Page 28 of Reset

“She was so young and pretty.” A lump formed in her throat. “No one should die like this. What are her parents thinking? Her boyfriend? How long has she been down here?”

“Don’t think too hard about it, Stats, it won’t do you any good. Right now, we need to focus on what she can tell us about our situation, and once we’re out of here, we can let her family know where she is.” He tucked her driver’s license into his own wallet before putting it back in his pocket. “There’s nothing else in here that would be of any use to us. Mostly makeup and keys.”

He put the bag back where he’d found it and leaned over the woman.

“What are you doing?” Sarah hissed.

“Looking for a clue as to how she died. I see something.” He angled the light into her chest to illuminate her hands. She was clutching her phone. “I guess she used it for light after the candles went out.”

Something glinted, and Sarah pointed at it. “What’s that in her hand?”

Ryan peered in closer and cursed softly. “She’s wearing an engagement ring.”

“How could someone be this cruel?” Sarah asked, not expecting an answer. The world was full of people who took delight in hurting others. None of them made any sense.

Standing, Ryan wiped his hands on his jeans. “I think she died of dehydration.”

Like they were supposed to do.

Sarah pressed a hand against her roiling stomach. “This whole situation is beyond anything I’ve ever encountered. I’ve never even researched anything like this, and I really don’t understand what I’m seeing.”

“Neither do I. We can’t do anything else here. Let’s go.”

“I feel like I’m abandoning her, and I hate that we mutilated her by cutting her hair. I wish I hadn’t gotten hysterical about it. I wish we’d left her intact.”

“All we can do now is make sure her family finds out what happened to her. You aren’t to blame for anything she suffered. That’s all on the bastard who chained her to the wall.”

“Just give me one second.” Sarah crouched down beside the body and gently placed her hand on the bony shoulder. She was cold, and brittle, and everything that made her her was long gone. Yet, Sarah still ached for her. It felt like her heart was straining out of her body toward the woman who’d died so brutally. “I’m so sorry about what happened to you, Adrienne. I’m sorry for my part in it too. I know you aren’t here, that this is just a shell, and that you’re somewhere better now. A place where there’s no pain or fear. We’ll make sure your family knows about you. You may have died here alone, but we found you and we see you. We won’t forget.”

When she stood, it was to find Ryan staring at her with an unfathomable expression on his face. What she’d just done must have seemed so silly to him, and she felt her cheeks heat.

“There should be some acknowledgment when someone dies,” she tried to explain. “Especially when it happens so cruelly.”

For a second, he didn’t say anything, then he reached out a hand toward her. “We won’t let her be forgotten,” he said gently. “But we have to go.”

She took his hand, feeling his warmth sink into her, replacing the coldness of Adrienne’s remains. “I know.”

“We need to light another candle,” Ryan said. “I don’t want to waste the battery on this phone.” He rummaged in her handbag and came out with one.

“We don’t have anything to light it with—the other candle’s flame is long gone.”

“Ye of little faith.” Ryan shook his head in mock disappointment as he brought out his trusty Swiss Army knife. A tiny cavity in it held two matches. One of which he struck on the limestone wall before lighting the candle. He tucked the barely spent match back into its home. “Might come in handy later.”

“You are such a Boy Scout,” Sarah told him, making him grin.

They proceeded on up the tunnel, each occupied with their own thoughts. Sarah was grateful the passage was wide enough for them to walk side by side. It seemed safer somehow.

“Looks like there’re more rooms,” Ryan said grimly.

And sure enough, two more dark holes appeared out of the darkness further up the tunnel.

Dread made her stomach clench. “I’m not sure we should go into them.”

“They might hold a way out.” He sounded determined, yet unconvinced. “We have to check.”

“What if there are more…bodies?” Or worse. People close to death. People they could do nothing for. She couldn’t stand the thought of being unable to help someone if they needed it. And she really didn’t want to be a witness to someone dying. But she would. If she had to. Nobody should be forced to suffer and die alone down there.

“Still got to check, Stats. This time, you wait in the corridor with the candle, okay?”