The room was dimmer, and the light that had been shining through a crack in the curtains had all but disappeared. She must have fallen asleep. She tried stretching out the kinks in her muscles. Her shoulders ached like nobody’s business being forced to remain in one position too long. Scanning the room, she thought to see the kidnapper, but he was nowhere in sight. She strained to hear if he had gone into the bathroom again, but no sounds emitted from that direction. While she considered working at the ropes holding her, she stiffened. A key slipped into the door’s lock.The door opened an inch but stopped. A woman called out a greeting, and Tielle recognized the kidnapper’s response. How many times had she said hello in passing to someone and not known that somewhere nearby they had another person held captive or they’d just committed a crime. She closed her eyes, pushing those thoughts away. If she worried that every person she met was a criminal, she’d go crazy. Again, she thought the man had shown his face to her.
