The River Valley Series

by Tess Thompson

  He leaned over her, reaching behind the chair to untie the rope, his crotch in her face. She shuddered with repulsion. Stay focused. You know what to do. The years of her acting training, like an athlete with muscle memory, roared to life. Do not succumb to fear. Practice ‘as if.’ This is an acting exercise. An improv. She closed her eyes, growing imaginary muscles, imaginary strength of mind and spirit. I am a soldier, all muscle and rage, fighting an evil enemy. A fearless warrior triumphing over evil. My body is strong, my mind quicker than my enemy.

  The minute the rope around her waist loosened, she shot up like the clown in a toy jack-in-a-box. She butted the top of her head into his crotch, causing him to cry out and stumble several feet. In the next second, she hurled herself into him. Because of his inebriation, it was enough to knock him backward and onto the floor. Like a bug on its back, Murphy tried to resurrect himself, but before he could get his bearings, she stomped the heel of her boot into his crotch. He screamed and struggled to rise. She moved her foot to his chest, pinning him to the floor. You will die. I must live to love. I must save my village. A warrior would go for the jugular. She gouged the heel of her boot against his windpipe. His face reddened, beady eyes blazing. Should she kill him this way? Suffocate him to death? No. Make him suffer by sending him to spend the rest of his life in a prison. Yes, that fate was worse than dying. He’d said so himself. She released his neck. Knock him out. Use your Oregon boots to knock him out. With the steel-toe of her boot, she kicked the side of his head, hard. He convulsed with an awful shudder. Then, nothing. Motionless, his eyes stared blankly up at the ceiling. Had he passed out? Or, had she killed him? Oh, my God, what have I done? Without the use of her hands, she couldn’t feel his pulse. It didn’t matter now. Whatever she’d done to him would have to be dealt with later. I have to get out of this room. How can I open the door with my hands tied? Think.

  She looked around the room, frantic. She rushed to the door. It was not a doorknob, but a handle! If she turned around and tugged on it with her tied hands, perhaps it would open. She looked behind her. Murphy remained where he was, lifeless. With her back to the door, she lifted her arms as high as they would go and found the handle with her fingers. She pushed down on it, then pulled the door open as far as she could, and did a pirouette like a ballerina ninja, catching the door with her foot before it closed. She slipped out to the hallway. No one. Not a no-neck monster in sight.

  She ran to the elevator, punching the button with her hip. How long would it take? Her heart pounded hard in her chest. Perspiration dripped into her eyes. Her legs shook, threatening to collapse. Stay brave. Almost done. Please come. Please come. Please come.

  The hum of the elevator’s approach almost made her cry with relief. When the doors opened, she stumbled inside, hitting the lobby button with her hip. Down she went, one floor after another, until they reached the eighth floor. She held her breath as the doors opened. Please God, don’t let it be the no-neck monster.

  The honeymoon couple, dressed for dinner, stumbled into the elevator. The wife gasped. What was her name? Something odd. Star. That was it. “Ms. Banks. Oh my God.” The doors closed and the elevator plunged a floor. Gennie inhaled through her nose, trying to calm her rapid heart. A tiny squeak escaped from her chest.

  “Don, get this thing off her mouth.”

  “Yes, yes, of course.” Don moved closer. “I’ll be gentle, okay?”

  Gennie nodded. He went behind her, tugging until finally the gag came free. Her mouth felt raw and sore, and her throat was so dry she wasn’t sure she would be able to speak. “Thank you.”

  “I have a pocket knife,” Don said. “I’m going to cut the ties around your wrists. Please stay still.”

  “You poor thing. Were you kidnapped?” Her hands flew to her mouth. “Was it Rick Murphy? Did he do this to you? Don, call 911.”

  “Yes. A man with a gun showed up at my door and took me to one of the suites. Murphy was there. I think I may have killed him.” She breathed in and out, fighting hysteria. “He was drunk, so I managed to knock him down, then I kicked him in the head and he stopped moving.”

  Don was talking into his phone. “Yes, we found Genevieve Banks in the elevator, gagged and tied. She says Rick Murphy kidnapped her. Send police to the Met Hotel immediately. What? No, she’s okay. She escaped, and we found her in the elevator. She’s shaken up, nearly hysterical, and she has rope burns on her wrists. Rick Murphy’s unconscious in one of the suites on the twentieth floor.” He stopped, looking over at Gennie. “Do you know which one?”

  “P8,” Gennie said.

  He repeated this into the phone. “She’s afraid he may be dead, but she’s not sure. Ms. Banks, is he armed?”

  “He has a knife. I didn’t see a gun. But the man who grabbed me from my room has one. Tell them he’s most likely somewhere in the hotel,” Gennie said.

  Don conveyed the message to the operator. Gennie trembled. Black spots danced before her eyes. She leaned against the side of the elevator as the spots grew bigger.

  “Star, I think she’s going to faint,” Don said.

  Star reached for her, steadying her with an arm around her waist. “It’s all right, Ms. Banks, we’ve got you.”

  Don continued to talk into the phone. “Yeah, all right. I won’t hang up.” He tucked Gennie’s arm into his. She leaned against his bulk.

  “The operator wants you to know they’re sending out dozens of officers as we speak. She wants me to keep her on the line,” Don said.

  The elevator stopped. They were at the first floor. Doors opened, and the three of them walked into the lobby, Don and Star on either side of her, holding her upright. She scanned the space, looking for No-Neck. Her pulse quickened when she found him, sitting by the fireplace. “He’s right there,” she whispered. “By the fireplace. The big guy. He’s the one who took me from my room.”

  Don tightened his grip and spoke into the phone. “The guy who grabbed her is in the lobby. He’s armed. What should we do? Find a guard? Okay.” Don looked around the lobby. “Yes, I see one. By the entrance.” He nodded, speaking quietly, as he turned them toward the front desk. “She says to walk to the reception desk and have them alert the guard as to what’s happening. The police will be here any second.” As if on cue, the faint sound of sirens penetrated the lobby.

  No-Neck must have heard them, too, because he stood, looking around the lobby until his gaze landed on Gennie. Surprise, followed by comprehension, washed over his face. He knew. She was safe. His boss was not. He reached inside his jacket and pulled out a gun. With a quick flick of his hand, he fired a shot into the ceiling. “Everybody down. Nobody move.” The lobby exploded with panicked screams as people hit the floor. The guard raised his gun, but it was too late. No-Neck shot him. He fell to the ground.

  “Yes, he’s fired a shot,” Don said into the phone as all three of them fell to their knees. “Guard’s been shot.”

  “Hang up the phone,” No-Neck said, striding toward them.

  At that same moment, on the other side of the lobby, Stefan and Frederick appeared in the entryway of the bar. They halted like a glass wall had suddenly fallen from the ceiling. She locked eyes with Stefan for a split second. He tipped his chin. A message. Keep his attention on you.

  “The police are almost here,” Gennie said.

  No-Neck was upon them. He kicked Don’s phone from his hand, keeping the gun pointed at Gennie. “You two, on your bellies.”

  Don and Star obeyed. Stefan and Frederick, as silent as cat burglars, inched around the wall toward them. Gennie put her hands in the air, still on her knees. “Take me,” she said. “But let the rest of them go. I’m who you want. You can use me to get what you want. I killed your boss.” She said all this as she slowly stood. “He won’t be able to protect you.”

  No-Neck stared at her with glittering eyes. He hesitated. I surprised him. He doesn’t know what to do. That indecision cost him because Stefan was behind him now, stealth as a cat. Stefan kicked
him in the back of the knees. No-Neck’s legs buckled, and he fell to the floor. The gun went off, its boom deafening amid more screams. The bullet landed in the wall behind the front desk. Before No-Neck could recover, Frederick kicked him in the ribs. No-Neck cried out as Don leaped to his feet and kicked the gun out of his hand. It slid several feet. Like they were in a hockey match, Stefan ran to the gun and passed it like it was a puck over the white marble floor to Frederick. Seamlessly, like they were playing a friendly afternoon game, Frederick caught it with his foot, then scooped it off the floor and pointed it at No-Neck.

  “Don’t move, asshole,” Frederick said.

  The entrance swarmed with officers, guns raised. Everything happened at once. At least a dozen of them headed up the stairs, while another half dozen took the elevator. Several advanced on No-Neck, cuffing him and dragging him across the lobby and out the door. Paramedics swooped in and put the guard onto a stretcher. Frederick, near the entrance of the hotel, spoke with two men in suits. Detectives. They will want to talk to me. What should I tell them? That I killed a man out of sheer rage?

  Stefan pulled her into his arms, and she collapsed against him. “My God, what happened?”

  “His henchman knocked on the door, and I wasn’t thinking. I thought it was room service. He grabbed me.” She told him the rest in a halting voice, finishing with her awful suspicion. “I think I may have killed him.”

  “You escaped, baby. That’s all that matters.”

  “I thought I was going to die, and all I could think of was how much I wanted to live. I wanted to see you and my family one more time. If these two hadn’t found me, I don’t know where we’d all be.”

  Next to them, Don and Star clung to one another like ragdolls.

  Gennie explained to Stefan how they’d found her in the elevator and quickly figured out what was happening. “Don had the presence of my mind to call 911 and get the police here. Thank you, both. I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t been in the elevator. You kept your head, Don. It was amazing. Truly.”

  “When he pulled out that gun, I thought he was going to start shooting,” Star said.

  “Me too,” Don said. “Holy shit, this is not how I thought we’d spend our first night in the Big Apple.”

  “I was freaked,” Star said. “Scared out of my mind. We’re from Kansas. My mother didn’t want us to come to New York— too dangerous. What will she think now?”

  “You tell her that you and Don saved a lot of lives today and to stop worrying about you.”

  Star smiled. “I knew the minute I saw you that Murphy had gotten you. We’d just finished watching your interview. I’m a big fan.” She blushed. “It was like my mind just turned super calm all of the sudden.” She looked at her husband. “I’m usually afraid of everything.”

  “Not today, sweetie,” Don said. “I’m so proud of you.”

  “I’m proud of you,” Star said.

  “From now on, don’t be afraid of things,” Gennie said. “It’s just a waste of energy.”

  “And you’re obviously able to handle yourself,” Stefan said to Star. He brought Gennie closer. “As are you, baby. You don’t have to be afraid of the monster any longer. You took care of him.”

  “My acting training came in handy today. I never thought all those classes would be good for anything except being skilled at my job. Turns out they were good for more.”

  He grinned. “And here we thought acting was vapid.”

  She turned to Don and Star. “I’m afraid the police will want to talk to you. It’s not exactly what you had in mind for your honeymoon. I’m sorry about that.”

  Don snapped his fingers. “With all the excitement, I forgot to thank you for paying for us to stay. It’s a dream come true for us.”

  “Yes, thank you,” Star said.

  They were interrupted by several detectives. They introduced themselves as Detectives Burns and Turner. Both men were dressed in dark suits. The taller of the two, with bloodshot eyes, did the talking. “We have some questions, Ms. Banks, as well as for you two. Can you follow us, please?”

  “Can I come with her?” Stefan asked. “She’s been through hell.”

  “I’m afraid not. We need to speak to each of them alone. Protocol,” Detective Turner said.

  Stefan kissed her cheek. “It’s okay, sweetheart. I’ll be right here waiting for you.”

  Later, Gennie sat in their room in front of the fire. Despite the warm blanket wrapped around her shoulders, she couldn’t seem to get warm. The last few hours had passed in a blur of questions, followed by details from the police about Murphy’s fate. When the officers arrived, they found him passed out on the floor, very much alive. He had a large bump on the side of his head, but the alcohol was more to blame for his incapacitation than Gennie’s boot.

  While she was being questioned, Stefan, worried that they might have seen the story on the news or social media, had called her mother and Lee, along with the crew back in River Valley, to reassure them that Gennie was safe and to tell them the details of what had transpired.

  The minute she could, Gennie called her mother. “Mom, it’s me. I’m okay.”

  “Thank God. Gennie, it’s over. We’re safe.”

  “We can finally move on,” Gennie said.

  “Thank God.”

  “How’s your doctor?”

  “He’s fine. Very attentive.”

  I’ll bet he is. “Mom, it’s time for you to move on too. Dad’s been gone a long time. You deserve to be happy again.”

  “Perhaps you’re right.”

  “You say yes when that cute doctor asks you out,” Gennie said.

  “Do you think he will?”

  “Well, maybe not for a while since you’re in traction. But he has a good excuse to see you every day.”

  “Yes, he does that. I love you Gennie girl. I’m thankful you’re okay. You’re my brave girl. Always have been.”

  “I love you too, Mom.”

  After they hung up, she called Sarah.

  “You must have been scared,” Sarah said.

  “I was. I wasn’t sure I was going to get out of there alive.”

  “You don’t have to be afraid anymore. You’re free,” Sarah said.

  “I am. It feels good. I can finally move on.”

  “I have something to ask you. A favor,” Sarah said. “I got a note from school today. My dad says he doesn’t have money for next semester. I’ll have drop out if I can’t come up with the money.”

  “I’ll pay it, sweetie. I’ll set up an account for you too, so you have some living money.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “More than sure. I’m happy to do it.”

  “I have to leave tomorrow, so I won’t see you before you get back.”

  “I’m going to stay for another week here to help my mom, but I’ll be in Malibu after that. We can see each other then, if you want? You could stay at the house for the weekend.”

  “I would love that,” Sarah said.

  “We have a lot of time to get to know each other, so don’t worry about that.”

  “Do you think you’ll come to River Valley ever again?” Sarah asked.

  Gennie glanced at Stefan. He was gazing into the fire with his lids half-closed and his arms crossed over his chest. “I do. I’m going to buy a piece of land and have a house built. What do you think of that idea?”

  She could hear the smile in Sarah’s voice. “Really? That would be great. I’m going to apply for a teaching job here when I finish school. I belong here. I can’t explain it, but I know it’s true.”

  “I understand perfectly.” Gennie stood and went to the window to look out at the lights of Manhattan. “When’s your spring break?”

  “Middle of March.”

  “Maybe we can take a little trip up to Oregon to look at property. Would you be up for that?”

  “Totally.”

  “Good. Will you call me when you get home, so I know you’re safe?”
Gennie asked.

  “I will. And, Gennie, I’m glad you’re finally free.”

  “Me too.”

  Epilogue

  Stefan’s phone woke Gennie on a morning in early January, its insistent ring impossible to ignore. He rolled over with a groan and answered in a sleep-soaked voice. “Hello. Oh, hey Martin.” Gennie smiled to herself. An early morning call in January from his manager could only mean one thing. Stefan was nominated for an Oscar. She almost laughed as all traces of sleepiness vanished from his face.

  What?” He sat upright, wiping his eyes. “You’re kidding? Well, hell yeah, it’s wonderful. I’m just shocked. Sure. Yeah, I’ll call you later this morning.” When he hung up, he looked over at Gennie. “You won’t believe it.”

  She pushed the hair out of her eyes. “You got a nomination for Vice.”

  “Am I dreaming?”

  “No, sir. This is as real as it gets. I knew it. You’re the only one who doesn’t know how enormously gifted you are.”

  He took her hand. “It’s weird to think I filmed that movie before I met you. It seems a lifetime ago.”

  She sidled up next to him. “Well, I’m pretty sure you’re here. And so am I…and we’re already awake.”

  He grinned as he turned off his phone. “Let’s put the phone on sleep mode, shall we?”

  “Great idea.”

  The night of the Oscars, Gennie wore a soft-gray gown made of sheer tulle and embellished with flowered embroidery and tiny beads down the bodice. Stefan was dashing in a black tuxedo and bowtie. She felt like a fairy princess as she and Stefan sat in their assigned seats in the Dolby Theatre. The show, always long, seemed interminable as the awards were given out one by one. The Best Actor category was one of the last awards of the night. I’m a wreck. It’s worse than when I was nominated.

  Finally, the Best Actor category arrived. Presenting the award was Matthew McConaughey and Kate Winslet, both of whom Gennie adored. When they had taken their seats earlier, Kate had stopped by to say hello and wish Stefan luck, which sounded twice as good with her British accent.