by Joanne Fluke
“Hush, Cappy.” Maura turned to smile at him. She’d recognized the car and it was no threat. “It’s okay. I know who it is.”
The doorbell rang, and Maura hesitated, her hand on the knob. Steve had told her not to let anyone in, but this was an exception. She could use some company, and they could talk until Jan and Hank got home. Cappy was still growling and Maura turned to frown at him. “I said it’s okay, Cappy. You can stop now.”
Maura flicked off the security system and opened the door with a smile on her face. “Hi, David. I’m glad you’re here. Please come in.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Jan’s face was flushed and her eyes were sparkling as she wrapped her arms around Hank’s neck and returned his kiss. She’d never felt so wonderful in her entire life!
“Is that a yes?” Hank pulled back to grin at her.
“Yes!” Jan shivered slightly, and grinned back. “Nita was right, and now I know exactly what she meant!”
Hank looked puzzled. “Nita?”
Jan nodded, and then she laughed. “Nita told me I’d know if I ever fell in love, and she was absolutely right. I love you, Hank.”
“You’re sure it’s not just tradition?”
Jan stared at him in confusion. “What do you mean . . . tradition?”
“Ingrid Bergman fell in love with Roberto Rossellini, Sophia Loren married Carlo Ponti, and Judy Garland was Vincente Minnelli’s wife. Actresses tend to fall in love with their directors.”
Jan laughed. “I’m not an actress. I just did that for fun. I’m going to be a psychologist, remember?”
“Right.” Hank nodded. “Maybe I’ll become your patient. Patients always fall in love with their shrinks, don’t they?”
“Sometimes, but that’s just transference. It doesn’t last. We’re going to last, aren’t we, Hank?”
“I’m betting on it.” Hank pulled her close and kissed her again. “Are you sure you won’t want to date other guys when you go back to Princeton?”
“I’m sure. How about you? Won’t you get lonely?”
“Of course I will. But I’ve got my work, and you’ll be home on vacations. We’ll make it, Jan. I know we will.”
“Isn’t love wonderful?” Jan turned to him with shining eyes. “Love’s so different than I thought it would be. I can’t believe I even thought I might be in love with . . . uh-oh!”
An expression of alarm crossed Jan’s face, and Hank frowned. “What is it?”
“David. I have to tell him. He told me he thought he was falling in love with me. And when I said I didn’t feel the same way, he promised to wait until I did.”
Hank’s frown grew deeper. “What are you going to tell him?”
“I’m going to be honest, and say I’m in love with you. I owe him that much. I don’t want him to think he’s got a chance, when he doesn’t.”
“Okay.” Hank nodded. “Do you think he’ll be very upset?”
“I don’t think so . . . not if I tell him right away. But he will be, if I wait. I think I’ll call him tonight. It’s only fair.”
Hank pulled over to the curb, and opened the door of the limo. “There’s no time like the present. Go ahead, Jan. Climb in the back and use the phone.”
* * *
She’d managed to roll from the bed to the floor, but there was no way she could get free. He’d tied her knees, and her ankles, and her wrists, and then he’d tethered them together. She knew she had to do something to try to get free now, while she had the chance. The babysitter game had gone too far, and when she’d tried to run out of the apartment, he’d caught her and shackled her as his captive.
“Wait right here.” He’d laughed as he’d seen the tears of fright in her eyes. “I’ve got to do a job for some friends of mine. And when I come back, we’ll pick up right where we left off.”
She’d stared up at him, hardly daring to breathe, hoping he wouldn’t kill her right then and there. And he’d knelt down next to her on the bed, and smiled a terrible smile.
“She has to die, but it won’t be any fun for me. It has to look like an accident so I can’t stick around to see it. But you, my pretty little babysitter, will make up for all that when I get back. I’m going to watch you die and I’ll make it happen very slowly. Bye-bye for now. I’ll be back.”
He was evil, and totally insane, and she doubled her efforts. The wool rug scratched her skin as she rolled and inched her way into the living room. She had to try to get out somehow. And then she heard it. The phone was ringing, and it was right by the couch.
With a desperate motion, she crashed into the table, knocking the phone to the floor. And she heard a woman’s voice coming out of the receiver. “Hello, David? Hello?”
She couldn’t talk. He’d taped her mouth. But she tried to make as much noise as she could, groaning and grunting, and attempting to scream through the tape that covered her lips.
“Hello? Are you all right? David? Answer me!” There was a moment of silence and then a man’s voice came on the line. “David? We know you’re in trouble. Hold on, guy . . . we’re on our way over there right now!”
* * *
“Would you like a drink while we’re waiting for Jan to get home?” Maura scooped up Cappy and held him under one arm. For some strange reason, he was nervous around David tonight, and he was still growling, low in his throat.
“Thanks, Mrs. Thomas.” David gave her a boyish grin. “Do you have any red wine?”
“It’s in the wine rack. And the corkscrew is in the little drawer behind the bar. Choose whatever you like, David. I’ll take Cappy outside for a minute, and then I’ll put him to bed. I’m afraid he’s not being very sociable tonight.”
David nodded. “Okay, Mrs. Thomas. Would you like me to pour you a glass?”
“No, thanks. I had some cognac earlier, and that’s enough for me.”
The moment they got outside, Cappy stopped growling. But when Maura tried to coax him back inside again, he refused to budge. “All right, then. I’m going in without you.”
Maura took a step toward the house, and Cappy raced around in front of her to stand in her way. He made the growling sound again, and blocked her way when she tried to step around him.
“What’s with you tonight?” Maura tried to pick him up, but Cappy darted away. She’d never seen him act so strangely. And then she remembered how Boris and Natasha had reacted when the authorities had come to the farmhouse the morning after she’d taken the ring and the message from Nick’s body. The low growl was a warning. Cappy was telling her that it was dangerous to go back in the house.
“It’s all right, Cappy.” Maura reached for him again. “There’s nobody inside except David.”
But Cappy wouldn’t let her touch him. And he wouldn’t let her enter the house again, either. His strange reaction made Maura think. What did she really know about David?
David had said that he was Grant’s nephew, but was he really? And had their chance meeting at the club’s tennis court been planned? Cappy hadn’t reacted to anyone else the way he reacted to David. He adored Hank, and Steve, and the gardener, and the pool man. David was the only one he didn’t seem to like. Cappy was naturally protective of her because she was his trainer and his mistress. Some dogs had a sixth sense about danger, and Cappy was a very intelligent puppy. It was possible that his instincts were better than hers.
“Are you all right, Mrs. Thomas?”
David appeared in the doorway, and Cappy growled again. Maura glanced down at the puppy and then she made up her mind. It was better to err on the side of caution.
“I’m fine. I’m just waiting for Cappy to finish up. Help yourself to a snack, David. There’s a plate of cheeses in the refrigerator.”
The yard lights were out, and Maura could see him hesitate in the doorway. And then he turned and went back inside. Now as the time, and she had to hurry.
“Come, Cappy!” Maura whispered the words and the little dog trotted quickly to her side. There was no way
she could get to the panic button on the security system, but the circuit box for the lights was on the outside wall of the garage.
Cappy seemed to recognize the urgency, because he didn’t make a sound as they ran across the lawn to the garage. Maura opened the box and shoved up on the handle of the master circuit. It made a slight popping sound and all the lights in the house went off.
There was the sound of glass shattering and she heard David’s voice. “Son of a bitch!”
He sounded mean, not like the nice college man at all, and Maura shivered. And then he called out again, in the voice she usually heard.
“Mrs. Thomas? Are you all right, Mrs. Thomas?”
Cappy gave a barely audible growl, and Maura reached down to put her hand on his collar. He seemed to know that her gesture meant silence and he stood there trembling, pressed up against her leg.
Maura could hear David walk across the room to the patio door. It slid open and she heard his footsteps on the bricks outside, searching the patio for her.
“Now.” Maura whispered the word and they moved to the kitchen door, slipping inside and hurrying to the living room where she’d left the gun under a couch pillow.
But the gun wasn’t there, where she’d left it.
And then she heard footsteps behind her and she whirled to run. But he was standing there, holding a flashlight, her gun in his hand.
“Looking for this, Mrs. T?” He smiled a chilling smile, one that made Maura’s blood run cold. There was no pity, or even a hint of humanity in his expression. Cappy had been right. David was the hit man, and she had just provided him with the weapon that he would use to kill her.
* * *
“Oh, my God!” Jan’s face turned white as she saw the woman on the floor. “Help me, Hank!”
Hank grabbed a knife from the kitchen, and cut through the cords that were binding the woman’s wrists and legs. The moment they removed the tape from the woman’s mouth, she started to cry.
“I gotta get out of here! He’s gonna kill me!”
“Who?” Hank helped her to her feet,
“The guy that rents this place! He’s crazy, and he told me he was gonna go do a job. And then he said he’d come back to kill me!”
“A job?” Jan steadied herself on the edge of the couch. “What does that mean?”
“He’s gonna kill some lady. I don’t know who, but he said he’s gotta make it look like an accident. And then he’s coming back for me! You guys better get outta here!”
The woman rushed for the door, but Hank caught her by the wrist. “Hold on. What does this guy look like?”
“Tall, dark hair, glasses . . . a real clean-cut guy. Looks like a teacher or something like that. I never guessed that he was such a wacko!”
“She just described David.” Hank looked shocked. “I think we’d better call the police.”
Jan nodded, and sank down on the couch. “Go ahead. But I can’t believe that . . . Hank! Look at his!”
Hank walked over to look at the scrapbook on the coffee table. “Maura Rawlins? Is that . . .”
“Yes!” Jan snatched up the book and grabbed Hank’s hand. “Hurry, Hank! That lady he’s going to kill . . . I think it’s Mom!”
* * *
Steve frowned as he squealed around the corner, and got on the freeway. He’d been trying to call Maura from his car phone for the past ten minutes, but the line was still busy. It wasn’t like her to tie up her phone line, especially when he’d promised to call to check in.
“I’m sorry, sir.” The operator sounded very official. “We listened in, but all we heard was a dog barking in the distance. Your party must have the receiver off the hook.”
“Thank you, operator.” Steve’s hand was shaking as he clicked off the phone. Something was very wrong, and he had to get to Brentwood as fast as he could!
* * *
At first she thought she was out in the rain because her face was so wet. It was a warm rain, and it tickled as it brushed against her nose. She tried to roll away, to hide her face, but the rain kept on falling, brushing against her cheeks. And then it wasn’t rain any longer. It was a warm, wet tongue. And she remembered what had happened and tried to sit up.
“Cappy?” Her voice was thick, and she swallowed past the lump in her throat. Her head throbbed painfully, and she remembered how David had hit her with the gun butt. It was dark, but she could see shapes in the dim moonlight that flickered in the windows. She was in the living room, behind the bar, tied up to the edge of the brass rail that ran along its length.
Something glittered under the coffee table, and it drew her attention. The cheese knife. He’d dropped the cheese plate when the lights had gone out, and the knife had landed there. He hadn’t bothered to pick it up, but there was no way she could get it, unless . . .
“Cappy? Fetch!” Maura stared at the cheese knife, but Cappy just tilted his head and looked puzzled. She’d been teaching him to fetch toys, but the knife didn’t look like a toy. “Fetch, Cappy! Bring me the knife!”
It was no use. Cappy just looked puzzled, but then Maura noticed a little squeak toy on the table above the knife. It was his favorite, a little mouse, and she motioned toward it with her head. “Fetch the toy, Cappy! Bring me the toy!”
Cappy spotted the toy and trotted over to it. But just as he was about to grab it, Maura gave him another command.
“Sit, Cappy!” Cappy sat obediently, his tail thumping the floor. And then she gave him another command. “Down, Cappy!”
Cappy lowered his body to the floor. His nose was only about twelve inches from the cheese knife.
“Crawl, Cappy! That’s it. That’s a good boy! Now stay!”
Cappy’s tail thumped against the rug. David had used the knife to cut a piece of cheese and the scent was still on it. Maura took a deep breath and issued another command. “Fetch the knife, Cappy. Bring me the knife!”
Cappy hesitated a moment and then his teeth closed around the wooden handle. He turned to look at her, and Maura smiled.
“Good boy! Bring it to me, Cappy! Bring it!”
Cappy got up and trotted to her. But she couldn’t reach out to pick it up because her hands were tied behind her back.
“Drop it, Cappy.” Maura smiled as Cappy dropped the knife only inches from her head. She twisted to the side and managed to grab it in her teeth. It would take a while, but she might be able to saw through the bonds that held her hands. With her hands free, she could untie her feet and then she’d be free.
Maura’s mind was whirling as she moved her head back and forth, sawing away at the cords that bound her wrists. He’d told her exactly how she was going to die. It had seemed to give him satisfaction to torture her with the knowledge.
David had weakened the gas line, so it would leak at the slightest jolt. And then he’d rigged an explosive to the security system, and armed it when he’d left. He’d watched Jan open it one night, and he’d memorized the code. When Jan came in, she’d punch in the code and the charge would activate.
And when she opened the door, the house would blow up, supposedly from a gas leak, killing them all.
* * *
“Hurry, Hank!” Jan twisted her hands nervously in her lap as the limo barreled down the freeway. She’d tried to call the house to warn her mother, but the line was busy. And although the police were on their way, Jan knew it would take them time to get through the security gates.
“Hold on, Jan.” Hank took the off-ramp at a speed that wasn’t recommended in the driver’s manual, but the heavy car hugged the road and they managed to make the turn. “We’re almost there.”
Jan nodded, but she didn’t trust her voice. She was much too close to tears. She was the one who’d brought David into their home, and she’d told him that her mother’s memory was coming back. She had to save her mother’s life! If something happened to Mom, it was all her fault. And she knew she’d never be able to forgive herself!
* * *
Her first instinct wa
s to go to the front door to warn them, but she quickly discarded that idea. There was a motion sensor trained on the door that would activate the system if they came close enough to hear her voice. There were only two windows that weren’t part of the alarm system, the windows that they’d added later for her studio. It was the only way in or out that was safe.
Maura ran up the staircase, Cappy at her heels, and flicked on the lights in the studio. And then she saw it, a car driving up to the gates. It was Hank and Jan in the limo and she had to climb down to warn them. If they touched the security panel, none of them would live to tell about it.
There was a heavy brass lamp on her desk, and Maura pulled the plug out of the wall. She swung it like a baseball bat and smashed the glass out of the window. The heavy canvas tote she used to carry her drawings was hanging over the edge of her easel and she grabbed Cappy and put him inside.
“Stay, Cappy!” Maura shushed him when he whimpered. “There’s no way I’m going to leave you behind. We’re going for a little climb that’ll save our lives.”
Maura shivered as she looked down at the driveway below. It was a long way down. She didn’t have a rope, and there was no time to get one, but there was an ivy-covered trellis that came all the way up to her windows. Would it hold her weight? Maura wasn’t sure, but it was her only hope.
She took a deep breath and backed out of the window, finding a foothold on the trellis. The light strips of wood creaked and pulled away from the wall slightly, and she knew she had to be very careful. A fall from this height would kill them both, but the farther down she was able to climb, the better their chances of survival would be.
The gates were opening now. She could hear them in the distance. She climbed down another foot, and the trellis creaked again. The faster she went, the safer she’d be, and she forced herself to climb down, clinging to the rough, painted wood, and scrambling for footholds on the slippery leaves.
She had reached the second floor by the time the car pulled up in front. It was Jan and Hank, and Steve was just behind them. She took another step, and then another, praying that she’d get down in time. And then she thought of it, and she almost broke into hysterical laughter. Raglan sleeves. She was wearing raglan sleeves, and they didn’t restrict her movement. It was the perfect sleeve for her tennis outfit!
