I didn't give up right away, of course. I tried messing with the switches some more, and looked around in the software, but it was hopeless. Irwin must have sabotaged the hardware somehow, because according to everything I could see on the gigantic screen, it should have been working.
The only other possibility was that he was blocking the Internet access signal somehow, just to make sure I couldn't try something like this. My shoulders slumped in defeat as I realized that was just the kind of thing Irwin the Perfectionist Bastard would do.
So far, since I'd been captured, I'd managed to avoid letting my emotions get the better of me. Now they all came flooding out. First I beat my fists on the unyielding plastic case, screaming all the while, until the pain finally penetrated my senses. Then I collapsed to the ground, put my head in my hands, and wept.
Yeah, that's right, I sobbed like a little baby. I'm not ashamed to admit it, either. After everything I'd been through, I figured I was entitled to a good cry. And you know what? It was just what I needed.
Once I got control of myself again, I wiped my eyes and put the computer back together, setting it in its place so it wouldn't look like I'd been working on it. I even swept away the plastic shavings and made sure they were safely hidden back in the corner, under the stairs. I figured if my meticulous "owner" spotted even one of them, he'd wonder what I was up to down here.
This, of course, left me with no choice but to put my long-term plan into operation. I needed Irwin to think I was gradually accepting my new life as his toy. That meant there had to be no evidence whatsoever that I'd been contemplating escape. Remember, he had no idea the kind of background and training I had. As far as he knew, I was exactly as my false identity described me--relatively uneducated, with a smattering of odd jobs in my past, and a bad relationship that had led me to Las Vegas. If he'd have known I had a criminology degree with a minor in psychology, and the best training the police and FBI could provide, I'm sure he wouldn't let himself fall for what I was planning.
He didn't know, though, and that was my ace in the hole. In fact, it was quite literally the only card I had left to play.
The TV told me it was already past four, so if yesterday was any idea, that meant Irwin would be back at any time. I climbed back up onto the desk and put the Barbie dress back on, then went over to the stack of board games next to the entertainment center. In amongst the family type products I saw a backgammon board and a chess set. Well, I could play chess pretty well, though it had been a while, but I wanted to avoid letting Irwin see how smart I was. Instead, I pulled out the backgammon game and set it up on the floor, in anticipation of my captor's return. Then I got back up in the chair and watched some TV.
He came home a short while later and seemed thrilled that I'd set up the game on my own. I explained that I was bored without someone around to talk to, which pleased him no end. He was so excited that I'd been waiting for him that he didn't even bother changing out of his work clothes before playing a game with me. I lost, but put in a good showing.
The rest of the evening went very much like yesterday had. He let me ride around on the train for a bit, which I didn't mind, and then we played some more backgammon. After that, we had dinner, then did three games of nine-ball (I almost won the third one, but missed sinking the 9 in a corner on a bank shot). By then it was getting late, so we just sat and watched TV for a while. I started out sitting on the arm of the chair, but by the time the movie was over, I'd slid over onto the edge of his lap, leaning back against the right side of his stomach. He stroked my hair a few times, and seemed quite content with his little doll.
I suspected, if I'd really been the person he thought I was, that I might actually have grown to like this, and maybe even accept it. But I wasn't that person. The Ashley Richardson we'd invented had no real life, but Kate McLeary did, and not only that, she had a responsibility to live up to.
By the time he put me to bed, I felt like I'd made some real progress towards getting him to trust me. However, I had no idea how long it would take before my opportunity came. I wanted to get out of here faster, if at all possible, but just couldn't think of how.
I lay there in the dark, thinking about that for quite a while before getting to sleep. However, nothing came to me at all. I was truly trapped.
The next morning was more of the same: a shower, a new Barbie dress to wear, and finally breakfast, after which I was left alone for the rest of the day. I walked around the basement for a while, in the vain hope that I'd missed something, but found nothing of any use. I was about to give up in frustration and read a book or something, when I noticed a narrow gap underneath the desk I lived on.
This was a reasonably well-crafted work desk made from real wood. It sat very low to the ground, with drawers on either side of the slot where a normal person would put his legs while sitting in his office chair. I'd already searched around in the chair area, but hadn't looked under the drawers themselves because the gap was too small to fit under.
Now, though, I got down on my hands and knees and peered underneath. It was dark and dusty, but that was actually promising. The fact that it was dusty meant Irwin hadn't actually cleaned under here while preparing my prison for me. Could he have possibly missed something?
I groped around in the darkness but couldn't feel anything, so I moved to the other side where the light was better. My heart almost leapt as I saw something silhouetted near the back wall. It was flat against the ground, but looked to be maybe an inch long (in normal scale) and possibly metallic. Was it a coin? If so, I might be able to use its flat edge to unscrew something!
But how could I get it out? I couldn't reach it, so that meant I'd have to snag it with something and pull it towards me. I cast about looking for something long and thin, like a pencil. Then I remembered the stack of board games. Surely one of those required writing!
I rushed back over there. Sure enough, there were several possibilities. Yahtzee was near the top of the stack, so I opened it up and found one of those little golf pencils. It was only a few inches long, but I thought it might be enough.
Back at the desk, I pushed it underneath, and discovered to my relief that I could just get the tip onto whatever it was I'd found. Then I pulled forward, not really expecting it to move without more force, and instead saw that the pencil had snagged my target easily. In a moment I found myself holding my prize, and I actually shouted with joy when I saw what it was.
A paper clip!
This could be just what I needed! I could pick the lock to the utility room with this!
I wasted no time, shoving the computer desk chair into place as I had the first day, and immediately got to work on the lock. It proved to be extremely difficult to wield the twisted ends of the clip, since it was so much larger than I was used to, but I persevered. Unfortunately, though I could get them into the lock mechanism, I wasn't having much luck actually getting the lock to release.
The secret had to be in getting kinks in the wires at just the right places, but at my size, bending the thick metal bars was a lot harder than you'd think. Pick up a paper clip off your desk and bend it. Not so tough, huh? Now imagine it's six times longer and thicker than that. For me, it was kind of like bending a half-inch thick steel bar. Fortunately, I'm stronger than I look.
I kept going, and after maybe an hour, I was ecstatic to see the lock pop open.
With some difficulty I shoved the heavy thing upward until it disengaged from the door and fell away, bouncing across the floor with a loud clatter. I was committed now, I thought. There was no way I could possibly haul that heavy thing back up and into position without help. If Irwin came home and saw the lock off the door, he'd just replace it and do something else to make sure I didn't get away.
My next challenge was opening the door itself, but with the lock ordeal behind me, this was child's play. The knob was about half my height, so all I had to do was wrap myself around it and twist my body while pushing off the chair with my feet. When I was sure it was open enough, I leaned to one side and was rewarded to see that the door had cracked open slightly. Then I just climbed down to the floor and pushed my way into the utility room beyond.
As I'd suspected, there was a dryer hookup with a vent to the outside up near the ceiling. Fortunately, climbing up was no trouble at all. I simply pulled my way up the ventilation tube until I was at ground level. Then, using the nail-covered heel I'd brought along, I cut a hole in the thin plastic and squeezed into the dusty, lint-filled corridor.
Naturally, it ended with a mesh screen, the final barrier to my freedom. I wasn't going to let this stop me, though, so wielding the nails once again, I cut and slashed at the thin wires. This was designed mostly as an insect shield, and wasn't intended to keep out a determined doll-sized FBI agent, so after a while I'd cut enough of a hole to slip through. Then I dropped to the ground in Irwin's back yard, a free woman.
Except, of course, that I was now outside, unprotected, and only ten inches high!