by L. T. Kelly
“It’s not her house. It’s my house, and she won’t be living there anymore if she thinks she can do something like this and get away with it.”
Al moved closer and put a comforting hand on his shoulder.
“Aye, lad, I know. Don’t make any rash decisions until we know all the facts. We can’t be sure that she’s the one who took her.”
Evan glared at his cell again. Nothing. No threats. No ransom requests. It didn’t make sense. It had to be her. He dialed his mother’s cell and listened to it ring until it clicked to voicemail.
“Mom, if you’re with Katie, you’d better call me right now. I swear to god…you hurt her and… Call me back either way. Call me as soon as you get this message.”
* * * *
Evan’s mother moaned in pleasure from the next room, and Katie heaved. She struggled against the thick reams of tape that held her to a chair. They’d tied her haphazardly, but it had worked. No matter how much she tried to break free, she couldn’t.
The moans became louder, more intense. She squeezed her eyes tightly shut and swallowed the bile in her throat. She tried to block out the noise coming from the bedroom. You’ve been through worse. You can get through this. He’ll pay whatever she’s asked for. I’m sure I’ll be out of here soon.
She’d followed them out of the apartment, terrified into silence by Toby’s gun trained on her the whole way. The couple had a brief argument about how Katie should travel to his place, and Lynn won. Katie had been ordered into Toby’s disgusting trunk that had tools and dirty laundry stored in it. She’d considered being ready to whack one of them with a wrench as soon as the trunk opened, but she knew she’d only be able to overpower one person. The other could easily shoot her as she tried to run. There was no point of being stupid and getting herself killed.
What Lynn wanted, and she figured Toby too, was money, and Evan wasn’t exactly short of it. All Katie wanted was to get home to Jessica. Suddenly, she felt relived that this had happened now, and not when her little girl came to visit. The thought of Jessica being in the same predicament made her throat thicken. She swallowed her threatening tears, but her fear rapidly turned to anger. I’m going to make sure that bitch spends the rest of her bloody life in the nick.
Adrenaline coursed through her veins as she pushed up on her feet allowing the cheap chair to slam onto the floor hoping that it would break in a way that would allow her to free herself or alert the neighbor below, if there was one.
“Hey, knock it off, bitch.”
Katie’s eyes flew wide as Toby appeared, holding his gun. He was stark naked, his dick still erect. She closed her eyes and concentrated on trying not to vomit. He reached up to rip the tape off her mouth. She cringed, thinking about where his fingers could have just been.
“Scream and I’ll blow your brains out, you understand?” he whispered. His breath on her ear made her shudder as he tore the tape away. “You wanna finish what that old bitch couldn’t?” he asked, thrusting his pelvis toward her face after placing the gun on the coffee table.
Katie turned her head away sharply. “You put your dick anywhere near my mouth and I’ll bite it off.” She spoke as loud as she could, hoping that Lynn would hear of her boyfriend’s intention.
She winced as his palm connected hard across her cheekbone.
“How much did you ask for, huh?” she screeched, turning back to Toby with eyes narrowed to slivers. Katie lost her temper; even getting shot would be better than staying with that pair of idiots. “He’d have paid by now, so why aren’t you taking me back?”
Lynn made an appearance, her mouth twitched with anger as she glanced at Toby.
“Did you ask him for the money yet? I’m done with you,” Lynn growled.
He hurtled toward her and grabbed her by her throat. Her eyes went wide as she struggled to breathe. “You’ll be done with me when I say you’re done with me, bitch,” he snarled in her face, spittle flying out with his words.
For a split-second, Katie felt sorry for Lynn. That feeling diminished when Toby let go of her. Lynn dragged in breaths, coughing between them and rubbing her neck.
“You were supposed to ask him for the money, bitch,” Toby spat, taking a step back and glaring at her.
If Katie hadn’t laughed, she would have cried. Both heads turned to look at her.
“What do you find so funny?” Lynn asked through gritted teeth.
“I don’t stand a bloody chance with you pair of idiots. You kidnapped me and couldn’t even use the one brain cell between you to work out who would ask for the ransom?” Her nervous laughter rang out as Lynn stormed from the room and returned with a kitchen knife. She flew at Katie, screaming manically as she thrust the knife toward her.
Katie stopped laughing when Lynn held the knife to her neck. “If you’re going to kill me, pick up the gun and have done with it.”
Toby’s cackle drew Katie’s attention back to him. “That bitch doesn’t kill people with guns. She has a much better method, don’t you, sweetheart?” His eyes twinkled with glee.
Luckily, Toby’s rants made Lynn step away from Katie. Lynn glared at him. “Shut your mouth.”
He shrugged. “You’ve got to run from here once we get our cash anyway.”
“What are you talking about?” Katie drew in her brows.
“She did in her old man. It wasn’t a drug overdose on Ricky Rae’s part. She drugged him with a shitload of narcotics because he threatened to leave her and take her son with him. She’s the one who left him for dead in that hotel room.”
Everything Al had told Evan suddenly made sense. He’d claimed Ricky had never touched drugs.
Lynn lurched forward and jabbed the knife toward Toby. His eyes flew wide as he dragged in a sharp, noisy breath. Lynn stepped back and turned around. Blood dripped from the knife, and Toby slid down the wall clutching his stomach.
“You crazy bitch,” he said breathlessly.
Lynn covered her mouth with her hand as she looked at him scrunched up on the floor. She fled the room, going back toward the kitchen.
Toby still had his legs drawn up, protecting his wound, and Katie couldn’t get a look at how bad it was.
She couldn’t speak. Her survival instinct had kicked back in, and she daren’t say a word after what she’d witnessed. Lynn had stabbed her own boyfriend while Katie watched. Katie really didn’t stand a chance. The knife clattered against something, and she stared down at her lap, too terrified to even take a look at Lynn.
“I’m sorry, baby. Here, take this. It will make you feel better.”
Katie peeked at what was happening. Lynn had a kitchen towel pressed against Toby’s stomach with one hand and held a crack pipe in the other. Katie looked back down and heard a lighter flicked on from their direction.
“Come on, baby. Let’s get you cleaned up,” Lynn said in a soothing voice. Toby groaned, and Katie took a glimpse again. Lynn busied herself helping him into the bedroom.
Katie wanted to scream about the ransom. She needed to get out of there, but she daren’t take the chance with one, possibly both, of them high on crack. Her mind whirred as she glanced around the room, trying to figure a way out. The gun sat on the table in front of her. If she could get to it, she’d stand half a chance at least. She hoped it was a case of point and shoot, because she didn’t have a clue about guns. She’d never even touched one, let alone fired one.
She held her breath and struggled against her restraints to no avail. There was no way she could get herself free. She’d have to play it cool and hope her captors would get sober enough to think straight.
Her gut clenched. Footsteps tapped outside the door. The door slowly opened as she tried to slow her breathing. Her eyes flew wide, and she gulped when she saw her rescuer.
Thank god.
She wanted to ask him how he’d found her, but Alex raised his finger to his lips to indicate that she should keep quiet. She wanted to tell him she wasn’t that stupid. Instead, she looked down at the gun
then back up at Alex. He still lingered by the door and looked around. He crept inside and picked it up the pistol before walking around Katie to inspect the tape holding her tightly to the chair.
They both flinched when Toby spoke in the bedroom. “You need to tape that bitch’s mouth back up.”
Alex ran to the kitchen, ducking out of sight as Lynn came back into the room. Katie kept her head down. Her eyes closed as Lynn yanked her head back by the hair and applied a line of tape to her mouth. A few moments later, Katie felt a hand brush against her knee. Her eyes opened. Alex stood there with the bloody knife Lynn had used to stab Toby. His other hand held the pistol.
What the hell is he going to do with that? she thought as her eyes widened. The rip of the knife slicing through the tape tore through the silent air.
Lynn rushed into the room, her mouth gaping wide as soon as she laid eyes on Alex.
“You’re dead,” she screeched, flinging herself at him. He shoved her with his shoulder, so hard she flew into the wall, the back of her head making a sickening crunching noise as it made contact.
“Let Katie go, and we can get this whole mess sorted with Evan. That’s the only way you’re going to stay out of jail,” Alex tried to reason.
Katie hoped he was bluffing, because Lynn was going to jail. Not just because she’d kidnapped Katie, but also because she’d murdered Evan’s dad. Lynn’s eyes rolled into the back of her head as Alex waited for her reply. None came. Lynn shook violently, having a seizure.
“Shit,” Alex hissed and got to work freeing Katie’s hands again.
If Alex had thought to take the tape away from her mouth first, she could have warned him about Toby coming from the bedroom.
“Mmm, mmm,” Katie tried to speak and shimmied around on the chair as Toby stood there, still holding a bloodstained towel to his wound and pointing another pistol over her shoulder, straight at Alex.
Alex stopped trying to cut her loose. There were no words of warning. Toby took a shot. Katie jumped at the report of bullet leaving the pistol. Alex hit the ground beside the chair she was tied to, the sound of shattering glass coming at the same time. Several stray shards pelted her back. She ducked as much as she could, unable to take her eyes off Alex, praying the he hadn’t been shot.
Alex freed his arm that had been trapped beneath him and aimed the pistol he’d picked up from the table earlier. “Sucks for you that my dad only taught me to aim for one place.” He fired without hesitance. “Let’s just say he is a Bon Jovi fan,” he whispered.
She closed her eyes as Toby took his final gasp. Thick, crimson trails streaked over his bare chest. The stench of smoke, drugs and the vomit now spewing from Lynn’s unconscious body made Katie want to throw up, too.
Alex lay still for a moment, staring in the direction of Toby’s still body. He got up slowly and shook the bits of broken glass from his clothes. A few trickles of blood made thin patterns down his arms. Finally, he ripped the tape from her mouth with a shaky hand.
She took a deep breath and held it, trying to only breathe through her mouth because her stomach heaved from the disgusting stench.
She looked at Alex. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah. I’m better than these two anyhow.” He shrugged trying to act tough, but his quivering limbs gave him away.
“You’re bleeding.”
“It’s from the broken window. He missed me by a mile.”
“How did you find me?”
Alex wore a nonchalant expression. “I just asked around a few bars. Paid the drunks and drug dealers to tell me who Lynn had been hanging out with. Then I paid some others to get his address.”
“Thank you so much. I’m thinking I owe you my life.”
Alex offered her a lop-sided smile. “Does that mean I’m forgiven for lying to you about Evan?”
“Without a doubt. You’d better call the police. Leave me where I am. It doesn’t look like these two will be able to do me much harm.”
Alex shook his head and put down the knife, keeping a hold of the gun, and fished out his cell. He walked to the door and spoke to the 911 dispatcher, explaining in hushed tones what had happened. He left the apartment while he talked. She heard him right outside the door.
She looked down at Lynn and shook her head. What’s Evan going to make of all this? I know she wasn’t much of a mother, but it’s going to hurt him so bad.
The place swarmed with cops a few minutes later. One lady cop immediately got to work on setting Katie free. The others rushed to Lynn and Toby. Katie was ushered out and into the back of a squad car before she could establish what had happened to her attackers.
“You okay to travel to the station to answer a few questions, ma’am?” the female officer asked soothingly.
Katie nodded. “I need to get this out of the way. Does Evan know you found me?”
“Yeah, your buddy there told him after he called us.” She nodded toward Alex, who stood next to another cop car close by. “I figure he’ll be there once we’re done with you. C’mon, we’ll get you cleaned up, have a medic take a look at you and get you some coffee first. That okay?”
“If you could do me a cup of tea, it’s a deal.” Katie laughed nervously, suddenly aware of how lucky she was to escape unscathed.
* * * *
Katie got off lightly with a bruised cheekbone. It throbbed a little, but not too much. She sat in the interview room with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders, sipping a milky coffee, having discovered American tea was as weak as gnats piss and they didn’t have the first clue about how to make it the British way. The officer who’d untied her and brought her to the station walked in with another cop.
Katie choked up as she went through the chain of events that had led her here, but she held back her tears. When she explained what Toby had said about Lynn being responsible for Ricky Rae’s death, both sets of eyes widened before they turned to look at each other. The interview was being recorded so they didn’t comment.
“Will Alex be in trouble for shooting Toby?” she asked, suddenly having visions of the man she owed her life to being locked away. “I don’t really get American law.”
“We’ve already spoken to the district attorney’s office. It sounds like a justifiable homicide.”
“Homicide? So Toby is definitely dead?” Katie raised a brow. She wasn’t stupid, and she’d figured as much, but she hadn’t been told officially. This usually happened to the good guys in Katie’s vicinity, not the bad ones.
Both cops tried to cover their amusement, failing miserably. She narrowed her eyes sharply. She wanted to leave, call her daughter, have a bath and go to sleep. She knew that wouldn’t happen either way.
“Yes, honey, he’s definitely dead. It’s sort of the only way it goes when you catch a bullet in your heart.”
“Thank you for the biology lesson. So what’s happening with Alex?” she asked sharply, feeling her cheeks heat with stupidity.
“Your statement backs up what Alex told us. I’m pretty sure there’s been no crime here, so your friend will be fine.”
“Thank goodness.” She blew out a long, slow breath. “Can I go now?” The emotional weariness had finally attacked her, but she had to be strong for Evan, for what she would have to tell him. He’d spent most of his life being rightfully pissed at his mom, but when he found out what she’d done to his dad, it would either make or break him.
“Of course, ma’am. You’re free to go. We’ll contact you if we need anything else.”
Katie nodded and stood, shrugging off the blanket.
“Thanks for the coffee.” She smiled weakly at the female officer and made for the door. She was done with questions, but she knew they’d only just begun.
Chapter Twenty
Evan paced the local PD’s waiting room. He and Al had been waiting for Katie for hours. Worry and tiredness suddenly got to him. He growled and slammed his fist on the desk. “Where the fuck is she? She’s the victim here.”
“Calm down, lad
.” Al suddenly leapt up from the cheap, uncomfortable chair and was at Evan’s back, soothing him with a shoulder pat.
“Listen, you’ll do well to remember your girl in there is busy getting your best buddy off a murder charge,” the desk sergeant told him pointedly.
Evan’s mouth downturned. He figured the guy behind the desk was right. Guilt tugged at his chest. He owed Alex more than he could possibly repay him.
“Hey.” Katie’s voice tugged him from his thoughts. She stood in the entry looking shattered, a bruise forming across her cheekbone.
He rushed to her and pulled her into his arms. “Thank god, you’re okay.” He cradled her face in his hands and ran his thumb over the affected cheekbone, immediately regretting it when she winced. “Sorry, angel.”
“It’s okay. Can we go now, please? I think I need a drink.”
“Sure thing. Let’s get you home.”
Evan turned, keeping his arm around her. Al hovered by the door.
“I’m glad you’re okay, lass. I’ll let you get some sleep, and I’ll catch you tomorrow.”
Evan frowned as she slowly shook her head.
“No, you need to come back to Evan’s place. I need to speak to the both of you about what I found out today. As tired as I am, it can’t wait. Can someone else come to get Alex when they let him go?”
Evan looked at Al and recognized his own look of confusion. Al nodded regardless, clearly not wanting to push her for answers.
“Of course, lass. I’ll call Tom or Jamie to come by and get him.”
The worry in her stormy blue eyes stopped Evan from pursuing the conversation about what she had to tell them. They headed out to their respective vehicles.
Katie fell asleep as soon as they set off. She still slept soundly when Evan pulled the car into a space outside him building. He hated to wake her, but his curiosity had gotten the better of him.
She flinched when he slipped his hands beneath her and lifted her effortlessly off the passenger seat.
