Never Run (May Moore Suspense Thriller 1)

"I – I don’t know. I was heading out in the evening. I don't know how long ago it was. It was impossible to tell time, down there. A week, I think, probably more. He grabbed me. As I was leaving. He - he put a rag over my face. I think it was chloroform. I woke up in the building. In this tiny, dark, underground room. But there were other rooms. Other girls there. They came and went. We used to talk in whispers. If he heard us, he would kill us."

"How many others?"

"There was a new girl, who came in - I don't know, a day or two ago, maybe?"

That would be the prom queen, Cassandra, May thought, feeling a surge of hope that she was still alive.

Claire continued. "And another who'd been there a long, long time."

Now, May felt shivers down her spine. She resisted the temptation to glare accusingly at Kerry once more. This could be Lauren.

"He was going to kill me," she said.

May could see her trembling as she spoke. She was still so scared.

"Who is he? Did you ever see him?" May asked.

Claire shrugged.

"I don't know who he was," she said. "I never saw his face clearly. I think he spied on me, though. That's what the other girl said he did. He looked at us. Like we were his - his collection. He called us his specimens. He spoke to us sometimes. I would recognize his voice." She shivered.

"Do you know where this was?"

Claire shook her head.

“It was quiet. Not in town, I don’t think."

“How did you get away?”

“He put a rag over my face, down in the basement room, but I held my breath. I tried not to breathe in too much of it. I woke up in time to loosen the ropes in the trunk of the car. It was so scary. But I don’t know where I was taken from.”

May had hoped for more information, but Claire genuinely didn’t seem to know.

“You were very brave,” she praised her.

"I wish I could help you more. But I didn't see anything but the inside of that room, sometimes, when the light was on. It was dull, dirty, tiny. I don't know. I don't want to think about it."

There was one more question May needed to ask.

“Did you hire a boat from Lake Adventures recently?”

Claire nodded.

“I used to go kayaking every week on the lake.”

May felt dizzy with relief that she’d asked that question. Again, the common thread was apparent. Now, Claire needed to go to the hospital, get checked over, get warmed up and fed and watered.

The marina, without a doubt, was looking like the hunting ground.

But where was the prison this killer was keeping them? It could be outside any of the towns surrounding the lake, or even on the shores of the lake itself.

She stood up and walked out of the small room. As she reached the door, she turned and glanced at Kerry.

Her sister got up and followed her out.

May decided she was not going to back down this time.

"You heard what Claire said," she hissed. "There's someone he's keeping, that's been there for years. It could be Lauren! It could be our sister! And even if it isn't, it's someone who has a life, a family, and deserves to be out of there."

"I - " Kerry said, but May could not be stopped.

"I am going to investigate. I can’t drop this. Not now, not knowing this. I'm going to work with you or work on my own. But I'm not leaving this be. So you decide. Accept it, or you can tell Sheriff Jack to fire me."

Quivering all over, she turned and walked away.

She had laid down the challenge - in fact, more of an ultimatum, and knew that she would now have to accept the consequences.

She waited for Kerry to call her back, but there was only silence behind her. May decided she would take that as tacit agreement that for now, she was free to pursue her next lead. She didn’t think, right then, that Kerry had the heart or the will to stop her.

May knew where she wanted to go, and what information she needed next. She was sure it would be important in finding the killer.