Killjoy

And that, he knew, was easier said than done.

Chapter 23

Now that the three women were finally ready to leave, they were immobilized with fear.

It was four o'clock in the morning, and they estimated that they had approximately two hours before dawn. They huddled

together at the kitchen table, dressed for the forest in layers of clothes, sipping hot tea to fortify them against the night air.

A frigid breeze poured into the kitchen from the hole in the pantry wall.

"What if Monk put down trip wires or something?" Carrie asked. "What do we do then? We won't see them in the dark."

They all worried about the possibility, and then Sara said, "I don't think he'd take the time to climb up the side of the mountain.

I'm sure he thinks he's got us locked in tight."

Carrie was so scared, she was trembling. "Listen," she whispered. "If I don't make it…"

"Don't talk like that. We're all going to make it," Sara said, but her voice lacked conviction.

"Let me say this," Carrie insisted. "If I die, I want you two to promise me you'll make the police find Avery and protect her.

Call my husband," she added. "Tony will want to help keep Avery…" Her voice caught on a sob, and she couldn't go on.

"Focus on one worry at a time," Sara suggested.

"That's right," A

Carrie nodded. "Yes, all right." She pushed her teacup away and stood. "We should go now. No more stalling."

A

Smiling, Carrie squeezed her hand. Uh-oh. A

pills. When Carrie had searched the upstairs for a way out, she'd noticed the bottles of medications lined up on A

"Did you remember to put your medicines in your jacket?" Carrie asked.

"Yes, of course I remembered."

"I could put some of the bottles in my jacket."

"No need," A

"What about the letters," Sara asked Carrie. "Did you zip them in your pocket?"

"Yes, I've got them."

"Okay, then," Sara said. "Let's do it."

They had already decided that Sara should go first. One end of the sheeted rope was anchored to the kitchen table, which couldn't be pulled through the doorway, but Carrie and A

Carrie was the second one to go because A

Carrie had wanted to go last, but A

"Oh, God, don't think about falling. You made a good, strong rope, A

"Yes, we'll all be just fine."

A

Sara led the way into the pantry. Carrie and A

"I hope this is long enough."

Sara got down on her knees, then scooted to the opening. "Get down on your stomach," Carrie whispered. "And go out slowly, feetfirst."

"Did you put the penlight in your pocket?" A

"Yes, I've got it."

Carrie sat on the floor and braced herself with her feet against the two-by-fours. A

Just when Carrie thought Sara was never going to reach the ground, the sheet went limp. Carrie fell back against A

She rolled onto her stomach and scooted to the edge.

"Wait," A

"What are you doing?"

"You're the strongest of the three of us, so if Sara and I don't make it, you make sure…"

"Yes?" Carrie prodded. "Come on. What?"

"Just make sure. Now go."

Carrie didn't waste time arguing. She would find out what A

Her hands were bleeding and raw, and she was too frightened to cry. She slowly lowered herself down.

A

Carrie made it to the ground.

The rope went slack and A

her hands and knees for a moment and listened to the soft calls from below.

Then she pulled the rope up. She backed away from the opening. "Three blind mice, three blind mice," she sang. "See how they run, See how they run… "

She stood up, brushed the dirt off her borrowed sweatpants, and walked into the kitchen. "See how they run," she sang. Odd, that that particular melody had popped into her head and wouldn't let go. She and Eric had decided never to have children, yet now she was singing a silly nursery rhyme. Her father used to sing that song to her. How did the rest of it go? Was it, "They all ran after the farmer's wife, she cut off their heads with a carving knife"? Or was it, "They all ran away from the farmer's wife"?

And why couldn't she remember the rest of the song?

"Three blind mice," she sang softly as she knelt down and tried to get the knots out of the sheet. Realizing she could break a

nail, she got up, went to the counter to get the scissors Carrie had brought down, and cut the rope from the table leg.

"Three blind mice." She stood again, paused to take a drink of her lukewarm tea, and then, because she knew that Carrie and Sara were anxiously waiting for her, she walked to the opening in the pantry and dropped the sheets down. They surely couldn't misinterpret what that meant, for she'd tossed away her only lifeline. She heard one of them cry out, thought it must be Sara, for, of the two women, Sara seemed a tad more tenderhearted.

"Three blind mice. My goodness, I can't get that silly tune out of my head," she said as she shut the pantry door. Noticing the messy kitchen, she went to the sink, filled it with soapy, hot water, and did the dishes. When she was finished, she straightened

the table and chairs, put fresh place mats in front of each chair, then blew out the candles and headed for the stairs.

She was feeling so tired and old and haggard. A good long nap would fix that, she thought. But first things first. She simply had to do something about her sorry appearance. She couldn't understand how fashion-minded women with money, like Carrie and Sara, could ever wear sweatpants. Why, even the name was offensive. Ladies shouldn't sweat. They shouldn't even perspire. Only common, coarse women did such disgusting things as sweating and belching and body piercing… or letting others, like doctors, mutilate their bodies for them. Hadn't her loving Eric told her that was how he felt? He adored her body and couldn't stand what the surgeon wanted to do.

Feeling a bit light-headed, A