Murder at the Pet Boutique

by Cindy Bell

  “That little thing!” John sneered. “Give me the emeralds!” He waved his gun in the air.

  “Wait, please.” Nikki knew she had to think fast. If he was pushed, he would just kill them all, then use the time to search the place. He might never find the emeralds, but what difference would that make? She looked over at Mrs. Whitter, who trembled from head to toe as she tried to quiet Princess. She had to find a way to get him away from them. As long as they were together, Mrs. Whitter was at risk. “Listen, I don’t know where the emeralds are, and neither does Mrs. Whitter. But you said it’s Bryan that stole them from you?”

  “Yes, he did, and I think you’re lying to me.” John pointed the gun directly at Nikki. “A bullet might teach you not to.”

  “Don’t!” Nikki gasped as she stared at the barrel of the gun. She tried to think of a way to delay him from pulling the trigger. “The emeralds, they’re not here. But I think I know where they are.”

  “You do?” He lowered the gun a few inches. “Where?”

  “I saw Bryan digging in the woods. I thought it was strange, but it wasn’t my business, so I just kept walking. But I know where he was digging. I bet he hid them there. I can take you to them.” Nikki’s heart pounded so hard that she was sure he could hear the sound of it.

  “Where are they? Just tell me.” He took a step towards her, his eyes narrowed.

  “I can’t describe it. But I can take you there.” Nikki drew a deep breath in an attempt to control her fear.

  “You’ll tell me where they are right now!” He grabbed her hard by the shoulder and shoved her out of the way, then trained his weapon on Mrs. Whitter. “Or she dies!”

  “No, don’t!” Nikki screamed as Mrs. Whitter gasped in fear. “She doesn’t know where the emeralds are. Only I do. If you do anything to hurt her, I won’t tell you. You can kill us both, but you will never find those emeralds.” Her stomach clenched in terror. Would he know that she was lying? Would he shoot them both out of spite?

  “This is ridiculous.” He turned the gun back towards her. “I have ways of making you talk.” He frowned. “But I’m short on time.”

  “Then it’s simple. Just let me take you to the emeralds. I will show you exactly where they are, as long as you promise that Mrs. Whitter is safe. She has to stay here, with Princess.” Nikki glanced at Mrs. Whitter to find that her face had gone pale, and she looked as if she might faint.

  “Sure, I’ll leave them here to call the police. You must think I’m plain stupid.” He rolled his eyes.

  “No, you can lock her in the laundry room. There’s a lock on the outside of the door. There’s nothing inside, no alarms, no phone lines, nothing.”

  “What about cell phones?” John asked.

  “Her phone is on the table.” Nikki pointed at the phone on the hall table as they walked past. She tried to keep her voice steady. “Mine is still in my car. She won’t be able to call anyone.” She gestured to the door in the hallway that led to the laundry room. “Please, if you lock her in the room, then I will have your emeralds in your hands in no time.”

  “It’s not exactly going to be easy to haul the two of you around.” He ran his free hand along his chin as he considered it. Then he gestured to Mrs. Whitter with his gun. “Go on, get in there.”

  “Nikki, no you can’t go with him!” Mrs. Whitter gulped as she inched towards the laundry room. “You won’t be safe!”

  “It’s okay, Mrs. Whitter. Please, just do what he says. You and Princess will be safe in there.” She locked her eyes to Mrs. Whitter’s. She had no idea if Mrs. Whitter would use her phone to call for help, or even remember it was in the laundry room. But she knew it was their only hope.

  “You’d better not harm her!” Mrs. Whitter shouted at John.

  “Sure, whatever, just get in there.” He gave her shoulder a light shove towards the door.

  “Don’t hurt her!” Nikki demanded.

  “Calm down, she’s fine.” He rolled his eyes again, then closed the door the moment Mrs. Whitter was inside the laundry room. He turned the lock. Then he dragged a kitchen chair over to the door and shoved it underneath the knob. “There.” He turned back to Nikki. “Now, we have some business to attend to.” He pointed the gun at her. “Are you going to cooperate? Because if you cause me any trouble, I can have my partner here in seconds to finish off the old lady and her dog, too.”

  “I will do anything you say.” Nikki nodded. “I just want them to be safe.”

  “Don’t give me any reason to change my mind then.” He gave the door a swift kick, which caused Princess to yelp and growl.

  “I won’t.” Nikki’s chest tightened with fear. She knew that eventually he would figure out that there were no emeralds in the woods, and at that point her life would probably be over. But she hoped she’d bought both herself and Mrs. Whitter enough time to survive, that was if the shock and trauma weren’t too much for Mrs. Whitter’s heart to take.

  “Good girl.” He grabbed her by the arm and pulled her towards the front door. She felt the barrel of his gun dig into her side and knew with certainty that he wouldn’t think twice about pulling the trigger.

  * * *

  Panic pumped through Nikki’s veins with each step she took outside of the house. She didn’t know if her plan would work, she hadn’t exactly had time to think it through. Her only goal was to get him away from Mrs. Whitter and Princess. Now she wondered if she should have told him the truth about the emeralds. Maybe he would have let them all go. She doubted it, but it might have been better than whatever was about to happen.

  “Please, don’t hurt them. She doesn’t know anything about any of this.” Nikki spoke loudly, hoping that someone passing by might hear her, though she knew it was unlikely.

  “Quiet!” John pushed her roughly down the driveway. A black sedan that must have belonged to him was parked on the street. He gestured to the driver’s side door.

  “Get in, you’re driving.”

  Nikki opened the door, her senses heightened by the panic that rushed through her. She guessed that once she was inside she would never be able to escape him. A quick look around revealed just how isolated she was. Mrs. Whitter’s house was so far back from the road, and separated by plenty of land from her neighbors. Even if Nikki screamed, she knew it was unlikely that anyone would hear her.

  “Now!” John barked at her.

  “Yes, sorry.” She opened the door and slid into the driver’s seat.

  John sat in the passenger seat, then handed her the keys. As she turned on the car, she wondered if he was Bryan’s killer. It appeared as if he was capable of murder, and obviously Bryan was somehow involved with these emeralds. But if he wanted the emeralds so bad, would he have killed Bryan? She wasn’t sure. As she drove down the driveway, it gave her little comfort to think that he might not be Bryan’s murderer. That didn’t mean that he wouldn’t be hers.

  Nikki did feel some relief that she had gotten him away from Mrs. Whitter, but she wondered who his partner was. Tim? Was he the type of person who could kill an elderly woman? She wanted to believe he wasn’t, but after what Quinn had to say about him, she guessed he might be. Her heart pounded as she tried to think of a way to escape. She did her best to drive on the main roads as she hoped that someone might realize that she was in trouble and stop them. Her thoughts traveled to Quinn. She knew that in some way he would blame himself if she ended up dead. It wouldn’t be his fault, but he was the kind of man that would take responsibility for it. She hated the thought of him being hard on himself over her mistake. Maybe if she had locked the door after she came in the house, he wouldn’t have gotten inside. She couldn’t honestly recall if she had locked it or not. But she knew deep down, that it wouldn’t really have made a difference either way. She did all she could do to protect Mrs. Whitter, but she was terrified that it wouldn’t be enough.

  “Where are you going?” John barked at her and drew her back to reality.

  One glance in the direction of the
gun that he pointed at her, reminded her how dire her situation was. She felt a rush of fear wash over her, and regret. She’d never even had the chance to tell Quinn how she felt about him. For a second, she entertained the thought of crashing the car.

  “Answer me!” John growled. “You said that it was in the woods, there are no woods in this direction!”

  “We’re almost there.” Nikki shuddered as her hands tightened on the steering wheel. “I’m sorry, I’m not used to having a gun pointed at me.”

  “Trust me, sweetheart, having it pointed at you is better than what I plan to do next if you don’t get me to those emeralds!” His voice raised, and he leaned closer to her, but before he could follow through, his cell phone rang. “What is it?” He growled into the phone. After a moment, his voice raised even further. “This is one big, fat mess! Be there in five minutes!” He hung up the phone, then pointed the gun directly at Nikki. “Turn left at the next intersection.”

  “But the gems aren’t that way.” Her heart lurched.

  “Do what I say or you can spend the rest of the ride in the trunk.” He released the safety on the gun.

  “Okay, yes I will.” Nikki squeezed her eyes shut for just a second, then switched on the turn signal. One good bump in the road might set the gun off. She had to be careful. As he directed her where to go she wondered what had changed. Did he know that she was lying? Who was he on the phone with? The questions swirled in her mind as she wondered if Mrs. Whitter had found her cell phone in the laundry room. She could only hope, otherwise no one would even know she was missing. A brief glance in the direction of the clock on the dashboard revealed that she was late to pick up the dogs for their morning walk. Most of the owners were out when she picked up the dogs, they probably wouldn’t notice that she didn’t show up to get them.

  “Turn right here, and keep going straight.” He frowned as he stared at her, then turned his attention to the windshield.

  Nikki’s heart sank as she realized that they were headed out of town. Wherever he was taking her, she had a feeling he had no intention of ever bringing her back. Tears began to prick at the backs of her eyes as she tried to steady her emotions. Breaking down would not help her to escape, though at this point she didn’t think there was any way to escape.

  Chapter 13

  “Where are we going?” Nikki stole a glance in John’s direction, though barely turned her head to do so. Each time she saw the gun, her panic increased.

  “Just drive.” He cleared his throat and settled back in the passenger seat.

  Nikki tightened her grip and considered her options. If she tried to crash the car, the gun would go off, and she might not survive it. If she tried to jump out, she would likely hit the road too hard. She began to edge the speed of the car down enough that she might survive a jump out. He didn’t notice at first as he continued to stare hard through the windshield. As the car slowed down further, he looked over at her, then at the speedometer.

  “What are you doing?” He snapped at her. “Why are you slowing down?”

  “I can’t see.” Nikki sniffled as she gripped the steering wheel tight. “I’m so scared, I can’t see, clearly. I’m trying not to cry.”

  “You listen to me!” John lunged so close to her that she winced and the car swerved slightly to the left. “You should be scared! If you do anything to draw attention to us, I will make sure that you don’t ever step out of this car, understand?”

  “I understand.” Nikki gulped and sped the car back up. As her heart slammed against her chest she realized that everything she did from this moment on was a risk. However, she also knew that when they reached their destination, she would likely not be set free.

  After driving about ten miles out of town, he pointed out a street for Nikki to turn down. The farther she drove down it, the more desolate it became. The long road led to an abandoned building, perhaps once a warehouse, where a motorcycle was parked. Her stomach twisted as she tried to work out who John had spoken to on the phone. Was it Tim? Was it Heather?

  “Park right there.” John pointed to an area not far from the motorcycle. “Don’t bother trying to scream, there’s nothing around here. I scoped it out well.” He shot her a look of warning.

  Nikki could only nod as she put the car into park. He snatched the keys out of the ignition.

  As Nikki looked through the windshield, she saw Tim walk towards the car. Her heart dropped. She thought he was innocent. Tim seemed puzzled, then his expression darkened.

  “What is she doing here?” Tim paused at the passenger side window. “Why did you bring her?”

  “I told you I would get the emeralds no matter what it took. I went back to that old lady’s house to look for them again.” John popped the door open, but kept his gun trained on Nikki.

  “I told you I already searched the house!” Tim growled. “The emeralds weren’t there!”

  “But you had to rush, you were interrupted.”

  “It doesn’t matter, they weren’t there.” Tim raised his voice. “What have you done now? Why did you bring her?”

  “She told me she knows where the emeralds are. We were on our way to get them, when you decided to call an emergency meeting!” John scowled at Tim. “This has been one big mess from the start. Now, I’m going to start cleaning it up.”

  “She doesn’t have the emeralds!” Tim balled his hands into fists at his sides. “There’s no way she does! She would have turned them in to the police!”

  “She said she saw Bryan burying something in the woods.” John frowned as he looked over at Nikki. “She’d better not be lying, or she’s going to pay the price.”

  “I’m not!” Her voice trembled as she spoke. She didn’t sound convincing, even to her own ears. As she looked past John at Tim, she wondered if there was some shred of decency within him that would keep her safe.

  “She’s lying, you idiot. She’s just trying to keep herself alive!” Tim slammed his hand against the top of the car. “I never should have gotten involved with you!”

  “Well, now you are.” John shifted his weapon from Nikki to Tim. “Either you tell me why you called me here, or you’re going to be part of the mess that I need to clean up.”

  “I want to know the truth.” Tim’s shoulders straightened as he stared at the larger man.

  “This isn’t the time.” John stepped out of the car, though he shot a look of warning back in Nikki’s direction. “The only thing we should be focused on right now is finding the emeralds. You interrupted me in the process of getting them.”

  “That’s crazy, she doesn’t have any idea where those emeralds are.” Tim rolled his eyes. “You should just let her go.”

  Nikki sighed with relief. Maybe she wasn’t so wrong about Tim after all. He seemed eager for John to release her.

  “Let her go?” John chuckled. “There’s no way I’m doing that. She knows too much. If you’re right and she doesn’t know where the emeralds are, then she’s useless to us.”

  “John!” Tim glared at him. “You told me that no one was going to get hurt!”

  “I don’t care what I told you. You knew what you were getting into. Things are out of hand, because of your idiot brother, and we have to handle it. No actually, you have to handle it.” John held his gun out to Tim. “You made this mess, now you’re going to take care of it. If you don’t, then you become part of the mess I need to clean up, understand me?”

  “John, this is crazy. Like you said, we have to find those emeralds.” Tim shook his head. “Why waste our time on this?”

  “I’m not wasting my time. I’m going back to that old woman’s house, and I’m going to turn it upside down. If I don’t find the emeralds, then I’ll move on to every house in Dahlia. I will find what I’m looking for, no matter what it takes.” John pushed his gun into Tim’s hand. “You need to hurry up with your task, so you can help me look for them.”

  “All right, all right. Fine.” Tim closed his hand around the gun and looked past J
ohn into the car.

  Nikki looked away as she noticed his attention on her. Terrified that John would hurt Mrs. Whitter after all, she wondered if there was any way to stop him. At the moment, she couldn’t think of one.

  “Give me the keys to the bike.” John held out his hand.

  “Go easy on it.” Tim tossed him the keys. Then he took the car keys from John. As he walked around to the driver’s side of the car, Nikki held her breath.

  “Get out.” He pulled open the driver’s side door.

  “What?” Nikki stared up at him. “Tim, please.”

  “Get out of the car!” Tim demanded as John gunned the engine of the motorcycle. He took off down the long road.

  Alone with Tim, Nikki had no idea if she would survive the next few minutes. She eased her way out of the car as her body trembled.

  “Up against the car.” He gave her a light shove.

  “Tim, please, you don’t have to do this.”

  “Quiet.” Tim grabbed her hands and tied them behind her back with something that felt like a cord. Then he walked her around the car. For a second, she thought he might put her in the trunk. Instead he pushed her down in the passenger seat. As he buckled her seat belt, she hoped that meant that he wanted to keep her alive. “I’m sorry about this, Nikki. I really am.”

  Tim walked back around the car and climbed into the driver’s seat. As the engine started, Nikki’s heart sank. Any hope she had that he would let her go, vanished. She closed her eyes and hoped that by now Mrs. Whitter was safe, and Quinn was looking for her.

  * * *

  After several minutes of driving in silence, Nikki got the idea that Tim didn’t have a particular destination. She glanced over at him, and noticed the stress that deepened the lines in his face. It seemed to her that he was tense over more than just the missing emeralds.

  “I’m sorry about your brother.” Nikki spoke tentatively, unsure how he would react to the sound of her voice.