Chapter Three
Katy’s Mistakes
“I knew it,” Ellen burst out from the back seat, “too many marginal conditions.”
“Right,” said Katy. “Visions of the worst possible fate ran through my head. I would eventually collapse from the strain and my arms would be pulled from my shoulders in a modern version of the Spanish Inquisition torture of Strappado. I would die hanging there, wrists and arms bound to the beam and feet chained to the floor ring. Even if I didn’t fall, I would never get anyone to come because of the gag. The ladder was pulled up and no one would even think of searching in the barn until it was too late.
“How stupid, I thought,” said Katy to her now rapt audience.
Both Frank and Ellen were silent, perhaps putting themselves in the same situation and trying to decide what the
