The old man had taken a special liking to Rebecca and Carla in recent days and every night he looked forward to his daily conversations with the charming hostages. On a few occasions he visited the women during the day, and even allowed them upstairs once to watch a little television in the kitchen.  Despite his happiness, he began to worry about his son because he appeared troubled and isolated since the unfortunate incident with Taylor.

Josh’s unwelcomed visits with the chained captives grew less frequent with each passing week. During the night the old man could hear him chatting with Lois, about his uneventful days and his conquest of females he kept locked in the dungeon, as if she was actually there offering him her listening ear. The old man now regretted taking the only woman that loved his son away without ample notice.  It was agonizing listening to his son reach out to a ghost that the old man knew would extract murderous revenge if she was allowed one day on earth.

The old man attempted to distract Josh’s attention from his recent obsession with Lois by regularly asking him if he wanted to visit his remaining guest downstairs hoping that the presence of the girls would cheer him up, but his answers would always be a simple yes or no with no further explanations.  It was if Josh was having hard time mourning the loss of Taylor, and Lois was the only remedy he would accept. The old man desperately missed the son that, at one time, had been easy to gratify.

It was the old man’s desire to add more captives to the collection to buy back his son’s affections, but it seemed that the only people getting lost on the road these days were men, which he did not have a need for.  At least he had no need for them at the moment.  The old man would kindly give these lost men directions back to the main road and send them on their way, praying that a suitable victim would be the next to ring the doorbell.  But there was no luck and it appeared that the well for women had finally run dry.  Rebecca and Carla would have to make due for now but it was evident that his son’s interest in them was steadily declining. The dead bodies were stacking up and he had no room for two more.