Bones of a Feather - Carolyn Haines [114]
“I know.” I worked furiously at the knots that bound her, aware that the water in the room had risen at least two inches in the few moments I’d been there. The rope was swollen and refused to give.
“The water is getting higher.” Tinkie spoke calmly, but the quiver in her voice told me of her fear. “Can we get out?”
“We will.” My thumbnail tore back to the bed as I tried to work the knots.
“Leave me,” she said. The water was up to her waist.
“When pigs fly.” I had to find something sharp, and then I remembered Monica’s cell phone. Screw it. I pulled it from my pocket and used the wall to crush it. From the twisted remains, I found a sharp edge and sawed at Tinkie’s bonds. Precious seconds slipped away, but the rope gave. We both had to hold our breath as we bent to free her legs. Luckily the knots on her right leg gave and I shredded the rope holding her left.
“Let’s get out of here.” She held on to me in the darkness.
Which way led to safety? To the right was the river. To the left the passage I’d come down. I couldn’t be certain how high the river might be—the whole entrance to the tunnel could be underwater. But to head back up the tunnel meant we could be trapped in a cave-in if the structure collapsed.
“Which way?” she asked, trusting me to know the answer to our fate.
“Left,” I said. At least I knew high ground was in that direction.
Holding hands and casting the wavering flashlight beam ahead of us, we waded in water up to my waist and her chest. Any moment now, the batteries were going to give out.
Behind us something large splashed. All I could think of was an alligator. “Can you run?” I asked Tinkie.
“Try and stop me.”
Still holding hands we charged through the water. All around us was the sound of sloshing, splashing, the creepy echo of water in a confined space. Even though I tried to ignore it, someone, or something, was pursuing us from the direction of the river. If not some river creatures, then it had to be Monica and Eleanor’s partner, the man who’d worked with them.
“Run faster!” I tugged Tinkie along behind me. It wasn’t that she couldn’t run, but her legs were a foot shorter and the water was now up to her neck. We both panted from exertion as the water hobbled us.
Ahead I caught a dark shadow in the flashlight beam. I slammed to a halt until the beam picked out the features of Barclay Levert. His sculpted chest—the only part of him not underwater—glistened, and he smiled when he saw us.
“You found her,” he said.
“Someone is after us.” I waved for him to help Tinkie. “We have to run.”
He took Tinkie’s hand and pulled her to him. There was a click, and I swung the light to discover he held the barrel of a gun to Tinkie’s head.
“Barclay?” I sounded like a complete fool, and felt even stupider. Tink and I were dead. Monica and Eleanor’s partner held my partner at gunpoint. “You bastard.” I flung the words at him.
“A mild understatement, Sarah Booth. I admire your eloquence.” His arm shifted around Tinkie’s neck and chest as he almost cradled her against him.
“You were working with the sisters all along.” I couldn’t believe it—didn’t want to believe it. “But it wasn’t your voice on the ransom calls.”
“Monica had a voice synthesizer,” Tinkie said. For a woman with a gun barrel pressed against her temple, she was amazingly calm. “That way we never suspected Barclay. It was a very clever setup, and they meant to use us from the very beginning.”
“This is going to work out so much better,” Barclay said. “Both of you will drown here in the tunnels. Eleanor can tell Gunny and your friends from Zinnia that you came down here searching for … whatever. And never came back up. You’ve already called your sheriff friend and told him exactly what we needed him to know. You saw Monica fall and drown, only it was a mannequin, but they’ll never know. Her body will be lost in the river.”
“And you’ll take the insurance money and the necklace and all of the Levert holdings and divide the spoils between the three of you.” How could I have been so stupid as to believe Barclay’s story of