“I’ll find her. I promise. If I have to rip that pizza place down brick by brick. If I have to hunt that crazy woman to the ends of the earth. I’m sorry. It’s my fault this happened to your daughter and I swear I’ll find her and, when I do, I’ll prove that I’m worthy of her.”
Ruby’s mother tried to reassure me that she didn’t blame me but that meant nothing. I blamed myself.
“There was something strange. I’m such an idiot. Ruby always tells me to be careful about giving out information...”
She told me about the phone call she’d received from the phone company. It did seem strange.
“It seemed the girl was just being helpful at the time but later I thought about it and it all made no sense.”
“Who did she say she worked for?” I asked. I wrote down the name of the phone company.
No wonder that bitch knew so much about us. She had access to our phone records and god knew what else. I’d sue the phone company. I’d find the CEO and punch his head off for employing psycho bitches. Shouldn’t that information be private and confidential?
After I got off the phone, I paced around. Hannah was being the voice of reason but Devon’s idea was the only thing that made sense to me. At least we’d be taking action. If anything happened to Ruby, if one hair on her head was damaged, I’d kill that woman myself.
“Stop doing that, Tex,” Hannah said.
“Doing what?”
“Cracking your fingers like that.”
I hadn’t even realised I was doing that.
“Okay, this is what I think we should do. Someone needs to go stake out the pizza shop. Someone needs to stay on the phone, trying to get hold of the pizza shop owner and someone else should follow that woman. The pizza shop opens at 5.00 so we need to be there before that. Hopefully the owner will be contactable by the time the shop opens. And, should I issue a press release?”
Then it hit me. I knew what needed to be done. The fastest way to get to Ruby.
“I need to be bait.” Of course, that’s what was needed.
“Huh?” Hannah’s head jolted around to me.
“This woman, wants me. That’s why she’s doing this. If I can contact her, I can draw her out of hiding. Maybe, if I could talk to her, I could get her to release Ruby or at least tell us where she is. I’ll swap myself for Ruby. That’s what she wants.”
And then I’ll kill her, I thought but I didn’t say it out loud. No point getting Hannah more riled up. Just thinking about that woman, turned my thoughts blood red.
“It’s dangerous, Tex,” Hannah said. “This woman is not rational. She’s not just a lovesick fan. If you don’t act out her idea of you, she might get violent.”
She didn’t need to tell me that.
“And you want me to leave Ruby with her? I don’t give a shit about myself. I want Ruby safe. Everything else can go to hell. I just need to get in touch with her. We must have something. Fan club records? Anything with her contact details? I’ve tried calling her on Ruby’s number but the phone just rings out.”
“We don’t even know her real name,” said Hannah.
“I might have something…” Devon drawled.
He reclined in his chair as though he had all the time in the world to mull things over. He knew nothing. What could he know?
“Keep out of this.”
“Screw you, Tex. Just because you’re a cockhead doesn’t mean I’m going to butt out and let Ruby suffer. Remember at the engagement party, I told Ruby about some weird phone call I’d got asking about her? That could’ve been her, right? The freaky groupie.”
All my pride, all my hatred of Devon meant nothing. If he had one piece of information that could save Ruby, I’d forgive him everything.
“What are you waiting for? Find that number.”
Chapter 25 Ruby
After all these hours, it wasn't the darkness or the noises or the fear that got to me. It was my bladder. If I didn't get to a toilet, things would get pretty ugly. I squeezed my legs together and tried to ignore the pressing feeling.
I'd gotten myself into a la-la land where I escaped the unbearableness of my situation by playing out scenarios in my head. If I tried hard, I could forget where I was for whole minutes at a time. I could even forget my bladder and doze off to sleep for a while.
It got harder each time though. The sunlight coming through the holes in the walls was strong now and occasionally I heard cars in the street a long way off. Even if I didn’t have the rag stuffed in my mouth, I doubted anyone came close enough to hear me if I screamed.
Denise hadn't come back. I wasn't sure if she would or if she'd leave me to die. Maybe, in years to come, someone would stumble upon this old shed and find my skeleton. Maybe, if I didn't eat for long enough, my hands would shrink so small that they'd become untied? I doubted I'd have the strength to escape by then.
I'd stopped feeling hungry. Well, it was more like the pressure built up in my bladder stopped all thoughts of other bodily needs.
I thought I heard a car. A car coming closer. I wasn't sure though. I was beginning to doubt all my senses. I had thought I'd heard things before but they were nothing.
I definitely heard this though. It was coming closer.
Then I heard a scrape. My pulse raced. I didn't want to let even a particle of hope into my heart because I'd be disappointed. The squeal of scraping metal got louder, shuddering through my body
Light flooded into the shed. I had to close my eyes but even then it hurt. The intensity of it came through my eyelids, causing red blobs to float around in front of me. Eventually, I adjusted enough to open them.
She stood in the doorway. I wasn't sure what she wanted though. Was she there to kill me or what? I tried to turn my head away from her.
She closed the door behind herself, making the light more bearable and came over and took the gag out of my mouth. I tried to tell her I needed the toilet but my mouth was so dry I couldn't talk. She held up a bottle to my mouth again and I gulped it down, trying not to spill too much over myself. It wasn't water but some kind of sports drink.
"Tex hasn't even replied to your message," she said. "Not one word. No pleading cries for you to come back to him. No attempt to make up. It's like he's completely forgotten about you."
The words should've had an impact but they meant nothing to me. I tried to talk again and just a gurgling noise came out.
Finally I managed to form an actual word.
"Toilet."
She glared at me as if she couldn't comprehend. I tried again.
"Bloody hell. Can't you just piss yourself? I guess not. That'd be messy if I have to move you."
She helped me up and led me outside. My legs were so shaky, I’d have not been able to walk without her support. She hadn't bothered putting the blindfold back on me. She untied me from the chair without undoing the binds around my wrists. I wondered if any of the work I’d done trying to break them had any effect.
The outside light was even more blinding. I tried to get my bearings but I couldn’t focus my eyes. Then we went inside another building. I knew where I was just by the smell. The pizza shop.
When we got to the toilet, she had to take down my knickers for me so she didn’t have to untie my hands. I shut my eyes and tried to block out the humiliation.
“Do you have the key to the gate at the studio? Tex wanted you to give it to me.”
I didn’t believe that for a second. The key had been in my handbag. When I’d hidden in the shop, I’d stashed it away behind the tins of tomatoes. Something had told me not to let her get ahold of it.
I shook my head. Surely she could tell by looking at me that I was lying. I only had on a thin dress.
When I sat down, I couldn't pee, not with her standing there watching.
"Turn your back," I said.
"Huh? God, you're a princess."
But she turned around. It's not like I could escape with her blocking the doorway.
The relief was indescr
ibable. But afterwards, the same procedure. She looked at me with such distaste but if she wanted to kidnap people she should learn to deal with the gross bits.
Then, to make it even worse, she patted me down to make sure I didn’t have the key on me. She obviously didn’t remember I had a handbag with me when I came into the shop.
My other needs came flooded back once my bladder was empty. My stomach rumbled and I felt faint.
She yanked me up and marched me back to the shed. I noticed she'd left the back gate open when she'd driven the car in. She had hold of me so tight, I didn't think I could get free though.
Then something rattled nearby. She jolted around. For just a second, she loosened her grip on me. I twisted and broke free from her. I ran as fast as my weak legs could take me. I made it to the gate and out into the cobblestone alley beyond. She was right behind me. I could hear her footsteps. If I got to the street at the end of the alley, someone might see me. A pedestrian or a passing car. It wasn't that far. I just needed to get there before she grabbed hold of me again. She hadn't put the gag back in and I could scream.
I was so close, I thought about crying out. Surely there were people around.
Then my foot twisted on the cobblestone. I landed flat on my face. Pain throbbed from my knee and I had blood in my mouth but mainly a horrible, sick feeling in my stomach when her hands grabbed me, pulling me to my feet. I tried to scream but she clamped one hand around my mouth.
"There's nowhere for you to go and no one to hear you scream. You're screwed."
Then pain surged through my body as she kicked me.
Chapter 26
Tex
I called the crazy bitch. It had been her number in Devon’s phone. As soon as I heard her voice, I knew it was her.
“Tex, it’s really you?” Her shrill voice ripped through my skull.
I paced, trying to keep myself under control. I didn’t want to seem anxious or angry. I had to play this woman like she’d been playing everyone. Every fibre of my being twitched for me to yell at her, forcing her to tell us where Ruby was, but that would just put Ruby in danger.
“Can we meet? I need to see you.” I said it so calmly and it wasn’t a lie.
“I knew you’d come to your senses. I knew it. Where do you want to meet? I look a mess.”
“That’s okay. I prefer you looking natural…” It nearly killed me to say that but I thought of Ruby and how we could get her away from this woman. “How about we meet at the pizza shop?”
“Okay, that suits me.”
“And, when I get there, I want you to let Ruby go.”
“Why?”
Damn, I’d got her suspicious. The worst thing I could do was to let her know I cared about Ruby.
“Because she means nothing to me. You’ll only get yourself in trouble by keeping her locked up and I don’t want you coming to any harm.”
My fingers tightened around the phone. Would she believe that? Surely she wasn’t delusional enough to think I cared anything for her. Her breath on the other end of the phone was ragged and loud. It made my flesh crawl.
“I’ll let her out when you get here. Might make the bitch watch us together. That’ll teach her a lesson.”
Then the bitch cackled.
Yes. She had to be at the pizza shop that meant. That’s what I needed to know. I wanted to run straight there and rescue her but I took a deep breath so I didn’t betray myself. I wanted to gag but I tried to sound keen and not fuck this up.
“Good idea. Keep her there and we’ll let her out together.”
The woman giggled. It was the most gut churning sound I’d ever heard.
I held it together to arrange a time to meet her. I’d never hit a woman in my life but, when I saw this woman, I’d be hard pressed to keep my fist from her. She wasn’t a woman, she was a hell demon come to life.
“I love you, Tex.”
That’s what she said before she hung up. I wanted to spew. Did she have any concept of what love meant? It didn’t mean taking what you wanted and to hell with anyone else. The thought of her loving me made me feel unclean.
“Let’s go. I’m going over there and smashing my way in. She’s got Ruby. She’s at the pizza place. I thought I’d searched every inch of that place but Ruby’s there somewhere.”
I rushed towards the door but Brownie grabbed hold of me, trying to hold me back.
“Hannah’s contacting the police. As much as I’d love to help you smash up the place, she’s right. If we don’t do this right, that nutcase will be out walking the streets. She had to be caught or she’ll be haunting you for the rest of your life.”
I tried to shrug him off. The police would do nothing. I’d already tried them. If Ruby was going to be saved, I’d have to do it myself.
“I’ve waited long enough. Every minute I wait is another minute Ruby suffers.” My hands trembled with the need to get to her.
“Don’t be a hot head. Ruby will suffer worse in the long run with that woman on the loose. You start cracking heads and that woman just needs to get a good lawyer and it’ll be you in the big house.”
Hannah got off the phone.
“That was the police. They said they’re on their way.”
“They can deal with Denise. I’m going over there. My face is the first thing Ruby’s gonna see when they find her.”
Chapter 27 Ruby
Somehow, my failed escape attempt had taken all the fight out of me. She'd stuffed the gag back in my mouth and thrown me back in the shed. I couldn't even get up off the ground and find my way back to the chair. I just lay there, sobbing. Even if I got the ties off my hands, she'd locked the door and there was no means of escape. I was powerless. The owner and staff could come in and work their shifts without even knowing I was tied up in that shed.
She said she’d sent a message to Tex to tell him I wanted to break up. He hadn’t even responded. Maybe he didn’t care. Maybe he was angry.
“Don’t believe for one minute that he’ll come looking for you because he thinks you are in Bali with your parents. Which is where you should be.” Then she’d asked me for dating tips for when she met with him!
I curled up on the concrete floor and tried to sleep. Anything to escape from this hell. My body ached from my fall and from her rough treatment of me. She'd been so angry that I'd tried to escape that she'd kicked me and punched me. There was nothing for me at all, just emptiness.
In my head, I started singing. The song that Tex wrote for his sister, Julie. The words went around and around in my head. I had to cling onto that song. It was like the last glimmer of hope in me was wrapped up in those words. If Tex could love that deeply, he would know that I wouldn't leave him. He'd move heaven and earth to find me.
I just wished he'd hurry up.
Eventually I drifted off to sleep, a shallow, uncomfortable sleep interrupted by the various pains in my body. I'd try to move my arms and that would tug my whole body and wake me.
When I woke up properly, the shed was dark again. I'd been there nearly a whole day and nobody had come for me. What was Tex doing? Why hadn't he come back to look for me again? Had he gone to the police or was he too worried about his reputation? Would the police even do anything if he'd received a message saying I was leaving him?
I wanted to sleep again so at least my mind would stop working for a while. Was that woman going to come back with food or water again? My stomach heaved with pain.
If it was night time, the pizza shop would be open. She wouldn't risk coming to the shed while there were other people around. I knew that. I was stupid to try to escape. Maybe I'd have been able to convince her to give me some food at least if I hadn't. She'd not been too aggressive before that. But I'd had to take the chance.
There was no way I could attract attention with my mouth gagged. The rag in my mouth was foul with my spit and made me retch when I tried to force it out. My jaw ached from being forced open for so long.
I couldn’t just accept my fate th
ough. I had to do something. I’d been so busy blaming myself for being stupid enough to fall into her trap but it wasn’t my fault. The woman was bat shit. No matter what I’d done, she’d have come after me. No matter what, I’d fight to get out of this place.
I could move my legs. If I tried hard enough, maybe I could get to the door and kick on it. If anyone was around, they'd hear the noise. But, if she heard it first, I had no way of knowing what she'd do. She was not right in the head and extremely violent. I couldn't just lay in the dark and wait for her to act though.
I inched my way toward the door, trying to get some traction on the rough ground. The concrete ripped my skin, making me even sorer. I could barely make any distance but I was getting a little closer. I pushed off with my shoulders, trying to get some power behind them. At least she hadn't tied my feet. Maybe, if I could turn onto my back, I could use my feet to scramble, crab-style. I wiggled myself around and got my feet on the ground but, as I pushed myself forward, my dress rode up and my bare back scraped on the ground.
If I ignored the pain, I could move. It was only a bit of skin. It'd grow back. And I had so many bruises and pains already, a bit more wouldn't hurt.
I reached out with my foot. I could almost get to the tin wall. I pushed myself forward again. This time I could reach it. I kicked out and the ringing echoed around the shed. I wasn't sure if anyone could hear me but the rustling around me increased, like creatures scampering for cover. If they stayed away from me, all the better. I kicked again. I kept kicking. I kicked until my legs felt like they'd fall off and the ache had gone beyond comprehension. I wasn't sure if anyone could hear or even if there was anyone around but it was the only thing I could do.
Eventually, my kicks got weaker and the pause between them got longer. I was tiring. I needed food and water. Maybe I should just give up and conserve my strength.
I stopped for a moment.
There was a sound. A faint sound but there was definitely someone out there. I heard a voice.
I took a deep breath and kicked with all my might. If those voices went away, I might not survive another night. She'd come back after the shop shut and I had no idea what she'd do to me.
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