Chapter Ten

Jill

Monday morning starts like any other week with too much going on. Several cars had come in over the weekend, so Johnny is in the shop with the guys all morning, and I’m working on payroll. Around eleven-thirty, Johnny strolls into the office and asks if I can pick up lunch for everyone, so I leave. I return about forty-five minutes later with my purse over my shoulder and my arms full of bags and boxes of food. I take everything to the break room and start setting things down when I hear someone yelling outside of the office. I hustle back out there and find Mindy, looking crazy and out of control, screaming at Eduardo, Johnny’s shop manager. I step into full view and ask, “What’s going on?”

Her eyes snap to mine, and the look of hate she shoots my way should melt me in my shoes. She pushes past Eduardo to come after me, but he snags her by both elbows and pulls her flush against him with a grunt. That sets her off further.

“Why are you keeping him from me? You afraid if he sees me he’ll want me back?”

Her screeching is so loud as she struggles to get out of his grip that I’m surprised the whole shop hasn’t come in to see what’s going on.

“I’m not keeping anything from you, Mindy. It’s his choice who he sees. He’s a grown man.”

I looked past her to Eduardo and ask, “Where’s Johnny?”

“I told him to stay out there. I don’t want him to get arrested because of her. He’s supposed to be calling the cops since she won’t leave.”

Why won’t she go away? I pop my hip out and place my hands on my hips. “Why are you here? He’s told you he’s not interested. He’s told you not to call or come around. Do you want to get arrested?”

“He won’t call the cops on me. I know he won’t. He wants me back, he just doesn’t know how to get rid of you, but I can handle that for him.” She snarls.

Before I can say another word, two uniformed officers walk through the door.

“What the fuck?” she yells.

The first cop looks at Eduardo and says, “We got a call about a problem, I’m guessing this is it?”

He nods but can’t speak as he continues to try and hold her.

“Miss, you have to calm down. This is a place of business. I’m going to ask the gentleman to let you go, but if you don’t settle down, I will cuff you.”

Eduardo releases her and steps in front of me as if he’s protecting me.

“I just want to see Johnny! They’re keeping him from me!” Her hands are laced in her ratty hair, and she’s pulling it out of sheer frustration.

Officer number two speaks up this time, “Miss, John Browning called the station and complained that you’ve been asked to stay away before and when you showed up today, you were asked to leave but refused. He does not want to see you. If you don’t walk yourself out of here, I’ll have you arrested for trespassing. This is your final warning.”

She lets out a wild banshee scream and storms out of the room. As the door closes behind her, my head falls to Eduardo’s shoulder. Her level of crazy is draining.

Officer number two followed Mindy out of the building when she left, and officer number one says to me, “I think you should file a report in case this happens again. She doesn’t seem very stable. We will make sure she leaves the premises now and will increase patrol cars in the area for the next few days. That’s about all we can do for now, though.”

I release a tired sigh. “Thank you for coming. I appreciate it. I’ll talk to Johnny, and we will come in to file a report.”

“I’d like to speak with Mr. Browning before I leave if that’s possible.”

“Sure, I’ll go find him.”

I click on my heels out across the cement floor of the shop in search of Johnny. I see the edge of one tattooed elbow peeking out from under the hood of a Toyota sedan so I call his name.

His head appears, and his expression changes.

“What are you doing here? I thought you’d gone to get food. Please tell me Mindy was gone when you got here.”

“No, I’m afraid not. The police are here now. They want to speak to you. Mindy left, and the other officer followed her to make sure she left the property.”

“I’m sorry, baby. I didn’t think you’d be back during all of that. Are you okay?”

He wipes his hands on a half-greasy towel and follows me inside.

“I’m fine. She’s bat-shit-crazy, but I’m okay. We owe Eduardo. He looked like an alligator wrestler the way he had to hold onto her.”

Johnny spends the next fifteen minutes talking to the police and then all three of us drive to the police station to file a report. I have a bad feeling we haven’t seen the last of her.

****

The rest of the week passes without incident, but I’ve kept my guard up. I just have an awful feeling she’s going to resurface at the most inopportune moment.

At two-thirty on Friday afternoon, Johnny is out of the office taking Judy to an appointment when I get a text from him explaining that Mary and Steve are picking up the baby from daycare and keeping her tonight, because he has a special night planned for us.

Butterflies swarm in my stomach at the thought of what that might mean. He instructs me to leave work a half an hour early to get ready and wear the dress he left out on the bed. I smile a mile wide and shut down my computer so I can head home.

Never having someone do something like this for me before has me giddy with excitement. I rush home not paying attention to anything around me. I jam my key in the door and twist. It pops right open, and I push through. I dump my purse on the couch and hurry back to the bedroom to see what dress he’s chosen.

My feet stop abruptly as my mind tries to process the scene in front of me. The dress Johnny picked is laid across the bed, and Mindy is sitting right next to it with one leg crossed over the other. She’s wearing a sinister grin and holding a piece of paper in her hand. By the look of her, I’m not sure when she showered last. Her hair is greasy and unkempt, way worse than when we saw her Monday. Her clothes are sloppy and have probably been on her body for over a week. She’s not wearing any makeup, and the look in her eyes tells me she passed crazy a long time ago. Crap.

“What are you doing here, Mindy?” I clear my throat trying to push the shaky quality out of it.

“I decided it’s time to come take back what’s mine. By the look of this note and the dress he’s left out, I have my work cut out for me. It’s good that I’m up for the task.”

“Johnny will be here any time now. How about if we wait in the living room for him, and you guys can talk.”

“Nope, I’m done talking. You stole him right out from under me, and I plan to rectify that. Calling the cops the other day only pissed me off more.”

Fear cements my feet to the floor as my brain screams run! Before I can get more than two steps away, she’s on me, the weight of her body smacking me into the wall in the hallway. Clutching my hair, she slams my head into the wall repeatedly until my vision is hazy and my muscles go limp.

Panic fires up my fight-or-flight response even in the fog that my brain is swimming in, and I squirm to get away from her. When that doesn’t work, I kick out and buck my body. Her clawed fingers dig into my scalp, and streaks of pain shoot through me. Then her fist connects with my jaw, and the world goes black.

Unsure of how much time has gone by, a throbbing pain in my head and a burning on my wrists cuts through the cloudy feeling as I wake up disoriented. The severity of my situation comes back to me when I realize I’m in an extremely uncomfortable position.

Crazy Mindy is in our house. She’s tied my hands and feet together too tightly in front of me, and the rope is cutting into my skin. She left me on the living room floor and hasn’t covered my mouth, so I try to scream. The only noise that comes out is a squeak. Dread floods my system, and I worry that she’s done something to my voice. My throat burns and my muscles ache with cramping from the awkward position she has me tied up in. I continue to squeak hoping that a scream will come out if I keep trying.

I lift my head twisting it around like an owl scanning for a threat, and I don’t see her anywhere, so I do a painful, awkward drag-scoot out of the hallway toward the door. My elbows bang on the hardwood floor and send daggers of pain through my arms to my shoulders. My ribs are screaming with each movement, and I’m certain she’s landed a few kicks in them while I was out. I make it to the doorway of the house and fight to stand or crouch. I think that’s as much as the slack in the rope will let me do. If I can’t get up, I’ll never get the door open.

I lean my back against the door and thrust with my legs, heaving my body into motion. It takes several tries, but I finally get upright. My head swims with the change in position, and my vision blurs for a moment. I feel around grasping the handle with my chin. My arms won’t stretch up that far to work the door handle. I can’t get a good grip on it to turn no matter how hard I squeeze my chin to my chest. I keep trying, but it’s no use.

My already rapid breathing is going crazy, and I’m in danger of passing out. It’s then she comes out of my room wearing the dress that Johnny left on the bed for me. It’s ill-fitting since we aren’t the same size. Her breasts are popping out of the top, and possibly it will split along the seams it’s pulled so tight through the hips. She’s run a brush through her hair, but she’s still greasy looking. She’s also plastered on heavy makeup, and scary is the proper word for the look in her eyes.

I panic and swivel my body the best I can. I smash my head into the glass panel by the doorknob and start screaming. I’m so excited sound is finally coming from my throat that I forget to be scared for a second. Blood gushes from my head, and the tangy scent of copper fills my nose and mouth, but I try to scream around it. Again, the weird squeaky sound is back and then it morphs into a full shriek, and I keep going until whoosh, the breath is knocked out of me. Something solid and hard connects with my back smashing me into the door before I sink to the floor to writhe in pain.

Mindy rushes from the room and comes back screaming while waving a gun around, “Don’t fucking move, you home-wrecking bitch! He’s mine, and you won’t ruin our night. Get your ass back in here.”

She growls before she grabs my feet and drags me back away from the door. My breath has returned, but my whole body is quaking with fear. I know if I give in, I’ll never walk out of here alive. I start screaming again, clawing onto anything I can grab with limited mobility as she pulls me away. I manage to throw her against the nearest wall with the power of a double leg thrust and scoot awkwardly backward with my feet still tied together. I use my elbows and the coffee table to climb up and hop toward the door. I’m almost there when I’m knocked clean off my feet as the sound of a gunshot bounces through the room. Searing pain burns into my back, through my chest, and I feel myself falling, and the world goes black.