That’s when she saw the gun, black and menacing in his hand.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she said. This time she sounded stronger, more sure of herself, even though she wasn’t at all. She was shaking all over. Troy was pulling her backward.
It slowly started to dawn who the stranger was, what he wanted. The money. The murders. The men who weren’t caught. Oh, God. This wasn’t happening.
“It’s Raven, right?”
She spun, startled to her core to see another man slipping from the shadows of the other direction, from inside the tunnel where the money had come from. He must have come in the door in the basement.
Where was her mom, then, if that was true? Fear started a boil in her middle. Troy shone the flashlight on him, and Raven saw that it was the handyman Josh.
“We called the police,” said Troy. He’d made his voice deep, not the soft pitch that she was used to from him. “When we found the money, we called them. They’re on their way, so you should go before they get here.”
“Oh, really,” said the stranger. He pointed the gun at them and Raven felt chills move down her body. “You weren’t going to keep it?”
“Your mom,” said Josh. “She’s a nice person. We don’t want to hurt either one of you.”
“Where is she?” said Raven. Her voice was tight, her breath growing ragged with panic. They were trapped, no way up or back.
“She needs help,” Josh said, edging closer. Raven drew in a frightened breath. What did that mean? That she needed help. “You need to let us take what’s ours and go. And when we’re gone, you can call for help for your mother. But you’re never going to tell anyone what happened here today.”
She found herself nodding, because he was nodding. She wasn’t stupid. Josh moved closer, closer, until he was standing right in front of her. He wasn’t like the other man, who was climbing down the ladder, gun still in his hand. He was softer, less angry looking. But there was something not nice about his eyes.
“There are people who want this money,” he said. “And they’re not good people. If you ever say a word, they’ll find you. They’ll kill you and your family. Is that clear?”
She was still nodding. She didn’t have a voice. She was just thinking about how her mom needed help and how she had to give it.
When the other man was on the ground, she could smell him, cigarettes, body odor. He came in close, his eyes glancing over her the way male eyes always did—hungry, assessing as if she was something they wanted, but not a person. There wasn’t enough space down there for all of them. She felt sick—fear, the smell of tobacco, of damp and mold.
“Okay, look. We didn’t call the police. Just take it and go,” said Troy.
He pushed Raven so that she was behind him, between his body and the wall. “We never saw you. You weren’t here, and we didn’t see the bag.”
The stranger edged toward the bag as if he didn’t trust them not to lunge for it, for him, as if they would when he had a gun in his hand. Troy backed them farther away, until Raven was against the cinderblock and he couldn’t go any farther.
The man edged closer and looked down into the bag, then he shot a look of glee over to Josh.
“I told you,” said the stranger.
Josh just nodded, his face grim. “Let’s go.”
Raven knew the bag was heavy. But the man lifted it easily.
“You climb up,” the stranger said to Josh. “I’ll hand you the bag.”
Josh hesitated, looked at Raven and Troy. The whole encounter stayed surreal. Raven felt numb, her limbs filled with sand. Beneath the shock, there was a hard pulse of fear, a terrible tension. Don’t leave us down here with him, she thought.
“You go first,” said Josh, as if he heard her. “I’ll hand the bag up to you.”
The two men stood staring at each other, a stand-off. The way the light fell on them, she could see for the first time that they each had black eyes and bloody noses.
“Have it your way,” said the stranger. His lips curled up in a nasty un-smile. Raven knew somehow, she just knew, if Josh left her and Troy down here with the other man, he’d kill them both. Her whole body was tense, lungs tight.
The other man put the bag down and climbed up quickly. He reached down for the bag; Josh handed it up. It disappeared from view.
Josh turned quickly and whispered.
“Go,” he said. “Fast. The door on the other side is open and your mom needs a doctor. Don’t tell anyone what happened. They will kill you; I won’t be able to help you.”
Before they started to run, the door above them slammed closed, leaving all three of them down there. They heard the click of the lock, then boots running.
“That fucker,” Josh said.
The flashlight flickered, browning out then coming back on. Josh turned and ran back into the darkness of the tunnel from where he came. Raven and Troy followed, terror a big knot in her throat. The closer they got, the narrower the tunnel became until they had to get to hands and knees. Raven could see the light up ahead.
“Mom!” Raven yelled. “Mom!”
Troy panted behind her. They got closer and closer to the light; they were almost there. Then the light ahead started to die, and the door, their only way out, closed and locked, as well.
“No.” The word came out a hoarse and desperate yell.
Josh banged pointlessly on the door. “Don’t do this,” he yelled. “Rhett!”
The flashlight chose that moment to die completely, and they were cast into pitch-black. Raven started to scream.
thirty-eight
Claudia dreamed about Ayers.
“Get up, Claud,” he was saying. “You can’t just lie there. She needs you.”
“I can’t,” she said. God, her head was pounding; her limbs were so heavy. “I’m sorry.”
She wasn’t apologizing for not being able to get up. But for everything else.
“Don’t be sorry, darling” he said. Cool, rational, like always. “Just wake up.”