Chapter Sixty-Eight
The silver nut crackers crush the Walnut shell. Matilda hangs naked from her blond hair, attached to a rope from the ceiling above. The dark leather clad figure places the shell into a pocket of the full length coat, and pushes the nut into the slit of the face mask. The wet leather glows red from the lamp shade light on the small table next to her. On it sits a large, ornately carved, shiny silver bowl of nuts, in their shells.
“Matilda.” The male voice is deep and menacing. Her mouth is stuffed with rag, her hands are tied behind her back, her feet are off the floor. He selects a Brazil nut from the bowl and cracks it, next to her ears.
“Matilda. We had such very high hopes for you. You have disappointed us.” He slides the cold steel nut crackers across her bare fl
