Confer, Lorelei - Deadly Deception (Siren Publishing Classic) (11 page)

“Tell us about the house. Can you describe it? How far away from the house is the park?”

“The house looked the same as all the others on both sides of the street. It‘s grey with two dark blue doors on the front porch and it’s a couple of blocks from the park, I think. Joe forced me to keep looking at his ugly face by jabbing a gun in my ribs, threatening to shoot me if I looked away.” She grimaced from the memory and reached for her sore ribs.

“How did you get away?” Wyatt asked.

She followed with the explanation and of her excursion through the woods, how she saw the light leading to Wyatt’s house.

“How did you get the door unlocked? I’m assuming Wyatt didn’t have the security system on,” Dave said with a chuckle.

Isabella hung her head inspecting her fingernails, while deliberating how she could tell them. She crossed her arms over her chest.

“I had to use a piece of my bra to get it unlocked,” she whispered as she looked out the window.

Wyatt laughed. “Now I understand. I looked at the lock on the door and found the arc-shaped piece of metal but couldn’t place it. Don’t worry. I secured the door with the deadbolt and made a substantial adjustment to the alarm system,” he said, looking at Dave.

Dave put down his pen and rubbed his eyes.

“Any other questions you can think of, Dave?”

“No, not right now.”

Wyatt looked at Isabella. “I’ve got one more. Did you try to escape any other time?”

Isabella sighed and rolled her eyes as she looked out the window toward the woods.

Good grief, does he think I’m a moron? Of course, I tried to escape.

She told them the memorable details of her futile attempts of escape. “Well, I found myself alone in the room one time and remembered a small door in the kitchen I had noticed a day or so before. I jumped up from the bed, too fast I guess, because I lost my balance and had to catch myself on the end of the bed to keep from falling. I righted myself, ran the few steps into the kitchen, back to the door with the elevator shaft, really more like a dumbwaiter. The promise of escape increased my flow of adrenaline, I guess, giving me enough courage to do it. I opened the door and crawled out on the platform. Just as I reached for the rope to raise or lower it to the top or bottom floor, a big hand closed over mine. I thought I was finished right then and there.

“Someone grabbed the back of my shirt, then my arm, yanking me back, dragging me roughly across the floor where I was flung onto the bed. I tried to scream, but Joe’s hand closed over my mouth. His hand smelled like cigarettes, beer, and unwashed skin. I gagged. He shoved a bottle of soda into my mouth, forcing me to swallow. It ran down my chin, onto my ripped, dirty T-shirt. Blackness swirled around in my head, soon fading into blissful darkness,” she whispered as she propped her hand on her forehead, avoiding eye contact with them.

“Any other attempts?”

“Well, another time while I was in the bathroom I heard the outside door slam shut. So I opened the bathroom door and peeked out. There was no one there so I ran to the door leading outside and tried to open it, but it wouldn’t budge. Then I tried the open staircase in the one corner of the room. I started up the stairs but they were packed with cases of soda, Pop-Tarts, and granola bars. I began throwing aside anything I could put my hands on. About half the way to the top, I heard someone coming up behind me. I increased my speed, climbing over, stepping on boxes, moving faster and faster.

“Then I felt a hand clasp hold of my ankle. I kicked my foot, in an attempt to break the tight grip the hand had on me. But the hand held on trapping me in place and that’s when I glanced behind me.

“Joe’s big yellow-finger-nailed-hand was wrapped tight around my ankle. He dragged me back down the stairs, and threw me on a bed.

“He told me if I did it again he would get rid of me, he would kill me, and I believed him, Then he forced me to drink a soda. I coughed as he made me swallow and then cowered, cringing away from him. I closed my eyes. All I could think about was finding a way out of there.”

They asked again how she came to arrive at Wyatt’s. She explained, with exasperation, for the third or fourth time, her final escape from Joe leading to her appearance here. She supplied them with the memorable details of her excursion through the woods, explaining how she fell a number of times but got up and continued running until she saw the light from the house. “Even after I got inside the house they came after me. They were relentless.”

After the continual inquiries, an already-exhausted-but-not-ready-to-give-up Isabella had some questions for them.

“So now it’s my turn to ask some questions and get some answers. Can you help me get back to
Colorado
or not? I don't have any money with me but I do have some money saved and I promise I’ll pay you back,” Isabella pleaded.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Wyatt answered.

“Why isn’t it a good idea?” a confused Isabella asked. “I don’t understand.”

“I already explained to you how dangerous these people can be. They’re trained, skilled professionals. They do this for a living and know how to search and destroy. Your home is probably the
second
place they’ll look for you. Think about it. If they were able to transport you from
Colorado
to
Virginia
, hold you captive under the influence of drugs for over a week, you can bet your annual salary they will try to find you, no matter where you go. You’re worth a lot of money to them, remember. They went to great lengths to get you and keep you. Chances are they’ll try to get to you again. We need to consider these people very dangerous until we find out more about them,” Dave answered.

Strumming his fingers on his lips while addressing Dave, Wyatt continued. “That’s what they said when they were here looking for her, that she was worth too much money to them to lose her and they had to find her.’”

“And right here is probably the
first
place they’ll come looking for her,” Dave said to no one in particular.

The nearby clock ticked away minutes one by one, the only sound in the room.

Chapter 16

Wyatt rubbed his eyes and finally broke the silence. “What do you think?”

Dave thought a moment or two while rubbing the back of his neck with his hand, looking out the large window while Wyatt and Isabella waited with patience for his reply.

“I think we need to verify a few things first, but we should have some answers later today.”

Isabella looked at both of them, then asked one more time, “Why can’t I just go home to my mother’s?”

Dave and Wyatt exchanged glances. Isabella thought for certain that she saw Dave nod to Wyatt.

“Trust me,” Wyatt answered. “We both want nothing more than for you to go home. But it may not be safe there. Your mother may be in danger herself. We’ll be checking that out, so don’t worry.”

“I think you’ll be safe here with Wyatt. His house sits back away from the main street and we’ll add some patrols going by the house. I can take care of that with a phone call to the local PD. But you need to stay in the house at all times, away from the windows. Keep all the doors and windows locked, of course, and don’t let anyone in unless you know them. Wyatt knows the drill, so I don’t really need to say anymore.”

Isabella looked at him with her mouth wide open in awe. She covered her mouth with her hand. “You really think all those precautions are necessary?”

“Absolutely. We can’t be too careful in a situation like this, especially not until we know more about exactly who we’re dealing with,” Wyatt answered with complete assuredness.

Dave gathered up the loose pages, closed his notebook, and got up from the table. He looked from Wyatt to Isabella, who also stood.

“Oh, I have one more thing, Isabella.” He reached into his briefcase and took out the folder with Megan’s picture in it. He pulled the picture out and showed it to her. “Have you ever seen this woman before?”

“Yes, yes, that’s Megan. The girl I met in the bathroom. Joe took her and put her in the van and took her somewhere? You have to find her.”

“We will, Isabella, and with our help, we’ll be able to find her soon,” Wyatt said calmly.

“I’ll be on my way now. Wyatt knows how serious this situation can be, I know it sounds drastic, but please listen to me, this is critical. I’ll be in touch as soon as I have any new information. If you remember anything else, make sure you tell Wyatt. Talk to you soon.”

* * * *

Midmorning, Amanda walked somberly to the van. Since she hadn’t figured out anything to do to get released from this job, she had acquiesced, decided to go along with Joe and finish the job. A no-brainer really, especially since Joe threatened her with a gun. She had to remain optimistic that they would find the girl, make the delivery, get paid, and get the hell out of there.

The van coughed, choked, and smoked all the way to the park as both she and Joe remained silent. Amanda wondered how the van had made it this far and if it would make it back to
Colorado
. They pulled in and parked in a spot located away from all the other parked cars. Joe turned off the van and looked around the park. There were only a couple of parents with kids on the gym equipment. Joe glanced at Amanda, then toward the surrounding three sides of wooded area.

“I think we should split up. I’ll go to the left over to the middle and you take the right side over to the middle. Remember to walk real quiet an’ try to sneak up on her. She musta spent the night in there, an’ she’s probably cryin’ and lookin’ for us since she don’t know nobody here. When you find her, you tie her hands to yours, see. Then you drag her or pull her or do whatever you have to do to get her to the edge of the woods. Then wait till I get back to load her up in the van. Gag her if you have to. We don’t want no one hearin’ anything and nosin’ around in our business.”

They looked at each other and then at the woods. Without saying a word, they opened the doors, peered out, and walked their separate ways, each entering the woods at their designated areas.

* * * *

Wyatt followed Dave to the door, and after a lengthy conversation, they said their good-byes. He closed and locked the door, while watching Dave turn and drive out to the street. He used his cell phone to request passport and out-of-country employment information on Michael Terrell.

He closed the blinds in the living room to block out the light as well as the view. He did the same in all the rooms on the main floor. When he came back into the kitchen, he found Isabella sitting at the table staring into the woods. He sat down beside her.

“Is there anything I can get for you? More coffee?”

She shook her head.

After taking a few deep breaths, she said, “I don’t know what to say. I’m so scared, for myself, for my mother, for you for taking this risk. I’m very grateful for everything you’ve done for me. How can I thank you for believing me?”

She shook, and her lips quivered. He put his arm around her shoulders, and she flinched.

“It’s okay. You can relax,” Wyatt whispered. “I think the worst is over.”

Then she leaned toward him letting the tears run down her cheeks onto the front of his shirt.

Wyatt wondered why anyone would want to hurt such a beautiful, caring, and compassionate woman, but he already knew the answer. He became flooded with a range of emotions from anger and fear to hatred and pity—pity for the fools who had done this to her when he found them.

His chest filled with such hostility for the thugs who had done this to her, and his hands clenched, his jaw tensed, his Adam’s apple bobbed as he tried to swallow the bad taste rising in his throat. And he looked forward to finding them and getting them off the street so they would never be able to do this to anyone else again.

His attraction to her and his overwhelming sense to protect her told him he was getting too involved. He didn’t know if he could do his job and be as objective as necessary without a conflict of interest.

He would have to consider assigning the case to Dave. Even though he trusted Dave with his life, Wyatt didn’t like the idea of someone else being responsible for her safety.

He knew there could still be a slight possibility of uncovering a farce, a fabrication from a psychopathic woman, but the information verification would definitely rule out any deception.
Almost certain anyway
.

Chapter 17

Dave’s anticipation increased as he made his way out of Wyatt’s drive. Already on his cell phone, he requested random patrols surrounding Wyatt’s house, the woods and the park.

He called a detective familiar with the area and put a door-to-door canvass out for the house with two blue doors a couple blocks from the park. Since they didn’t know in which direction, it would take some time since they would have to cover a large area but he was sure they would find it.

Finding Isabella’s abductors, along with any ensuing dangers, remained foremost on his mind. He had a hunch about who might be involved, and if his suspicions were correct, his team had been tracking them for quite some time. They also had an undercover operative within the organization.