Curl Up and Die by Amber Crewes

Author:Amber Crewes [Crewes, Amber]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pen-n-a-Pad Publishing
Published: 2024-07-28T00:00:00+00:00

13

Summer squeezed into the crawlspace behind Aunt Clara. Both their flashlights together couldn't keep up with the darkness that swallowed them the moment they moved through it. When Summer felt something touch her leg, she nearly screamed.

"Sorry," Carl said with a grunt. If the space was tight for Summer, she knew he must have been struggling.

Finally, just when Summer didn't think she could take another second, she emerged into an equally dark but thankfully bigger room.

"This must be where she was held," Aunt Clara said, sweeping the beam of light across the black room.

"I thought that was," Summer said, pointing the flashlight over her shoulder.

"Start recording," Aunt Clara replied.

Summer took out her phone and hit record. She tried to follow the trail of Aunt Clara's flashlight beam, but she didn't know what she was looking at. To her, it was an empty, scary room.

In an abandoned warehouse where a girl's body was just found.

That thought made her hand tremble. When she heard something skitter behind her, it trembled more.

"Give me that," Aunt Clara said, taking the phone.

"What is it? She had to be held in that room, right? The one with the creepy mattress and shackle."

Carl breathed heavily at Summer's side, but managed to say, "Unless..."

Summer waited, then cut her eyes over to where the sound of his voice came from. If this was as good as her eyes would adjust to the dark room, she was in serious trouble. "Unless what?" she prompted when he still hadn't finished.

"Unless that room was a decoy."

"A fake kidnapping?"

"No, just a fake room. For this very reason." Carl shined his flashlight on the floor. "This is the same flooring in the area where we found her. It can't be far."

"That way," Aunt Clara said, and waved her beam of light to get their attention. On the wall across from them was a large black stain about the same height as Summer.

She went over and ran a covered finger along the edge. Then she sniffed both her finger and the wall. "Fire."

"What in the world happened here?" Aunt Clara whispered.

"I don't know, but we're gonna find out." Summer started at the scorch mark on the wall and worked her way slowly back toward the crawlspace. It didn't take long to find scuff marks, which led her to a set of small footprints. "Look!"

Aunt Clara and Carl came up beside her and all three shined their lights on the scene before them.

Carl immediately went into detective mode. "Looks like a scuffle started over here," he said, moving toward the crawlspace.

Summer followed close behind, matching the footprints on the ground. They almost matched hers perfectly. She wondered if they could belong to Felicity, remembering the victim was similar in size to her. Something about walking in step with a murder victim made Summer’s hair stand on end.

“What if,” Summer said, watching the set of prints twist and turn. “What if she got loose? They had her in the other room, but when they were moving her, she broke free and tried to escape?”

Aunt Clara nodded.

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