Lisa shifted uncomfortably on the small cot with the lumpy mattress. Lumpy because she’d removed some of the straw and done a hurried and ineffective job of redistributing what remained in the filthy skin. She had no intention of taking the time to better fix it, but it was damned uncomfortable, she acknowledged and shifted onto her side facing the wall. Her hand tightened on the bed leg she held, and she moved it close to her body. She’d tucked it under her skirts by her leg while on her back. It was just as well hidden now, she hoped.

With nothing else to do, Lisa had decided she should try to rest and relax a bit to garner some energy for when Findlay returned. She would need all her strength and energy then, but not for what Findlay intended. Lisa wanted to be strong and ready to bash him viciously about the head with her weapon. He thought himself so clever. She would wipe that smug smirk off his face.

The sound of a door clicking shut reached her ears, faint and far away by her guess. It might even be upstairs. She had already noted that something about the stone walls and open area seemed to distort sound somewhat. A couple of times, she’d thought someone was moving around in the open area, only to find it empty and realize that the footsteps or movement must have been upstairs, echoing down to her somehow.

When no sound followed the soft click, Lisa forced herself to relax. He was not back yet.

A moment later a sudden high trilling laugh drifted to her through the bars. Lisa stilled in the bed again, her ears straining. It had sounded like a woman, and now she could hear footsteps, several sets of feet tapping down the wooden stairs in the open area, she guessed. Another peal of laughter and the murmur of voices, both men’s and women’s sounded, verifying that, and Lisa gripped her bed leg nervously, not sure what was happening.

Had Findlay returned, bringing more victims? She bit her lip and listened, frowning at the sudden violent sounds that erupted. Thuds, flesh hitting flesh and then gasps and a stifled female squeal of alarm and then a hushed silence.

Lisa was listening so hard for further sounds from the other room to try to sort out what was happening that she almost missed the quiet sounds at her cell door. She had just become conscious of them when the door opened with a faint squeal of rusty metal.