David rushed to comply. Even then, he fully expected to be shot. When no shots followed, David agonized over what to do next. His current approach was not working. He was stressing Van Slyke, but not enough or perhaps not in the right ways.
“I’ve already talked to the person who is paying you,” David said after a few minutes of frantic digging. “That’s one of the reasons I know so much. He’s told me everything, so it doesn’t matter if you tell me anything or not.”
“No!” Van Slyke shouted.
“Oh, yes,” David said. “He also told me something you should know. He told me that if Phil Calhoun got suspicious, you’d have to take the blame for everything.”
“How did you know about Phil Calhoun?” Van Slyke demanded. He began to shake again.
“I told you I know what’s happening,” David said. “The whole affair is about to destruct. As soon as your sponsor finds out about Phil Calhoun, it will be over. And he doesn’t care about you, Van Slyke. He thinks you are nothing. But I care. I know how you are suffering. Let me help you. Don’t let this person use you as a dupe. You are nothing to him. He wants you to be hurt. They want you to suffer.”
“Shut up!” Van Slyke screamed.
“The person who is using you has told lots of people about you, Van Slyke. Not just me. And they have all had a good laugh over the fact that Van Slyke will be blamed for everything.”
“Shut up!” Van Slyke screamed a second time. He lunged at David and rammed the barrel of the gun against David’s forehead.
David froze as he peered at the gun cross-eyed. He let go of the shovel and it fell to the floor.
“Get back in the root cellar,” Van Slyke screamed. He kept the tip of the gun pressed against David’s skin.
David was terrified the gun would go off at any second. Van Slyke was in a state of frenzied agitation that bordered on absolute panic.
Van Slyke backed David into the root cellar. Only then did he withdraw the gun. Before David could reiterate his desire to help Van Slyke, the heavy wood door was slammed in his face and re-locked.
David could hear Van Slyke running through the basement, crashing into objects. He heard his heavy footfalls on the cellar steps. He heard the cellar door slam shut. Then the lights went out.
David stayed perfectly still, straining to hear. Very faintly he heard a distant car engine start, then quickly fade. Then there was only silence and the pounding of his own heart.
David stood motionless in the total darkness thinking about what he’d unleashed. Van Slyke had dashed out of the house in a state of acute manic psychosis. David had no idea where Van Slyke was headed or what he had in mind, but whatever it was it couldn’t be good.
David felt tears well up in his eyes. He’d certainly managed to evoke the man’s psychotic paranoia, but the result was not what he’d hoped. He’d wanted to befriend Van Slyke and get him to talk about his problems. David also wanted to free himself in the process. Instead David was still imprisoned and he’d released a madman into the town. David’s only source of solace was that Angela and Nikki were safely in Amherst.
Struggling to control his emotions, David tried to think rationally about his predicament, wondering if there were any chance of escape. But as he thought of the solid stone walls encircling him he had an acute rush of claustrophobia.
Losing control, David began to sob as he vainly attacked the stout wooden door to the cellar. He hurdled his shoulder against it multiple times, crying for someone to let him out.
At length David managed to regain a modicum of self control. He stopped his self-destructive batterings against the unyielding door. Then he stopped crying. He thought about the blue Volvo and Calhoun’s truck. They were his only hope.
With fear and resignation, David sank to a sitting position on the dirt floor to wait for Van Slyke’s return.