Held for Ransom

by Kathleen Tailer

  Joanna nodded, then motioned to the lock. “Sure. Take what you want. Those boxes have been here for a while, and nobody has claimed them.” She motioned to the apartment upstairs. “Is it okay if I leave you here and let you lock up on your way out? I’ve got a full schedule today, and I need to get back up to my apartment, grab a few things and head to the gym.”

  “Sure. We’ll take care of it,” Noah replied. “Thanks again for your time.” He walked Joanna to the basement door and then returned to Sophia and started sorting through Maggie’s things in the second box. “Find anything else interesting?”

  Sophia closed the cover of the notebook she had been looking at and put it back in the trunk. She brushed some hair out of her eyes. “Nothing of interest.” There had been some family photos, a few books and some cheap jewelry, but nothing she recognized as significant. She sighed and her shoulders slumped. “I feel like I’m looking for a needle in a haystack, with a timer ticking over my head, counting down the seconds.”

  Noah raised an eyebrow. “Do you think that paper you found means anything?”

  “I don’t know yet. If Arlo killed her as a random act of violence, then I doubt it matters. It’s just too soon to tell. I do find it interesting that Professor Keenan complained about the quality of her work while, at the same time, a national chemistry publication was interested in her paper. I also find it interesting that Maggie was engaged and that her fiancé tried to kill us. I’m still not sure how this all fits together, though.” She closed the lid on the trunk and replaced the boxes to their original location. “Ready to go?”

  Noah followed her out of the storage area and locked the gate behind them. “Sure. I think our next stop should be to see Angie Carmichael.”

  “Who is she?”

  Noah followed her up the stairs and out of the basement as he answered. “She’s one of the other chemistry graduate students at Atlanta State University. She didn’t have much to offer before, but I’m hoping she can shed some light on the importance of the paper you just found. This is the first I’ve heard of it.”

  “Do you really think it might be important?” Sophia asked as they made it outside of the building.

  Noah grimaced. “I don’t know. Like you said, it doesn’t seem to have anything to do with Prensky or his actions. But something is definitely going on here. Why is this the first I’ve heard of it? It’s like Keenan deliberately omitted it from our initial interviews. We need to know more.”

  “So why are we going to see Angie and not one of the other chemistry grad students?”

  “She’s the only one who seemed to know anything about Maggie,” Noah answered. “The others knew her superficially, but Angie and Maggie both worked with Professor Keenan and occasionally worked on the same projects. After Maggie died, Angie got her research assistantship. I wouldn’t say they were best friends, but at least they knew each other. Maybe Angie can give us some insight into the chemistry department at ASU.”

  “What about Maggie’s fiancé?”

  Noah met her eye. “What about him?”

  Sophia stopped by the car door and waited while Noah unlocked it using the key fob in his hand. Then he surprised her by opening the door for her and motioning for her to get in. He closed the door after her and then circled the car, apparently keeping an eye out for danger. She appreciated his vigilance, but she couldn’t keep the fear from sweeping over her.

  She wasn’t used to having her life in danger, and she had to admit the recent attempts to kill them both had unnerved her. As if she needed more stress in her life! At least she didn’t have to go through all of this alone. Noah was being a good friend, and she was glad he was with her.

  Once he was sitting in the driver’s seat, she continued the conversation as he put the key in the ignition. “Well, if anyone knew Maggie, it would be the fiancé. Maybe he can offer us some insight into her life.”

  Noah started the car and navigated to the exit of the parking lot. “If we can get him to talk. Frankly, I’m more interested in knowing why he tried to kill us today.”

  Sophia laughed, but there was no mirth in her voice. “Yeah, me, too. I wonder...” Before she could even finish her sentence, a loud explosion sounded behind them.

  NINE

  Noah immediately slammed on the brakes, and Sophia huddled down against the seat. Seconds later, Noah covered her body with his own, protectively shielding her in case more devastation followed. A moment passed. Then another. When nothing else happened, the two of them slowly straightened and turned to see what had occurred behind them.

  Maggie and Joanna’s section of the apartment building no longer existed. Instead, smoke billowed around the rubble and pieces of soot and debris fell from the sky, littering the ground in all directions. Flames licked the wooden framing that remained, what little there was of it, and an acrid smell of burning plastic and other materials penetrated their nostrils, despite the fact that the car windows were tightly closed.

  Sophia turned to Noah, her eyes wide. She could sense the fear radiating from deep within her and felt helpless to stop it. Her entire body was trembling. When she spoke, her voice was breathless, as if she’d just run a mile. “Do you think...?”

  “Yes, I think Joanna was in the apartment when it blew.”

  Tears swelled and rolled down Sophia’s cheeks. “Oh, no. That poor woman. And who knows how many others were in that apartment building.”

  Noah quickly pulled out his phone and called in the blast with one hand, squeezing Sophia’s hand with the other. She allowed the contact, aware that he was trying to offer her at least a small margin of comfort.

  When he was done with the call, he stowed his phone again and turned back to Sophia. “Are you okay?” When she nodded, he continued. “I have to check for survivors and work the scene. I don’t want to leave you here, but I really need to do my job. Can you stay here in the car, close by, so I can see you? I won’t be able to do what I have to do if I’m worried about you and your safety at the same time that I’m trying to help others.”

  “I get it. I’ll stay. Unless you think I can help?”

  Noah shook his head vehemently. “No. For one thing, bomb sites are notoriously unstable. You could get hurt.” He took her other hand and pressed them both between his. “We were also in that apartment only a few minutes ago. I think the killer just got unlucky. I imagine he was trying to kill us, too, but we left the premises just in the nick of time.”

  Another wave of fear swept over her. “That means you’ll be a target out there—”

  “I’ll be careful,” he said fervently. “But this is my job. I might be able to help someone. Please stay in the car.” He met her eyes. “Please. I know I’m asking a lot, but I really need to know you’re safe.”

  She wanted to argue, but she finally nodded and pulled her hands from his, while her respect for him grew exponentially. Despite the danger to himself, Noah was committed to helping people, and he was ready to go out there in the open if it meant he could save a life. He could have let others take the lead, but that just wasn’t in his nature. He had to help. It was an impressive quality. One that she had rarely seen during her life. Such selflessness was inspiring.

  He drove the car back to the demolished building and parked close enough that he could see Sophia sitting inside while he surveyed the damage and looked for survivors. She could already hear sirens approaching as first responders rushed to the scene.

  Sophia stretched so she could keep an eye on him as he worked. The middle of the building had sunk into the ground below and now filled the space where the basement had been. From what she could tell, the blast had completely destroyed at least four apartments in that section of the building and damaged several others. Small, personal items were mixed with building debris. A flat-screen TV was now a ball of melted plastic and half of a refrigerator was recognizable beneath a pile of rubble. Dust sti
ll filled the air, and Sophia watched Noah pull out a handkerchief and tie it across his face to help filter the air so he could breathe. He also took off his tie and jacket and tossed them aside so he would have more freedom of movement.

  Sophia lost sight of Noah for a moment and could suddenly hear sounds of the rubble settling. It was all she could do to stay in the car. A giant part of her wanted to leap out and verify that Noah was safe, but she fulfilled her promise and stayed in the vehicle, her face pressed against the glass. After several seconds, she saw him on the western side of the bomb site, yelling into the rubble, and relief swamped her. He looked up at one point and waved to her, letting her know he was okay, then continued working.

  He picked his way around the edge of the scene, and Sophia said a heartfelt prayer, asking God to lead him to any survivors in time to save them.

  Within minutes, the scene was full of emergency vehicles—fire, EMTs and police—their flashing lights filling the parking lot and bouncing off the remaining buildings. They quickly cordoned off the area to keep the onlookers back and out of the way.

  She watched as Noah and some of the firefighters worked as a team to pull one middle-aged man from beneath a section of concrete. He appeared to have a broken arm and was scraped up, but he seemed otherwise unharmed. They were also able to save the man’s dog, a big yellow Labrador. Unfortunately, they were not able to save Joanna Crawley. Sophia watched helplessly as her lifeless body was pulled from the debris, along with the body of another person who also hadn’t survived. A third victim was later discovered. She didn’t know the others and barely knew Joanna, but still her heart ached. These people had died because of her investigation. Guilt made her entire chest hurt.

  * * *

  Every few minutes, Noah glanced back over at his car, making sure that Sophia was still inside and no one dangerous had approached the vehicle.

  The deeper they dug into this case, the more worried he became. This bombing had been way too close. If they had only lingered a few more minutes in the basement, or even in Maggie’s apartment, they would probably be dead right now. A part of him wanted to take Sophia somewhere safe and hide her away from this horrible threat, but he just couldn’t do it. He knew without a doubt that they had to continue the investigation—not only to save Sophia’s sister but also to discover who was trying to stop them from reinvestigating the case in the first place. The perpetrator had to be held accountable for this horrible and unnecessary loss of life.

  Was Arlo Prensky innocent? Had he arrested the wrong man? A friend or relative of Prensky’s certainly thought so, and was so convinced of his innocence that they were willing to kidnap a young girl to make the police take another look. On top of that, someone with a different agenda was willing to kill to make sure the case wasn’t reopened. There was obviously more going on here than a simple crime of opportunity.

  A painful knot formed in his stomach, twisting and turning. What had he missed? He didn’t want to admit that he’d missed anything, but he had to face the facts.

  He had to have missed something big.

  A few hours later, he was released from the scene and had driven Sophia back to the police station. They’d stopped by a fast-food restaurant on the way. She hadn’t wanted to order anything, but he had finally cajoled her into accepting a bag of fries and a small box of chicken nuggets. Then he ordered her favorite milkshake and even had them add whipped cream and a cherry to her shake to entice her to drink it.

  He took another bite of his sandwich and leaned back in the conference room chair. He hadn’t realized how hungry he was until he’d actually started to devour his food. To ensure the witness’s safety, and their own, he and Sophia had asked their next interviewee to come to the station. That way, they would be surrounded by law enforcement officers, in case there was another threat, and they could at least try to ensure the interviewee’s safety, as well.

  Three murder attempts in two days was a new record for Noah, and he didn’t want to go for four. The two of them had settled in the conference room, and Angie Carmichael, the other ASU grad student from the chemistry department, was due in about half an hour.

  “Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Noah asked. His eyebrow quirked as he watched Sophia dip her French fry in barbecue sauce. He couldn’t imagine why anyone would want to do that, but she seemed quite happy with the arrangement.

  At least she was eating. She had consumed precious little since this investigation had begun, even with his efforts this morning of fixing her a healthy breakfast. They had both skipped lunch and hadn’t even stopped for a snack during the day. As a detective, he’d worked several high-pressure cases, and he had learned from personal experience how important it was to take care of himself during stressful situations. Sophia had seemed somewhat reserved since the bombing, so he hoped his joke about the fries would earn him a smile.

  To his delight, she grinned and took another bite, making a humorous show of her actions. “I’m positive. I’m a Southern girl, through and through. This is how we do things here in the South.” She dipped another fry and smacked her lips comically. “Yum!”

  Noah shook his head, pleased that he had gotten what he was looking for and more. He found himself smiling, too, and realized that he had needed a stress-free moment, as well. She offered him a fry covered in barbecue sauce, but he shook his head and waved it away. “No, thank you. For the record, I consider myself a Southern guy, and that still doesn’t look too appealing to me.” He leaned forward and brushed a dab of sauce off her cheek. “Still, it’s good to see you smile.”

  A moment passed and Sophia wiped her hands with a napkin. “There hasn’t been much to smile about during the last couple of days,” she said quietly, her smile fading.

  Noah wanted that smile back. He gave her a playful nudge, despite the dust and bits of debris that still covered his clothing from his work at the bomb site. He hadn’t wanted to take the time to change; it was more important to stay with Sophia. She didn’t appear to mind the dirt, but she still wasn’t herself. He tried again. “I seem to remember someone dipping Canadian bacon pizza into a little cup of ranch dressing back in high school.”

  She laughed again, but it wasn’t as full, and a sadness filled her countenance. He couldn’t blame her. The stress of having her life threatened over and over again and her sister being kidnapped had to be weighing heavily on her. Still, she had a wistful look in her eyes as she thought of the pleasant memory they had shared. She met his eyes. “You actually remember that? I haven’t had Canadian bacon pizza in a long time. I’m not sure it’s even available anymore.”

  Noah leaned back in his chair, suddenly somber himself. He’d been waiting for a chance to talk to her about their past, but there never seemed to be an opportunity. Maybe now was as good a time as ever. Perhaps he could at least clear the air between them.

  He ran his hand through his hair as nervousness suddenly swept through him. Where should he start? He sighed and pressed on. “I remember a lot of things. I remember playing some awful tricks on my very dear friend and pushing her away. I’m really sorry, Sophia. I know this probably isn’t the best time and place to talk about this, but I was horrible to you. I want you to know how much I regret how I treated you back then.”

  Sophia pushed away her milkshake. The topic had obviously been weighing on her, too.

  Maybe it had been the right time to bring it up.

  “Why did you do those things? I never understood what I had done to hurt you so badly that you felt like humiliating me was the answer.”

  The knot in his stomach intensified as he watched her aimlessly push around the barbecue sauce packets on the table. Maybe he should have at least waited until she’d eaten more of her dinner before bringing up such a delicate subject. He grimaced, struggling for the right words. Like a Band-Aid coming off a wound, maybe it was better to just say it quickly and hope for the best.

 
; He looked away, unable to meet her eyes. “I was in love with you. When you didn’t return my feelings, my pride got in the way. I was hurt and angry that you didn’t love me back.”

  She was silent for a full minute, and he sat there, holding his breath, waiting for her to speak. Every muscle in his body felt as tightly wound as a guitar string.

  Finally, she raised her eyebrow. “So, you thought that if you hurt me badly enough, I’d change my mind and fall in love with you?”

  He shrugged helplessly. “No, not really. I didn’t think you’d ever change your mind. I guess the bottom line was that I wanted you to hurt like I was hurting. I know sometimes even the best of friends grow apart, but I didn’t want to lose you. When you didn’t share my feelings, I struck back and behaved badly. I wish I had a better reason, but I just don’t. I was a real mess back then, and I was more focused on impressing my friends than thinking about your feelings.” He shrugged helplessly again. “I was a dumb, immature kid. I was horrible to you, and I was very, very wrong. Please forgive me.”

  He turned to look at her and was once again taken aback by her beauty, both inside and out. He felt a heaviness in his chest as he waited for her to react and respond. Was he still holding his breath? He couldn’t tell because he was concentrating so hard on trying to read her expression and her body language as he sat there, hoping for absolution.

  She didn’t speak, and he still had no idea what she was thinking, no matter how much he studied her face. Could she tell that those old feelings of attraction were starting to resurface in him? He wondered how much she had surmised as they’d worked this case together. Part of him wanted to share his growing feelings, but he was still afraid of her rejection. He leaned forward, and when she didn’t pull away, he took both of her hands and held them gently. Electricity seemed to sizzle between them at his touch. He locked his eyes with hers. “Can we leave the past in the past? Please, Sophia. Please forgive me.”