Do Not Enter, Part 2
“And … did you notice anything … unusual about the shaft?”
“Unusual?”
“Weird.”
“Well, yeah, I mean, it looked like some old gold miner with one of those cartoon picks chopped it out of concrete. The building’s on a slab, but the concrete can’t be all that deep.”
“But you didn’t … didn’t notice anything … you know, weird?”
“Uh — I don’t think I get it. What do you mean, ‘weird’?”
“Well, I can’t … my flashlight doesn’t reach the bottom. It’s like … it can’t shine far enough. Did you notice anything like that?”
Butch didn’t say anything for a moment. Rose knew she didn’t lose the connection because she heard the road noise and wind roaring.
“Butch?”
“Yeah … yeah, I’m here. No, I didn’t really go down in there or anything. I didn’t chase a flashlight down in there either. After my guys found it they let me know and I had them move away, then I called the inspector’s office, then I called you, and then I got the guys cleaning up. I really didn’t check it out or anything.”
“Huh,” Rose said.
“Maybe you need new batteries, or a better flashlight.”
A click-click on the line interrupted.
“Hey, Rose, I gotta take this other call. I’ll get back to you when I hear from the inspector, all right? And try to stay out of that shaft, it could be dangerous.”
“Okay, thanks, I–”
The phone went dead in her hand.
She drew a long breath, still staring down the stairwell. She moved the light around the cramped shaft, but couldn’t recapture the metallic splash she saw before.
She tucked the cell phone into her hip pocket and closed her eyes.
“They’re just stairs, like any other stairs. There’s nothing weird about them.”
She opened her eyes again, and a scream ripped past her lips.
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