Page 75 of In The Trenches (Owens Protective Services)

“No!”

“How else would they have gotten in? Why would five men be hanging out in the basement? There are no offices down there. We’ve seen the layout of the building.”

“I don’t know,” she rushed out. “I swear, I…they were just there.”

“And you didn’t let them in? Come on, Beth. How else would they have gotten in?”

“They had badges,” she said quickly. “Employee badges.”

“All of them?”

“Yes! I swear.”

He nodded again. “And you trusted this man,” he pointed to the man in the picture with her. “He made you feel safe with the other men around.”

She bit her lip, nodding slightly.

“Why?”

“Because he was being nice?” she responded.

“Men like him don’t make people feel nice. Men like him don’t give a shit about a woman in an elevator. So, you’d better tell me why he was so nice to you. Was he on your team? Was he supposed to be there?”

“Oh, man,” Fox scoffed. “That’s just mean. He’s tricking her.”

“He’s getting answers out of her.”

“He was nice to me on the elevator,” she finally answered. “I don’t…I don’t like tight spaces or being that close to men. And I couldn’t see him.”

Her voice was pitching, like she was reliving the experience. Her eyes were wide and her breathing was uneven. She was close to having a panic attack. Fuck, I had this all wrong. She had nothing to do with it. She was a woman trapped in an elevator.

“They sent the man with her to take her out,” Fox muttered. “They needed to make sure there were no witnesses.”

I agreed. “But why did they leave her alive?”

Red tapped at the picture again. “What happened in that elevator, Beth?”

“Nothing,” she shook her head. “He talked to me, helped me through the panic attack.”

“And when the friends showed up?”

She hung her head, almost like she was ashamed. “He was going to leave me. I called out for him.”

“What was his name?”

I didn’t think she was going to tell us, but then she whispered, “Seth. That’s all I know. No one else said any names.”

“And when you got out, they didn’t try to hurt you or threaten you?”

She shook her head. “No, but it was clear that I wasn’t going anywhere without them.”

“And did you see anything?”

She shook her head again. “We walked out of the building and I turned away from them. I kept thinking they were going to come after me, but…”

“Seth saved you,” Red finished. “Why didn’t you tell us this before?”

A tear slipped down her cheek and she quickly swiped it away. “Doesn’t that make me complicit or something?”

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