** For authors notes, disclaimer etc. see chapter 1
Who done it 10/?
Standing listening to them walk away Laura felt like her legs had been turned to lead and her mind was close to exploding with the implications of what they'd said. She'd almost managed to convince herself that there was a logical if over the top explanation for everything that was going on now she knew there wasn't that they had gotten themselves into something really dangerous and she had no idea if the others were still ok.
From what she'd heard she knew that they were concerned about Robbie and James's whereabouts so at the very least they were still able to move and make an attempt to look for her and Jean but she really didn't like what she was hearing about what they planned to do with them all and Jean in particular. It was clear that they didn't intend the four of them to leave the grounds alive but the implications made by how Henderson and Mrs Montgomery had referred to her friend it was clear that ending her life was only part of what the "butler" had planned.
Finally feeling the power return to her legs she paced back and forward trying to run over what she had heard and block out her concern for her friends so that she might be able to find a way out and then she could help them. They clearly weren't happy about the fact they'd had to leave her in the gatehouse and were worried about what she might discover before they had a chance to get rid of her and suddenly a single line stood out like a beacon amongst everything else she's heard.
The basement. Something was in the basement that they were worried about her finding and she knew she needed to get down there and find out what it was before they came back. Rushing to the small kitchen at the other side of the house she rooted around in the drawers slamming each one in frustration as she realised she was finding nothing that might help her break even the rickety looking lock on the basement door.
"Yes!" She whispered triumphantly as right at the back of the cupboard under the sink she found an old hammer that looked like it hadn't seen use in years but which she still thought with the help of the large metal spoon she'd also found might just be enough to knock the lock off. Grabbing the spoon she looked at both feeling her heart sink a little at the rust about the bowl of the spoon and the fact that the head on the hammer wobbled precariously on the handle. "You are going to be a lot of fucking help but you're all I've got so don't let me down!"
Making her way back through the house she tried again to blot out the images flooding her brain about what may be happening or already have happened to her friends as she reached the basement door again and looked at the ancient lock. It looked like one good pull and it should have fallen off on it's own but she knew that wasn't the case she'd tried it earlier and couldn't get it to budge now she had to hope that if she wedged the handle of the spoon between the wood and the rusty lock and hit it hard enough with the hammer it might come away.
"Right Laura you're not going to get too many chances at this so think about it before you do it people's lives might depend on it." She said quietly trying to calm the trembling in her hands as she carefully wedged the bowl of the spoon between the wood and the lock raising the hammer and hitting it as hard as she could on the top. Taking a deep breath as the spoon shot out the other end and the lock loosened but didn't yet come away from the wall she picked it up praying the metal would hold for another attempt as she pushed it through and repeated the process.
"Shit!" She yelled as the rusty lock finally sprang away from the wall slicing into her fingers as it went. "Great if they don't get me blood poisoning will."
Crossing the hall to the bathroom she ran the cut under the tap before wrapping it in tissue and returning to the now unlocked door. Turning the handle she held her breath as she pushed the door open the loud creaking noise it made as she did making her jump as she felt along the wall for a light switch finding it and cursing softly as the light came on at the bottom of the stairs that was too dull to give her any idea where the stairs started or how safe they might be.
"Come on Laura you can do this think of the others." She muttered quietly feeling around the grainy floor with her bare foot until she found the top of the first step, taking a final deep breath and starting down the staircase. Her breathing sounded loud in her ears as she tried to listen for noises upstairs too the possibility that their captors may return at any moment still clawing at the back of her mind as she inhaled deeply the faint smell coming from the bottom of the stairs almost stopping her in her tracks. In her career she'd dealt with death on a daily basis she'd visited crime scenes with bodies the smell of which hung around in your nose for days afterward and the ones that had that faint, barely cold smell that she could sense now where the ones that made the hairs stand up on the back of her neck most. Pausing on the wooden stair case as the limited light from the room below started to cast a shadow she tried to compose herself, to tell herself to think of it like any other potential crime scene she'd ever walked into, to block out the fact that she and her closest friend might…no make that were in danger and take the next step. The sound of the steps beneath her feet seemed to get louder the further down she went until finally the light cast onto the last few and she could see her own bare toes stark against the hard wood. She saw the rough edge of the soiled sheet before she could see the shape of what was beneath but the shape was irrelevant she already knew what was waiting for her in the cold barely lit basement.
"Oh my god, this isn't happening just close your eyes and count to ten and you're going to wake up in that uncomfortable bed in the main house and this will all have been some stupid nightmare." She gasped leaning against the cold stone wall when she reached the bottom of the stairs and took in the sight in front of her. Following her own instructions she closed her eyes willing the scene to disappear, the bile to retreat back down her throat and the images of what she was about to find under the sheet to leave her mind. By seven she knew it wasn't going to happen and bracing herself against the wall she opened them again taking the few steps to the mound in the middle of the room she grasped the sheet pulling it away.
In an instant her mind was flooded with images of tangled bodies, blood strewn clothes ranging from the same outdated period costume they'd been wearing throughout the night to one white cotton night dress she could barely recognise it was so soaked in blood. Forcing her mind into action she tried to work out how many bodies where actually there, counting limbs, torsos and finally heads until she established that there were four. Four just like there were four of them. Four people who had clearly walked into the stately home she'd been so forcibly removed from believing they were attending a murder mystery weekend only to discover the murders in question where their own. Scrambling toward the stairs she part ran part crawled to the top of them sinking against the wall in the small hallway gasping for breath.
"No, no this can't be happening, it can't be this isn't real it can't be real I…." she muttered before hearing once again the sound of footsteps outside the back door of the gatehouse and holding her breath as she heard mumbled voices. For a second she thought of all the things she would have done, should have done if life hadn't decided to have its final grand joke by bringing her to this point. She thought of Robbie and all the things she wished she'd said to him, all the things she wished they'd done, she thought of James and Jean and if there was any chance the others might make it out alive and how she hoped they wouldn't make the same mistake she had. Finally she stood up and walked toward the sound of the voices ready to accept what was about to happen but determined if she was going to breathe her last in this cold soulless building she'd go down fighting. Stepping close to the door she heard a single sentence that made her head spin with the significance it held.
"I didn't even notice this place when we drove in. Do you think they might be in there?" Instantly recognising Robbie's voice she battered on the door all the tension and terror she'd been holding since the moment she'd first opened her eyes in that house coming out in a strangled scream she prayed he could hear and would recognise as hers.