by Rose Pressey
I’d just placed the planner back on the desk when a noise came from the hallway. Was that a door opening? Immediately my adrenaline spiked and panic took over. I had to hide. If someone caught me in here it would not be good. To my left I spotted what I assumed was the closet. I just hoped that I could stuff my body in there and that it wasn’t too full of stuff. If the rest of the house was any indication, then the closet was probably completely organized and sorted.
As soon as I opened the door shock took over. The tiny space was stuffed full of junk. Everything was crammed in there randomly. All kinds of stuff. I couldn’t believe my eyes. The way the rest of the house looked and now this mess? It was like a hoarder’s secret hideaway. Another noise came from somewhere in the house. Was that footsteps? I had to find a place to hide.
I supposed my only option was under the desk. Not exactly the safest spot, but it was better than just standing in the middle of the room and being caught. I dashed over and dove under the desk. I curled myself up into the smallest little ball that I could possibly manage. Too bad I hadn’t stuck with those yoga classes. I was only five foot two, but it was still a tight fit in there. Imagine if Jake had tried to shove himself under there. He might not ever get out. He’d be like a pretzel with his long legs. I supposed this was a benefit of being compact. I fit into tight spaces.
I held my breath while listening for any other sound. Seconds later the sound of footsteps against the hardwood floor came again. My heart beat faster and if I wasn’t careful, I might pass out from forgetting to breathe. Please don’t let this person find me hiding under the desk.
How long would I have to wait under here? What if this was another person who lived in the house? I could be here for days if they didn’t leave the house. I supposed I could sneak out when they went to sleep. That would make for a long wait under this cramped desk. Why had I come into this house?
I listened for more. Slowly the person walked down the hallway. I thought for sure the person had stopped in front of the door. Maybe the person knew that I was here. Please let them just go away. If I ever got out of here, I would never do this again. Oh, who was I kidding? Of course I would do it again if necessary.
With a slow groan of the hinges, the door opened. I covered my mouth to keep myself from making noise. My heart thumped wildly and I broke out in a sweat. This person had to know I was here. Why else would they come into this room? What if they sat down at the desk? They’d be shocked when they saw me underneath. Or would they? Maybe they knew exactly where I was.
Was the person just standing there at the door? When I heard the footsteps across the floor, I knew that wasn’t the case. They were moving closer to the desk. I braced myself for being discovered. I just hoped this wasn’t the killer coming to take care of any loose ends. And I was afraid I’d be considered a loose end at the moment.
The person stopped at the desk. I peeked down just a bit to catch a glimpse of black leather loafers. The shoes looked familiar. Of course, I was sure they were sold in department stores. This was probably a man because they looked like men’s shoes. The man wore black pants. The pants looked familiar too. Was this person involved in law enforcement? Like perhaps a detective? What was he doing at this address? Of course, maybe he was looking for clues too. If Jake found me here, he honestly might toss me in jail. I didn’t expect that I would get any preferential treatment from him.
It seemed as if he stood there forever. What was he doing? Waiting for the chance to grab me? Or just playing games with me and making me sweat this out? Well, if that was the case then it was definitely a dirty trick. After another minute, finally he started to walk away. I was pretty sure he had just walked out the door and closed it behind him.
Could I really get away with this? I thought for sure I had been caught. Maybe this was just part of the plan. How long would I have to wait before I could sneak out from under the desk? I checked the time on my phone. Could I set a timer for five minutes? I doubted I could wait that long. I needed to get out of here right away.
While watching the seconds tick away, finally a minute had passed. That was long enough. At least that was all I could wait. Thank goodness my phone hadn’t rung. I was shocked that Dorothy hadn’t called. It had been a stupid mistake on my part not to turn the ringer off once inside the house. I’d just assumed that nobody would come in here. My uncle Griffin would be disappointed in my skills after all this time. But hey, I’d never claimed to be the greatest private investigator. I was allowed to make mistakes. Although it could have ended badly for me and that would have been a costly mistake.
I peeked out from under the desk. Whew. I released a deep breath. The person was definitely gone. Had it been Jake? The man might have left the room, but I had no way of knowing if the person had left the house. Footsteps had sounded as the person moved down the hall, but I hadn’t heard the door close. No sooner had the thought left my mind when I heard what sounded like the front door closing. I released another deep breath. Please let him be gone.
Chapter 14
I crawled my way out from under the desk, shuffling on my hands and knees. Once out from the furniture, I peeked all around the side of the desk to make sure the person was actually gone. With my luck, he’d storm back in and catch me. So far it seemed the coast was clear. At least, I hoped so.
I pushed to my feet and tiptoed across the floor over to the door. My heart was still beating fast as I wrapped my hand around the doorknob. I inhaled a deep breath and then eased the door open ever so slightly so that I wouldn’t make any noise. I held my breath as I peeked out into the hallway. To my relief there was no sign of a person. I still hoped that no one popped back up again. But I couldn’t stay in this room forever. I had to sneak out of this house without being caught. I supposed now was the time to make a move.
With my anxiety increasing, I had to get out of this room. I just thought it was so strange that the person had come specifically into the room where I was hiding. It was almost as if they knew I had been there. But why hadn’t they looked under the desk or in the closet? He’d just kind of stood there. Had he been playing with me? Probably just wanting to let me know that he had been there. And that he’d been aware I was there. Why, I had no idea.
I eased down the hallway with my back pressed against the wall just in case somebody popped out from one of the other rooms. I wasn’t sure what I’d do if this happened. What if it was the killer? I would fight for my life. I might be fun-sized, but I moved pretty quickly. At least I’d made it down the hallway now. I was practically home free. But I stopped when I reached the end of the hall because I wanted to ease into the living room. Just in case someone was in the room.
Peeking out into the living room, I saw no one. But what if they were hiding like I’d hidden? That would be sneaky. I had to face the fact that it could be the case. Pushing my anxiety aside, I made a run for the door. No more being quiet. There was no time for that now.
I raced across the room and practically fell out the front door. Whew. That had been touch and go. As I ran to my car, I scanned my surroundings. Thank goodness no one was around, and it looked as if I was going to break free safely. At times being a private investigator was questionable to me. However, I wouldn’t have it any other way. This was part of the job that I loved. Of course, I didn’t want to be almost killed, but the thrill of finding out answers to all of this was what kept me going.
I rushed around the front of the car and hopped inside, locking the doors behind me. Within seconds, I had cranked the engine and showed the car into drive. I’d barely gotten out of sight from the house when my phone rang. I looked down at the screen and realized it was Jake. I’d figured it was either him, Reynold, or Dorothy. Who else called me? I’d made a few friends since I’d moved to Miami, but the odds favored one of the aforementioned trio.
I pulled over to the side of the road. When I answered, I tried to sound completely nonchalant, not at all as if I’d just broken into someone’s house.
> “What are you up to, Maggie PI?” Jake asked.
This was the tone he took when he knew that I was snooping around and doing something questionable. How did he always know? Had Jake been the one in the house? Did he really have a tracking device on me? I needed to check for that. Adding a tracking device was totally something I would do if I had to, but in this case, he had no reason to. Okay, so he was right, I was snooping, but that was neither here nor there.
“What’s up with you, Detective Jake Jackson?”
“I thought maybe you could meet me at the coffee shop?” he asked.
Did he want to see me because he was in love with me and enjoyed my company or did he want to ask me questions and tell me to butt out of this investigation? After all, I was doing this because of Morty. But wasn’t that the biggest reason? Jake probably wanted to tell me to get Morty a different lawyer because he didn’t like Reynold.
“I can meet you for coffee,” I said.
“I’ll be there in five,” he said.
“Wow, you really are close by, aren’t you?” I asked.
I knew he’d meant the coffee shop right around the corner. It was the place we always went.
“Yeah, I’m in the area.”
What was that supposed to mean? Had he been in the house? And if so, how would I ask?
“See you soon,” I said.
With apprehension settling in my stomach, I headed in the direction of the coffee shop. I wasn’t sure what to expect when Jake and I talked. I hoped it was just a casual chat between boyfriend and girlfriend and nothing more.
My phone dinged and alerted me to a text message. Since I hadn’t pulled away from the curb yet, I checked the message. I didn’t recognize the number. The text listed only an address. What was this supposed to mean?
I sent back a message. Who is this?
Just go to that address. I think you’ll find what you’re looking for.
I have to know who this is. I sent the message back. There was no answer this time.
Hello?
I sent the message but there was still no answer. I typed the number into my phone to see if I could search for any address or name located with it, but I received nothing other than it was used as an office space. Ironically, the address was on the way to the coffee shop. I supposed I could stop by there on the way. Maybe the text wasn’t even meant for me. Though with my crazy profession, I had a suspicion that it was.
I pulled away from the curb and headed in that direction. I hoped I wasn’t going into a dangerous situation, but it could be a reality. I was prepared just in case. The curiosity was getting to me and I had to know who had sent that message.
Soon I pulled up to the nondescript office building. It looked just like the others around it, stucco in style with a small parking lot in front. I counted down to the number until I found the specific one. There were no cars in front of it like the other buildings. And there was no name on the business’ door. It looked as if this might be a vacant space. Why would someone tell me to go to a vacant building to find what I was looking for? As far as I could tell there was absolutely nothing here that I was looking for.
Now this made me even more curious. Who had sent the text? I had to send another message.
Okay, I’m at the address, but I have no idea what it is you think I’m looking for here.
After hitting send, I regretted it. I probably shouldn’t have let the person know I had arrived. It could’ve been the woman who had attacked me. But why lure me here? It was daylight and I was out in the open. Surely other people in the office buildings around could see out their windows and would notice if anything bad happened. Of course, that wouldn’t keep a criminal from doing something bad.
Sadly, there was no answer to my text. A couple of minutes had gone by and still there was nothing. I could get out of the car and go up to the door. However, just because it looked like no one was there didn’t mean that there wasn’t someone in there. Nevertheless, I got out of the car and looked all around for any suspicious activity. No one was out and about. My guess everyone was working.
With an uneasiness settled in my stomach, I stepped up to the office building and knocked on the door. No one answered. When I twisted the doorknob, the door opened. My heart thumped a bit faster. Should I go in? Yes, I had to check it out. I’d come this far. No need to stop now.
“Hello,” I called out.
I received no answer, so I continued into the office building. Walking down the short hallway just a bit, I looked to the right. An open space that I assumed was the meeting room had a long table with a number of chairs around it. There was nothing else in the room though, no filing cabinets, and no desks.
Time to check out the rest. I headed back down the small hallway that led into an open area with several desks. But again no one was there. Plus, there was no sign of this space being used.
“Hello,” I called out again.
Honestly, I wasn’t expecting an answer. I didn’t understand the meaning of this trip. Nevertheless, I figured it was time for me to get out of there. Obviously, this was the wrong address, or the person had contacted me by mistake.
As I turned around to leave, I glanced out of the corner of my eye and saw a file on top of the desk in the corner of the room. Was that why I’d been summoned here?
Chapter 15
Now I had to look at that file. I glanced around as if someone might be watching me. Something gave me an uneasy feeling. I still wondered if this was some kind of trap. I hoped my gut feeling was wrong though. I just wanted to figure out why I was here and get the heck out.
I grabbed the file from the desk and flipped it open. Photos filled in the file folder. They showed a muscular dark-haired man and a brunette woman together in front of the boat dock. It was hard to see their features for sure since the photos had been taken from some distance. A few photos were of the couple in an embrace and then another photo showed them kissing. Who were these people? Was the file really meant for me? Should I take it with me?
I decided to pull out my phone and snap a few photos of the actual photos. Then I would leave the file on the desk. I still kind of felt like the text hadn’t been meant for my eyes, but nevertheless, I wanted some kind of evidence that I had been here in case the text was actually meant for me. I would figure out who these people were later. This could be totally unrelated to the murder case. At first, I’d thought the murder case was the reason for this trip, but now I had my doubts.
After checking my phone to make sure that the photos had come out clear and not blurry, I stuffed my phone back into my pocket and placed the file back on top of the desk just as I had found it. Now I felt better that I could get out of here. Just being in this empty office building after someone had told me to come here was giving me the creeps. I couldn’t believe that I’d actually come into this place.
Now back at the end of the hallway, I grabbed the doorknob. When I twisted the knob, nothing happened. I practically tumbled backward when I tried to pull the door. Was it jammed? Okay, don’t panic, I told myself. Breathe in and breathe out. I tried again, but nothing moved. I yanked on the door, but it just wouldn’t budge. Okay, maybe now was the time to panic. Uh-oh, I’d really gotten myself into a pickle now.
I’d known something fishy was going on here. Had someone locked me in? And if so, then how was I going to get out? I’d have to call Jake and tell him I was stuck in this office building. Plus, I’d have to explain why I was here in the first place. There had to be another way without resorting to that.
How long would I stand there and yank on that door? Obviously, it wasn’t going to budge. It was locked from the outside no doubt. And even using all my strength I would never be able to get it open. Maybe if I had a tool to knock it down… I mean, after all, I was trapped in here and starting to panic. That seemed like it warranted an escape by any means. I counted to ten and tried to calm down. I had to think of a plan to get out. That plan wouldn’t come if I continued in my current
freaked-out state of mind.
Then I remembered that there were windows in the meeting room. Perhaps someone had left one of those unlocked. Could I really get that lucky? There was only one way to find out. I dashed into the room and hurried over to the windows. There was no way I couldn’t unlock them and get out, right? The locks were on the inside. Unless they had added locks to the outside to keep me in, then I’d be out of here in no time. I couldn’t even imagine that there would be extra security on the windows outside.
I pushed on the little lock lever and then tugged on the window to get it open. It didn’t move. Were they kidding me right now? I moved over to the next window. It didn’t move either. Were they painted shut? This was crazy. I was really starting to freak out. I was getting claustrophobic, even though I wasn’t in a confined space. Just the fact that I was trapped made me crazy.
Okay, this was getting me nowhere. Maybe there was a door in the back. Sure, that was it. No reason to freak out just yet. I’d go to the back, find the door and get out. I headed down that hallway, stepping into the room with all the desks. Unfortunately, there was no door there that looked as if it led outside. However, there were two doors. One went to a bathroom and the other to a small office space.
I walked into that room and saw a door that looked as if it led into the back area of the building. I had my fingers crossed that this worked. It had a deadbolt, so I twisted it to the unlocked position. When I pulled on the door, it wouldn’t open either.
Just when I thought things couldn’t get any worse the lights went out. Momentarily it was as if the breath had been knocked out of my lungs. I stood in the same spot, frozen and unsure of what to do next. There wasn’t much furniture in the room, just that desk and chair close to the door, so with any luck I wouldn’t bump into anything. I had to find my way over to the other door if I wanted to go back up to the front of the building.
