“I want to see it,” Archie said firmly. “The longer she’s in there, the more evidence she can corrupt. Blood samples, hair, fibers, prints—it’s all useless to me if she steps on it.”

Gretchen was looking at the screen, watching Susan.

“You won’t let me recover the knife,” Archie said. “If he comes back for it, the security footage isn’t admissible. I assume you’re not willing to testify. That leaves me with exactly nothing.” He gave her an aggrieved look. “So that’s my birthday present? A killer I can’t catch?”

On the screen Susan looked up, as if she’d heard them, as if she knew they were watching, and for a moment the black-and-white static of her face came into focus, a shadow darkening her eyes. She extended her arm, and held up her middle finger.

That-a-girl.

Gretchen’s gaze moved from the screen to Archie, and she regarded him with that cold, impenetrable expression he knew so well. Then something behind the mask fluctuated, and her lip quavered. “Do you really think I ruined your life?” she asked.

The scalpel wound barely hurt now. The handkerchief was soaked with blood. Archie peeled it from his flesh and tossed it on the table. “No,” he said. “I did that all by myself.”

Chapter 40

CHAPTER

40

A dirty two-by-four barred the door to Susan’s impromptu cell. Nails were driven through the wood, securing it in place.

“Were you planning on ever letting her out?” Archie asked Gretchen.

“I didn’t have a key to the lock,” Gretchen said with a shrug. She picked up a hammer that was on the floor in front of the door and handed it to him.

The head of the hammer was rusty. The wooden handle was blackened with dirt. It looked like something she had found in the tunnels. Archie jammed the hammer’s claw between the piece of wood and the door and jimmied it. The effort strained his muscles, making his wound pulse with pain. But he stayed at it, until the two-by-four finally came loose and clattered to the concrete floor with a crack, sending up a cloud of concrete and wood dust.

Archie coughed and wiped the dust from his eyes.

Gretchen held her hand out for the hammer. “I’ll take that,” she said.

Archie looked down at the hammer. “I wasn’t going to bash your head in until I confirmed that she was inside,” he said, handing it over.