by SUE FINEMAN
But why hadn’t she called her parents?
The band of fear around his chest tightened. Catherine would have called if she could.
Tony drove down the coast and into Santa Barbara, then up into the hills and through the open gates to the Timmons Estate. As he drove around and up the hill, the fog thickened. By the time he got to the top, the fog was so thick he couldn’t see ten feet in front of the truck.
He’d hoped to see Catherine’s car there, but there were no cars parked beside the garage. Not even a cop car. It really hit him then.
Catherine was gone, and the cops weren’t looking for her.
It was the middle of the night, but the lights were on in the house.
Walt limped outside. “Have you heard from her?”
Tony shook his head and let Riley out of the truck. “I’m as worried as you are. Have the police come up with anything?”
“Hell, no. They’re right down there next to worthless. Apparently she’s not officially missing yet.”
Megan rushed outside and wrapped Tony in a big hug. “Cathy said you picked her on the show, and I’m so happy about it. If only…” She sobbed, and Tony nearly cried along with her.
What in the hell had happened to Catherine?
Tony did his best to calm Walt and Megan. “I brought my dog with me. Riley knows Catherine, and he’s good at sniffing out things. As soon as it gets light, I’ll walk down the drive, check things out. If she ran off the road somewhere, we might not be able to spot it from a car or from my pickup, especially in the dark, with the fog. Do you have a local map?”
“Yeah, sure,” said Walt.
“Can you map out the route she’d take from the highway?”
They seemed glad to have something constructive to do. Why in the hell didn’t the cops do this themselves? Did they really think Catherine had gone missing on purpose? Why would she do that?
He didn’t want to think about someone taking her, but his gut feeling was that Walt would soon be receiving a ransom note. This was why Cara kept guards around her and her family, why her grandfather built a fortress for a house. For security. Money brought all kinds of creeps out of the woodwork, and they all thought they deserved a piece of the pie.
He didn’t want to wait until dawn, but it was pitch black outside tonight, and the fog was too thick to see anything. He had to wait.
<>
Fawn sat in a truck stop off the highway and looked through Catherine’s wallet. She found four credit cards and nearly six hundred dollars in cash. The drivers license was no good to her because they didn’t look anything alike.
Spike had given her a thousand dollars, and she still had her emergency money. Altogether, she had over two thousand. Her car had been impounded and her luggage was in the trunk of Spike’s car, so she’d have to start from scratch with what she had on her. It wasn’t the first time she’d started over with next to nothing. The first time was when her old man threw her out. The second was when she stabbed Spike.
A trucker with a paunch gave her the once over. He picked up his coffee and walked over. “Mind if I join you?”
“Not at all,” she replied. “Sit down.”
He slid into the booth across from her. “Somebody hit you?”
“My boyfriend, or ex-boyfriend. I’m running away from him.”
“Where you going?”
“That depends.” She cocked her head. “Where are you going?”
“Texas. Dallas.”
“I’ve always wanted to see Texas.”
The man grinned broadly, and she knew she had a ride out of California. Out of trouble. Dallas was as good a place as any to start over.
<>
The sun peeked over the horizon and burned off the worst of the fog. Fortified with a hot breakfast, Tony started out with Riley. He’d walk down the hill and look for signs of Catherine or her SUV. If he didn’t find anything by the time he got to the gate, he’d call Sanchez to come and get him, and then he’d walk another section. If she had car trouble or ran off the road, he’d find her somewhere along the way, but he was afraid he wouldn’t find her at all.
Minutes later, Tony stopped cold. There was another drive off the main one, a narrow drive he hadn’t noticed before. Riley sniffed the side of the road, where the plants had been trampled. There were two clear footprints, a wide, heavy one and a smaller, lighter one. Two people had stood here recently, but not Catherine. She had smaller feet. They could be from the landscaping crew, but somehow he doubted it.
Walking back the way he’d come, where he was sure he couldn’t be seen or heard, he pulled out his cell phone and called Sanchez. “Is there another house inside the gate?”
“Yeah, a smaller house. It’s empty. Walt’s sister lived there until she moved to France.”
“Has the landscaping crew been here in the past few days?”
“They were here two days ago.”
“Did they work on the drive?”
“Not this time. Did you find something?”
“Footprints and trampled plants by the drive to the other house. Call the police and tell them I’ll wait right here. If there’s someone in that house, I don’t want to spook them.”
“Okay.”
“And tell Walt I said to stay put. If he goes rushing in there, he could get himself and Catherine killed.” If she was in there. They could have taken her somewhere else.
A car spiraled up the hill and stopped just before the nearly hidden drive. The driver’s window rolled down, and a nondescript, gray-haired man asked, “Tony Donatelli?”
“That’s me.”
“Paul Rosenberg. I’m a private investigator. Nick and Cara sent me to help find Catherine Timmons.”
Tony reached through the window and shook his hand.
“Find anything?”
“Footprints. The cops should be on their way.”
Paul drove up to a wide spot, pulled to the edge of the drive, and turned off the engine. He walked back to where Tony stood and examined the footprints. “Looks like a man and a woman. The man is a big guy with wide feet and a heavy step. The woman is tall, with long, slender feet. She doesn’t weigh as much as he does.” He looked up. “How did they get past the security gate?”
“I don’t know, unless it was someone who’d been here before.”
The light came on in Tony’s tired brain. Fawn. She’d been here before and she probably knew the code to open the gate. Would she kidnap Catherine? She’d deliberately hurt Catherine in San Francisco. There were a bunch of people around, but she was too pissed to care. And then they had her arrested. Yeah, she’d do this, but she didn’t do it alone.
“Paul, can you find out who bailed someone out of jail?”
“No, but the cops can.” The sound of cars coming up the drive caught their attention. “I hope that’s them now,” said Paul. “If someone is holding Catherine hostage, the sooner we get her free, the better.”
Tony knew what he wasn’t saying. The sooner they found her, the better chance they had of finding her alive.
Careful not to be seen or heard from the smaller house, Tony and Paul and Riley walked quietly up the hill to the big house above. Detective Murphy came with them. The other police officers stayed in their cars below the drive to the house where they thought Catherine was being held.
Megan opened the door. “Did you find her?”
Tony introduced Paul Rosenberg and Detective Murphy. The detective said, “We found a ransom note in the mailbox right outside the gate. We’re having someone check it for fingerprints now, and the FBI is on the way.”
“Dear God,” Megan whispered.
“We believe two people are involved, a man and a woman, and they could be in the house on the back of the hill. We’ll need a list of the people who know how to get through the gate.”
Walt looked at Tony. “If one of my women is responsible for this—”
“Did Fawn know about the other house?”
“I didn’t t
ell her, but she was here alone while I played golf and while I was in the hospital.” Walt plowed his hand through his thinning hair. “Why didn’t I think of that? Fawn was here for nearly a month, until Catherine threw her out.”
Tony put a comforting hand on Walt’s shoulder. “If she’s in there, we’ll find a way to get her out.”
Paul asked, “Can you draw us a floor plan of that house?”
“Sanchez can. He’s over there more than I am.” Walt limped to the intercom system and buzzed the apartment over the garage. “Sanchez, we could use your help in the house.”
“On my way.”
While they waited for Sanchez to draw a floor plan, Detective Murphy made a few phone calls to find out who had bailed Fawn out of jail. “Fred Spickley,” he told them. “Calls himself Spike. He’s been in prison a couple times for assault and fraud, and he runs a bunch of prostitutes in the LA area.”
Paul asked, “What’s the woman’s connection with him?”
“Fawn Daley worked for him at one time. She’s a prostitute and rip-off artist.” He looked directly at Walt. “What did she want here, besides money?”
“A rich husband. She kept pushing me to marry her.”
Minutes later, they had a floor plan and a key to the other house. Tony didn’t want to wait for the feds. He wanted to get Catherine out of that house before those people hurt her.
<>
Sometime before dawn, Catherine fell asleep. She woke shivering, her lips parched from thirst. Spike was sleeping in the big chair and ottoman, his mouth hanging open. If she could find a way to get her feet free, she could sneak out of the house.
Spike sputtered awake, and her heart dropped. She’d lost her chance.
Spike ripped the tape off Catherine’s feet. Some of the skin came off her ankles with the tape, and she yelled. Tears came to her eyes and the stinging pain took her breath away.
He grabbed her by the waistband and jerked her off the sofa. “Get into the bedroom. Now.”
“Like hell.”
He ripped her shirt open. “We can do this the easy way or we can do it the hard way. One way or the other, you’re mine. Instead of killing you, I might send you to a brothel overseas, somewhere they don’t have red-haired bitches to fuck.”
Something brushed the front door, and Spike shoved her onto the sofa.
As he ran to the front door with his gun, Catherine jumped up and ran toward the kitchen door. She wasn’t hanging around to be raped or killed.
She had the door unlocked but not open when Spike tackled her. She hit the floor hard, and he dropped his gun. Before she could catch her breath, he grabbed her hair and slammed her head against the floor. She kicked and fought even though her hands were taped together, but he was bigger and meaner, and he had both hands free.
He kicked at her head and she screamed. He kicked again and again, until she couldn’t scream any more. A moan escaped from her parched lips before she passed out.
Chapter Twenty
“So, what’s the plan?” Tony asked.
“We wait for the feds.”
“Like hell. If Catherine is in that house with Spike, I’m getting her out.”
Detective Murphy shook his head.
Walt limped over. “How ‘bout if I go over in my wheelchair? While he’s looking at me, you can get Catherine out.”
Tony nodded. “That might work. We’ll need an officer watching every door and window in the house. If someone causes a diversion at the front door, I’ll go in through the kitchen door.”
The detective shook his head again. “The FBI is on the way.”
Tony looked him square in the eye. “I’m not waiting for the FBI or anyone else. Either help me or stay the hell out of my way, because I’m getting her out.”
“If you get shot—”
“I’ll take full responsibility for my actions. Now, are you going to help or not?”
The detective sighed deeply, then nodded.
Minutes later, Tony crept up to the bushes near the kitchen door. He was supposed to wait two minutes for the police to get into position, but he heard someone fumble with the kitchen door lock. Seconds later Catherine screamed, and he knew he couldn’t wait for the cops. He burst through the door and saw a man standing over Catherine, who lay very still on the kitchen floor.
Spike whipped around to hit Tony, but Tony grabbed his arm and slugged him in the stomach and then in the face. Spike hit the refrigerator and slid down to the floor. Blood poured from his nose and mouth, but he didn’t move.
“He’s down,” Tony yelled, and police officers swarmed into the house, guns drawn. Tony dropped to his knees beside Catherine, who wasn’t moving. Blood pooled around her head and he knew she’d been badly hurt. He wanted to scoop her off the floor and hold her, but he was afraid of hurting her more.
Detective Murphy leaned down and felt for a pulse. “She still alive. We need the paramedics and an ambulance,” he yelled, and one of the officers immediately made the call.
Tony stared at the woman he loved and knew if they’d waited for the FBI, that son-of-a-bitch would have killed her. He could still lose her. He talked softly, hoping she could hear him. “The paramedics are on the way, honey. You’re going to be all right.” Tony prayed she’d come through this. He rubbed her arm. “I love you, Catherine. Hold on, honey. Help is on the way.”
The paramedics came in and Tony moved out of their way. One of them ran to Spike, and Tony said, “Forget him. Take care of her.”
Spike opened his eyes, but he didn’t move. One of the officers read him his rights while another put the cuffs on him. For the first time in his life, Tony felt like killing someone. After what he’d done to Catherine, that snake didn’t deserve to live.
The paramedics stabilized Catherine and loaded her into an ambulance. Tony watched the ambulance pull out of the driveway and disappear down the hill.
Paul put his hand on Tony’s shoulder. “I’ll bring Walt and Megan to the hospital. You go with the police. Sanchez can take care of the dog.”
Tony was pacing in the waiting room when Walt and Megan rushed through the door.
“Where is she?” Walt asked. “Is she all right?”
“She’s still unconscious. The docs are working on her now. One of her kidnappers is here, too. If the cops had left me alone with the guy, he wouldn’t be in the hospital. He’d be in the morgue.”
“What about Fawn?” Megan asked. “The police said her fingerprints were on the ransom note.”
“I don’t know what in the hell happened to her. She wasn’t in the house, and this Spike guy isn’t able to talk right now.” Tony rubbed his fist, which was bruised and sore from hitting Spike so hard he knocked out two teeth.
After the doctors finished their tests, after the nurses cleaned the blood off her face, Catherine’s parents were allowed to go in and see her. Tony went in with them. Megan took one look and burst into tears. Tony hadn’t cried since he was a kid, but he had to wipe his eyes. “What’s wrong with her hands?” They were bright red.
“She had tape on them, and it caused some inflammation,” the doctor said. “Apparently she had some on her feet and ankles, too. Some of the skin is gone where the tape was ripped off, but the most serious injury is the trauma to her head. She’s stable right now, but we’re going to watch her closely over the next few hours.”
Walt’s face had lost most of its color. He looked old and frail and worried sick about his only child. A nurse helped him to a chair. If Catherine woke up and saw the stricken look on Megan’s face or the fear in Walt’s eyes, it would scare her into another coma.
“Why don’t you go home and get some rest. I’ll stay with Catherine.”
Walt shook his head. “I can’t leave her now.”
Someone brought a wheelchair for Walt, and a nurse took his blood pressure. Megan said, “If you don’t get some rest, you’re going to have another heart attack.”
“Heart attack?” said Tony. “Is that why you
fell and broke your leg and hip?”
He nodded. “The pill Fawn gave me caused a mild heart attack, but I didn’t want Catherine to know. I didn’t want her to worry.”
Tony hunkered down beside the wheelchair. “Go home and take care of yourself. I promise you I won’t leave her side unless they kick me out. It could be hours or days before she wakes up, and you don’t want her to see you like this.”
“He’s right,” said Megan.
Walt sighed and nodded, and Megan pushed him out the door. It hadn’t been that long since he’d been a patient here himself. Fawn was responsible for his pain just as she was responsible for Catherine’s. Spike wouldn’t have known how to get past the gate, and he wouldn’t have known that Catherine was Walt Timmons’ daughter.
But Fawn knew.
<>
Megan and Walt came and went, but Tony stayed by Catherine’s side for two days. He held her hand and spoke to her about the show, about his family, about hanging wallpaper, and anything else he could think to say. He told her he had a big surprise waiting for her, but he couldn’t tell her about it. She had to see it to believe it. If she ever woke up. The doctors weren’t sure when and if that would happen.
Tony told Catherine over and over again that he loved her and wanted to marry her.
The evening of the second day, right after Walt and Megan left, he felt her fingers move. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to give him hope that she’d come out of her coma. “Catherine, honey, can you open your eyes and look at me?”
Her head moved slightly and he brushed her lips with his finger. “Are you thirsty?”
Her lips parted slightly, and he brushed some water over them. A second later, her eyes opened a little. “Tony,” she whispered.
“I’m right here, honey. You’re going to be okay.” Thank God she woke up. He’d been so afraid she’d sleep forever.
“Spike?”
“He’s in police custody.” The guy had two missing teeth and a broken nose. He wouldn’t knock around any more women, not where he was going.
