Michael Baden - Skeleton justice

"Deanie! It's Sam Rosen," said Jake, lying.

Jake and Manny stood on the threshold, listening.

"I think I heard something," Manny said. "A voice, but I couldn't make out words."

Jake frowned. "Your hearing must be keener than mine. What direction?"

"Down the hall, I think."

Just inside the door, Jake spotted a heavy stanchion, which he assumed the bouncers must use to prop this door open when the club got too crowded. He dragged it out to hold the door wide open, admitting as much of the day's brilliant sunshine as possible.

"You sure you don't want to wait here?" Jake asked.

"Hell no! I go where you go." Manny followed Jake through the door and down the hall.

"Deanie?" Jake shouted again.

This time, they both heard it. A whimper or moan, unmistakably coming from one of the rooms off the hall.

Jake quickened his pace.

"Be careful," Manny warned. "It could still be a trap. Don't charge through any doors."

Jake stopped outside a door marked OFFICE. "Deanie? Are you in there?"

The faint muffled sound came again. "I think it's that door." Manny pointed to the next door on the hallway.

Jake tried the door, but the knob didn't turn. Inside, the moans increased.

"I don't like this." Manny reached inside her bag. "Let's call the police."

Jake pulled the phone from her hand and dropped it back into the bag. "And how would we explain our presence here? We'd have to tell them about the connection to Sam. We either open this door ourselves and talk to Deanie or leave now and call for help anonymously."

Manny bit her lip. "That door looks pretty solid. The lock's a Yale. Any bright ideas?"

Jake looked around. A large fire extinguisher hung on the wall a few steps farther down the hall. "I could use that as a battering ram." He went to unhook it.

Manny followed, whispering, "But, Jake, what if she's not alone in there? You'll go sailing in, unprotected."

His eyes met hers. He was surprised, and touched, by the concern he saw there. Jake knew she was right, but he chose not to dwell on the risks. If his brother was in trouble, he was going in. Jake squeezed Manny's hand. "You be my backup."

Then he turned, took three running steps, and crashed through the door.

Jake moved so quickly, Manny didn't have time to be terrified. The door splintering open made a tremendous noise, drowning out any other sound from within the room. Manny stepped up to the opening, clutching the frame with her trembling hand.

Jake jumped up from the floor. Shadowy figures surrounded him. The windowless room seemed to extend endlessly. From the pitch-black interior, the moans had changed to high-pitched, muffled squeals. Manny searched by the door frame for a light switch.

The room sprang to life-a storeroom stacked high with cases of paper towels, cleaning supplies, and glassware. Random paths led between the pillars, like a Halloween corn maze. Except at the center, there wasn't a dummy emitting a sound track of scary sounds; there was a real person, terrified and in pain.

Jake headed into the maze, pursuing the sound. Manny followed. They dodged left past a column of boxes, then circled around some stacked bar stools. The sound grew louder now, and shriller. The terror in it was so intense, it seemed inhuman. Manny flashed back on her eight-year-old self hearing the squeals of a baby rabbit being carried off by the neighborhood tomcat. She'd been powerless to help then, but she wasn't now.

"Deanie, it's okay. We're coming to help you," she shouted. All thoughts of a trap had dissolved, replaced by determination to find a way through the room's piles of junk and rescue this poor girl.

Jake clipped a pyramid of bathroom tissue with his shoulder, toppling it. Manny stared at the resulting roadblock. There was no going over it; she'd have to go around it. Up ahead, Jake was moving forward on the main path. Manny chose a tributary that she hoped would lead her back to him and squeezed through.

A hand clapped down on her shoulder.

Manny's scream ricocheted through the building.

"Calm down!"

"Sam! Where did you come from?"

"The PATH train stalled in the tunnel under the river. I've been stuck for over an hour. No cell service, so I couldn't even call you. When I got here, I saw the outer door propped open and this one broken down. How did you get in?"

"With me." Jake's voice floated over to them. "Now stop jabbering and come help me."

Sam and Manny heard the sound of something very heavy being dragged across the floor, then another high-pitched squeal. They scrambled toward it.

"Oh my God." Jake's voice, always so calm and clinical, carried a real edge of distress.

"Jake? Jake?" Manny flung aside a rolling coatrack. "What is it? Are you all right? Is Deanie okay?"

Manny saw an old video game machine ahead. She realized this must be what Jake had pushed to make a small pass-through on the right. She wedged herself through the opening, with Sam right behind.

Deanie Slade sat precariously planted on a bar stool that had been lashed to a post, her knees and ankles bent cruelly backward and tied behind her and to the bar stool in an excruciating contortion. Spiked glass shards from a broken beer bottle were inserted under the ropes. With her arms and legs immobilized, any movement to try to undo the restraints caused pain and created the risk of dangerous cuts. It took extraordinary strength and concentration for her to remain still. Even the floor surrounding the stool had been liberally sprinkled with sharp shards of broken glassware. Deanie's eyes and mouth were bound shut with duct tape, but she seemed well aware of what lay beneath her. When Jake kicked some of the glass away so he could kneel beside her, she moaned and whimpered at the sound.

"It's all right, Deanie. I'm going to help you," Jake said gently as he pulled a pocketknife from his jacket and prepared to free the girl. "I'm a doctor."

Manny watched with surprise as the girl cringed away from Jake at this news. She wore nothing but a halter top and a very short skirt. The ropes and glass around her bare legs and arms had chafed her pale skin raw. She trembled convulsively, both from fear and cold.

Jake continued to speak to Deanie soothingly, telling her exactly what he was going to do. Manny saw him then as a medical doctor, trained to save lives. First, he cut her arms free, and Manny could tell that the pain of being released from this unnatural position was almost as great as the pain of maintaining it.

Jake held the rope with his fingertips and jerked his head in Manny's direction. "Find some clean paper to put this on."

Manny accepted the command. Jake the doctor had been replaced by Jake the forensic scientist, eager to preserve evidence. She ripped open a carton of paper towels and gingerly took the rope from Jake.

Next, Jake cut the girl's legs free, carefully guiding each one to rest on the bottom rung of the stool to keep her bare feet away from the remaining glass. Then he turned his attention to the tape across her eyes and mouth.

"I have some hand lotion in my purse," Manny offered. "You can use it to loosen the glue."

Jake shook his head. "I'm afraid not. This tape may contain traces of the assailant's DNA, fibers from his clothes. I can't risk destroying that." He slit the tape at her temples and removed it with one quick yank. Manny winced. Deanie made a gasping sound from beneath the tape on her mouth, but compared to her joint pain, the tape removal must have been a minor discomfort. She seemed more bothered by the effect of light on eyes that had been in darkness for a long time. Her eyes peeked open briefly before she scrunched them shut again. Jake repeated the process with the tape on her mouth, leaving two angry red weals across her face.