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“So, you want to know where my brother is....” Lucy said, narrowing her eyes at Sara.
“Yes. It’s important,” Sara said.
“What—so you can seduce him and marry him for his money?” Lucy scoffed. “Get in line. Half of the women I’ve ever met have that in mind. But my brother isn’t going to marry until he stops working for my dad. He told me himself.”
Sara noted that Lucy’s words were slightly slurred. She was tipsy, and Sara took advantage of it.
“Why would he stop working for your father?” Sara asked.
“You’re the journalist,” Lucy said. “You should be able to use your observation skills to figure that one out. He hates my father. They don’t get along. Never have. Davis wants to quit and move onto his yacht, and party all the time. Leave it to my brilliant brother to come up with a plan like that!” She sneered the words sarcastically, and then picked up her martini and took up a healthy swig.
“What is he waiting for, then?” Sara asked. “Why hasn’t he quit yet?”
“He hasn’t quit because he wants the bonus... obviously. Daddy promised both of us that if we could help him buy up all of the rare earth element mines in the States, he’d hand us a very substantial reward. Davis doesn’t think I’m capable of making it happen, so he’s taken matters into his own hands.”
“What do you mean?” Sara asked.
“I mean, he’s obsessed. He’s become a workaholic—constantly talking about the remaining mines that we have to buy to make Daddy happy. The only time he drops it is when he’s out searching for the perfect woman to take with him on his yacht party tour of the globe.”
Sara was feeling increasingly anxious. Just how obsessed was Davis, anyways?
How far would he go to finish the task of buying all of the REE mines, claim the reward from his father, and then take an early retirement?
Amir is the only man standing in Davis’s way, Sara realized.
She pinned her eyes on Lucy. “Tell me—where is he tonight? I have to find him. Your father said he was on a date.”
“Oh, as usual,” Lucy said, with the wave of a jeweled hand. “Who knows where he took her this time. Some dance club, probably.”
The words triggered a memory in Sara. The dance videos! Davis said that he edited his own. That mean that he was capable of editing the security videos as well!
A knot formed in her stomach.
“Try to think, Lucy. Did he mention the name of a club, by any chance?”
Just then, the handsome man to Lucy’s left finished up with the bartender. He slid a second martini in front of Lucy.
“Here you go,” he said to her. “I thought you might like another.”
Lucy smiled, and flipped her hair over her shoulder as she turned back to the man. “Oh! Thank you so much. I’d love another!” she said with a flirtatious giggle.
Sara knew a lost cause when she saw one. There’s no way I’m going to get anything else from her, she thought.
She was becoming more and more convinced that Davis was a killer, but she wasn’t sure what to do about it.
Turning to face the pool, she took in her surroundings. The pool was bordered by a cement patio, crammed with as many lounge chairs as would fit. Beyond the chairs was a glass wall that looked in on the interior pool. To the right of that, there was one hotel patio, with a door that led into a suite.
The patio was in the shadows. As soon as she saw it, she recalled that Davis had mentioned that his room was the only one with access to the pool.
That’s his room, Sara thought. Immediately, she left the bar. Lucy was too distracted by her new drink, and the attention of the handsome man who supplied it, to notice Sara’s departure.
That was fine with Sara. She wanted to be unnoticed.
She tried to appear casual as she wandered toward the balcony, and finally she passed the second row of lounge chairs and slipped into the shadows of the empty balcony. A light was on inside of the hotel room, but she didn’t see any movement.
The door into the hotel room was closed.
How am I going to get in? she wondered, as she reached for the door handle. She completely expected it to be locked, and was surprised to feel the handle turn effortlessly in her hand. He forgot to lock it! she thought.
A quick glance over her shoulder informed her that no one was watching. She held her breath as she pulled the door open and stepped inside.
The hotel room appeared empty. She exhaled. Her heart pounded. What am I doing in here? she thought. I just broke in! What if he’s in the bathroom or something! What if he walks in while I’m in here?
Stay calm, she ordered herself. I need to look for evidence that he’s a killer. Then I can call the cops.
She searched quickly and methodically, and soon came to a small black duffel bag at the bottom of the hotel closet. It was partly open, and she caught sight of a length of red rope sticking out of the bag. She pulled open the bag and looked down at the rope. It was cut in several places. Little frayed red strings hung from the ends.
She opened the bag farther. Now that the rope was out of the bag, she could see more items. Folded up white pastry boxes and a spool of pink ribbon caught her eye.
Next to the tags, she saw a bottle of sleeping pills, with Lucy’s name on it. He must have stolen the medicine from his sister! thought Sara. Crushed and baked into a pastry, it could sedate a person for quite some time. What does he do once they've eaten the drugged treat? she wondered.
He probably drags their sedated body to a car, piles them inside, drives off of the property, and stages an accident. All he would have to do is position the sleeping body in the driver’s seat, put the car into drive, and physics would take care of the rest. The bodies were so smashed up that no one considered the fact that they could have been asleep when the crash happened.
Then, he returns to cover up his tracks by fixing up the security footage.
With a shaking hand, she reached for her cellphone and called 9-1-1. Within five minutes, she had reported her suspicions to dispatch, and was connected to an officer on duty.
It took another ten minutes to report the facts as she knew them.
“Please,” she said, as she reached the end of her monologue. “You have to do something right away.”
“We’ll be over shortly,” The officer said. “Just stay where you are, ma’am. We’ll meet you there and take down your statement. A detective may bring you in for questioning as well.”
“No—don’t waste your time questioning me!” Sara said. “Find Amir, first.”
“With all due respect, ma’am, we need to follow the correct procedure. Try to stay calm. We will see you soon.”
Sara hung up the phone. She looked at her clock. It was 9:15.
The sound of her phone ringing made her jump.
“Cinda Rella” the caller ID stated.
Sara picked up. “You almost gave me a heart attack,” she said into the receiver.
“Why? Did I wake you up? Were you sleeping?” Cinda asked.
“No! I’m in Downtown Dayton at the hotel where the Smiths are staying. I’m in Davis Smith’s room. He’s not here but I just found evidence that he’s the killer. I think he’s drugging pastries and staging car wrecks. I just called the police. They’re on their way.”
“Good,” Cinda said. “I hope they can act fast. I just spoke to two more of the mine owners’ spouses. You said to look for patterns, and I found some. First of all, each of them found gift boxes with pastries inside. Also, each of the accidents happened between ten and eleven at night, just like Matt’s. Maybe Abner’s death was an outlier. Maybe the rest of the deaths follow that exact pattern?”
Sara felt panic grip her heart. “I have to go!” she said into the phone.
In seconds flat she had left Davis’s hotel room.
I don't have time to wait for the police to start an official investigation, she thought, as she pushed her way through the revolving glass doors, and found herself back out on the sidewalk. The night air was cooler now, but adrenaline kept her body warm.
She leapt into her car, peeled away from the curb, and started weaving through traffic, squeezing through every yellow light that she could. At last she hit the open road, and pressed her foot to the gas pedal. Her little Camry shook as she pushed eighty miles an hour on the freeway that led out of Dayton. Luckily, she didn’t pass any cops, and soon reached the exit that would take her to the mine.
The road to the mine was free of traffic. She searched for signs of one of Amir’s cars as she drove, but all she saw was open road.
It was 9:45 when she reached the guard house.
A white plastic barrier was down across the road near the guard house. There was a little scanning station next to it, where an employee might flash a badge to make the barrier open or close.
Sara placed her hand behind the passenger seat and looked over her shoulder as she backed up. Then, she pressed her foot down on the gas and gained speed as she headed straight for the barrier. She squeezed her eyes shut at the last minute, but her car sailed through the gate no problem, with just the sound of plastic crunching and breaking on impact.
She sped the next half mile to the mine building.
The front doors to the building were also locked, and this presented a problem.
The desire to find Amir drove her to act. She picked up a large rock and threw it, as hard as she could, at a window to the left of the locked doors. It shattered. She did her best to clear away broken shards of glass, and then hoisted herself up and through the window.
She found herself in the front lobby.
It was fairly dark—lit only by a row of fluorescent lights near one wall. She ran across the lobby, heading in the direction of Matt’s old office.
That must be were Amir is, she thought. Davis always does the same thing... he offers a gift box of pastries. The sleeping pills are strong, and act quickly. He hides the sleeping body out of sight until all of the other workers leave. Once the coast is clear, he drags them to their car.
She reached the doorway to Matt’s office. It was closed. She tried to be quiet as she strode up to it and tried the handle. Locked. There was a keypad on it, with numbers.
What was the code to enter?
And more importantly, what would she do once she was inside?
Davis must be in there with him, she realized, with a pounding heart. Amir will be unconscious. It’s going to be up to me to take Davis out.
She tried to steady her shaking hand as she let it hover over the keypad. Think, Sara, think! What is the code?
Suddenly, it came to her.
Gabby had used a code to get into Matt’s briefcase. It was the date of their anniversary. Valentine’s Day! thought Sara
Please let it be just the month and date.
She keyed in 2-1-4, but a double beep and flashing red light let her know she was wrong.
0-2-1-4 she tried.
Beep! The light on the keypad flashed green.
Sara turned the handle, readying herself for what she might see on the other side. How would she handle Davis? She had no idea.
Instinct took over as she scanned the room. Amir was seated in his chair, with his head, shoulders, and arms slumped down over the desk. Without hesitating, she ran towards him.
Was he dead? Merely sleeping?
Davis stood next to Amir, a look of shock on his face as Sara burst into the room.
“I knew it was you!” she shouted. She reached Amir and began shaking him by the shoulders. “Amir! Amir, can you hear me?”
She lifted her face to Davis. “What did you do to him?”
Davis froze, but only for an instant. He then reached for a gun out of the back waistband of his pants. “He’s sleeping. Just like the rest,” he said. “Soon he’ll be in his car, flying down the road completely out of control. I think you’re going to be next to him.” He had his gun aimed at her head.
Sara’s mouth was so dry, it was hard to form words. She forced the words to come, and struggled to make her tone even and calming. “Davis... think about this. You can’t shoot me. Not here. It’s too messy. You would never do a thing like that. It’s not your style.”
He grinned. “You’re right. You’re going to be a challenge, just like Abner was. I’m going to have to tie you up. Let’s see... I think I have some rope here somewhere.”
While looking around at the ground around the desk, he continued. “It comes in handy, when I’m getting bodies into their cars. You have no idea how heavy a sleeping body can be. Ah! There it is.”
He aimed the gun with one hand, and used his other to lift a section of rope off of the floor. Sara recognized another section of red rope. She’d seen fibers of that very rope in Matt’s car.
Are we going to be next? Sara thought. Will Amir and I die before we ever have a chance to go on our first date?
Her mind worked quickly. If he wants to tie me up, he’s going to have to put the gun down.
I have to make him think I’m weak. I have to make him feel comfortable.
She scrunched up her face, and willed tears to come. They sprang out onto her cheeks, and she wailed pitifully, “Please, Davis, don’t hurt me! I don't want to die. Please.”
She sniffed and conjured up more tears.
They dripped down her cheeks, and Davis smiled. “You’re pretty, even when you cry. It’s a pity you didn’t want to be in my dance videos. You could have been a star.”
He placed his gun down on the desk, and now managed the length of rope with two hands.
Sara continued to cry. “Please... please... Davis, don’t tie me up,” she sniffled, until he was close. Then she lifted her knee up and smashed him in the groin with so much force that she was sure he was seeing a few stars of his own.
“Hows that for a star?” she asked, lowering her leg and then lifting it again.
After kneeing him in the groin again, she reached both hands up for Davis’s head. Gripping it, she forced it down onto the desk. He was still reeling from her initial attack, and didn’t even defend himself as his head hit the desk with a loud thunk.
He rolled off of the desk, onto the floor. Sara knelt over him and lifted his limp wrist. He had a pulse, but was unconscious. She rolled him onto his stomach, lifted his arms behind him, and tied his wrists with the length of red rope that had fallen to the floor.
Next, she stood. Amir’s eyes were closed. She pressed her fingertips into his wrist.
His pulse was steady and strong, but slow. She felt like crying out with joy at the proof that his heart was still beating. Instead, she shook him again. “Amir, Amir, wake up! It’s me—Sara. Sara White.”
He did not stir.
She lifted his shoulders, and propped his unconscious body in the chair. She needed to reach his sternum. She knew that to wake an over-sedated person, one of the best methods was a sternal rub.
Now that his chest was exposed, she rubbed her hand over it with her knuckles. He was so sound asleep that she worried he wasn’t getting enough oxygen. His pulse was so slow, and his breathing was even slower.
“Come on Amir!” she said aloud. “Wake up, wake up!”
He would not wake. Tears streamed down her cheeks in earnest now. She had to get him breathing—fast.
She leaned over him, and place her lips gently on his. Please, Amir, she thought silently, as she let her lips rest on his. Please. I need you.
After delivering the kiss, she pulled away.
Amir’s eyelids fluttered. He moaned softly. Then, with his eyes still closed, he wrapped his arms around Sara. He pulled her in closer, and her lips touched his again.
This time, he kissed her deeply and passionately. When they parted, he opened his eyes.
“Sara,” he said dreamily. Then confusion took over. “I...I don’t remember... what are you doing here?”
“It’s okay,” she said. “You’re going to be okay. You were drugged, Amir... by Davis Smith. He was going to kill you.”
She pointed to Davis’s unconscious body on the floor. This gave Amir a start.
“What the hell?” he said.
“It’s okay,” she repeated. “I found you. I realized what was happening. I found you. I...” Her humble nature would not permit her to go on.
Amir took over. “You saved me, didn’t you?” he asked.
Sara nodded. She was still in shock herself. “I—I think I did,” she said.
He wrapped her in his arms, and kissed her again.