I'd sent them off to get them out of the way. Kicking in the door was basically breaking and entering, but so was using lockpicks. This method was faster. Ted might've stopped me from barreling in like that, so I sent him away. I only had seconds though. They'd have heard the crash and would be joining me soon.
The building was dark, probably because it was early in the morning. I slipped in, gun blazing. I wasn't taking any chances, but I wasn't going to let them get to Rex before I did.
"What are you doing?" Riley hissed in my ear. They found me sooner than I'd thought.
"We have to do things by the book," Ted whispered.
I ignored both of them and swept the small shop from right to left. The door behind the counter caught my attention, and I hurdled the counter and opened it. A basement. Perfect. Riley and Ted chose not to jump over the counter, but it didn't look as cool. To tell you the truth, I was surprised I'd made it over.
"I haven't heard anything," Ted said. "There's no one here."
"Great," I said grimly.
His arm came out in front of me. "I'm going first, Ms. Wrath. This is my job. And it's nonnegotiable. I can't allow a civilian to take the risk."
I opened my mouth to argue, but Riley cut me off. "He's right. Let him do his job."
I couldn't fight both of them, so I stepped aside and allowed the officer to pass me. In my rational mind, I knew he was right. Besides, he was wearing body armor.
Riley got between us, which I didn't like. He had a flashlight, and he aimed it into the darkness below. The stairs were wooden and rickety. The basement floor was cement. The rest was dark with a strong odor of mildew.
We descended carefully, Riley illuminating Ted's steps. The rookie's form was very good. This case was certainly a trial by fire for him. Being last, I made sure to look behind me every now and then. At long last, we touched the floor and fanned out.
We were in a large cement room with shelves covered with boxes of floral things. If we had time, I'd check those boxes. But Rex could be a few feet away, and that was my priority. My heart skipped a beat in anticipation.
The first thing I'd do was crush him in an embrace. Then I'd go on a killing spree, taking down everyone who had him. I probably wouldn't tell Ted or Rex about that part though.
Ahead of us was a long, dark hallway. Which meant rooms on either side. And one of those rooms might have my fiancé in it. I surged ahead, only to have Riley grab my arm and pull me back.
"What are you doing?" I whispered furiously.
"You're leading with emotions, not reason," he explained. "What's the first thing we need to do?"
I sighed. "Check for booby traps."
He was right. Charging into the unknown was dangerous, and I wanted to be at my own wedding, whenever that would be.
Riley crouched down, skimming his flashlight along the surface of the floor. I glanced at the top of the stairs as my former handler examined every inch of the doorway to the hall. It was a good thing he was thorough because the light glinted off a piece of piano wire strung across the doorframe.
He followed the wire, which was connected to a loaded crossbow. I'd be a shish kebab right now if he hadn't pulled me back. I took a couple of deep breaths, trying to steady my thoughts as Riley disarmed the crossbow and cut the wire with a pocketknife. He stood up and nodded to Ted and me.
Ted went first again, with Riley shining the flashlight over the officer's shoulder and me bringing up the rear. There were two rooms total, one on each side. After a quick scan for traps, Ted reached out and turned the knob. The two men ran into the room, sweeping his gun from left to right, while I stayed in the corridor and covered them.
Ted reappeared with Riley behind him, shaking his head. No Rex there. We repeated the procedure with the next room with the same result. I was disappointed. I thought for sure Rex was in this basement.
"Aaaaaaaargh!" A man came screaming at us from the end of the hall, holding a large knife.
It was Harvey Oak. He was closing in on us when Ted fired two shots, center mass. The man dropped like a stone. Riley disarmed him and felt for a pulse. He turned to us and shook his head. Harvey Oak was dead.
Ted was stunned into what looked like a state of shock. Riley gently took the rookie's gun and led him back up the stairs, clearing the way. I again brought up the rear.
"No Rex." I sighed once we were at the top of the stairs.
Riley shook his head. "Sorry, Merry. I'd hoped he was there too."
Ted was walking around looking at things but seemed to be in a daze.
"Are you alright?" I asked.
He shook his head. "I've never shot anyone before…let alone killed anyone."
Riley brought him a chair, and the kid sat.
"If it helps," I said, placing a hand on his shoulder, "it gets easier."
Yes, that was a morbid thing to say. But when I shot someone for the first time, my first handler, Frank, had said that to me, and it'd helped. Frank was a good guy, but after the Marco incident in Turkey, he'd retired early and as far as I knew was still drinking his way around the DC Metro area.
That was one good thing about Riley—he had no qualms about the job. And someday Ted Weir would be okay with it too. He just needed a little time.
I called Dr. Body and the station. Kevin Dooley arrived with a box of half-eaten donuts. To my complete shock, he offered Ted one.
"Go ahead." I nodded. "The sugar helps."
The rookie chewed slowly. Color had started to return to his face by the time the coroner arrived. I walked her through the scene as Riley gave Officer Dooley a statement. We both made it look like Ted was the hero, which he was.
Soo Jin knelt beside the body and ran her hands over it. "Looks like two shots to the heart did him in. I'll take him back to the morgue to make sure, but it's pretty cut and dry."
By the time I got back upstairs, Officer Weir seemed a bit more normal. He was talking to the forensics team and giving them orders. Riley and I went outside.
"So, Harvey Oak is involved," I said.
Riley agreed. "Looks that way. One down, two more to go."
"Do you think she kept Rex here at one time?"
He shook his head. "The rooms were full of boxes. There's no room for a person."
My shoulders slumped. "Then this was a bust."
He looked back at the shop. "Not necessarily. We know that Vy and Oak were up to something. And Ted shot his first criminal."
"I don't think he's too happy about that."
We waited on the sidewalk until the forensic team and Dr. Body left. Officers Weir and Dooley locked up the building. Ted called the Des Moines police, asking them to pick Vy Todd up.
"I'm taking you home," Riley said. "You're totally beat."
"But Linda…Rex…" I protested weakly.
He was right. I was wiped out. The last of my adrenaline gave out in the basement, and I was running on fumes. I fell asleep in Riley's SUV before we even pulled out of the lot.
* * *
I awoke in a strange room. I'd been so tired I hadn't even dreamt. Darkness filled the curtains of a bedroom that was decorated in neutral tones. An overstuffed chintz chair sat by the window, next to a small table with a dimly lit lamp.
This wasn't my house. Riley said he was taking me home. Oh. Maybe he meant his home. This must be his guest room. It was very tasteful. The kind of room you could sleep comfortably in.
I'd wanted to be in my house, just in case something came up. But I couldn't be angry with Riley. My guess was he wanted to watch over me and knew I'd be safe here. That was nice. Annoying, but nice.
I got out of bed and realized I was wearing men's pajamas. I was still wearing my bra and panties, or Riley would be getting a black eye for his trouble. I opened the door and walked into the kitchen.
The room was cheery and brightly lit. Riley was wearing an actual apron, standing at the stove, stirring something that smelled like it came from heaven.
"What's that?" I said.
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He turned and grinned. "I like you in my pajamas."
"Don't start," I warned. "I'd punch you for changing me, except that I'm still kind of tired."
I sat at a small table. "What are you making?"
"Stew." He ladled some into a bowl and set it before me.
I inhaled the scent of beef, carrots, and potatoes. Riley set a freshly warmed baguette and butter dish next to me, and I dug in. It was magical. Maybe it was because I was hungry. Maybe it was the best stew in the world. It didn't matter, because I ate two bowls and half the baguette.
"Want some more?" Riley grinned. He'd had only one bowl and a salad. Ridiculous!
"No." I waved him off. "That was amazing. And I needed that."
"Good. Glad to help." He carried the dishes to the sink and began washing up.
Through the kitchen window I noticed it was dark. "What time is it?"
"Seven. You didn't sleep too long."
"Where's my cell?" I started to panic when I realized I didn't have it.
He handed it to me. That was the second time in a couple of days where he'd confiscated my phone. Between that and Kelly's drugging spree, I felt more like an invalid teenager than a grown-up woman.
"Any news?" I asked as I turned on the phone. No messages.
Riley shook his head. "Sorry."
I fiddled with a loose thread on my sleeve and asked a question I wasn't sure I wanted to know the answer to.
"It's been nine days. What if Rex is…is…" I couldn't finish. "It's just been so long. I'm not feeling very hopeful."
Riley poured me a glass of wine. "Here. Drink this."
I did.
"You want to know what I think? I think Rex is still alive. The kidnapper is keeping him alive because they want you to solve the puzzle. I think it's going to come to a showdown."
I took another drink. "One that I'm going to win." Something else bothered me, but less so. "What about Juliette Dowd?"
He frowned. "Either she's the villain or victim. I don't know which."
"We don't know anything about this whole mess," I grumbled, polishing off the wine.
"Do you have any idea why she was in Rex's house?"
I thought for a second or two. "She said she was looking for proof that I took him or killed him."
"Do you believe her?"
I thought about it. Juliette had been infatuated with Rex for most of her life. She didn't have it in her to kill him. Kidnap him maybe, but kill him?
"Yes. I don't want to. Frankly, I'd love to see her go to jail for kidnapping and murder. But I don't think she's involved."
Wow. I really did think that. Huh.
"What about Lana?" I pressed.
He sat down across from me. "I don't think she's part of this. We'd have seen her by now."
"I did see her," I insisted.
"But that's the only thing we have on her," Riley said. "And I'm still not convinced it's her."
"So it's Vy Todd and her gang… Why involve me? Why kill Bobby Ray, and how would she know about him?"
"Red herring?" he suggested.
It was kind of like when you were almost done with a puzzle. Only the last piece didn't fit. You crammed it in and considered cutting it to size, but in the end, you were left with a piece that didn't belong in that puzzle.
My cell buzzed. "Hey, Bart. Everything good?"
"Yeah," he monotoned. "We're low on food."
"I'll take care of it." I hung up and called Kelly, begging her to pick up and deliver some food to Betty's brother.
"Why do I have to do it?" she asked.
"Because you've drugged me three times, and I'm sure that breaks some sort of ethics thingy."
Her voice was measured. "Are you threatening me?"
"Yes." I hung up. She'd do it.
My cell buzzed again. I answered without looking. "Yes, Bart?"
"It's Linda. You'd better come over." She hung up.
* * *
Riley didn't like it, and he told me so about four times on the drive over there. "It sounds like a trap," he said. "She didn't say she'd solved the puzzle. Maybe the kidnapper is using her to lure you over."
"That's why I have this." I racked the slide on a .45 I'd borrowed from Riley's gun safe. He stared at the gun and opened his mouth to speak.
"It's your own fault! You're still using the same password you used the whole time we worked together."
Was Riley right? Did the kidnapper have Linda too? If so, I was going to kill her twice. Maybe even three times, for Philby.
Linda met us at the door and ushered us into her kitchen. In spite of the fact that she'd been working on this for twenty-four hours at least, she looked rested and fresh. I, on the other hand, had dark circles under my eyes and unruly wet hair from a quick shower. And I was wearing yesterday's clothes.
"I think I've got it," she said excitedly. "I took all the numbers from the corner boxes and compared them to their corresponding letters of the alphabet. Since sudoku uses only numbers one through nine and there are twenty-six letters in the alphabet, every number has more than one letter. For example, the number one stands for letters A, J, and S."
"But if each number stood for three letters, how did you know which one was which?" I asked.
Linda smiled. "There are only five vowels. Words need vowels. So I went for A instead of J or S. Once I filled in the vowels, deciding which corresponding consonant went with it was pretty easy!"
Riley and I exchanged glances. "You could be a code breaker for the CIA!" I gushed. "What made you think of using the letters in the corners? I'd go with the ones in the center."
Linda shrugged. "It just made sense to me to do that." She handed me her notes.
Bells are ringing and children singing.
There's educating to be done, in the spot where you once had fun.
All is waiting there for you, come along if you dare, when you've solved this clue.
"What do you think it means?" Riley asked.
"Bells ringing could refer to the wedding," I mumbled. "Children and fun may be related to Girl Scouts. We've had a lot of fun at camp, and I've taught the girls things there."
"I don't think the last sentence means anything more than come and get it," Linda said.
I nodded. "I agree. It's the first two sentences we have to work on."
"The time is up," Riley said. "They're not messing around anymore. I think you have one shot to get this right. You can only go to one place."
I felt that in my gut he was absolutely right. The clue could be talking about a number of places, from the church we were supposed to get married in to Girl Scout Camp, to…
"I got it!" I screamed. "I know where Rex is!"
"Should we call Ted?" Riley asked.
I shook my head. "I don't think he's ready for another shootout. This one is for you and me. And we're going to need more weapons."
"I should go too," Linda said.
"No," I said gently. "These are dangerous people. I don't want to drag you into this."
"I can help," she insisted.
"Not this time." I hugged her. "But you've been amazing. I couldn't have done it without you."
Linda smiled. I loved having her help. But she couldn't get mixed up in a shootout.
Riley and I cleaned out his weapons cache. By the time we hit the road, it was late at night. We had two shotguns, two handguns, and four knives between us. My bloodlust was roaring. I was ready to get my fiancé and wreak some havoc on these people.
"You didn't tell me," Riley said as he slapped the magazine into a 9mm and racked the slide, "where are we going?"
I smiled. "Back to the beginning. And I think I know who the villain is."
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
"This place?" Riley asked as I pulled into the old elementary school.
The building was condemned, but for some reason the city still hadn't demolished it. And it was the scene of a major shootout a few years back. One that involved me.
"Yo
u think it's Lana," Riley said.
I nodded. "I think it's Lana."
We got out of the car and walked up to the front door. The knob came off in my hand. On the way over, we'd toyed with going stealth on this…parking a few blocks away, sneaking in through a window.
But I was sick and tired of messing around. This time, I was going to confront things once and for all. Riley and I were taking this psycho out, permanently. Let her know we were coming. She wasn't going to kill us until we found Rex. There was no point in hiding.
It was dark inside. With his flashlight, Riley lit up the corridors with the sagging and rusting lockers.
"The gym?" he asked.
"We'll check there first," I agreed.
The school was laid out in a square. One hallway wrapped around the gym. A simple layout. There were two doorways into the gym, and Riley took the one on the left, while I took the one on the right. We'd agreed that he'd wait a few minutes after I'd entered before he made his appearance. It was a small thing, but it might catch Lana off guard, if even for a second.
The gym was brightly lit. There was no sign of Juliette, Rex, or their captor, but the lights meant we were in the right place. Bells ringing meant school bells. Children singing pointed to the elementary school, as did educating. And while I did have fun here as a kid, I knew she was talking about a very different kind of fun a couple of years back.
"Lana!" I shouted. "Lana!"
A voice close behind me said, "Why are you shouting?"
I jumped and spun in the air to find a confused police officer behind me. Ted was looking around, sweeping the room with his gun.
"What are you doing here?" I hissed.
"I followed you," he said, red color creeping up his neck. "I told you not to do this stuff alone!"
Damn. And I was going to murder Lana in cold blood. Now I'd have to wait for her to come at me first so it would look like self-defense. Not only that, Ted was in way over his head here, and I didn't want the rookie getting hurt.
"You shouldn't be here," I said as menacingly as possible while my mind raced for a reason why. "I'm not even sure that this is the right place." I didn't mention my concern that he'd just shot someone for the first time and might not be able to pull the trigger.
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