Page 28 of Captive Hearts
‘There’s got to be something in here,’ Ashley said, rifling along the shelves, past jars of herbs. ‘Ahh, that’s more like it,’ she said, pulling out a giant catering bag of chocolate chips. She tore it open. ‘I’ll have to make sure to pay for this later,’ she said, shoving a handful of chocolate chips into her mouth and offering the bag to Gina. Gina took a small handful. Grabbing a large handful had gotten her into a lot of trouble a minute ago.
They chewed in silence for a minute. Or that’s all Gina thought they were doing. Until she noticed Ashley’s head cocked toward the door. ‘Are you listening?’
Ashley nodded, still working on a mouthful of chocolate. ‘I can’t hear much though. I think he’s talking but…’ She walked over to the door and pressed her ear against it. She frowned, putting the chocolate on a shelf.
‘Can you make anything out?’ Gina asked.
‘I don’t know, he seems to be… He’s just talking. Ranting.’
‘What about?’
‘I can’t hear every word, but it seems to be something about… Back pay? One of the hostages, he’s saying… He’s telling himagainthat none of them worked here twenty years ago. God’s sake, he’s like a stuck record.’ Ashley took her ear away from the door. She sighed and took her blazer off, now down to a silken dark blue shirt. She dumped the blazer on the floor and grabbed the chocolate again, shoving another handful into her mouth.
Gina watched her. ‘Are you alright?’
Ashley looked at her, surprised, swallowing her mouthful. ‘You want to know if I’m alright?’
Gina frowned. ‘That’s usually what’s meant by that question, yeah.’
‘Why wouldn’t I be? I mean, I’m trapped in a cupboard by a sociopath with a gun. I’m golden.’ She popped another chip in her mouth.
Gina folded her arms and leaned against a wall, tired. ‘My god, you’re hard work.’
Ashley nodded, unsurprised. ‘It’s been said.’
‘I don’t understand what your problem is,’ Gina said.
Ashley’s nostrils flared. ‘I can’t think why you’d care.’
‘I’ll do my best not to in the future,’ Gina said. She started rooting around the shelves for something salty, finding some black olives in a tin. She searched around her. ‘Oh, for a tin opener,’ she complained.
Ashley put down her chips. ‘Hang on.’ She pulled a bunch of keys out of her pocket and flicked open a small knife on the chain. ‘Give me the tin.’ Gina handed it over, and Ashley pushed her little knife into the lid with a light grunt. Once it was in, she began jimmying it around the edge until she’d gone halfway around. She took the knife and levered the half-open lid up.
‘Jesus, don’t let Rick see that knife,’ Gina said.
‘God, I hadn’t thought of that.’ She took the knife off the chain and shoved it behind a tin of tomatoes.
‘Not tempted to keep it?’ Gina asked. ‘Just in case?’
Ashley raised an eyebrow. ‘Have you never heard the expression about taking knives to gunfights?’
‘No. How does it go?’ Gina asked.
‘In brief,don’t,’ Ashley said. She handed her the open tin of olives.
‘Where did you learn to do that, anyway? The trick with the tin?’ Gina asked.
‘Camping with my dad.’
‘You do that a lot?’
‘A fair bit when I was young.’
‘Sounds nice,’ Gina said.
‘It wasn’t. Useful though,’ Ashley said.
Gina raised a quizzical eyebrow. ‘Useful?’
