Chapter 32: Her Lovers' Touch, Part 14, The Escape Hatch

RICHARD

James points up the slight slope. "About a hundred yards that way is the walker's track Michael and Charlotte used the last time to escape. And the shelter they hid in for a while is a couple of hundred yards further along."

If I were using this....

.... Or Elizabeth....

"You would have trouble finding your way to that in the dark," I point out, looking back. Beyond the briar patch, the upper windows of the Threesome's home are visible. "And if you used a light, you could easily be seen from the house."

"Ah, yes...." he nods. "That was my comment too. Michael had an answer." He beckons me to the nearest tree, then closes his eyes and lays his hand on the trunk, feeling at the bark at about chest height. After a moment he pauses, opening his eyes again.

"Feel there," he says, his fingers still on the tree. "Close your eyes. Imagine you're blind in the dark."

Under the pads of my fingers, the coarse bark comes alive. And I feel.... what?

Marks. Chiselled deep into