Gargantuan_ A Ruby Murphy Mystery - Maggie Estep [101]
“What?”
“You know what I mean.”
“I do? No, I don’t. What are you talking about?”
The girl looks genuinely puzzled.
“Your boyfriend is up to no good.”
“I’m not sure what kind of ‘no good’ you mean.”
“I don’t need to discuss this with you,” I say then because I feel myself getting sucked into this girl and her deranged point of view.
I turn my back to her, call to Crow, and go out the door.
She’s protesting as I lock her back up and walk away.
I get back into the main house and start walking around in circles in the living room. Eventually, I try Ava again. At last she answers the phone.
“Ava. What’s going on? I’ve been trying to call you. I’m up here. In Saugerties.”
“I know, Ben, thank you. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry.”
“But I am. It’s not necessary. The plan is off.”
“What?”
“Attila isn’t going to do anything to your horse. Or any horse.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I misled you, Ben. I’m sorry.”
“What?”
“I was upset with Attila and wanted to teach him a lesson, but I’m afraid there was never any danger of his actually harming a horse. Or harming anything at all.”
“This is crazy. What’s going on here, Ava?”
“I’m sorry, Ben, forgive me. You can release the girl. There’s no point in any of this.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“No, Ben, I’m not.”
“I don’t believe you, Ava. I’m not letting this girl go.”
“Ben, you have to. Kidnapping is against the law.”
“It wasn’t my idea.”
“I realize that. But I was wrong. I led you to believe Attila would harm your horse but it’s not true.”
“I just don’t believe you, Ava.”
“Ben, you must. It’s true. Let the girl go.”
“I will not. And that guy’s going to jail. I don’t care what I have to do to bring attention to it. I know these things. I know what he’s planning.”
“Ben, please!” Ava is begging now. I hang the phone up and then turn it off.
Outside, the rain has let up and the thunder is distant.
Crow lies down on his blanket and puts his face on his paws.
RUBY MURPHY
35.
Crawling
I’m curled under the filthy quilt I found in the cardboard box. It’s very cold in here and I’m starving, which doesn’t help. The tips of my fingers have gone numb and I’m dizzy. It’s gotten dark out and there’s no electricity so I had to stop reading. I finished Père Goriot this morning and devoted the afternoon to reading through the children’s books that were in the box. There weren’t any delectable Dr. Seusses but I did find a copy of Charlotte’s Web and a nice book of fairy tales. Pretty weird to be reading The Princess and the Pea while some nutjob is holding me prisoner in a cold cabin in the woods and is trying to feed me bologna. To the psycho’s credit, after finding out I’m a vegetarian, he did bring me an orange and two pieces of white bread—which I inhaled—but now the acids from the orange are eating through my mostly empty stomach.
I don’t know if it’s physical discomfort or the onset of some form of confinement-induced psychosis but I find that I just can’t wait anymore. I have to take some sort of action. I have the carpet knife and I certainly considered trying to jab at my captor but a carpet knife doesn’t hold much of a candle to a gun. I would have to take him by surprise and there just hasn’t been any way to do that.
I throw back the quilt and begin pacing the floor, listening to it creaking in protest. After a few minutes of this, I begin noticing where the floor is sagging badly. I jump up and down in one spot, feeling it give. I could probably jump right through but I’m not sure what’s underneath the cabin. I kneel down and start picking at a corner of one of the linoleum squares covering the floor. It’s slow going until I remember my carpet knife. I begin slicing into the stuff, ripping up the squares. Beneath the linoleum are old rotting floorboards. I start kicking at one of these. It gives after a few kicks and I get my whole foot through. I stamp some more until I’ve made a large hole in the floor. I get down on my belly and peer into the darkness. I can’t see anything but I can smell the