Educated

by Gray Gardner

  “Ugh, fine, you drive, then,” Mary sighed impatiently.

  “And get disbarred, no thanks!” she huffed.

  “Uh, let’s just walk, it’s like two blocks away,” Bunny offered, giving them a strange look.

  “I don’t know, it’s late,” Mary said, checking her watch. Nine pm, a perfectly respectable time to run an errand before she’d become involved with one overbearing Mait Frasier.

  “It’s so close,” Nicole shrugged her shoulders, wringing her hands. Mary frowned at her. Jesus, why was she nervous? Mait certainly didn’t spank her. Her cheeks flushed at the thought of what he would do if he found out about them even thinking about leaving the house.

  “Okay,” Bunny giggled, backing out of the front door. “You guys are being weird. I’m going to get the wine and I’ll be back in a second.”

  Nicole and Mary had a silent argument with their eyes, then exhaled in frustration and ran after Bunny. They walked along the brightly lit sidewalk in the cool clear night and entered the corner store, quickly finding their purchase and all but chasing Bunny out of the store.

  “I’ve never bought a,” Bunny studied the label on the bottle. “Magnum before. It’s huge.”

  “Yeah,” Nicole and Mary curtly replied, flanking Bunny and speed walking back to Mary’s house. They didn’t even make a penis joke. They couldn’t. They were both terrified of discovery.

  They had just climbed the steps and Mary was fishing out her key when they heard the ominous words that no woman wants to hear when she’s out at night.

  “Don’t turn around. Don’t reach for those phones. Don’t even speak. Just open the door or I’ll shoot you here.”

  They all froze at the indisputable sound of a hammer cocking back on a pistol. It was dark in her doorway, long shadows cast by the streetlamp 30 feet away.

  “Okay,” Mary breathed, fumbling with the key and trying to remain calm as she opened the door. Shit, how could she have been so stupid? They’d been followed… easy targets. Why was she so dead set on getting her own way? She fought back a tremble as Nicole let out a small squeal and Bunny’s breathing became labored.

  The man pushed the three of them inside, keeping the hall lights off as he locked the door behind them, all the while pointing his black pistol at them.

  “I just want your money, jewelry, whatever you have on you,” he quickly said, scratching at his neck in jerky movements. He caught Mary’s eye and nodded at the stairs. “This your house?”

  “Yes,” she breathily answered, nodding as Nicole and Bunny were obediently taking off their watches and earrings. She licked her dry lips and got her breathing under control.

  “Take me upstairs. I want whatever you have in a jewelry box or a safe,” he ordered, gesturing that she should go first.

  Nicole had seen too many crime scene photos to let him wander off with a little girl like Mary. “Um,” she quickly interjected, stepping forward. The man swung his gun around to her and she threw up her hands. “Please, just let us go. Take our phones and let us go.”

  “I don’t think so,” he sneered, his greasy black hair hanging over his eyes. He scratched his neck nervously as he looked at them. “All of you. Upstairs.”

  “No,” Mary shook her head, knowing that she could fight off this guy but not with anyone else in the room. “Just, I’ll hurry. Let’s go.”

  “No!” Nicole interjected, stepping around them. “We’re all going.”

  “Go!” the man ordered, watching as the girls slowly and fearfully climbed the stairs.

  Bunny squealed as the man grabbed her shoulder and pushed the barrel of the gun into her back. Mary and Nicole tried to calmly walk into the master bedroom without spooking him into shooting anyone. When Bunny suddenly breathed one too many shallow breaths and fainted, everything that followed seemed to happen in slow motion.

  Nicole bent down to help her. The man trained his gun on them, his hand shaking as he threatened to shoot if they didn’t get up. Nicole kicked her foot out and the man fell backwards.

  “In the closet!” Mary ordered, pointing to the open door through her large bathroom. “Go!”

  Nicole grabbed Bunny under her arms and pulled the girl quickly into the bathroom, screeching as the man stood up and fired his gun, the sound deafening. Mary dove for her nightstand, knocking everything off as it fell over. She heard the man’s gunfire again as she prayed no one was hurt.

  Liam Atwood was good at his job… a little too good, he thought, since his boss insisted he work well into the night and on Saturdays. Which was why he’d agreed with Mait that Nicole should spend the weekend with Mary Madeline. Together, they couldn’t possibly cause as much trouble as they did apart, right? Nicole was a handful, but he absolutely loved her. He couldn’t wait to get her back on Sunday and do unspeakable things to her all day. And Mary Madeline? She was a cute little thing that couldn’t truly be as much trouble as Mait had let on. Still, since he’d gotten home from work at ten on Saturday night he was glad the two girls were together.

  He frowned at his ringing briefcase splayed across the kitchen counter of his recently updated bungalow house. Could it not wait until Monday, damn it? Checking Caller ID, he rolled his eyes at the unfamiliar number. “Atwood.”

  “Liam!” Nicole’s voice shrieked, suddenly crying out before the call was lost.

  He was out of the door with his keys to his Mercedes in less than one second. Oh God, she’d sounded so panicked! His beautiful Nicole! Mait’s precious Mary… His tires squealed as he pressed a phone number in his Bluetooth. A deep, husky voice answered in the car speakers.

  “Christ, I’ve been waiting for this call.”

  “Something’s wrong. Get over to her house… oh fuck, the police are here!” Liam exclaimed, screeching to a halt and leaving the car running as he leapt out and raced towards the steps.

  The police officers stationed at the front door tried to stop him as he pushed his way through. “Nicole!” he bellowed, trying to shove their hands off of his wrinkled and askew gray suit jacket. His tie felt like it was strangling him. “My girlfriend is in there!”

  The policewoman looked at the detective standing next to her. The detective nodded once and held her hand out. “Please, Mr.—”

  “Liam Atwood, I’m a US Attorney!” he yelled, pulling out his wallet to show his credentials. “Please…”

  “Detective Evans. If you wouldn’t mind—”

  “Let us in,” a commanding voice said from the sidewalk.

  Liam exhaled as the tall, powerful man climbed the steps in what looked like a tuxedo shirt and pants, collar open. Now things would get done. “I’m glad you answered my call so quickly. I don’t know what’s going on,” Liam said, panic in his voice.

  “Why are the police here?” the dominant man asked.

  The detective smiled a tight-lipped smile and raised her brow at him. “Are you a US Attorney, too?”

  Frowning at her indignant tone, he leaned forward enough to make her so uncomfortable that she took a step back. “My name is Carlson Frasier. Yes, of those Frasiers. Mary Madeline Tucker is a family friend and Nicole Frasier is my sister. What’s going on here?”

  The detective swallowed hard at his overbearing presence and shook her head. “From what we can tell, he forced his way in—”

  “There was a break-in?” Liam breathlessly asked, loosening his tie. Why wouldn’t they take him to Nicole and Mary Madeline?

  “Yes,” she continued. “Looks like he forced them upstairs and got off a few rounds.”

  “God,” Carlson growled, running his fingers through his hair. Guns? “Where are the girls?”

  A couple of EMTs brushed past them with a gurney, purposefully heading up the stairs. Liam and Carlson braced themselves for the worst.

  “The good news is the girls were lucky enough to have been packing themselves,” the detective grinned with satisfaction.

  “They had… they had a gun?” Liam frowned, his heart racing. Who would be brou
ght down on the gurney?

  “What’s the bad news?” Carlson urged, sounding as irritated as Liam felt. Though they were the same height, Carlson just had a bigger presence about him.

  The gurney came back down the stairs with a man in a sweatshirt covered in blood. He had wires and tubes attached to him as they rushed out to the ambulance on the street.

  “Yeah, two different types of bullets,” Detective Evans nodded. “Uh, the bad news, yes. We, um… the girls are missing. We can’t find them.”

  Liam felt his stomach fall to his feet. Carlson straightened his shoulders. “Let us in. Now.”

  “Of course,” the little brunette detective nodded. “We just ask that you stay in the living room while we process the scene.”

  Carlson surprised Liam by kindly steadying his arm and leading him to a couch to sit on. He knew the man was in love with his sister. And he knew his little brother was in love with an adorable girl the family couldn’t stop talking about. He steeled himself as he turned on the detective. “Tell me what you have so far.” He paused and put a hand on Liam’s shoulder. “You’d better call Mait.”

  “Yes,” Liam nodded, busying himself with his smartphone.

  Now that Liam was occupied, Carlson turned his full attention to the detective.

  “We recovered two rounds from a .38, probably the same one we found in the intruder’s hand. And uh, then we found a nine millimeter round in the door jamb and… well, in the intruder.”

  “Footprints leading out of the room? Missing wallets? Where are their purses? Does Mary Madeline have a car? My sister insists on mass public transportation during the work week so I know hers isn’t missing.”

  The detective was answering all of his questions as best as she could as Liam left several desperate messages for Mait on his phone, at his hotel, and even with the venue where the conference was being held.

  “Three wallets, three purses,” Detective Evans was saying. “Your sister, Nicole Rutherford Frasier, your friend, Mary Madeline Tucker, and a Roberta Hearst Greer—”

  “Are you looking for the Greer girl’s car?” Liam asked, pulling his necktie a little looser.

  “In the campus parking lot,” the detective nodded. “And the Tucker girl’s car is in her garage—”

  “Let me in!” someone shouted from the doorway. All eyes turned to the young man in his twenties, hair sculpted to a purposeful mess on his head, with a popped polo collar and tight designer jeans. “I’m here to help, damn it!”

  “And who are you?” Carlson asked, raising up to his full height as the detective rolled her eyes and gave him a down boy look.

  “Bart Carey. Look, when we were notified we hurried and pushed the cops here in less than two minutes, so… you can’t hold that against us, okay? There were no signs of malfunction, whatsoever, and I can guarantee that the problem will be fixed before Monday morning—”

  “Hey, hey, kid, hold it,” Detective Evans interrupted, holding up her hand. “Now, are you with the alarm company?”

  Bart huffed and shook his head, fishing out his wallet and producing a card. “Locksafe Security. Where’s Miss Tucker so that I can get her full account—”

  “Son, do you even know what’s going on here?” Carlson asked, holding up his hands.

  “Yeah, an unhappy customer, I know, dude. I’m here at midnight on a Saturday to fix it, aren’t I?”

  Liam grabbed Carlson’s arm as the detective tried to diffuse the situation. “Okay, okay. Mr. Carey, if you aren’t with the alarm system company then how are you aware of the police response time?”

  “Because the second the door is activated from the inside we are notified at the same time as the police—”

  “The door to what?” Liam asked loudly, very annoyed.

  Bart frowned, looking around for the hot little blonde he’d assisted that previous August. “Uh, the uh, panic room. Wait, are they still stuck in there? The door hasn’t retracted?” he nervously asked.

  “Panic room!” the detective repeated, looking around for the responding officers and trying to find someone to yell at.

  “Take us there now!” Carlson growled, shoving the arrogant kid forward. They were still in the house, thank God. They just had to be safe.

  “Y-yes, of course,” Bart nodded, pulling out his phone and speed dialing a number as they quickly climbed the stairs. “I need the code for the Tucker account… now!”

  He threw a half-hearted smile over his shoulder, then almost lost the expensive drinks he’d been indulging in at the time he’d gotten the call of the malfunctioning door when he saw the large blood puddle on the marble floor of the bathroom. He briskly walked around it and into the enormous walk-in closet. Pulling back a fake hook with some belts hanging on it, he revealed a hidden keypad and began typing in several numbers from the screen on his phone.

  “Just another second,” he assured his audience. “There.”

  Chapter 16

  Mary and Nicole held Bunny’s hands as she cried and cried that she just wanted to go home. Mary nodded in agreement that it would happen as soon as the cops arrived and disengaged the alarm, which would in turn unlock the door. Until that happened, they were stuck inside the safety and discomfort of the eight foot by ten foot panic room.

  God, she loved her foresight. She’d had it installed on a whim when the realtor who’d sold her the house the previous summer had sadly revealed that there had been a lot of home invasions in the city and as a single woman she should consider getting a roommate and a dog.

  She’d gotten Bart Carey from Locksafe to install a panic room that next week. It was a good investment, she knew, because it would increase the value of the house when she sold it.

  When she graduated and would have to move away.

  She shoved that unpleasant thought aside and smiled down at Bunny, who was sipping a Locksafe bottled water and looking better.

  Nicole looked at both of them reassuringly, having recovered from her brief panic attack when she’d dialed out on the phone on the wall and the call had been disconnected, leaving no dial tone to call again. She focused on the problems she could fix. “It was self-defense,” she insisted, trying to sound like a lawyer.

  “Let’s just worry about getting out of here safely,” Mary replied, pressing her lips together and checking to see that her nine millimeter was right next to her foot, just in case.

  “It seems like the cops would be here by now,” Nicole sighed, leaning back against a wall and patting Bunny’s back.

  “The flashing red light by the door means they’ve been called, as well as the company that installed this room. As soon as they coordinate and get here the door should open on its own. I don’t want to risk opening it now—”

  “No!” the other girls said in unison, wanting to feel safe just a little bit longer in the soft light of the small room.

  Suddenly the door began clicking, like locks were disengaging.

  “Uh, Mary,” Nicole whispered, hugging Bunny under one arm and her under the other. “Grab your gun.”

  Mary grabbed her pistol and pulled back the barrel, clicking a bullet into the chamber. She held the gun up as light slowly flooded in, the heavy door sliding into a pocket panel. They squinted as they were hit with the bright lights of the closet and bathroom.

  “Christ!” They heard someone growl through his teeth as footsteps approached and large hands were suddenly pulling them up.

  “Liam!” Nicole cried, finally seeing his face and wrapping her arms around him. He held her tightly as she suddenly became overwhelmed and started crying.

  “Miss Greer,” the detective kindly said, taking the brunette’s shaking hand. “Come on, I’ve got you. You’re safe now.”

  “Mary Madeline,” a very large, very angry yet familiar looking man said quietly, standing over her. He took her pistol from her hands and handed it to an officer, then totally surprised her by wrapping her up into a tight hug. “You really had us worried, sweetheart.”

&nbs
p; Liam turned and ruffled her hair affectionately. “A panic room and a pistol? I want to kill you and kiss you, damn it!” he grinned, an arm over Nicole’s shoulders, holding her to his side.

  “Miss Tucker, we’ll repair this door immediately,” Bart Carey said, looking contrite.

  “It served its purpose, but see that you do. The phone line, too.”

  “Yes ma’am.” He nodded as they left the room.

  Mary was feeling strong at the moment, but weak at the same time. Luckily the tall angry guy was holding her arm, though rather tightly, as they made their way downstairs.

  “Um, forgive me, but who are you again?” she timidly asked, looking up at the 40-year-old man as police officers and a crime scene unit bustled around the foyer.

  “Carlson Frasier.” He grinned, though his face was ice cold. When his brother had called him on Friday and explained that he had to go out of town and to be on the lookout for his new girlfriend, he hadn’t the slightest clue it would mean this.

  Mary frowned. Oh crap, another Carlson Frasier? This was so confusing. The detective brought her back to the current situation. “Sorry to have to do this, but we’re going to need a statement and since you discharged your weapon…”

  “I have a license for that right here,” Mary nodded, turning for the dining room table and pulling out her wallet. She produced a driver’s license and her license to carry a concealed weapon.

  “This says you’re from Texas.” The detective frowned.

  “She has a gun, didn’t that clue you in?” Liam muttered, shrugging as Nicole hit his arm.

  “I’m a student at Eastland,” Mary added, pulling out her student ID as well.

  “Great, I’ll just photocopy these for our records, then we’ll get your statements and I’ll leave you all alone. It’s been a very trying night, I know, but you’re safe now and that man is going to be tried and convicted. So don’t you worry, okay?”

  The three girls nodded, though Mary and Nicole glanced at each other. Their stories would not line up with Bunny’s. Maybe they should try and talk her into saying it was a break-in.