“Answer my question.”

“Fuck you, David.”

“What were those things earlier, the ones you saved me from?”

“Goddamn it!” he shouted again, this time kicking a broken piece of the chainsaw. It didn’t go very far, spinning across the concrete floor, and it looked like Cashman had hurt his foot in the process. “I’m gonna kill her. I’m gonna fucking kill her.”

He limped across the room, disappeared up the steps, slammed the door shut.

A moment later the lights went off, drenching me in darkness.

I closed my eyes, stared into my own special darkness.

Time passed—a couple minutes, maybe an hour—and then the lights came back on. I could hear the bulbs buzzing in the ceiling.

I opened my eyes just as the door opened and footsteps came down the stairs.

I expected Cashman but it was Nancy.

She came to me, shaking her head quickly. “Why did I ever say anything to you? Why?”

Again I tried sitting up but the chains stopped me.

“Me and my stupid mouth.” She stuffed her hand into her pocket, brought back out a small ring of keys. “One of these days I’ll learn. One of these days ... ”

She sorted through the keys until she found the one she wanted. Then she reached down, inserted it into the lock keeping my feet chained, turned the key. The lock popped open.