Twenty-two

“I’m going to run up to the top,” Angie said. “Maybe I can catch them.”

“Yell if there’s trouble,” Mel said. “I’m right behind you.”

Mel knew she couldn’t keep up with Angie, and she didn’t want to hold her back if she could catch up to Holly’s kidnapper. It was a long shot, but they had to try.

Angie gave her a quick squeeze and took off running. Mel followed, trying to keep up but falling behind Angie’s rabbit sprint up the stairs.

Mel was only on the second level when she heard the door above bang open. She moved more quickly but a cramp doubled her over and she paused to suck in a big breath before racing after her friend.

A sparkle at the foot of the stairs caught her eyes. It could have been from Angie’s costume, except Angie was in red and this was definitely blue. Mel’s outfit was silver so it wasn’t hers, but it wasn’t Holly’s either since she had been in black. Mel frowned. Maybe some of the girls used these stairs to get to their cars in the garage after the show. Maybe it was just coincidence except just to the right was a crawl space with a metal grate over it.

She leaned closer to examine it. The screws weren’t flush with the grate as if someone hadn’t put them in all the way, someone who might have been in a hurry. Sadly, her phone didn’t have an app for a Phillips screwdriver, so she was forced to make do with her thumbnail. A couple of twists and she had the already loose screw free. She quickly unfastened the next one.

“I lost them,” Angie said as she came down the stairs toward Mel. She was winded and her face was bright red and sweaty.

“It’s okay,” Mel said. “Give me a hand?”

“What are you doing?”

“Following a hunch,” Mel said.

Angie frowned at her but set to work on a screw using her thumbnail while Mel finished the last one. They used their fingers to grasp the grate and together they hoisted it off the wall. It was dark in the opening and Angie reached for her phone.

Mel couldn’t wait. She reached into the black space, praying there were no spiders or rats inside. Her fingers brushed something feathery just as Angie’s light snapped on behind her. It was the same black feathers as Holly’s costume. Mel twitched the fabric aside and revealed a foot.

“Oh my god! It’s her!” Angie cried. She dropped her phone and together they reached inside to haul Holly out.

Her feathered costume made it hard to grab her and Mel was worried that if she was injured, they could be causing more harm.

“Wait,” she said. “I’m going to climb in and see if she’s okay. If we yank her out while she’s injured, we could hurt her.”

“Okay,” Angie said. Mel noted her hands were shaking when she picked her phone up and flipped on the flashlight app. “Take this with you so you can see.”

Mel aimed the light into the darkness. She pushed aside Holly’s legs and crawled into the small space. There was barely any room to maneuver.

She reached Holly’s wrist and felt for a pulse. It took her a frantic second to find it, but when she did, it was strong. She then checked the rise and fall of her chest. The feathers rippled on each exhale.

“She’s alive,” Mel called.

“Thank god,” Angie said.

“I’m going to try and rouse her,” Mel said. She leaned back over Holly, trying to get up to her face. She felt like she was practically lying on top of her and she worried that if her arm gave out, she was going to crush her. “Holly, wake up! Come on, Holly, I need you to open your eyes.”

A grunt sounded from Holly’s lips and Mel was encouraged.

“You can do it, think about Sydney,” Mel said. “Sydney needs her mom.”

Holly lifted one arm as if to push away the sound that was interrupting her unconscious state.

“Yeah, I’m not going away,” Mel said. “But I might fall on you, so you really want to wake up.”

She said the last two words extra loud and Holly responded by grunting and swearing.

“What the—” Holly’s voice trailed off as her eyes opened. Then she screamed.

Mel had no time to move as Holly began to thrash and fight. Mel took a knee to her rib cage, and with an oomph, she went down, making Holly panic and fight even harder.

“Holly! Stop! Holly, it’s us!” Angie shouted as she grabbed Holly’s legs so Mel could get out without taking a foot to the face.

Mel wriggled out of the crawl space and together she and Angie helped Holly climb out. She was blinking against the light and her lower lip wobbled as if she was about to cry.

Mel didn’t hesitate. She hugged Holly close, giving her warmth and comfort. Angie did the same, and the three of them sat huddled for several long minutes.

“You’re okay now,” Mel said. “You’re safe.”

A sob was Holly’s only response and then another and another. Angie and Mel gazed at each other over Holly’s head. Angie jerked her head in the direction of the stairs and Mel knew that she was saying that they needed to get out of here since they had no idea who had done this, where he was, or if he was coming back.

“Holly, we need to get out of here,” Mel said. “It isn’t safe.”

Holly’s blue eyes were wide and full of tears. Mel felt bad about making her move before she had it together but it was too dangerous to sit here. Holly caught on immediately. She nodded and Mel and Angie helped her to her feet. Together the three of them made their way downstairs.

Before they reached the bottom of the steps, the door banged open and Mel saw Marty run in with Carlos on his heels. When Holly saw them, she paled and began to shake.

She raised her arm and pointed. “You! You did this to me.”

Mel and Angie looked at Carlos and Marty. Carlos? Was he involved?

Before Mel could register what was happening, Holly launched herself down the steps right at Marty. She had her fingernails extended like a wildcat. Marty saw her coming, let out a yelp, and ducked behind Carlos.

Carlos caught Holly around the middle and said, “Holly, stop, this guy is like a hundred years old. I don’t think he’s your man.”

Holly was trying to pull out of Carlos’s hold but the man was built solid like a mighty oak. She’d have had better luck if she’d been wielding an axe.

“But it was him!” Holly insisted. “It was Elvis.”

“Someone dressed like Elvis grabbed you,” Mel stated for clarity even though she knew the answer was yes.

“Crap!” Angie said. “There are like what, three thousand Elvises running around Vegas right now?”

“Come on, we need to talk to the police,” Carlos said. He looked at Mel. “They’re already talking to your friend with the head injury.”

“Manny,” Mel said. “He was supposed to go to the hospital.”

“He refused,” Carlos said. “He was determined to find Holly first. He’s making a righteous stink up there.”

“Manny was hurt?” Holly asked. “Take me to him.”

Carlos led the way upstairs—Mel really, really, really hated stairs now—to the theater’s front office. Inside, Manny was talking to a Las Vegas detective. He was holding an ice pack on his head and the worry lines on his forehead were deeper than usual. When Holly stepped into the room, he dropped his ice bag and half rose from his seat.

“Holly, you’re all right,” he said. He opened his arms and she stepped into them as naturally as if they’d known each other for months instead of hours. “I’ve been frantic. I sent Tate and Oz out to look for you.”

“I’ll call them,” Angie said and she backed out of the room.

The detective rose. He glanced at Holly. “I’m Detective Barnes with the Las Vegas PD. You look a bit banged up, miss. Can I ask what happened?”

Holly nodded and explained that she was the last to leave the stage area after the first half of the show as she was the one who introduced Levi Cartwright for his part of the show. As soon as Levi took the stage, she headed down the stairs. She glanced at Manny.

“I was surprised you weren’t there, but then I thought maybe you had found something out,” she said.

“No, I was tied up, literally,” Manny said. His tone was wry and Holly gave him a weak smile as she continued.

“I started down the stairs. Even though it’s intermission, this is my biggest costume change so I try to give myself plenty of time. I entered my dressing room and then this Elvis person showed up . . .”

“Excuse me?” The detective gave Marty the hairy eyeball and Marty immediately held his hands up in the universal gesture for surrender.

“It wasn’t me,” Marty said. “I was in the audience all evening.”

“He was,” Manny said. “I can vouch for him.”

Barnes turned back to Holly and asked, “Then what happened?”

“I told him he was in the wrong place and then wham! He clocked me in the back of the head and everything went black.”

“The same thing happened to me,” Manny said. “But when I woke up, I was tied up.”

“I was shoved into an air duct,” Holly said. “Luckily, Mel and Angie found me before the person who grabbed me came back.”

Detective Barnes frowned. “I’ll want to see that area.”

“Of course,” Holly said with a shiver.

Barnes looked at Mel. “What made you look there?”

Mel explained that they had figured that there had to be another exit since no one had seen Holly at all. She mentioned that Fancy had told them about the alternate exit. She did not explain how she found it and noted that Marty looked vastly relieved.

“She’s lucky you’re so sharp,” Detective Barnes said.

“Thanks,” Mel said.

The detective was silver haired, with a kind face and a nice manner. She was glad he was the one who would be working with Holly on this. The poor girl was rattled enough as it was.

He turned back to Holly and asked, “Did you notice anything different about the person who did this to you?”

She sighed. “I thought the Elvis outfit made him different but apparently not.”

“I’m not following,” Barnes said.

“There’s an Elvis impersonator convention going on,” Marty said. “There are thousands of us.”

“Oh,” Barnes drew out the word as if it helped him absorb how complicated the problem was. “I don’t suppose there was anything distinct about this Elvis?”

Holly shook her head. “It was like he was in uniform.” She gestured at Marty. “Same black wig, sunglasses, and sparkly white jumpsuit.”

Again Barnes looked at Marty, who put his hands on his chest in a gesture of outraged hurt.

“Marty was the one who helped us find Holly,” Mel said. “We couldn’t have found her without him.”

Barnes frowned. “Perhaps that’s because he knew where he’d stuffed her body.”

“No!” Mel protested. “Trust me, he sacrificed himself to get the information.”

“Really?” Barnes asked. He crossed his arms over his chest and glared at Marty. “Explain.”

“Aw, man.” Marty’s face was so red, he looked like he was being roasted alive. He scuffed the toe of his white boot on the floor. “If you must know, I romanced the location of the back entrance out of Fancy Leroux.”

“When you say ‘romanced’ . . .” Barnes asked.

Marty glared and Barnes had the smarts not to press it.

Manny choked back a laugh and then winced as his head clearly hurt.

“It’s true,” Mel said. “We sent him into her office to get the intel out of Fancy and then we heard, well, she had him, oh, boy. Please believe me when I say he went above and beyond the call of duty.”

Barnes looked like he was trying not to laugh, too. “All right, I’m going to talk to Ms. Leroux. Please wait here as I’m sure I’ll have more questions.”

The door shut behind him and Holly looked at Marty. “I think I owe you an apology and a thank-you.”

She stepped forward and kissed his cheek. If anything, Marty looked even more embarrassed, especially as the door opened and Oz walked in with Tate and Angie behind him.

“Hoo, dang, Marty was right!” Oz exclaimed. “These Elvis duds really are chick magnet material.”