Nancy Screw and the Coming of Age (18+) Chapter 22

Chapter 22

The Rescue

Nancy found the door to the shed locked as she pull and pried at the handle. In their haste they had still taken the time to cover their tracks. Nancy’s next move was to check the windows. Both were locked. After those possibilities were eliminated, she found but only one alternative; search for an opening underneath the shed’s foundation. This meant crawling on her belly over dirt, cobwebs, and possibly many other unpleasant residents; and all without a flashlight. It was dirty, and dangerous. But it had to be done. Nancy found herself on her belly before she could approve of this decision with the rest of her. She groped around in darkness and frustration for the better half of a minute before her face brushed against something that didn’t cause her to recoil in terror. It felt like a rope. She blindly batted at it, much like a kitten does a string, until she got a good hold and pulled down. It gave way with an earnest creak and she prodded that slab of wood that reminded her very much of a ship’s plank. She slid up it, groping to her sides and finding the perimeter of floor. Pretty soon she was in. She stood up and searched for a light, padding and probing the walls, which echoed in return. The noise alerted its prisoner and he started again, his muffled voice caused an uneasy swell in Nancy’s gut. Then, when she felt filled to the brim with frustration, Nancy found the switch and flipped it on, flooding the room with light.

When her eyes adjusted to the onslaught of light, she found herself in a tight room with little to do with what she heard from the outside. Cobwebs moved like spectral appendages in the gentle circulation of air that found its way in. There was a small table and two chairs pushed up against an adjacent wall, both were in great need of repair and housed a thick layer of dust. The floor, too, consisted of the same. In sparse sections the grain was considerably darker and in other parts it appeared that it was eaten through. Nancy thought termites, but from the path along another wall to the injuries, it was apparent that rain water had leaked through a hole in the roof and dry rot had set in from stagnancy. Nailed on the same wall, Nancy found what looked like an old map, water stained and partially torn, of the Ghost Pines community. There was a date written on it, but it was so faded Nancy could not make it out from where she stood. She completed her pan of the room, fascinated by the possibility that this place could still retain electricity. Aside from the dust, the room was filled with an unnerving silence. Nancy listened for a sign of the imprisoned man she had heard when she had first entered, but there came none. Remembering what she read about a third man, but finding the possibility of another stalking about inside this confined, rundown room ridiculous, Nancy called out.

“Hello? Anyone here?”

Nancy waited for a second more. “Hello?”

Then she heard it. The muffling sound of someone, whose mouth was bound, trying to scream.

“I can hear you. Hold on,” Nancy called to him. “Where are you?”

Only incoherent sounds followed. He couldn’t tell her where he was. Her only hint was to follow the sounds of his struggling and hone in on where they were coming from. The room was empty of anyone, including the drill she had heard. But she had heard these things coming from inside the shed. And she was hearing him now. Where was he? Then she had an epiphany. She went to a nearby wall and pressed her ear against it. From where she was the sound was coming just ahead of her. She followed it.

“Please keep making noise,” she called to him. “I’m almost there.”

Soon Nancy was directly on it. She took her ear off of the wall, backed up and examined it. She could see no door knob or anything signifying another room. Then, as she looked down to examine the floor, she saw it. On the lower right corner of the door was the short, frayed end of a rope. She kneeled down and pulled it towards her. The door swung open slowly and gradually let the light in. She saw a table in the room with the drill she had heard earlier resting on it. As the light progressed across the table, she also saw documentation, no doubt the papers that forceful, cruel man Paul wanted the other to sign. There were also forms of identification littered around it. And when the door opened completely, she saw a man tied to a chair, lying on the dust-covered blood-stained floorboards. He looked terrible. His face was puffy and purple from what Nancy now concluded was the result of a fierce punch. That must have been the other thing she heard from outside. The blood that had collected on the floorboards next to him originated from his nose; another consequence of a square shot. Blood also stained the dirty rag that pressed tightly against his mouth. Nancy ran over to him and untied it.

“Mister, are you okay?” She knew he wasn’t, but had to ask anyway. The man opened his mouth, moved his jaw from side to side, and spit out a small amount of blood, adding to the existing pool. Nancy gave him the minute it took to respond as she went around the back of him to work at the ropes restraining his hands. As she loosened them, Nancy could see fresh rope burns overlapping settled ones. She turned her head away to relinquish the sympathy pains she felt from her rose bush encounter. When his ropes were loosened enough, he pulled his left hand free, lifted his body, and liberated the right.

“Oh, thank you, thank you.” The man struggled, desperately trying to muster the energy his will thought he had to lift himself up completely. He sunk down again, resting on his forearms. Nancy grabbed the overturned chair and lifted it up. In the process she noticed a piece of identification and picked it up to put it on the table with the rest.

“Here, take my hand, Charles,” Nancy addressed to the man as she put his hand in hers and lifted, together getting him to his resting place on a chair he had grown close to for going on several days.

“Thank you, thank you.” He praised. “But, how do you know my name?”

“Nancy grabbed the piece of I.D. that she had picked up and gave it to him. He smiled painfully. His puffy face reminded Nancy of a chipmunk’s, but she kept that to herself and only smiled in return.

“Charles Turner, right?”

“Yes,” Charles replied.

“Everyone’s been looking for you.”

“I guess not very hard, huh?” He shook his head and followed with a question.

“What’s your name, dear?”

“My name is Nancy.”

“That’s a lovely name. Nancy. How, how did you find me?”

“Well, long story short, I followed your wife here.”

“You followed Margaret?” Charles’ voice grew higher, more concerned. Nancy nodded.

“How did you know to do that?”

“Well, I did some investigating. I found something she had written down concerning that other man she’s with tonight.”

“Paul,” Charles interrupted. “That lying backstabber.”

Nancy looked on at the exhausted man sitting in the chair in front of her.

“Are you with the police?”

Nancy shook her head.

“So, you just decided to find me on your own?”

“Yea. Well, me and some friends. I couldn’t do it without them.”

Charles’ smiled.

“I’ll have to thank them, too then.”

“Are you okay? Can you stand alright?”

Charles nodded.

“I think so. It may take a few but I’m sure it can be done.”

“I also read about a third?”

Charles thought for a moment.

“Maybe that’s referring to the man who knocked me out in the park,” Charles answered. “I didn’t recognize him and I only got a brief look.”

Nancy grew concerned.

“Is he around here?”

“I don’t think so,” Charles replied. “I’ve only seen the other two. Margaret and Paul.”

Charles put his left hand on the table that rested beside him and Nancy walked over to his right to support the other. He lifted himself up and, though his legs briefly wobbled, they found the necessary strength to hold their master up and, eventually, he fought the aches of restriction and took a test stroll around the room. Nancy’s mind passed on to the next task at hand; finding Margaret and Paul. Charles collected his items and the contract they rested beside.

“This is very important,” he educated as he held up the contract. “This will save my practice and put those two in prison for a long time.” Nancy didn’t quite understand the part about saving his practice, but the latter was loud and clear.

“We’ve got to go back to my friends. Their car should be unstuck now. We swerved to miss a deer and slid off the road.”

Charles nodded in understanding.

“Feel better about walking now?”

“I think so,” Charles assured.

The two emerged from the dilapidated structure in the same awkward, uncomfortable manner that Nancy had entered it and headed to the road and back to where Beth’s car was. Nancy hoped that it was unstuck and that they were on their way down the road to look for their friend. She knew there was the risk of Margaret and Paul coming back along the same road they traveled. She had scared off the two, with the help of some police lights, and, as far as they knew, Charles was still tied up in that secret room. The whole way along the road Charles didn’t speak much, and Nancy knew why. One side of his face looked like a blueberry, and the other side was trying to match. At about ten minutes into their journey, a pair of lights grew from the horizon of the crest of one of the loops she had traveled down before. The car roared past as Nancy and Charles quickly stepped further onto the shoulder of the road. The two looked back. Both of them said nothing, praying that it was a rescue party and not the other way around. Suddenly the night surrounding them was invaded by red lights and a screeching sound filled the night air. They heard car doors open and shut and the sound of footsteps running in their direction. They saw no one. The two grabbed each other’s hands and pressed tightly. Then they heard it.

“Nancy? Nancy is that you?” It was Beth. First she came into view in the pocket of moonlight Nancy and Charles trembled in and then Janet soon followed. Nancy threw her hands around Beth as an ocean of relief washed out of her.

“Oh my God Beth! Janet!” She hugged them both, then quickly turned to the tall, puffy stranger just behind her.

“Is that, is that?”

“Yes, Beth. This is Charles Turner.” Charles slowly waved to the girls and they waved back. A painful smile grew on his face.

“Thank you, girls,” he added. “Nancy told me how you helped her find me.”

“It was our pleasure,” Beth said in a gentle tone. Just then she knew that all her worry and anxiety was worth that one second of seeing that immeasurable thankfulness that Charles’ face currently wore.

“Beth, did you or Janet see a car drive by with two people in it,” Nancy asked, getting her head back in the matter at hand.

“Well,” Beth thought. “We did see a car drive by after the police came by. That was just shortly before the tow truck driver came to pull us out.”

“Could it be them?”

“Yea, Beth,” Nancy replied. “It’s gotta be. Those police lights scared them away and I saw them get in their car and head in the direction you two were.”

“Did we miss the opportunity to get them?”

“No,” Charles shook his head. “I know them. This contract is too important, and they’ll want to make sure I sign it.” Charles held up the contract he held in his hand and clenched his teeth to fight the pain from speaking. “They’ll come back to make sure I do.”

“Then that’s what we gotta do,” Nancy exclaimed. “We’ve got to set up a trap for them.”

“How do we do that,” Beth asked.

Nancy thought for a second. Janet’s brain buzzed and the answer came to her just then.

“Why don’t we get the police to come to the shed and surround the area. Then, when they come in to further interrogate, they make the arrest.”

“Genius,” Nancy elated. “That’s brilliant!”

“Then we’d better get a move on,” Janet added.

With that, the four got into Beth’s car, pulled a U-turn, and headed back to town towards the Riverside Police Station.