Joe couldn’t explain it but for a moment, it felt like he couldn’t breathe. He grabbed the railing of the steps he’d been going down and just froze, then the feeling was gone. Ethan came abreast of him and frowned. “What’s with you?”
“I need to find Casi.”
Ethan watched his partner for a minute. “Did she go with Cathy?”
“No, she was going to look for Chris. She headed off…” Joe gestured to the southeast. He still found it hard to get a good lungful of air in.
“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you’re trying to get out of going down stairs…which wouldn’t make any sense because…never mind, let’s go.”
They hurried over to where the ride the boys had ridden before Chris went missing was. Ethan made a face as he looked at it. “Ain’t never riding that. That’s just hideous, I half expect it to get off it’s track, wave all those arms and come after me.”
“That’s not arms, those are seats.”
“Stuck out like that with nothing to hold on to? That’s even worse.”
Joe slapped his partner. “I knew it. That’s where Chris got all those stupid movies from.”
“What are you accusing me of now?”
“Those old monster movies, almost as bad as those weird Sinbad movies. Casi got him hooked on that.”
“There’s nothing wrong with Sinbad and Ray Harryhausen or a giant mutated Moth attacking Tokyo.”
“I am not getting into that discussion with you again.”
“Of course you’re not, you didn’t win last time. Why’d you want to lose again?”
Joe slapped his partner’s shoulder again. “Shut up.”
“You’re not allowed to beat me up.”
“I said shut up. Look.”
Ethan saw a guy push the door to a small storage shed closed and slip a large hook through an eye bolt to secure it. Then he started walking. Ethan frowned. “‘Ice, ice, baby’. He doesn’t deserve Tom Brady’s jersey.”
Joe pushed his partner. “Go, follow him.”
Ethan turned to argue but then looked at the storage shed. “Will do.”
Joe made it to the storage shed and rested a hand on the metal building, only to snatch it back. It wasn’t that hot temperature-wise, but someone could have fried an egg on the metal surface, where the sun was touching it. He’d noticed it had no windows and he was worried. He undid the lock, almost afraid to look inside.
The small building was like a sauna inside and he could see something on the floor, pushed up against the far wall where the sun was shining directly. He risked a touch and the metal burned. He crouched down and tried to move the thick stuff only to discover it was heavy burlap and it was dusty. It was tied on both ends and he suddenly knew what or rather who it was. He yanked off the ropes and pulled the heavy fabric away. What he could see of her face was flushed because more burlap covered her nose and mouth. The way the dust was flying with the larger burlap, he feared the worst. “Casi?”
She didn’t move, even when he untied the ropes binding her feet and then her arms, then he saw the rope from her arms and been wrapped around her throat as well. “Casi.”
She sucked in a breath, tried to fight him and cough at the same time. He found it hard to hold on, her skin was slick with sweat. “Casi.”
She pried her eyes open and it took her a long time to realize who he was, then she started coughing harder.
