Chapter Five

I stared down at my phone. That wasn’t like Seth. Even when he was busy, he’d take a few minutes to talk. To tell me he loved me. I had no doubt he knew by now that I’d found a body. Another one. He would have been contacted right away. First, he didn’t show up at the crime scene. Now he didn’t ask me about it. Or even ask how I was. Seth was a mover of mountains when I was in trouble. Me finding a body was trouble. Tied up. Had he ever said that to me before when he was in a meeting? Never. Oh, no.

Before I realized what I was doing, I was speeding down Great Road, east to Bedford where Seth lived. I had to make sure whoever had Stella didn’t have Seth too. I could barely breathe. I cranked a left into the neighborhood of small Cape-style houses where Seth lived. A native of this area would say they banged a left. I sped down the block. The house was dark as I parked across the street and down one house.

I managed to ease out of the car. Close the door quietly. I crept up his driveway, took my key out, got it in the door on the first try, and unlocked it. The first floor was dark, but light spilled into the hall from the open basement door. I barreled toward it. A man—huge, bald, angry-looking—stepped into the hall from the living room. I whacked him in the stomach with my purse. He doubled over and dropped to his knees. I paused, astounded, and then remembered the wine bottle I’d shoved in there earlier.

I skirted around him. Shouted for Seth. Almost flung myself down the stairs. Another huge, thick-haired man started up. I swung my purse again. Caught his ear, and he stumbled back. I flew down the last few steps. Turned to the right. Seth stood there. Not tied up. The Red Sox game was on. Pizza boxes were scattered on the coffee table. I hurled myself into Seth’s arms. He grasped me to him. I realized he was shaking a little.

Footsteps thundered down the stairs. I turned in Seth’s arms. Kept him behind me. The man who I’d whacked in the stomach burst into the room. A gun out. A gun. The other man joined him with a gun of his own.

“It’s okay,” Seth said. “This is Sarah.”

The men hesitated, then holstered their guns.

“Just give us a moment,” Seth said.

They looked at each other, and some message passed between them. They left the room. One holding his stomach, the other his ear.

I turned back to Seth. He wore a soft gray, long-sleeved Henley shirt that hugged his broad shoulders. Even in a casual shirt and jeans he looked knee-weakening handsome. The first time I’d laid eyes on him had been in a bar in Lowell, a town thirty minutes north of here, over two years ago. He was meant to be my fling after my divorce. A one-night stand. But he’d called and persisted, and here we were.

“You aren’t tied up.” The buzzards were back in my head. Flapping ferociously, darkening my vision. I brushed by him, sat on the couch, and put my head between my knees. I wanted to throw up, but not in front of Seth. He sat next to me and rubbed my back. I wanted to think that he’d blown me off for pizza and the game with the guys. But first, he’d never do that to me, especially knowing I’d just found a murder victim, and second, by now I knew a lot of his friends. These two weren’t friends, and then of course there were their guns.

Seth must be in some kind of danger. I lifted my head, grabbed Seth’s face, and kissed him. I pulled back, took in his mussed wavy dark hair and dark brown eyes. “I love you.”

“I love you. I’m sorry I scared you.” He leaned his forehead against mine. “You stood in front of me with two men pointing guns at you.”

The thought of that combined with whacking them both had me dropping my head back between my legs. “What is going on?” I sat back up.

Seth hesitated. Glanced at the stairs. “I wasn’t going to tell you. Wasn’t supposed to tell anyone.”

Seth and I had always had a hands-off policy. We didn’t boss each other around. Didn’t give each other honey-do lists. Seth was exceedingly patient with the situations I’d found myself in since we’d met. It was why I loved him. He didn’t want to change me. He respected me and the decisions I made. My ex hadn’t always done that.

“You have to tell me.” Ironic that I was demanding he tell me what was going on when I wasn’t going to tell him a thing about Stella.

“Someone tried to kidnap me this morning.”

I clapped a hand to my mouth. “What? When? Where?”

“Six thirty. You know how I always stop at the Dunkin’ Donuts in Bedford before I go to work.” He looked down at his hands for a moment. “Stupid of me to always keep the same routine.”

I took his hands. His warm, mine freezing.

“I came out. A black panel van was parked next to me. The door slid open, and this masked figure tried to get me into it. I fought and broke free. The van went tearing off.”

Tears dripped down on our hands. Seth released mine and gently wiped my cheeks. “It’s okay. I’m here.”

Stella had scheduled a ride share to pick her up at eight this morning to take her to the airport. If only she’d have let me take her like I’d offered to. Maybe she’d be safe. But the kidnapper had had plenty of time to get to her if kidnapping Seth didn’t work out. Maybe the ride share was another lead I could track down. Someone was obviously very, very upset with me. Why?

“How are you going to stay safe?” I asked. Just because the sicko didn’t succeed the first time didn’t mean he wouldn’t try again.

“I have the guards. I’ll lay low.”

“If I can get by those guards, anyone can.”

Seth smiled. “You were a force.” Then he frowned. “What caused you to rush over here like that?”

“Something in your voice. How abrupt you were.” I shook my head. “It wasn’t like you, and it scared me.”

“I’m sorry. Those two”—Seth pointed to the ceiling—“will never live this down. I’m sorry I couldn’t be at the crime scene.” He paused, wrinkled his brow. “What were you doing at that house?”

Ugh. I’d told Awesome and the troopers I was thinking of buying a house. I didn’t want to lie about that to Seth. He’d probably be upset if he thought I was planning to buy my own house, and he’d had enough upsetting for one day. “It was for sale, and I saw the door was ajar. Something seemed off.” That was all true.

Seth nodded. “How are you doing?”

I was grateful he didn’t press me on the matter. “I don’t know.” I did. I was a hamster on a wheel, racing in circles, going nowhere. “Do you have any idea who tried to kidnap you?” Maybe it would help me find Stella.

“No. There haven’t been any threats lately.”

I hated that there were ever threats, but I guess it came with the territory.

“Of course, we’re looking through old cases. Checking who’s out of prison who might have a connection to me.”

That was good because they might find the kidnapper before I ever could. It sounded like the kidnapper had made a mistake, and now the DA’s office and probably the police were on his trail. I cuddled into Seth, and he threw his arm around me, drawing me closer.

“Stay,” he said, kissing the top of my head.

I thought of Stella. If her captor called me in the middle of the night to do some task, it would be hard to explain to Seth why I was leaving. “I can’t.” I looked at the TV instead of Seth. “It would be too awkward with the guards here.” That wasn’t a lie—at least not much of one. I stood. “Be safe.”

Seth walked me to the door past the sheepish guards. He kissed me like they weren’t there, and then one walked me to my Suburban. He only stepped back when I started the car and locked the doors.

I had started my drive home when my phone rang.

“Ah, Sarah,” the kidnapper said. “You’ve had a busy day. Where’d you take off to in such a hurry?”

That question gave me more information. Every little bit would help me find Stella. He might have some surveillance in place at my house, but he didn’t have any kind of tracking device on Stella’s phone, my phone, or my car. Because if he did he’d know exactly where I’d been. Unless this was some kind of test. Might as well find out.

“I needed ice cream. I’m going to Bedford Farms.” Actually, I did need something in my stomach. I drove toward Bedford Farms Ice Cream. They had the best ice cream on the planet. I hadn’t eaten in hours, and nothing else sounded good. I’m not sure even ice cream sounded good. But I couldn’t help Stella if I fell apart.

“Oh, they have the best ice cream. I like the Green Monster.”

“What do you want? Because I’m sure you didn’t call to talk about Bedford Farms.”

“Nothing. Just wanted to wish you sweet dreams.”

I hung up before he got a chance to. Somehow it felt like a small victory. I’d suspected since the first call someone local was doing this, and the intimate knowledge of Bedford Farms ice cream flavors proved it to me. I turned into the parking lot of Bedford Farms. It wasn’t crowded tonight, but I caught them just before they closed. I walked up to the window to order a small cup of Almond Joy. Minutes later I was back in my Suburban, motor running with the heated seats and heater on high. My cup held two softball-sized scoops of ice cream. Their idea of small and mine were vastly different.

As I spooned in the ice cream I thought about seeing Seth. How the guy calling me didn’t know that. After I finished I drove home and studied the outside of the house for cameras. I spotted one trained on the front door attached to the roof of the porch. I dragged one of the wicker chairs I’d bought for Stella under it. Climbed on and ripped the camera down. For good measure I stomped on it when I got off the chair. The crunch was the most satisfying thing that had happened to me all day.

* * *

After going through my routine of unlocking and relocking the front door, listening in the foyer, and checking to make sure the chair was still wedged under the basement door, I headed up to my apartment. I’d left every light on when I’d dashed over to Seth’s house.

I was filled with a righteous anger. Whoever was doing this had picked a fight with the wrong person, and if he expected me to be cowed, to do nothing, he had something to learn.

But then my anger faded back to fear. Had Alice in Wonderland been killed because of me? Some poor woman just going through her life and had it snatched away because someone wanted to hurt me? Because, as he said, I “made life hard.”

My phone buzzed with a text.

Broken camera, deduct four hours.

That meant sixteen less hours to find Stella. “Screw you,” I said. I didn’t bother answering. Instead I looked up June and Yousef Ghannam. They stared out at me with perfect smiles, which wasn’t too surprising because Yousef was a dentist and June was a dental hygienist. He wasn’t my dentist and as far as I knew I’d never met them, although I guess they could have come to a garage sale I’d run. I found pictures of Yousef’s retirement party and of the Ghannams standing in front of a large stucco home with cacti in the yard. They seemed unlikely candidates for people who were behind Stella’s kidnapping.

Stella’s phone buzzed. Awesome. How is your room?

* * *

Nothing fancy but close to the theater. I replied for her. I remembered her telling me that before she left. She was happy that she’d found a place close enough to walk back and forth to the theater. Stella didn’t want to have to deal with the traffic in Los Angeles.

Texting with Awesome made my stomach churn. If I got Stella back, no when I got Stella back, this would be the part that was hardest to explain.

Meeting the rest of the cast in a few minutes.

Love you.

Please forgive me, Awesome.

Love you too.

I could have left it at that, but maybe he’d found something out about Alice in Wonderland. Something he would share with Stella. I fought back the guilt I felt for lying again. This was for Stella I reminded myself. I typed in: How was your day?

I waited, watching the little dots as he typed. He must be typing a lot because it was taking a while. Then the text popped up.

The usual.

The usual? Really, Awesome. A murder wasn’t the usual in Ellington.

I tossed the phone aside. Turned on the local news. Nothing yet about Alice in Wonderland or a Jane Doe. My phone buzzed again. Another text.

Well done with Awesome. You gain four

hours back.

Six days and twelve hours to find Stella. If he knew what I’d texted to Awesome, he must have downloaded some kind of app on Stella’s phone. I did a quick check of Stella’s apps. I didn’t see anything unusual, but I’d read that apps like this could be running in the background. That was also good to know. I decided to play along. It was better to let him think I was freaked out, malleable.

Thank you.

 

You’re fun to play with, Sarah.

 

I just want Stella back.

 

I’m sure you do. Good night. The game begins again in the morning. And I have a surprise for you!

 

What did he mean by that?