The Bone Hill: An utterly absorbing crime thriller full of stunning twists (The Detective Deans Mysteries Book 3) by James D Mortain

Author:James D Mortain [Mortain, James D]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Manvers Publishing
Published: 2019-02-21T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 27

Water dripped through the gaps in the floorboards above his head and down the back of his neck. The room was black, apart from the odd spark of burning debris dropping into the pit around him. Deans used the light of his phone again and pointed it towards the far wall; Sarah was there.

‘Sarah,’ Deans screamed and scampered across to her.

She was sitting on the floor, back against the wall, her head drooped towards her lap and her left arm suspended out to the side.

Deans gently lifted her head and shone the light around her face.

‘Sarah, God! Please no.’ He combed hair out of the way of her face and scanned her neckline. She hadn’t been cut.

‘Sarah, Sarah,’ Deans shouted, feeling for an arterial pulse in her neck. She was alive.

Deans quickly inspected the rest of her body; there was no obvious blood, and then his light found her left wrist encased in a thick rusted shackle, chained to the wall.

‘Fuck!’

He tugged ferociously at the clasp.

‘Fuck, fuck, fuck!’

He shone the light around the edge of the cellar. There was a three step metal ladder, but nothing else he could use to break the seal.

He fumbled with his phone and dialled Jackson’s number.

‘Ah, Deans where—’

‘Shut up and listen,’ Deans said over the top of Jackson. ‘I’m inside the house with Sarah.’

‘What?’

‘She’s still alive but she’s chained to the wall. She needs to be cut free.’

‘What?’

‘Just sort it out. We’re inside the basement cellar at the back of the house.’

‘What?’

‘Jesus Christ!’ Deans screamed. Get an ambulance, she’s not responding.’

‘But… how… how did you?’

‘Just get in here with some cutters.’ Deans ended the call.

The heat in the cellar was becoming dangerously hot and increasingly difficult to breath in the choking air. Deans suddenly remembered the hosepipe from the last time he was in this pit. He scrambled across and turned on the tap until it could turn no more. A strong jet of water squirted from the short length of hose and Deans directed it at Sarah spraying her from head to toe. He saw her react to the cold water and then he turned the jet on himself and drenched his head and back. He could hear the sizzle on his skin as water vaporised into steam. He repeated the process and went back over to Sarah scraping bedraggled hair from her face. He felt for a pulse again. It was strong. Come on Jackson.

Deans saw a thin strip of bright light illuminate the far wall. He jumped up and banged on the floor boards above his head.

‘In here. In here. Help. Help,’ he called out. He slipped off a shoe and banged it repeatedly on the cellar door. Light was flickering from multiple angles and all of a sudden, the trap door sucked upwards and a mask of heat dropped down onto Deans’ face. He grimaced through the pain.

‘Give me the cutter,’ he yelled between splutters and coughs. ‘Just give me the damn cutter.’

A hand reached down and Deans snatched a pair of heavy-duty bolt croppers and disappeared back inside the cellar.

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