CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Michaela held her breath.
‘You’re not going to believe this,’ Trisha said, her voice full of wonder. ‘It’s bloody well turning on!’ She stood up and grinned at Michaela as the phone powered up. ‘Baby, let’s get out of here. Hell, I never thought it was going to work.’
Michaela was limp with relief. ‘It was in my breast pocket,’ she said. ‘And the jacket’s lined with sheepskin. It can’t have been too badly wet.’
Trisha was almost dancing around. She leaned down and smacked a kiss on Michaela’s lips. ‘I love you, baby, we’re going to get out of here!’ She looked back at the phone. Frowned. ‘The signal’s too weak. The call’s not going through.’ She looked around. ‘Hell, we need to get a better signal. Damn!’
She held the phone up in the air, squinting at it. ‘You’re going to have to give me a boost so I can hang out that window and see if I can get a signal.’
Michaela nodded. At this point, she would do just about anything to get out of here. Except go back in that water. She followed Trisha around the perimeter of the building and crouched down under the window.
‘I’m going to take my boots off first,’ said Trisha, sitting down and unlacing her boots.
‘Good idea,’ agreed Michaela, eyeing the heavy soles.
‘How’s your head?’ Trisha asked her.
‘Bloody awful. Yours must be the same. We’ll have a concussion, you know? God knows how long we were out for.’
‘Okay, hold still, I’m going to stand on your shoulders. You’ll have to stand up slowly and I’ll lean against the wall to help. I hope you’ll be able to lift me.’
Michaela hoped so too. Somehow they had to get a signal on that phone. She gripped Trisha’s ankles and started to stand. It was slow going, and her head felt as though it were swelling with the effort. But they made it.
‘Can you reach the window?’ Michaela asked. She couldn’t lookup. ‘Yeah, it’s right here. Let me check the phone.’ She swayed a little and Michaela tightened her grip on her ankles. ‘Woohoo! We have a signal. Yeah honey, let’s blow this joint.’
Michaela was trying to hold still. ‘Who are you going to call?’ she choked out. ‘Police be a safe bet, don’t you reckon. They can get us out and arrest that bastard for knocking us out and locking us in here.’ She called directory and asked to be put through to the local police. ‘Hope to shit we don’t get Officer Friendly,’ she said as she waited to be put through.
Michaela listened as Trisha explained the situation to the person on the other end of the line.
‘Yes, that’s what I said already. The bastard knocked us out and locked us in the goddamned pool house. My girlfriend almost drowned and you need to come let us out of here right now and arrest the shithead.’ There was a pause as Trisha listened. ‘Yes. Gardener. Yes, that’s what I said, why aren’t you listening to me?’ Another pause. ‘Fine. Just get someone down here to open these fucking doors, will you? We’re locked in.’ She snapped the phone shut and slithered down off Michaela’s shoulders.
Trisha handed the phone over. ‘Perhaps,’ she said, ‘you should have called them. I don’t think Officer Friendly believed a fucking word I said.’
Michaela sighed. ‘Perhaps,’ she said, ‘if every second word you said wasn’t fucking, you might have more luck.’
Trisha threw her a dirty look and they walked back around to the doors. ‘The guy’s an asshole. How am I supposed to be polite to an asshole? Fuck me.’
Michaela couldn’t help it, she snorted and started laughing. ‘Just tell me someone’s coming to unlock the door,’ she said and draped an arm over Trisha’s shoulder as they sat back down.
Trisha nodded. ‘Yeah, they’re coming. But I don’t think they’re going to be in a huge hurry.’ She looked around. ‘Do we have any more of that coffee? And weren’t their sandwiches too?’