The Ransom by Nancy Boyarsky

Author:Nancy Boyarsky
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: amateur sleuth;private detective;woman detective;kidnapping;ransom;murder;los angeles;sisters;con artist;sue grafton;sara paretsky;lisa scottaline;ruth ware;j.d. robb;Kinsey Millhone;V.I. Warshawski
Publisher: Light Messages Publishing
Published: 2019-07-03T16:00:00+00:00

Ten

Stephanie dozed fitfully. She woke a little later, feeling worse than before. In addition to her other miseries, her chest hurt from coughing. It was dark, and her watch said seven o’clock, too late for any of her captors to return with more food.

She had an idea. Maybe she could use the screwdriver to get the door unlocked. She climbed the stairs again, using the flashlight to guide her. She didn’t really think it would work, but it was worth a try.

She was almost at the top when she noticed that the third step down was different from the others, lighter in color and much more solid when she put her weight on it. It looked new. The original step must have broken and been replaced with this one. Earlier, she’d noticed that the steps were rickety and buckled slightly under her weight. She wondered if she could choose one and jump on it enough to weaken it. This would be tricky. She wouldn’t want to actually break the step, just get it to the point where it would collapse under the next person’s weight. The bigger problem would be figuring out how to lure one of the men downstairs. She’d get to that later.

She went back to the bottom of the stairs and worked her way up, training the flashlight under each step to find the most promising candidate. As she inspected them, she understood why they were in such bad shape. They’d been undermined by termites and dry rot.

When she reached the one that had been replaced, she saw that—unlike the others—it was fastened with screws to something underneath. Leaning down to inspect it, she saw that someone had gone to a lot of trouble to shore it up. A metal bar, attached to the wall, ran all the way across the bottom. Attached to the bar were three one-inch blocks of wood that supported the step from back to front. The wood pieces were held in place by the screws she’d noticed on top of the step. This explained how the screwdriver had ended up under the stairs. Whoever had repaired this step must have set the screwdriver down. It had rolled off, fallen to the floor, and been forgotten.

She went to work. Sitting two steps above the newly installed one, she set about removing the screws. There were six of them, screwed in so tight it took enormous effort to get each to start turning. Once the step was loose, she slid it slightly forward so there wasn’t a gap between the loose step and the one above. She pressed down with her hand to see what would happen. The step slid forward onto the one below. She put it back and, tightly gripping the handrail, placed her foot on the loosened step, bearing down. This time it flew out from under her, landing halfway down the stairs. Steph was pleased that she, with so little mechanical ability, had been able to set up a booby trap.

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