Page 48 of The Whispering Girls
McGaven dropped the seat in the corner. “And if you tell anyone…”
Despite the serious situation and another crime scene, Katie smiled for an instant and shook her head. “Your secret is safe.”
It took Katie and McGaven a few minutes to maneuver. He helped her climb up and then she was safely up in the ceiling area. She made sure her gun was secure in her holster, but had to put her cell phone in a pocket facing outward. It wasn’t much light, but just enough to see the outlines of the ceiling.
Katie looked down at her partner. His face reflected a variety of colors from his own cell phone. His expression seemed emotionless, but his eyes told another story.
“I’ll be fine,” she said. “I’m just going into another area and then I’ll come down to remove whatever is at the door.”
“You don’t know if whoever locked us in here is actually gone.”
“Of course they’re gone. They used this tactic to allow them to escape,” she said. Although it sounded legitimate and she saidit with confidence, she wasn’t so sure. She didn’t want to add to the already dangerous situation.
McGaven didn’t respond. They had been partners for a while and had gone through extremely dangerous and even harrowing situations. He didn’t have to tell her that she needed to be careful. It was a nonverbal communication between them and it worked both ways.
Katie took one more look at her partner before she turned her focus on her risky move. Time was ticking and there were so many unknowns. She tried not to think about Cisco, but knew he was safe in the car. She carried a small remote that was a K9 door-popper if she needed the dog’s assistance and it also worked if someone tried to break into the Jeep—she would know.
Taking the time to balance her weight, feeling the stability so she wouldn’t fall through one of the ceiling squares, Katie inched her way forward. Her mind raced. Her heart pounded. Her hands were sweaty. Still, she moved with purpose.
Katie paused for a moment to get her bearings. Her phone only gave so much light, so there were only outlines of construction components. She felt warm air movement and realized it flowed around her. Everywhere she looked there was the grid pattern where the covering ceiling tiles fitted.
There was quite a bit of room from the grid to the roof area, but she had to remain crawling and didn’t dare to stand up. She was now in the plenum compartment of the building, which was where the building joists supported the beams, and electrical wiring and boxes, ductwork, heating and air-conditioning, as well as plumbing pipes were housed. A strange buzz emanated all around her giving her the sensation her vision was affected, and her arms and legs prickled.
Katie couldn’t get the sight of the body in the bathroom stall out of her mind. Thoughts whirred in her brain with theoriesand how the victims were connected—and who might be behind them.
And where was everyone at the hospital?
Her biggest fear was that something terrible had happened to them.
Katie got into a rhythm, pushing one knee, one hand, and so forth, daring to move a little bit faster. She saw some light through the spacing of the ceiling tiles and estimated it to be in the main hallway before the restrooms.
Once over the area, Katie paused and knew the only way to get down was to jump. Carefully balancing, she pushed two tiles until they buckled and fell to the floor below. Looking down, she could see a familiar area of the hallway. She bent forward and checked in different directions, but there wasn’t a person in sight.
Katie secured her phone and gun. She then moved her body into a position where she wouldn’t land precariously. Dangling her legs, she lowered herself as far as she could. Taking in a deep breath, she let go. Katie dropped quickly and hit the ground harder than she originally expected, losing her balance.
Katie sat up quickly and remained still for a moment, listening and waiting for anything that indicated she wasn’t alone. To her relief, there was only quiet and a soft humming of the surrounding facilities’ running equipment.
Katie got up and ran toward the restroom and found two steel bars had been jammed into the door opening by the frame. They had snugly pierced the weather-stripping just enough to jam it. It was clever and effective, which meant the killer knew what he was doing or had planned accordingly. She tried to move them and it was extremely difficult. Trying to wiggle them back and forth took a couple of minutes. Keeping watch all around her, Katie didn’t want to get ambushed so kept her senses tuned.
Finally the steel bars loosened enough and dropped to theground causing a piercing ringing noise. Katie pushed open the door where McGaven waited in the darkened bathroom.
“You made it,” he said and quickly stepped out into the light.
“Was there any question?”
“How do you want to handle this?” he said.
“We need to quickly secure this area and get everyone here out immediately and find out what’s going on.” She looked around the area. “We need to check the back entrance.”
Katie took off at a run with McGaven following closely behind. She couldn’t help but think that the killer was still there watching them, but shook it off.
They came to the emergency entrance with electric doors. Katie tried to open them, but they wouldn’t budge. Seeing the emergency release button, she pressed it and the door hydraulics whooshed and slowly opened.
The cold air gusted inside, slapping the detectives’ faces. They ran out and didn’t see any emergency vehicles, although there were two vehicles parked.
“They have to be here,” whispered Katie. She turned and saw two sets of feet near a bush. “No.” She ran to them.
It was a blonde woman dressed in light blue nurse’s scrubs and an older man in a security uniform. They were laid out side by side, arms down, staring up with their necks slashed.
