enter your kid."

"How on Earth do you know all this?"

"Why do you even ask that anymore? I know people, Emily. Lots of people with lots of information on lots of other people who I may or may not find interesting. Is that all for questions tonight, love?"

Emily punched him in the shoulder and he laughed. They started walking into the wealthier part of town, the part where the houses were bigger and the streets were cleaner and the lawns were shorter. Oliver stopped.

"There," he said pointing directly down the street. "He lives there."

Oliver pointed to the largest house Emily had ever seen with her own eyes. It was at least four stories high and two and a half football fields long. The mansion was blocked off by a gate with black metal bars so close together that the average man might break a rib trying to break in. Running along the top of the gate was a series of spikes that ruled out any chance of going over.

"Oliver, how did your friends break into there?" Emily asked while they walked forward.

"Please, with my guys, anything's possible."

They approached the gate and Emily stared at it up and down.

"Should we come back another day?" Oliver purposed.

"No," she replied. "I'm getting Sarah back tonight."

Emily looked at the impossible fence in front of her and exhaled.

"I know what I have to do," she announced.

"What?"

Emily took the black bandana out of her pocket and tied it around her mouth.

She sucked in her stomach as much as she could and turned sideways. Oliver watched as she used her unusual proportions to squeeze her way through the fence. Then, before he knew it, she was on the other side.