by Denise Wells
“Helen,” Chance soothes. “Have I ever lied to you?”
“No,” she says softly, her mood rapidly changing again. “You were always good about that, Chancey. Can we go to the park?”
“The park?” Chance asks.
“Where we had our first date. You remember? You made me a picnic.”
“How could I forget?” he asks. “But, Helen, Rai—”
“Uh uh uh, Chancey, no reason to tell anyone where we're going.”
“Okay, we won't tell anyone,” he says. “But I think there's a fire somewhere over there right now.”
“There won't be a fire. Not in our special place. Besides, if we're going to talk, it has to be somewhere special. And our first date was special.” She lowers the gun to her side. “It was special, right, Chancey?”
“It was, Helen,” he agrees.
“Okay, then, it's settled.”
“Perfect. That's where we'll go, even if it is somewhere over on the other side of Brighton County, where there's no rain with the fire.”
“Yay!” she claps her hands together, the gun still clenched in one of them.
I'm convinced it's going to go off and one of us is going to die. And it probably won't be me.
“You!” Helen turns the gun toward Kat. “Tie my handsome husband's hands behind his back with the rope.” She hands Kat two pieces of the same twine she used on me earlier, a shorter piece and a longer one.
“What?” Kat asks looking sharply at Chance. He shakes his head slightly at her.
“Don’t look at her!” Helen screams at Chance, her face contorted with anger.
“I’m only looking at you,” he says to Helen.
Her face softens just as quickly. “Tell them, Chancey. Tell them we’re married.”
“I thought we were going to leave,” he says.
“Right! Okay.” She turns to Kat. “Put the small piece between his palms and have him hold them together,” Helen instructs Kat. Kat follows the instructions, then takes the longer piece and wraps it around his wrists.
“Tighter,” Helen says. Kat looks at Chance, he nods.
“Don't look at him! You get your direction from me,” Helen says to Kat. “Now tighten.”
Kat pulls it tighter until it's almost cutting into his skin, then ties it in a double knot. It looks painful. Helen looks pleased.
“Now, take the other piece and tie his hands to his belt loop.”
Kat curls the shorter piece through his belt loop and secures it.
I try to catch Chance's eye, but he won't look at me. His face stays impassive.
Helen turns to Chance. “Ready to go, darling?”
“After you.” He attempts a motion to the door with his clasped hands.
“Oh no,” she says, waving the gun at him. “After you. I insist.”
“You,” Helen says, pointing the gun at Lexie. “Be a dear and open the door for him, will you?” She asks it as though it's the most normal question in the world. “He’s a little tied up right now.” Helen laughs crazily at her own pun.
Lexie hurries forward and opens the door for them.
“Chance,” she starts to talk to him, but he leaves through the door without even a glance back.
I watch, tears streaking down my face, as the door closes after them.
Kat comes rushing over to me. “Oh my God, Remi, are you okay? Holy shit. What the fuck happened? Lexie, help me find something to cut these ties.”
“Here.” Lexie hands Kat the scalpel. I can't help but flinch as she comes toward me.
“It’s okay, beautiful girl. We're just going to cut these loose, okay?” she says softly. I nod my head, still unable to really speak. Relief floods through me with just as much fervor as dread. Relief to be free and alive. Dread over Chance leaving with Helen.
Kat cuts the ties and I cry out as the blood rushes back into my hands and feet. “We need to get you to the hospital,” Lexie says as she dabs at my cuts with a warm washcloth.
“No,” I croak. “We need to go after them. I need water.”
“Oh goodness, of course.” Lexie runs and grabs a bottle of water, opening it for me and helping me bring it to my mouth. My throat instantly feels better as the water coats it.
“We need to help Chance.” I stand. “If we leave now we might be able to catch them.”
Kat pushes me back down in my chair. “We aren't going anywhere, except to a hospital.”
“I don't need a hospital,” I say. “We need to go. We need to call the police and let them know that Helen took Chance.”
“Bauer is the police,” Kat says.
“Why are you being so stubborn?” I cry. “We need to help him. I can't lose him.”
Kat just looks at me.
“I think I love him,” I whisper.
“Okay, that's all I needed to hear,” Kat says. “Lex, call 9-1-1. And, Remi, let's get you cleaned up and we'll go after your guy.”
“The lines are busy,” Lexie says a moment later.
“It’s the fire,” Kat says. “Try calling from the hotel landline.”
She does, but with the same results. “I hate to be the voice of reason, but if we can’t get through to 9-1-1, how exactly are we going to save Bauer?” Lexie asks.
“We need a plan,” Kat says. “We'll think of one while we're bandaging Remi up, grab the first aid kit from the bathroom, Lexie. Then keep trying to call.”
Kat makes me drink two mini-bar sized bottles of tequila as I wait for her to clean my cuts, dab them in ointment, and cover everything in bandages. All the while, trying to come up with a plan to rescue Bauer.
“Hey, Lexie, maybe it’s a better idea to call Alex and ask him what to do.” I hand her my phone. “His number is in my contacts.”
“I didn't think he was a cop,” Kat says.
“He's not. But he works for precincts. Maybe he'll know someone or something we can do.”
Kat finishes bandaging me up as Lexie disconnects her call.
“That was fast,” I say to Lexie.
“I know! That’s ‘cause it’s good news, Alex can trace the GPS on Bauer's phone and give us directions on how to find him.”
“Oh, thank God,” I say as I gingerly pull some yoga pants over my bandaged legs, then do the same with a long sleeve shirt over my arms. “How do we get the directions from Alex?”
“He’ll do his search and then call me back.” Lexie touches my shoulder lightly. “Are you sure you’re up for this?”
“I’m fine, Lex. For real. I just need to go. I can’t sit here not knowing if Chance is okay.”
“I get it,” she says.
“Okay, then,” I say. “Let’s go.” I toss Kat my car keys and tell her she’s driving, then gingerly make my way out the door and down the hall.
We reach the parking garage and exit on the floor where I'm fairly certain I parked my car. I just don’t remember exactly where, Kat keeps clicking the panic button on the key fob until we find it.
We get in, Kat starts the car and then begins to move her seat and adjust the mirrors.
“Kat, can we get a move on, please?” I ask.
She puts it in reverse and pushes down on the accelerator. The car moves at a very slow pace.
“Let’s go, Gramma,” I say.
“Remi, there’s something wrong with the car, it’s not moving right,” Kat says.
“Fuck.”
We get out of the car to inspect it, belatedly noticing that two tires have been slashed, front passenger and rear driver.
“No, no, no!” I cry. “Fuck, I can’t believe this. I think I’m going to cry again. Shit.”
Kat rushes to give me a hug. “It’s okay. We’ll just call an Uber or something.” She gets her phone out of her purse to make the call. “No service. Lex, you got service?”
Lexie shakes her head. “And neither does Remi,” she says holding up my phone as well.
Tears sneak out of my eyes and begin their descent down my cheeks. I don’t even have
the energy to wipe them away.
“We got this, Rem,” Kat says. “We’ll just head back to the lobby where we have a signal and make the call. Easy peasy.”
I nod.
We make our way back to the elevator and make the ascent back up to the lobby. Lexie gets a signal back shortly before we reach the lobby floor.
“Texting Alex now,” she says. The elevator doors open, Lexie heads out first, head down, fingers moving. Kat takes a moment to wipe my tears away before we exit.
I hear Lexie grunt before she bounces back into us. Large hands grip her on the waist to steady her.
“I’m so sorry,” Lexie starts “I wasn’t watching… ohmigod.”
Kat and I both look up to see what's happening, and at the same time Kat says, “Trevor?”
Chapter 42
Chance
Helen and I leave the room and head toward the elevators.
“Oh, Chancey, I'm so happy we're back together,” she says.
I feel sick to my stomach when she says that. I can only hope that Remi understands what I'm doing. And, more importantly, understands that I only left with Helen to keep Remi and the girls out of danger.
“Do you think, maybe we can put the gun away? I would feel more comfortable if it weren't still pointed at me,” I say.
“No,” she says. “Not until I’m certain you've really come back to me.”
“You just said we were back together,” I say.
She looks at me, eyes questioning.
“How can I prove it to you when you have me tied up and at gunpoint?” I ask.
“You can prove it at the park,” she says. “I'll untie you when we get there.”
“How are we going to get to the park?” I ask, holding out hope that I will be driving us somewhere.
“I'm going to drive us, silly.”
I realize, too late, that I've foolishly put myself in a situation where I have no control. Helen has me tied up, at gunpoint, and about to be a passenger in her car. The rental car keys in my pocket now totally useless. The girls are stranded and I’m a hostage.
Fuck.
We reach the parking structure. Her car is parked near the elevator bay, which puts us in the car much faster than I'd anticipated. I still don’t have a plan. How do I get Helen under control? How do I get out of this situation? How do I get back to Remi?
I can only hope that Remi and the girls picked up on my clues to where we had our first date and are going to send help. Fuck, unless they follow us.
But maybe I want that. Which has more to do with discovering how Remi feels about me over having her rescue me. If I can’t get myself away from Helen, there’s not much the girls will be able to do about it.
We get in the car. Helen buckles her seatbelt and starts the car. I’m not able to buckle mine with my hands bound to my waist as they are. The car dings in protest as soon as she reaches the road.
She looks at me, an odd noise rising from her throat.
“Put your seatbelt on, Chancey.”
“I can’t reach it.” I fan my fingers as proof.
She slows the car slightly and looks over. Her eyes flit back and forth as she decides whether or not to fasten it for me and risk getting too close. I’m not sure I could come up with a way to disable her this quickly anyway.
Seeming to decide, she speeds up and drives toward Brighton County and Rainbow Park. I wonder what's going through Helen’s mind. I mean, I haven't seen her in years, outside of the concert. And suddenly she has resurfaced and she's still acting out of control. Or at the very least, completely off-balance. Maybe I need to try another tactic with her to either keep her off balance or get her on a new level.
“Helen,” I say. “What do you think is happening here?”
She looks at me, head cocked, a slight frown on her face. “Uh, we’re going back to when everything was magical.” Her fingers are tapping on the steering wheel.
“Which is Rainbow Park?”
“Yes.”
“Well then what happens once we get there?”
“We go on our first date and then we fall in love. Just like before,” she says with a long sigh. “And it will be perfect.”
“We don’t have any picnic things with us,” I say, not knowing how else to try and deflate this plan of hers.
“That’s okay,” she says. “I’m not hungry anyway.”
It doesn’t surprise me that she fails to wonder if I am. She’s always been more narcissistic than anything else. When we were together, I mistook that for independence. But after meeting Remi, I now recognize the difference.
The smoke on the horizon looms larger the closer we get to the Brighton County line.
“Helen, do you see the smoke up ahead?”
“Yep.”
“Okay, so don’t you think we should go in a different direction from the fire?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because,” she says. “The fire won’t get us.”
“Okay,” I say. “But do you see all the cars on the other side of the freeway who are leaving the area?”
Traffic is bumper to bumper and at a stand-still on the other side of the divider.
“Yep.”
“Don’t you think that maybe we should be going in the same direction as everyone else?”
“We are not sheep, Chancey. We don’t follow. We blaze our own trail. Ha! Blaze. And there’s fire. Oh, I’m funny.”
I can tell by her responses that I’m not going to get anywhere with her as far as this conversation regarding the fire is concerned.
“Chancey,” she says. “It doesn’t matter. True love conquers all.”
“Yes, it does.” I think of Remi as I say it.
Fuck it.
If I’m going to die anyway or end up having something horrible happen at the hands of my crazy-ass ex, it’s going to be on my terms with her knowing my truth.
“Helen… you know that I’m in love with Remi, right?”
“No! No! That doesn’t work, Chancey. The only way the plan works is when we are together. You and me. That’s the plan. Nothing else. Just you and me. We are in love,” she says, her brow furrowed. The car accelerates with a jerk. She switches lanes rapidly back and forth, as though she’s dodging traffic, even though there are few cars on the road with us.
“I’m not in love with you, Helen.” I soften my voice. “I haven’t been for a long time. I’m not sure I ever really was. I’m sorry. But I can’t pretend to have feelings that aren’t there.”
“You said at the hotel that we were getting back together,” she says, her voice rising.
“Helen, I don’t want to hurt you. I care about you. But, I can’t have you thinking we are getting back together. Even if I’m not with Remi, it’s not going to happen.”
“Mimi, Mimi, Mimi! It’s always her. I hate her. God, why didn’t I kill her? Stupid! Stupid!” She bangs the heel of her hand on the steering wheel, causing the car to jerk sharply to the left. I try to grab for something to hang on to but am flung against Helen anyway.
Which makes me wonder if I can somehow fling her out of the driver’s seat. But I’d still have no real way to steer the car. I’ve been trying to loosen the twine around my wrists, but it just cuts into my skin farther. The resulting blood does nothing to lubricate the bindings. If anything, it’s more sticky.
Fuck.
I try to move my hands toward the door handle, but I’ll never reach it without pushing my whole body in that direction. And I’ll never manage that maneuver without alerting Helen.
“She can’t find us, you know,” Helen says.
“Remi?”
“I flattened the tires on her car. She won’t be going anywhere.”
My stomach drops like a lead ball. Even though part of me didn’t want Remi to follow, I still hoped she was. I wanted the big climax after my grand gesture.
Helen looks at me. “Aren’t you proud of me, Chancey?”
“Why would I b
e proud, Helen?”
“Because. I flattened her tires just in case I didn’t kill her. And look? I didn’t kill her after all.”
“Helen, Remi needs medical attention, how is that supposed to happen when she doesn’t have a car.”
Fuck. Why didn’t I leave the rental keys with the girls?
“Mmm, not my problem,” she says. “But you’re still proud, right?”
“I… am… happy that you didn’t kill anyone.”
She exits the freeway at the offramp for the park. The place where we had our first date is actually just on the outskirts of Rainbow Park, a huge two hundred and fifty-acre plot of wild hills, flat land, and hiking trails, interspersed with picnic areas and playgrounds. When I brought her here for our date, we took an old fire road to get to the top of the largest hill, mountain really, and had a picnic. We were on my bike, so trespassing was much easier than if we’d been in a car.
Helen drives past the entrance to the park. The fire is close enough to see flames. I know she’s headed for that same fire road. If she takes it, we’ll be driving straight into the fire. She turns left and heads up the fire road. Her little blue car bouncing and sliding along the uneven dirt surface.
How can I be such a terrible detective? I saw this car, I knew it didn’t belong. Why the fuck didn’t I do something?
I look over at Helen. Beads of sweat break out on my forehead and upper lip. I don’t know how to get us out of this safely. And where are the fire crews? I was counting on this area being flooded by officials.
Why isn’t anybody on this road?
She seems intent on getting us to the top of the small mountain. Her car slides backward almost as much as it climbs. She’s having a hard time controlling the car with one hand still holding the gun. The flames are a few hundred yards away.
“Helen, stop the car. This isn’t funny.”
“No, Chancey, we need our date.”
“Helen, this is dangerous, you are heading right for the flames.”
“I know what I’m doing.”
“Helen, goddamit, stop the fucking car!”
“Everything is going to be perfect, Chancey. We just need to get to the top.”
She tries to accelerate; the wheels spin then catch throwing the car forward and side to side.
