Risky Vengeance

by Rhonda Brewer

  Abbie knew the guys were getting paid for their time. She wondered how Keith and Bull made any money with all the discounts they gave friends and family. Then again, Abbie didn’t know how many clients NES had.

  “Ms. Martin, your appointment is here.” Crunch walked into the office, speaking in a professional tone.

  “Thank you, Mr. Crawford. Would you escort her in here, please?” Abbie smirked.

  “I certainly will.” Crunch nodded.

  When he returned, he was followed by an elegant lady dressed in a black fitted dress and a pillbox hat. A black veil hung down from the edge of the hat on one side. To Abbie, it looked like something for a funeral.

  Mrs. Woodman obviously had money or at least her appearance projected that to people who saw her. Abbie stood up and motioned to the chair across from her desk. There was something in the way Mrs. Woodman scanned the room that made Abbie feel as if the woman wasn’t impressed with the décor in the office.

  “I see you’re a fan of Ted Stuckless.” Mrs. Woodman nodded toward a painting hung behind Abbie’s desk.

  Ted Stuckless was a local artist who painted beautiful pictures of scenes around the province. His art captured the essence of Newfoundland’s way of life.

  “It was a gift from my parents when I opened my agency,” Abbie explained.

  Mrs. Woodman sat in the chair and placed her purse on her lap and slipped one hand inside the bag. She glanced over her shoulder at the office door and eyed Crunch at the reception desk.

  “Could you please close the door? This is a private matter, and I would rather not be overheard by your employee, Ms. Martin,” Mrs. Woodman requested.

  “I assure you that your information will be more than safe here, but if it makes you more comfortable, I’ll close the door.” Abbie stood up.

  As she shut the door, Crunch shook his head as if telling her to leave it opened. He obviously didn’t want her to close it, but Mrs. Woodman was an important potential client. Abbie wasn’t about to risk losing her.

  “There you go.” Abbie strode back to her desk and sat down.

  “Thank you.” The woman seemed to relax, making Abbie less anxious.

  “I wanted to let you know I’ve looked into your home and dug up the history on it. I know the house on the property now is not the original home, but from what I can see, the appraisal is accurate. I do have three buyers who are interested in the property,” Abbie explained.

  “Already? That was rather fast.” Mrs. Woodman raised an eyebrow.

  “I’ve had some people requesting property in Topsail. Yours is close to a lake, and the current house is ten years old.” Abbie glanced at her phone, facing up on the desk, and saw another text from Trunk.

  “I’d rather you didn’t pay attention to your phone while you’re in a meeting with me,” Mrs. Woodman complained.

  “I apologize. It startled me when it vibrated,” Abbie lied.

  “Ms. Martin, I should be completely honest with you. I’m here for another reason as well.” Mrs. Woodman pulled her hand out of her purse.

  “Yes, you said you wanted to find a condo as well, I assure…” Abbie stopped when she looked up.

  Mrs. Woodman had a handgun pointed directly at Abbie. Automatically, Abbie reached for her phone, but the click of the gun made her drop it back on the desk. She knew if she screamed, Crunch would be through the door in a second, but would it be before the gun went off?

  “I wouldn’t do that, Abbie,” Mrs. Woodman sneered.

  “Why are you holding a gun on me?” Abbie placed her hands flat on the desk.

  “I need you to tell your friend outside we’re going to look at the property I’m selling. We’ll tell him my limo is bringing us and I’ll bring you home.” Mrs. Woodman stood up but kept the weapon directed at Abbie.

  “He’s not going to let me go without him,” Abbie told her.

  “That’s too bad. I didn’t want to have to shoot him, but I guess I’ll have to get him out of the way before we leave. I can’t have him calling the police or that boyfriend of yours.” Mrs. Woodman walked toward the door and grabbed the handle.

  “No.” Abbie gasped.

  “If he’s going to be a problem, I’ll have to eliminate that problem,” Mrs. Woodman practically growled.

  “There’s a back way out of my office.” Abbie pointed to the fire exit.

  She ensured each private office had a fire exit. After the fire that nearly killed her and Dana, as well as the one she and Billie escaped, she wasn’t going to be in that situation again.

  “We can go out that way. He won’t know we’re gone until it’s too late,” Abbie whispered.

  Abbie watched the older woman as she seemed to consider if Abbie was lying. The fire escape was a way out, and there were security cameras, but they weren’t exactly visible to someone who didn’t know they were there. At least the police could check the feed and see who took her. Mrs. Woodman wasn’t going to let her take her phone, so there would be no way to track her that way.

  “There better not be an alarm on the door, or I will shoot you and your friend out front.” Mrs. Woodman turned the lock slowly, and the click was barely audible.

  “The alarm is activated when we lock up for the night,” Abbie told her as she tried to slip her phone up the sleeve of her sweater.

  “Abbie, do I look stupid to you?” Mrs. Woodman held out her hand.

  Abbie dropped the phone into the woman’s open palm. As they walked toward the door, Mrs. Woodman dropped Abbie’s phone into the garbage bucket and pointed the gun in the direction of the door. Abbie moved to the exit, and Mrs. Woodman stopped her before she opened the door.

  “Quietly,” she whispered.

  Abbie pushed the handle and opened the door lightly, trying to be as quiet as possible. A narrow set of steps led down to the ground from her office, but when Abbie started down the stairs, Mrs. Woodman grabbed her by the back of the sweater.

  “I need to get my driver to come into the alley to get us.” The woman sneered.

  Mrs. Woodman lifted her phone to her ear and ordered someone to come to the alley. Less than a minute later, a black car with tinted windows backed into the alley. Mrs. Woodman poked the gun into Abbie’s back, and they made their way to the vehicle.

  As Abbie slid into the seat, she scanned the back seat for something that would help her escape. A divider separated the front from the back, and it dropped a few inches when Mrs. Woodman got in next to Abbie.

  Abbie was panicked, and she felt horrible for Crunch. She had a feeling he would be in deep shit when Trunk and Keith discovered her abduction. It wasn’t his fault. Abbie shouldn’t have closed her office door, and that was on her.

  Before she had a chance to say anything, Mrs. Woodman grabbed Abbie’s hands and placed a large plastic zip-tie around her wrists. Abbie winced when the older woman pulled the restraint a little too tight. After she wrapped a scarf around Abbie’s eyes, Mrs. Woodman sighed.

  “Drive. Now,” the woman ordered, and the car drove off.

  Chapter 29

  Trunk walked into Abbie’s reception area and chuckled. He was used to seeing Billie or Tyler at the desk, but Crunch behind the desk with his feet propped up on the edge was comical.

  “What a pretty secretary.” Trunk smirked.

  “I’ll have you know I’m an office administrator right now.” Crunch chuckled.

  “Where’s Abs?” Trunk asked.

  “She’s in a meeting with some snob who didn’t want the door left open because of her personal business.” Crunch rolled his eyes.

  Trunk sat down and pulled out his phone. He sent a flirty text to her and shoved the phone back into his pocket. While he chatted with Crunch for a bit, he continued to check the time.

  “How long has she been in that meeting?” Trunk nodded toward the closed door.

  “She went in there about forty minutes before you got here,” Crunch said after he glanced at his watch.

  Fifteen minutes later, Abbie
was still in the office with her client, and Trunk was getting impatient. She hadn’t responded to his text, but she probably didn’t want to be rude to the woman in her office.

  “Maybe I should knock and let Abbie know you’re here,” Crunch suggested.

  Crunch walked to the office door and knocked. He waited for a moment, but when Abbie didn’t answer, Trunk shot to his feet. When he tried the doorknob, he discovered it was locked. Without a moment’s hesitation, Trunk and Crunch lifted their feet and kicked it open. The room was empty, and the fire door was wide open. The sight made Trunk’s stomach tighten.

  “Fuck, fuck, fuck.” Crunch punched the back door over and over.

  “Call Sandy and get her to check the security feed,” Trunk ordered and yanked his phone out of his pocket.

  “Hello,” Keith answered.

  “Abbie’s gone. Someone took her out through the back door of her office, and her last client was a woman.” Trunk paced back and forth as his heart pounded in his chest.

  “Fuck,” Keith roared. “I’ll call James and we’ll be there in ten minutes.”

  Trunk stalked back into the office and scanned the room for something that gave him an idea of where the woman could have taken Abbie. When he didn’t see anything, he stepped out through the fire exit where Crunch was searching the alley. Trunk watched him bend down and pick up something but toss it aside a second later.

  “James and Keith are on the way,” Trunk told his friend.

  “I’m sorry, Trunk.” Crunch stomped up the steps.

  “Don’t do that, Crunch. We didn’t know there was a woman involved in all this shit.” Trunk shook his head. “We better wait in the other room. We don’t want to disturb any evidence.”

  Trunk and Crunch made their way to the reception area and waited. By the time Keith and the police arrived, it was almost twenty minutes later. The office and the back of the building was searched but nothing was found except Abbie’s phone in the trash can.

  Keith did his best to keep Crunch from blaming himself for Abbie’s disappearance and Trunk was doing his best not to completely panic. Abbie was smart, and she could find a way to escape.

  “I should have told the woman the door had to stay open for security reasons.” Crunch plowed his hands through his hair.

  “Then Abbie would have kicked your ass for upsetting one of her clients,” Trunk returned.

  “I forgot about that fucking fire door.” Crunch shook his head.

  “Look, there’s nothing any of us can do about what happened. We need to find her,” Keith reminded them.

  “Who was her last client?” James asked.

  “Mrs. Woodman. Abbie said she was new.” Crunch handed James a card with the woman’s information.

  “Harris, check out this,” James shouted to an officer.

  “Will do,” Blake Harris nodded.

  Trunk ran his hand over the top of his head and tried to keep from punching a wall. What the hell was he going to do? His heart felt as if it would jump out of his chest. He didn’t know where Abbie was, or who the hell Mrs. Woodman was.

  It was after midnight and six hours since Abbie disappeared. Trunk stood in the window of his kitchen, looking out at the pitch black. They had a video of the woman getting into a large black car, but it didn’t have a licence plate.

  James had Sandy searching for vehicles of the same type in the motor vehicle database, but she said it was like looking for a needle in a haystack. The only thing they knew was the woman’s last name, and the car was a black Chrysler 300.

  Abbie’s parents were bunking in the room where his mother usually slept, but she’d insisted they take it. Chris was on duty for the next three days, so their mother slept in his room.

  Trunk stared up at the dark clouds lazily moving across the sky. He willed them to do something to show him where he could find the woman he loved, but nothing.

  “Cole called. He said he’d be by in the morning, but if we find out anything, call him,” his mom said as she linked into his arm.

  “Not much anyone can do. We don’t know who that woman is, and I don’t know where to look for her.” Trunk sighed.

  “They’ll find her, Ben. God wouldn’t put you two together only to rip you apart again.” His mother cupped his cheek.

  Trunk gave her a gentle hug, and as he turned to the window, he spotted the shoe box Darren gave him. With everything going on, Trunk had forgotten to give it to his mother. He reached across the counter and moved it next to her.

  “What’s this?” She lifted the cover.

  “That’s a box of things Darren found after Jerry hit Laurie. They were on the ground next to the car,” Trunk told her.

  She looked inside, and a soft gasp escaped as she pulled the flask out of the box. Trunk didn’t miss the tears in her eyes, but she had a huge smile on her face.

  “My God. I thought this was gone for good,” she whispered.

  “I don’t know how he got it, but I’m assuming he wanted to sell it.” Trunk pulled the rings out of the box.

  “My rings?” His mother took them with shaking hands.

  “Darren kept all this stuff so he could give it back to you one day. He said when he heard what Jerry did to you, he decided to keep it until he could return it,” Trunk went on. “How did Jerry get these, Mom?”

  “It’s not important. It was a long time ago, and now I have it back.” She hugged the flask to her chest.

  “You’re right.” Trunk sighed.

  “This flask belonged to your grandfather.” She sniffed.

  “I don’t remember him.” Trunk took the flask and flipped it over.

  There was an engraving on the front, and he wiped his finger across it. Etched on the front of the silver flask were the letters RD. He assumed they were initials, but they weren’t his grandfather’s.

  “What do these letters stand for?” Trunk asked.

  “It stands for Ronald Donovan,” she told him.

  His mother ran her fingers over the letters and smiled. She looked up at him as a tear ran down her cheek. Trunk stared at her for a moment before the name registered in his brain. The flask didn’t belong to his mother’s father.

  “This belonged to Cole’s family,” Trunk whispered.

  “Cole took it to a party filled with Vodka one night. When it was empty, he asked me to put it in my purse. We forgot about it, and when I went home, I tossed the purse in my closet. I didn’t find it until after you were born. He told me to keep it because his father never even noticed it gone.” She smiled.

  Trunk reached into the box and pulled out three rings. He handed them to his mother. She dropped two of them back into the box without a word. The third one she held up between her fingers.

  “Mom, what’s wrong?” Trunk asked.

  “Those are the rings Jerry gave me,” she said. “This one isn’t mine, but I’ve seen it before. I just can’t remember where.”

  Trunk looked at the small ring that wouldn’t even fit on his pinky. It looked like the ring of a child or a woman with small fingers. It was a slim gold band with two pearls side by side. Trunk didn’t know much about jewelry, but judging by the chipped band, it wasn’t an expensive ring.

  “Darren said everything in there was on the ground next to Jerry’s car. If you don’t own it, then where did Jerry get it?” Trunk asked.

  “I suspected he was cheating months before…” His mother’s words trailed off.

  “He’s a dick, Mom,” Trunk reminded her.

  “Maybe it belonged to another woman.” She placed the ring back into the box.

  “Don’t you want to keep the others?” Trunk asked.

  “I don’t want anything he gave me.” She sighed and picked up the flask. “I’ll give this back to Cole.”

  Trunk skimmed through the jewelry, but his mother didn’t seem to recognize anything else mixed among the cash. Maybe she was right about Jerry cheating, and he stole the rest of the jewelry from that woman.

  His mothe
r suggested Trunk donate the cash to some sort of charity, since she didn’t want anything Jerry had stolen. It was just a few dollars, but it was better it went to someone who needed it.

  The box only distracted him for a short time. Every second after that, his thoughts were focused on Abbie. He wondered if she was okay or if the woman who took her hurt her. Was she cold? Scared? Would he ever see her again? Trunk’s chest pained terribly, and his stomach felt as if he’d swallowed a bag of stones.

  “You’ll find her,” his mother whispered.

  “I pray you’re right, Mom.” Trunk wrapped his arms around her.

  “You need to get some sleep, Ben. You’ll be no help to Abbie if you’re falling down from exhaustion.” His mother kissed his cheek.

  “I’ll try, Mom.” Trunk sighed.

  By three in the morning, he was tired of tossing and turning. He kept glancing at the other side of the bed where Abbie had been sleeping for the last week. He could still smell the body lotion she applied before she went to sleep every night.

  “Abs, please stay strong. Find a way out,” Trunk whispered into the quiet of the room. “God, help her get out of this and bring her back to me.”

  He leaned against the headboard, pulled his legs up, and rested his elbows on his knees. He kept thinking about the woman who abducted Abbie and what the purpose was. Someone already tried to kill her, and everyone believed this woman was tied up with all of it.

  The person who stabbed her in the restaurant parking lot had said it was revenge. It was no doubt Gary would hate Darren for beating the shit out of him, but he would also hate Cole for what happened with Violet.

  Was Jerry involved with any of it? Gary was with Jerry when James entered the house, so it was obvious they were still friendly. Jerome was Gary’s son and possibly the one who tried to frame Abbie for the false house sales. Sandy was still trying to track the money, but from what Trunk knew, the account was overseas, and it would take some digging to get answers.

  He needed to figure out how to put all the pieces of the puzzle together so he could find her. James sent units to the houses in Calvert, but if Jerry and Gary had taken Abbie, they’d be pretty stupid to bring her to the houses the police checked previously.