Abducted (Lizzy Gardner Series #1)

by T. R. Ragan

  But now Lizzy’s mind whirled with speculation and unease. She grabbed her cell, ignored the flashing icon telling her she had a voice message, and called her sister’s house. Cathy answered on the second ring. “Hi. It’s me...Lizzy.”

  Her sister’s sigh on the other end was loud and clear. Clearly, she wasn’t ready to make amends.

  “I’m sorry about everything,” Lizzy blurted, talking fast, as she often did when she was nervous. “You’ve been so supportive and encouraging over the years and—”

  “Are you still looking for that maniac?”

  “To tell you the truth, I haven’t had much time for the maniac,” she fibbed. “I’m working on my first infidelity case and it’s sucking up all of my time and energy.” Her sister didn’t need to know that “the maniac” had called her again last night. Her sister didn’t need to know a lot of things. But Lizzy needed to talk to her, needed to hear her voice. Since her mother had moved away and Dad refused to have anything to do with her, Cathy was all the family she had left. And, of course, Brittany.

  “I thought you didn’t do infidelity jobs?”

  “I didn’t. Not until a man named Victor offered me three thousand dollars to watch a woman for two weeks.”

  There was a pause before Cathy said, “Wow. I guess I would have taken the job too.”

  Some of the tension left Lizzy’s shoulders and neck. “Yeah, well, I was sitting here in my car waiting for the woman to return and I started thinking about you and Brittany. I saw you three days ago and I miss you already.”

  “I miss you too, Lizzy, but until you’re done with this obsession you have with Spiderman, a man who has very nearly succeeded in destroying all of our lives, I’ve got to do what’s best for Brittany.”

  “I understand. How is she?”

  “Hard to believe she’ll be fifteen soon.”

  “Unimaginable.” Lizzy squeezed her eyes shut. Cathy would be devastated to know what she had just witnessed. Lizzy couldn’t do it. She couldn’t tell her sister what she’d seen. Innocent until proven guilty, right? She refused to be the person to cause Cathy more heartache.

  “What am I going to do when Brittany starts driving?” Cathy asked. “All the other moms I’ve talked to at the swim meets and school tell me I won’t see Brittany much once she starts driving.”

  Lizzy sighed. After she’d escaped from Spiderman, she’d been shocked to learn that her sister was pregnant and was going to marry Richard. Her sister was eighteen at the time. “We have a while before that happens. But you’re right; it’s not easy watching our little Brittany grow up so fast, is it?”

  “I hate it. I really hate it. Where did all the time go?”

  “I don’t know.”

  It was quiet for a moment, the silence filled with years of too many unspoken words. Although Cathy still had a relationship with their father, he refused to talk to Lizzy, and so Cathy and Lizzy never spoke of him.

  “If you want to come to Brittany’s swim meet at noon on Saturday, it’s at the Aquatic Center in Roseville. I won’t kick you out.”

  Lizzy’s heart was breaking, knowing she should tell her what she’d seen, but also knowing it would only hurt her. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world. Is Richard going to be there?”

  “I doubt it. He’s been super busy lately...working evenings and weekends. When he is home, he’s too tired to do much more than fall asleep on the couch.” Cathy let out a bitter laugh. “Maybe I should pay you to follow him around for a few weeks.”

  Lizzy’s spine stiffened.

  “I’m teasing, you know,” Cathy went on. “Richard and I are doing fine. In fact, he took my car for me today to have it fixed. He left me with his Lexus. Unheard of, considering he’s never let me drive his car before.”

  “What’s wrong with your car?”

  “Apparently everything. He called twenty minutes ago to read off a list of problems with the engine. The good news is everything should be fixed by the end of the day.”

  “Sounds like it might be time for Richard to buy you a new car.”

  “I don’t think that will happen. We’re pinching pennies as it is. But I’ll let him know you think so,” she said, her voice lined with amusement.

  Lizzy rubbed the bridge of her nose. “I better go. Tell Brittany I said hello. I’ll see you both on Saturday.”

  “I’ll tell her. Take care of yourself, Lizzy.”

  “You, too. I love you.” Lizzy hung up the phone. She prayed she was wrong about Richard. Unwilling to leave without knowing the truth, she drove out of the hotel parking area and parked across the street where she would have a better view of the hotel entrance. She readied her camera, grabbed her binoculars, hunkered down in her seat, and waited.

  Chapter 20

  Thursday, February 18, 2010 2:03 PM

  Sacramento anchorwoman for KBTV, Nancy Moreno, sat on the chaise with its streamlined, no-frill design and waited patiently as her therapist, Dr. Linda Gates, fixed her a cup of hot green tea in the kitchen attached to Dr. Gates’ third story office.

  Nancy had been coming to Dr. Gates twice a month for years, but today Nancy looked around the room as if it was her first visit. If she wanted Spiderman to give her an exclusive, she needed to steal Lizzy Gardner’s file. And quick.

  An executive-sized desk constructed of hardwood and painted black with a distressed finish sat before a large-paned window overlooking downtown Sacramento. Potted palm trees stood on either side of the desk, concealing part of the view of downtown. To the left of the desk was a bookcase crammed full of books on behavioral health, psychiatry, and physiology. To the right was a nine-drawer legal-sized decorative file cabinet where the client files were kept.

  Nancy considered asking Dr. Gates straight out for Lizzy Gardner’s file, perhaps bribe her with a large sum of money. But Dr. Gates had married a banker and judging by the jewelry she wore and the trips she took, she probably didn’t need the money enough to risk ruining her reputation.

  Dr. Gates exited the kitchen and came toward her with a cup of tea in hand. “Green tea without sugar, just the way you like it.”

  Nancy leaned forward and took the offered tea. Dr. Gates’ dark hair was cut in a blunt A-cut set off by a beige double-breasted collarless jacket and matching knee-length skirt. Nancy watched closely as Dr. Gates retrieved notepad and pen from atop her desk and then took a seat across from her. Dr. Gates crossed her legs. “How are you today?”

  Nancy sipped her tea. “I’ve been better.”

  “What’s on your mind?”

  “I haven’t been sleeping well,” Nancy lied. “I’ve been having nightmares.”

  Dr. Gates remained expressionless. “About what?”

  “The nightmares have been about you, Dr. Gates, and all the notes you take when I visit.”

  Dr. Gates stopped writing. “Go on.”

  “The nightmare begins with a shadow of a man lurking about in my home or at my office at work. He walks around with a file tucked under his arm. He opens the file and that’s when I see all of your scribbling inside.” She put a hand to her chest in exaggerated surprise. “I feel as if all of my dirty laundry has been aired before the world. I feel humiliated. I lose my job. And then I wake up.” She exhaled. “It’s always the same.”

  Dr. Gates did not laugh or even smirk. She took everything her clients said seriously and Nancy’s nightmare confession today was no different.

  “Maybe it will assuage your fears,” Dr. Gates said, “if I show you your file.”

  Nancy sipped her tea and waited for Dr. Gates to continue.

  “The promotion you’ve been worrying about could be causing your anxiety, making you fret about things you wouldn’t normally worry about. Perhaps if I show you that your file is safely locked away you’ll feel better about things.”

  “It’s worth a try,” Nancy said, trying to keep her cool, pleased at how easily her ruse was working so far.

  Dr. Gates set her notebook and pen aside, stood, and head
ed for the file cabinet. Nancy came to her feet, too, bringing her tea with her. She watched Dr. Gates use a key hooked to a band around her wrist to unlock the file cabinet. As Dr. Gates thumbed through the files, Nancy spotted Lizzy Gardner’s name on one of the thicker files. She waited patiently for Dr. Gates to locate her file and when she did, Nancy feigned clumsiness and dropped her tea cup. The cup hit the hardwood floor and shattered. Tea sprayed across the floor and up against the file cabinet. “Oh! I’m so sorry. Clumsy me.”

  Dr. Gates handed Nancy her file and rushed toward the kitchen area to grab a towel. Nancy didn’t hesitate. She reached into the file drawer, grabbed Lizzy’s file, and rushed back to the couch where she quickly slid the file into the leather briefcase she’d brought for just that purpose.

  “What happened to the file?”

  Nancy jerked about, surprised by the doctor’s quickness in returning to the room. She held up her own file. Her throat felt dry. “It’s right here. Can I bring it home?”

  “No, I’m sorry. I wouldn’t feel comfortable. Why don’t you go ahead and look through it, though, while I clean up this mess.”

  Nancy set the file on her seat cushion and hurried back toward Dr. Gates. She took the towel from the woman, wiped tea from the cabinet and then clicked the drawer shut before the good doctor noticed anything missing.

  When Nancy straightened, she saw a perplexed expression on Dr. Gates’ face. The doctor’s gaze fixated on the view outside her window. She looked concerned about something.

  Nancy’s heart pumped fast and hard against her ribs. “Is something wrong?”

  Dr. Gates took a step backwards until she was half hidden behind the potted palm. “There’s a man outside...standing at the bus stop. I’ve seen that same man standing there before, more than once. That wouldn’t be odd in and of itself except that he always walks away before the bus arrives.” She shook her head. “Odd.”

  Nancy tossed the porcelain chips she’d collected into the garbage and moved closer to the window. “He’s looking this way.”

  Dr. Gates frowned. “That’s what I thought.”

  “Does he come often?”

  “The first time I noticed him was last Monday. This is the third time I’ve seen him out there. I’m going to call the police. I’ll feel better once he’s questioned.”

  Nancy stood frozen in place while Dr. Gates made the call. Could the man at the bus stop be Spiderman? He didn’t look like a killer. Standing there in a crisp black, single-breasted coat, he looked like a businessman. His hair was dark. His full beard nicely trimmed. A pair of dark aviators covered his eyes. He was slight in build, and she guessed his height to be close to six feet.

  Dr. Gates returned to her side. “The dispatcher said there was a patrol car close by. They should be here in a minute.” She feigned a shudder. “There’s something about him that gives me the creeps. Look at him, staring at us. Has he even once looked away?”

  Nancy shook her head.

  “If we can see him, he must see us watching him.”

  A bus pulled to the curb, blocking their view. The bus windows were tinted. Nancy couldn’t tell if anyone was getting on or off. Dr. Gates’ office was on the third floor. Nancy could see the police car approaching from two blocks away. No sirens. No flashing lights. The bus pulled away seconds before the police car approached and parked at the curb where the man had been.

  Nobody was there.

  Dr. Gates sighed. “He’s gone.”

  Not once had the man looked away from their window. He could not have seen the approaching police car, and yet somehow he’d known to get on the bus. Chills raced up her spine. Nancy wondered if she was making a mistake. She would take Gardner’s file for now, she decided, and give the situation more thought before she did anything rash. Yes. She needed to think this through before she did something she might later regret.

  Thursday, February 18, 2010 2:56 PM

  A little before three, Lizzy arrived back at her office. She locked her car door, surprised to see Jared waiting for her on the curb.

  “Where have you been?” he asked.

  “What are you, my father?”

  “Hardly.”

  Frustrated by what she’d seen at the hotel and angry with herself for agreeing to take the job in the first place, Lizzy swept past him, her boots clacking against the asphalt as she marched toward her office. For over two hours she’d sat in her car across the street from the hotel waiting for Richard to exit the hotel.

  Lizzy’s hands fisted at her sides as she replayed the last twenty minutes over in her mind. Despite being locked up in a hotel room for hours on end, Richard and Valerie, having no idea they were being watched through a telescopic lens, had exited the hotel together. They kissed twice, passionately, and then proceeded to gaze into one another’s eyes while they waited for the valet to retrieve their separate cars.

  “Lizzy, please slow down,” Jared said from behind.

  She marched along, afraid of what she might say if she didn’t. Richard’s betrayal, his lies, it all swirled inside of her like a swarm of irritating gnats. She’d taken dozens of incriminating photos. And now what? How could she ever tell Cathy that her husband was a cheating, lying bastard?

  “Sophie’s dead.”

  Lizzy stopped cold. Slowly, she pivoted on her heels until she faced Jared. She put a hand to her chest. “What?”

  “I’ve been trying to call you all morning. Her body was found on the river’s edge off of Highway 50.”

  “Oh, my God. No.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “I should have used the media to send him a message.” She laid a palm on her forehead. “That would have distracted him, would have given us more time.”

  Jared took a firm hold of her shoulders. “It’s not your fault, Lizzy. You can’t blame yourself for every wrong he does.”

  She took a fistful of his coat sleeve. “We did nothing. We did nothing to stop him. This isn’t right.”

  “There are dozens of people working the case. We’re doing everything we can.”

  Jared didn’t understand. She’d been spending her time following Richard and his mistress, a woman she knew nothing about, while Sophie was tied up and gagged, no doubt, praying somebody would find her...save her. Tears welled in her eyes while hatred boiled in her veins, bubbling and threatening to erupt in—oh, my God. She peered up at Jared. Suddenly, it all made sense. “Victor.”

  “What about him?”

  “You were right,” she said. “It’s him. Victor is Spiderman.”

  “How do you know?”

  “The note,” she said. “In the note Spiderman left for me at Sophie’s house he said he knows me. Maybe he knows me better than I first thought. Maybe he knew me so well he knew before I did that I was going to come looking for him. Remember when we were at the Walker house and I thought we were being watched?”

  He nodded.

  “I know Spiderman was watching me. He’s probably watching us right now.” She fought the urge to look over her shoulder. “He’s been watching my sister, too. He knew Cathy’s husband was having an affair and he wanted me to know, too.”

  “Slow down,” Jared said. “Why don’t you start from the beginning?”

  She took a breath. “Remember how I thought it was odd that Valerie Hunt had gone to Seacrest and Associates yesterday?”

  “The law firm where your brother-in-law works?”

  She nodded. “It wasn’t a coincidence. I followed Valerie Hunt across town to a hotel this afternoon. That’s where I’ve been. Moments after Valerie Hunt entered the hotel, my brother-in-law showed up driving my sister’s BMW. At that point it was his word against mine, so I parked across the street and waited until Richard exited the hotel.”

  “And?”

  “And then I got the proof I needed but didn’t want.” She patted her backpack. “It’s all here in my bag...dozens of incriminating pictures.” She clutched his arm. “Don’t you see? It’s him. Victor, the man who
hired me to follow Valerie, is Spiderman. He knows my mother has moved away and that my father won’t have anything to do with me. Somehow he knows Cathy and I are treading a slippery path when it comes to our relationship. Spiderman wanted me to know about Richard’s affair so I could tell my sister and sever my last ties with my family.” She shook her head. “I called Cathy, but I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t tell her the truth.”

  “We have to tell her.”

  “I can’t.”

  “If Spiderman knows about your brother-in-law,” Jared said, “then he’s been watching their house...which means he’s watching your niece, too.”

  Lizzy’s heart dropped to her stomach. Until that moment, she realized she hadn’t truly known terror. Brittany was in danger. Cold electric currents shot through her body. “He’s winning, isn’t he?”

  Jared put an arm around her shoulders. “Let’s go to your office. I’ll make a few phone calls and get somebody to watch your sister’s house.”

  “When?”

  “Now.”

  She noticed a muscle working in Jared’s jaw. His eyes had a hollow empty look to them. He’d been at the crime scene, no doubt. Her heart went out to him. And to Sophie and her family. She couldn’t believe the girl was dead. Poor Sophie.

  “The courier who delivered Victor’s payment yesterday,” she said to fill the silence, “appears to be a college student. He left before Jessica could question him. She did manage to use her cell phone to take a picture though. When we enlarged the picture we were able to see a Cosumnes River College sticker on his helmet. Although he’s much too young to be Spiderman, he might be able to identify Victor. We need to find him.”

  Thursday, February 18, 2010 4:12 PM

  He considered driving by his house in Auburn, the one he’d shared for fourteen years with his wife, Cynthia. He envisioned her returning from her trip back East to visit with friends. He imagined her wearing a pale pink sweater and beige slacks. Cynthia was a simple woman, easy to please. She had taken good care of him.