While I tried to think of a way out of this, I also had to shake off the shock of how I got here in the first place. Earlier that morning I had been walking from the front door of my house to my car in the driveway when Zack had snuck up behind me, grabbed me, and smothered a rag doused in chloroform over my nose and mouth.
The scent of the chloroform made me pass out. When I regained consciousness, I realized that I was tied to a chair with my hands behind my back in this old abandoned warehouse. I recognized the place as the former home of Lundergard’s Upholstery Warehouse. The name Lundergard was still painted on the wall, although the paint color had faded significantly in the five years since the warehouse had closed.
The warehouse was dark and dirty and completely empty aside from Zack and me. Zack had no doubt picked this location because it was in an industrial area of town, so no one would be around to hear me scream for help, especially considering it was a Saturday.
Things certainly looked bleak for me. I had to find any way I could to delay him from lighting the match that would set this whole place ablaze. As far as I could tell, my only hope was to get him to keep talking.
Luckily, Zack was very slow and deliberate with his actions, wanting to make sure he poured just enough gasoline all over the warehouse to burn the whole place down. He also seemed to be relishing the moment a little, taking a certain sadistic pleasure in what he was doing. It was disgusting.
I knew it was time to fight back. Luckily, as I looked at the bearded, thirty-eight-year-old, blue-eyed, muscular man, I knew his weakness. He had a tendency to become easily agitated. I planned on exploiting that. I just had to find the right moment to do it.
In the meantime, Zack snapped at me. “Don’t be stupid. You know why I’m doing this.”
I shook my head. “I really don’t.”
Deep down, I was panicking. I ran the serious risk of completely unraveling. That’s why I had to muster all the strength I could.
Zack scolded me. “You thought you knew better than me, but look how this turned out.”
I tried pleading with him. “You don’t have to do this.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. It is the second time that has happened. Your first mistake was messing with me in the first place.”
I generally didn’t try to argue with people who were trying to kill me, but in this case, I wanted the truth to be known.
“I didn’t mess with you. I was just trying to solve a murder case,” I replied.
Tim Lundergard had been the murder victim. Zack had worked for him when the upholstery warehouse was still in business. Due to some poor managerial decisions on Tim’s part, the warehouse went belly up, taking a whole slew of jobs with it, Zack’s included. It had been a rough few years for Zack since the warehouse’s closure, not only financially but also romantically.
For a while, Zack had dated Tim Lundergard’s daughter, Jill. Only, Tim never approved of their relationship. He thought his daughter could do much better than Zack. So when Jill Lundergard broke up with Zack last week, that was the last straw for Zack. He had killed Tim Lundergard as an act of revenge and had tried to frame my friend, Stephanie Jones, for the crime. That was when I had gotten involved investigating the case, determined to prove my friend’s innocence.
Zack vehemently disagreed with me. “Your snooping around forced my hand. Make no mistake, this is all your fault. You made me do this.”
“I didn’t make you do anything,” I said. “You can still stop what you’re doing.”
He shook his head. “It’s too late for that.” He scoffed. “You just couldn’t leave well enough alone, could you? I had framed Stephanie Jones perfectly for the murder. That was until you came along.”
The only bright spot was that with all the arguing back and forth, Zack had briefly stopped pouring gasoline. I tried to keep him distracted.
“What makes you think you’re going to get away with this?” I asked.
Zack reached into his pocket and pulled out a name tag from Gustafson’s Grocery Store. Written on the tag was the name “Adam.” I instantly knew who that belonged to—Adam Franklin, former assistant manager of the upholstery warehouse and current assistant manager at Gustafson’s Grocery Store. Like Zack, Adam had also been a suspect in Tim Lundergard’s murder.
“This is my ticket to freedom. When the police arrive and see the burned wreckage, they will find this name tag just outside the warehouse. Adam Franklin will then go to jail for both your murder and Tim Lundergard’s while I will be off sipping drinks on a beach in the Bahamas.”
I glared at him. “You’re twisted.”
He sneered back at me. “That’s even more reason why you shouldn’t have messed with me.”
I lost control of my temper. “You’re going to pay for this.”
He let out a maniacal laugh. “It’s funny that you say that, considering the position you’re in. You’re the one tied up, after all.”
Zack finished pouring what was left of the gasoline on the wall then threw the can aside. As he reached into his pocket to pull out a matchbook, I knew we had reached the moment of truth.
Unbeknownst to him, all throughout our argument, I had been frantically using my hands to try and free myself from the knot he had used to tie me to the chair with. Finally, all my wriggling had paid off as I had managed to loosen the knot enough to free myself.
It was more than just a stroke of luck that had allowed me to loosen the knot. I had used a little trick that one of the stuntmen from my old professional acting days had taught me between takes of filming my former detective television show. I owed that stuntman a huge debt of gratitude—his little trick had worked like a charm.
Suddenly, much to Zack’s surprise, I stood up from the chair with my hands now free.
“You were saying?” I replied.
The shock on Zack’s face was priceless. “Wait a minute. How did you—?”
“The problem with you, Zack, is that you talk too much.”
In a panic, Zack tried to light one of the matches. He was so rattled by seeing me free that he wasn’t able to light the match.
I, meanwhile, grabbed the chair I had been tied to, swung it at him, and hit him in the face with it. As the chair made contact with Zack’s face, it knocked him to the ground. The matchbook landed on the floor next to him.
I wished that I could tell you Zack gave up right there. Unfortunately, the psychopath was determined to get up from the ground and attack me.
Knowing that Zack wasn’t going to give up without a fight, I got the best grip on the chair that I could and prepared to strike as Zack tried to get up.
Before Zack had the opportunity to come after me again, the front door of the warehouse swung open. My younger brother, Joe Hadley, a local police detective, rushed in with his gun drawn.
“Put your hands up,” he demanded.
Zack looked over at my brother and froze when he saw the gun pointed at him. Suddenly, he realized it was all over for him.
***
After Zack had put his hands up, my brother rushed over and handcuffed Zack while I dropped the chair I was holding and took a deep breath.
Joe then read Zack his rights and loaded him into the back of his police car. When he was finished with that, my brother reentered the warehouse to check on my mental well-being.
But first, a hug was in order. As Joe pulled me in tight, I could sense how rattled he was in knowing that he had come close to losing his only sister. My brother was a muscular and typically tightlipped man, but as he pulled back from the hug, concern was all over his face.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
By that point, I had finally caught my breath. I was far from calm, though. My pulse was still racing, and my heart continued beating nearly out of my chest.
“Barely,” I replied. “What took you so long to get here?”
When I first regained consciousness earlier and had discovered that I had been tied to the chair, I knew what my first acti
on had to be.
Even before I tried to loosen the knot, I slid my cell phone far enough out of my pocket to dial 9-1-1 while my hands were behind my back.
In doing that, I knew that the operator would be able to hear my conversation with Zack. Additionally, the longer the call went on, it allowed 9-1-1 to pinpoint my location and send help. Unfortunately, it took much longer than I thought for my brother to arrive.
Joe apologized profusely. “I’m sorry. I got here as fast as I could, but there was a three-car crash on Oceanview Boulevard that was clogging up traffic on the way over.”
I shook my head in disbelief. “What a time for traffic.”
My brother gave me some high praise. “You did an amazing job of subduing the perpetrator.”
Taking credit meant nothing to me. I just wanted to count my blessings. It turned out that I was far more blessed than I ever realized before.
“I got really lucky this time. The Lord was looking out for me.”
Joe nodded. “He sure was.”
“At the same time, I don’t want to ever go through something like that again.”
“I’m with you. I don’t want your life to ever be in danger again,” Joe replied.
I crossed my fingers. “Let’s hope it’s not.”
“How did you even end up here?”
“This morning, I was walking over to my car to meet up with you at the restaurant when Zack came up behind me and chloroformed me. That knocked me completely out. The next thing I knew, I woke up tied to a chair. That’s when I slid my phone out and dialed nine-one-one while he was dousing the warehouse with gasoline. The rest is history,” I explained.
“That’s awful.”
I raised my eyebrows. “You’re telling me.”
“If it makes you feel any better, with the recording that the nine-one-one dispatcher made of your conversation, we have Zack on charges of kidnapping, attempted murder, and first-degree murder. That psycho is going to be spending the rest of his life behind bars,” Joe revealed.
While on an intellectual level it gave me a comfort that justice had been served, emotionally, I was just as rattled as ever.
“Honestly, the only thing that can make me feel better right now is chocolate,” I said.
Chapter Two
Normally, after solving a case, a sense of relief washed over me. This time, my tension level remained high. As much as I tried, my nerves remained frayed. Even chocolate provided little comfort.
“You don’t feel even a little better?” Joe asked.
My brother sat across a table from me in the best chocolate shop in all of Hollywood, Florida. I had made quick work of a number of delicious truffles. While my taste buds were happy, my body was still in shock.
I shook my head. “No. I’m still a mess.” I sighed. “Go figure. The chocolate didn’t do anything. I feel just as awful as ever.”
Joe peered deep into my eyes. “I’m really worried about you, Hope. If there’s anything I can do, just let me know.”
“I just can’t help but think how close I was to dying. If things had gone a little differently—”
He stopped me. “Don’t say it.”
I finished my thought anyway. “I could be dead.”
Joe took a deep breath. “I know.”
“I just didn’t realize the line between life and death was quite that thin.”
My brother’s heart got heavy. “It sure is. During times like this, it’s easy to feel like no one understands what you’re going through, but I do.”
Unlike everyone else I knew, my brother actually had a lot of experience in this area. Through the years, Joe had been in a number of life-and-death situations. As a matter of fact, every day that he went to work, there was a chance that it could be his last. By his own admission, there had been some close calls over the years.
It was nice to be able to talk to someone who did more than just sympathize with me. Someone who was offering more than just words.
I nodded at him. “I know you understand what I’m going through.”
Joe stared off into the distance as an old memory cropped up in his mind. “I remember this one case, the Hillard file, was particularly disturbing. It was a breezy day in October. I had tracked the prime suspect in Todd Hillard’s murder down to the old junkyard off of Loomis Avenue. The suspect’s name was Derek Washington. He was a real thug with a long rap sheet. As I chased Derek through the junkyard, he ended up making a right turn that led to a dead end. That was it. I had him cornered. There was no way he was getting out of there. At least, that’s what I thought.”
My brother let out a sigh before continuing his story.
“Derek had his back turned to me when I pulled my pistol out and told him to put his hands up. Instead, he spun around with his gun drawn on me. It all happened so quickly—he fired at me right away. Instinctively, I fired right back at him. His shot hit me in the arm. Mine got him in the heart. It was all over in one second, but the fallout of Derek’s actions lasted far longer. I never thought I would say this, but I had never felt more relieved to get shot in the arm in my entire life. If he had aimed a few more inches to the left, he would have killed me. I was lucky to get out of there alive,” Joe revealed.
My heart went out to my brother. “I remember you telling me about that story a few years ago, but not quite with such intense details.”
“I spared you the awful details before because I didn’t want to tell you how close I had come to dying. But now, I’m glad I told you the whole thing. That way you realize that you aren’t alone in this. I really do know what you’re going through.”
I nodded. “Yeah. I’m so sorry that you went through that.”
“So am I. That happened almost four years ago. For two months afterward, not a single day went by that I didn’t think about how close I came to being killed,” Joe revealed.
“That’s awful.”
He nodded. “Yeah. But, look at me now. I’m living proof that you can get through it.”
“The question is, how? I mean, how did you settle yourself down? How did you get all of your terrible thoughts to go away?” I asked.
“It’s not easy. Things like that take time.”
“That’s it? It just takes time? You just rode it out?”
He shook his head. “No. I tried a whole bunch of things.”
“Did any of them work?”
Joe nodded. “One did.”
“Which one?”
“By reminding myself that I was lucky to be alive and that I survived for a reason.”
“What reason is that?”
“To live,” Joe said. “Not just to merely survive from one day to the next. To really live life to the fullest. To do things that make me happy. Joy is more powerful than sorrow.”
“So you’re saying I should go do something that I know I’ll enjoy?”
“It couldn’t hurt. At the least, it should take your mind off of what happened.”
I thought it over. “That could work.”
“Give it a try,” Joe suggested.
“I will,” I replied.
“So, I guess the question is, can you think of something that never fails to bring a smile to your face?” Joe asked.
It didn’t take long for me to come up with an answer.
Chapter Three
There was no such thing as a bad spa day. The fact that my friend, Stephanie Jones, was treating me to a day of pampering made the deal even sweeter. That being said, during previous spa days, whatever stress I felt immediately melted away. This time, a stubborn layer of anxiety hung around, refusing to budge. That was after finishing a mud bath, facial, and a deep-tissue massage.
Even so, as I changed back into my clothes, I couldn’t deny that I felt better than before—I just wasn’t back to a hundred percent again. After Stephanie had gone out of her way to make this such a special day for me, I put on a good face so she wouldn’t suspect that I was anything but filled with joy.
“So,
what do you think?” my forty-two-year-old friend asked.
Stephanie had shoulder-length black hair, bangs, circular-framed glasses, and a petite frame. Yet what stood out the most about her right then was the eager look in her eyes. She had put some solid effort into planning this day out and was hoping for some good feedback.
I gave it to her. “I couldn’t have asked for a better spa day.”
A huge smile came to Stephanie’s face. “I’m so glad.”
“You didn’t have to do all this for me,” I replied.
She nodded. “Yeah, I did. I still can’t believe you put your life on the line to clear my name.”
Before Zack Colton had abducted and had tried to kill me, he had framed Stephanie for the murder of Tim Lundergard. I had only begun investigating the case to prove my friend’s innocence. You know the rest of my near-death story.
I took a deep breath. “Trust me, I still can’t believe I put my life on the line, either.”
“Anyway, I figured that taking you out and showing you a good time was the least I could do.”
“Thank you.”
“I don’t know what I would have done without you.” She looked off into the distance. “Honestly, I’d probably be in jail.”
“Don’t even say those words.”
Stephanie pulled her head out of the clouds and stared at me. “But they are the truth. The only reason I’m not behind bars is because of you.”
It was great that she was so appreciative, but I just desperately wanted to put all of this behind me.
“I’m just glad it worked out,” I replied.
“I know you’re being humble, but you did an amazing thing. I don’t know that I can ever properly repay you.”
“In my mind, you have done plenty to repay me. This spa day was fantastic.”
Stephanie gave me another smile. “I’m so glad you liked it.”
“Are you kidding? I almost didn’t want to leave.”
Meredith Potts Fourteen Book Cozy Mystery Set Page 44
