It was stuck. Locked.
“Bollocks. Does anybody know how to get this door open?”
“Shawcross has the key,” Cassie said. “It was in the door when we arrived.”
Annaliese booted the door in its centre, and then again next to its hinges. It wasn’t going to give. There were no weak points.
“We’ll never get it open in time,” said Pauline. “They’ll be here.”
Annaliese leant up against the door and sighed. If they had any chance at all of fighting back against Shawcross’s bloodthirsty cabal, they needed Nick. The other women trusted him. They would crumble without him.
She banged her fists against the door. “Nick!” She banged harder. “Nick, we need to get you out of there.”
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Nick opened his eyes and sat up on the floor. He was hot and threw his itchy, woollen blanket to one side.
Renee was already up. The man seemed hardly to ever sleep. He was standing over Nick patiently, as if he had been waiting for him to awake.
“W-what’s going on?” Nick asked. “Was that banging I just heard?”
Renee nodded and motioned to the door at the top of the stairs. The man had gone back to not speaking after their brief conversation, but he was surprisingly effective at communicating without words.
“Nick, can you hear me?” Someone was shouting from inside the restaurant. It sounded like Annaliese.
He jumped to his feet and hurried to the foot of the stairs. “Anna, is that you? What is it? What’s wrong?”
“It’s Shawcross. He’s lost the plot. Mike is dead and there’s some thug called Dash running around doing Shawcross’s dirty work. They set you up over Dave’s murder.”
Nick wondered if he’d just heard her correctly. “Did you say Dash?”
“Yes, Dash. As in the third prisoner you picked up with Jan and Renee.”
Nick looked around at Renee who was staring back at him with wide eyes. He obviously did not believe it either. There was no way Dash could be alive. Not after the fall Nick had seen him take.
Nick climbed the stairs and stood outside the door. “Okay. Open up and I’ll come help you.”
“We can’t. Shawcross has the key.”
Nick grunted and punched his fist against the concrete wall of the cellar. The pain woke him up a little. “Damn it!”
Renee came forward and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. “Shawcross does not have the only key, my friend.” From within the pocket of his tracksuit, Renee pulled out a long brass key that was attached to several others via a Ripley Heights key ring. “Perhaps he should have checked beneath the bar, too, no?”
Nick stared at Renee with disbelief. “You mean you could have let me out of here at any time?”
Renee tilted his head and wore a sagely expression. “Escaping your cell would not have restored the other’s trust in you. Escaping would have just made things worse for you, my friend. I had this key only for emergencies…such as this.”
Nick shook his head, still not understanding, but glad anyway to have a way out. He took the key from Renee and slotted it into the lock, giving it a solid twist. The lock clicked and the handle released.
God, I can’t wait to get some fresh air.
Annaliese wore a puzzled expression when he opened the door to meet her. “What?” she said. “How did you?”
“It’s not important.” He moved past her so that he was fully away from the stuffy cellar which had been his prison for the past several days. Up ahead, he spotted Eve and immediately headed towards her.
“Eve,” he said. “I’ve missed you.”
To his surprise, she wrapped both arms around him and squeezed him tightly. She kissed him on the cheek. “I’m so sorry,” she said. “I should have believed you. Shawcross is responsible for Dave’s death. We should never have blamed you.”
Nick eased her away. There wasn’t time for apologies, or any need of them either. “It’s okay,” he said. “No harm done. Just promise to trust me from now on.”