Very carefully, she carries a heavy sack of puppy chow to the hole above her prison room. She?s studied the Cyclone fence from the roof and decided that barefoot is the way to go at it. The Bully Kuttas are tall, and instinct tells her that a full-out sprint followed by a leap for the highest point she can reach?a leap with all four limbs grasping for holds?will offer the best chance of escape. Bare toes will surely fit into the openings in the fence better than the toes of
her shoes. It will probably hurt like hell, but compared to the jaws that will be pursuing her, such pain is meaningless.
Of course, this reasoning goes to hell when she considers Linda. The reality is, she will be dragging Linda across the open space at a snail?s pace, probably gagged to keep her from crying out in pain. As soon as she tries to boost Linda up, the fence wire will ring against the poles, and at least one dog will come to investigate the noise?if they?ve been distracted at all.
Caitlin wonders if she?ll have the courage to stay on the ground if the dogs come running and Linda is slow to climb. Will she risk being eaten alive to help someone who has little chance of making it over the top without her? Can she live with the memory of standing safe on the far side of the fence while four dogs tear a helpless woman to pieces?
Stop,
she tells herself, humping the second bag across the roof on her shoulder.
Cross that bridge when you come to it.
More than once she?s wondered whether, if she went over alone and ran nonstop from the time she cleared the fence, she might be able to bring back help before Quinn returned to do whatever Sands has ordered him to do. Linda could probably get onto the roof and hide there, and Caitlin could pull the tin back down into place before she made her break. Surely such a ruse would have some chance of working?not on Sands, of course, but maybe on Seamus Quinn.
Pausing beside the hole over her room, Caitlin considers bringing this up to Linda. Linda would agree, of course. She doesn?'t want to risk the dogs anyway. Offering her the choice is the same as copping out on trying to save her.
?You don'?t even know if you can get the chain off her,? Caitlin mutters. ?Quit borrowing trouble.?
Being careful of the tin?s sharp edges, Caitlin drops the first sack down the hole in the roof. It hits with a solid thud. She looks at it a moment, then lifts the second bag and drops it onto the first. From the ground below, the four white dogs watch with ardent curiosity.
?Bye-bye, suckers,? she says with a wave.
Then she flattens her palms on both sides of the hole, lets herself down, and drops to the floor.
?Linda?? she says, tearing open one of the bags. ?You got those bars off yet??
No answer.
?Linda? Talk to me.?
Caitlin leans close against the plywood wall. She hears nothing. This time she shouts Linda?s name, but there?s no reply, and suddenly she realizes she didn't really expect one. Screaming irrationally, Caitlin climbs to the windowsill and lifts herself onto the roof again. The dogs are making barking motions, and she hears their hacking coughs, but she ignores them and runs to the hole over the storeroom.
Dropping through it, she cries out when her bruised feet hit the cement, but she doesn?'t slow down. She runs to the door and tests it by pulling on the handle. She?s done this already and thought it too strong, but now adrenaline has electrified her muscles. Taking two steps back, she throws her shoulder against the door. It moves in the frame, but the impact tells her it will take many more such blows to make headway.
Looking around desperately, her eyes fall on the medicine cabinet. She hadn'?t noticed before, but the cabinet is resting on casters. Without even thinking, she heaves the heavy cabinet away from the wall and places it perpendicular to the door, about eight feet away. Then she braces her shoulder against the cabinet and drives it against the door with all the power in her legs.
This time the door rattles hard, and she hears wood splinter. Moving around the cabinet, she braces her back against the door and reorients the cabinet for another rush. This time she drives it even faster into the wood, and when the impact comes, she feels the frame give way. Dragging the cabinet back just far enough to squeeze by, she darts into the hall and stops in front of Linda?s stall.
What she sees steals her breath entirely. Linda appears to be standing by the left side of her stall, but in truth she?s hanging by her dog collar, its shortened chain bound to the Cyclone fence with what looks like one of the bars from the window, twisted into a hook. She?s wearing a waitress?s uniform, with an emblem of a steamboat embroidered on the blouse. Her wrists are bound tightly with a pair of cotton panties, and her face is blue.
Caitlin stands frozen for a moment, then looks down and jerks open the latch that keeps Linda?s stall closed. With the collar and
chain holding her, Quinn never felt the need to lock her in, saving himself the trouble of finding another key whenever he had the urge to rape her.
Caitlin bends her knees and tries to lift Linda high enough to ease the pressure on her neck, but it?s no use. Cursing in panic, she searches for a pulse. She waits, counting slowly, but feels nothing.
?Damn it!? she screams. ?Goddamn it, Linda! You gave up!?
But inside she knows this isn?t true. Linda was afraid that Caitlin would risk death by forcing her to try to escape, or by remaining with her if Linda refused to try. Linda had hanged herself to release Caitlin from this burden.
Caitlin stares at the woman whose face she has never seen in life before this moment and thinks of the nude pictures she was shown, those supposedly taken from the house of Tim Jessup. She?d condemned the girl in those photos out of hand, and now?now she owes that woman her life. Caitlin has met so many women like Linda during her years in Mississippi, girls with plenty of native sense, but who married right out of high school, and, if they were lucky, did two years of junior college before the first baby came. What could Linda Church have accomplished had she been born with Caitlin?s advantages? So many women from Caitlin?s world pretended to ask these questions, but down deep they felt a sense of entitlement that assured them that their rarefied places in the nation?s elite schools and corporations were based on merit alone. Caitlin reaches out and lays a hand on Linda?s arm?then freezes.
She?s heard the sound of a motor. Not a helicopter, but a car or truck. Maybe even a jeep.
Her body jerks as though she?s grabbed hold of a 220-volt cable. A fraction of a second later she?s racing to the storeroom, certain of what she must do. High on both side walls of the storeroom are windows without bars. Caitlin slides open the one on the side opposite Linda?s stall. Then she runs back to Linda?s stall and listens.
The engine is louder now, intermittent but getting closer.
Wedging both hands behind Linda?s distended neck, she pulls on the twisted bar that Linda somehow managed to bend into a hook. It takes more strength than Caitlin expected to open the loop. Almost?
Linda pitches forward onto her face, the chain rattling behind her.
Caitlin feels once more for a pulse. Nothing. Now the engine is a smooth rumble. How far is that sound traveling over the flat ground? A half mile? A mile?
With a silent prayer, she looks down at Linda?s body, then gets to her knees and hauls Linda onto her shoulder. It takes most of her strength to bear the dead weight, but this is not enough. She has to get to a standing position. Breathing hard, she redoubles her effort and drives herself to her feet.
