“No, super tall. Like, massive. Had a mask on.”
Damn...but at least it confirms a third person.
“Have you ever heard the name Teddy Rutherford?”
“No.”
“Thought not. Sorry for interrupting. Then what happened?”
“She leaned over—and it’s fuzzy—but I think she said something like, ‘If you make a sound, you’ll never see your family again.’ I was so scared at that point, but I had no idea what was coming. This is the part I’ll never forget. The rest is blurry, but I remember this exactly. She said, ‘It’s a shame we have to damage such a beautiful thing,’ then she looks at the guy and goes, ‘Don’t leave her alive.’ She left, and he started punching and punching and punching. His fists felt like cinderblocks. But I’m still here, so either he didn’t listen, or he didn’t hit me hard enough.”
DJ shuddered. After years of working cases and seeing the worst of the human condition, making himself immune to such reactions remained impossible, and in truth, he hoped he never lost it, unlike Barker. The cantankerous veteran was able to let it slide off like rain on a slicker, and his display of sympathy with Anna was a rare one, but DJ used the emotional connection as a reminder that this was more than a paycheck.
Anna, as young as she was, had plenty of good decades in front of her, and she would have to live with that haunting memory for the rest of her life. He reached over, patted her arm. “Get some rest,” he said. “You’ve been a big help.”
“Hang on,” Barker said. “How’d you get free?”
“That’s the weird part. When I woke up, the ropes were untied.”
“Huh. Interesting...”
***
DJ and Barker exited and walked down the hallway. Seconds later, a younger guy, clean-cut and in a hurry, rushed past them in the direction of her room.
Barker said, “Reckon that was the husband?”
“Yeah,” DJ said. “Poor bastard’s in for a shock, huh?”
“No doubt in my mind that girl ain’t ever going back to stripping again. She’s lucky to be alive.”
They stepped into the elevator, waited on the door to close. DJ asked, “Why
is
she still alive? Why leave a witness? Why would he untie her?”
“Hell if I know. Guilty conscience? Dissention in the ranks?”
“Your guess is as good as mine. But we do need to check out the blue eye, brown eye thing.”
“Haystack, needle. Needle, haystack.”
“No more than Sara’s husband and that damn necklace. It’s all we’ve got to go on, Barker.” The elevator chimed, signaling the ground floor. They stepped out, stopping in the hallway. DJ put his hands on his hips, defiant. “And who was it that suggested the idea that she might have been planted in Rutherford’s basement?”
Barker snorted, said, “I suppose it would be the same dingleberry who’s asking the question. Just because she woke up in his basement and Rutherford wasn’t in the room doesn’t mean he didn’t know she was there. He could’ve been upstairs.”
“It doesn’t make any
sense
, Barker. If he’s working with the necklace girl and the goon, collecting trophies or whatever, why not show up for the fun? What’s the purpose?”
“Does it
have
to have a purpose? We’re dealing with a couple of freaks, JonJon. We can profile all the hell we want, but if you try to read a psychopath’s mind—”
“‘
You’d have a better chance reading tea leaves in a blender.
’ I know. I know.”
“But, you’re right, Captain Interruption, her screwed up eyes are the only solid thing we have to go on, so where do you suggest we start?”
DJ had been thinking about this from the moment Anna had mentioned it. He told Barker that they had to go with the closest connections. Sara and Teddy Rutherford both worked together at LightPulse. They had to consider the possibility that he had an accomplice there. It was a stretch, but they had to start narrowing down the possibilities somewhere. Medical records were protected by both Federal and State laws, and they didn’t have enough solid evidence for a subpoena. “But,” he said, “we can check photo IDs, look at criminal records. See if anybody pointed out mismatched eyes in their reports.”
It’d be easy enough to take the list of employees and examine them across the board.
“Good idea,” Barker admitted. “And if we come up with
nada
?”
“What’re the chances that she’d use her own car to drive off with someone she planned to kidnap and murder? We check the rental companies for a blue hybrid. Narrow that list down to all the women that have rented one in the past few days.”
Barker reached up, slapped DJ on the shoulder. Smiled.
“What?”
“I might’ve taught you a thing or two over the years, cowboy. You’re wet behind the ears, but at least you’re standing up for what you think is right. For once.”
“Was that a compliment?”
“Don’t let your head swell up. I don’t have enough wisdom to fill it.” Barker’s cell rang. “Barker...yeah...at the hospital...What?...Where?...Okay, we’re on it.” He hung up, shook his head.
DJ raised an eyebrow.
Barker said, “Damn, I thought it couldn’t get any stranger. They found Rutherford’s car.”
“And no Rutherford?”
“No Rutherford, but plenty of bloodstains.”
CHAPTER 16
SARA
Sara tried to straighten her legs. The cage closed in; the metal bars formed the sides of a coffin. The absence of light was so complete that she could have been buried alive, under mounds and mountains of dirt, under roots and worms, under rocks and a thick gravestone. The only reminder that she was indeed alive was Teddy whimpering and shuffling behind her. Outside the cage, but inside his own prison. Inches and miles away.
Hours had passed. Or was it minutes? Time doesn’t stand still in a vacuum, but in the absence of everything else, it loses all form, becomes elusive and teasing. Taunting with its childish game of ‘catch me if you can’.
Sara shifted to one side, rubbed the skin on her behind, massaging out the deep crevices left by the thin, metal wiring. Toes numb. Back aching from being hunched over for so long. Neck stiff and throbbing. She could smell the dried sweat on her running clothes. Felt guilty for wanting the luxury of a shower when the world around her was covered in physical and emotional blackness.
Sara pawed the cage floor and found the bottle of water. Took a small sip, rationing what remained. Partly as preservation, partly as a preventative. The tingling sensation in her bladder wasn’t going away, no matter how hard she tried to direct her thoughts elsewhere. She refused to allow her abductor the satisfaction of torturing Teddy to get what she wanted. She would piss on the floor inside her cage before she would give in.
I won’t let them win
, she thought.
I won’t.
Sara twisted Brian’s ring around her thumb, feeling the sweat between skin and metal.
Why...why...his wedding ring...his ring...oh my God... she knows what happened to him...she knows...
How? Unless she kidnapped him, too? Stole him from me. Took him away.
She knows...maybe he...maybe he was having—
No. Don’t think like that. He wouldn’t.
Would he? An affair?
Not Brian. He wouldn’t...there were never any signs...I never suspected anything...
You know that’s not true...
...the receipt...
Teddy moaned behind her, followed by the dull scrape of wood on wood as the chair legs scratched against the floor. Then, silence. Nothing more. Back to the darkened depths of her solitude.
She took a small sip of water, just enough to wet her tongue.
Brian...what did you do?
The receipt, the one that had fallen out of the book he’d been reading on his trip to San Diego. Two meals at a restaurant. A bottle of wine.
Brian never drank wine...hated it. Hated the taste. It made him sick.
At the time, she hadn’t questioned it. Business trip. Colleagues with a taste for expensive Bordeaux. Trying to woo a new client at a conference. It meant nothing. Less than nothing. An innocuous drink with someone who had money to invest. Choked it down with a smile to earn a hefty commission.
But was that it? Was that all?
She thought back to all the connections she’d made earlier in the day, back when she’d thought it might’ve been a woman, back when she thought it might’ve been someone inside LightPulse. The mention of a breakaway, the mini-bomb idea that led her to believe it was Teddy.
A woman at the office...was Brian having an affair with one of the girls at work?
No, couldn’t be. He was in San Diego.
They could’ve met him there. Was anyone on vacation then? Anyone missing from the office?
I can’t remember...so long ago...
Sara’s stomach churned. The realization of a deeper truth to his disappearance took her breath away, tightened its grip around her lungs. Made her head swim, made her dizzy. She rubbed her eyes, wiped a tear from her cheek.
What did I do, Brian? Was it me? Did you not love me anymore?
The betrayal. The anguish. The pain. It was too much. All those years of loving a man who would dare to take another woman to bed. Had it been going on for some time? Or was it a single act of indiscretion? Too much wine? Promises to do all the things between the covers that they had grown too tired and bored and busy to do? Their relationship had
seemed
great. To her. To her family. To everyone who complimented them. To her friends, who admitted to jealousy over the emotional connection they had.
It was true that their sex life had faded to once or twice a month. Brief encounters when they had enough energy to squeeze it in after long days, after the kids had gone to bed. It was the typical scenario of many busy marriages, something they’d discussed and were excited to fix, but he’d gone missing before they’d had the chance.
Went missing, or left intentionally for another woman?
She wanted to run away, leave, disappear. Evaporate into a fine mist and escape the cage walls. But, she was trapped, contained, forced to deal with her regret and sorrow with no way out.
Sara drew her knees up to her chest, buried her face in her arms.
Damn you, Brian. Who was it? Who was she?
Someone at the office...which one? Who was there two years ago when he disappeared? Me. Susan. She wouldn’t...Kara and Sandra in R&D. Mandy at the front desk. She was cute. Her? Jenny in Accounting. Not his type. What was the office manager’s name, the one who retired...Janet...Janet? Too old.
Six of them. All gone. All moved on to different places in their lives. New jobs, higher paying jobs. Motherhood. From what she’d heard, they were all living in Portland, except for Janet, who’d moved to Key West.
This woman knows about stuff in the new Juggernaut...all the women who used to be there are gone, so if he was cheating...she’s been hired since he disappeared...
Why do that? Why get so close to me if she was sleeping with my husband?
Keep tabs on me? Make sure I wasn’t getting closer to finding him?
Such a stretch. Somebody could be breaking the NDA, passing along info.
Lots of new faces...Shelley and Amy and Wendy and Shay and Christina...
Was it possible? Could any of the women who were there now be the one who had destroyed her life? Damaged her children’s lives? Still so many questions, still no closer to a reasonable answer. The possibilities were endless. So were the motivation and reasoning. It didn’t make any sense. None of it.
And what if she was completely off? What if Brian hadn’t been having an affair, and the woman was some psycho targeting her family for some unknown reason? She had access to confidential LightPulse information, but it didn’t mean she was actually
inside
the company. And it could be one of the men, a partner, passing along details. What if they had murdered Brian, taken his ring, kept it all this time in order to torture her, toy with her, make her play a game? Was it a game of life and death? Was that really what was going on?
I need to know more. Teddy...his pain...more clues...
No, don’t. You can figure this out.
How? I know nothing. One...two...three...seven...eight. Eight other women in the office. It could be any one of them. And if it’s one of the guys...how many women do they know? It’s impossible. Why does she have Brian’s wedding ring? No idea. None whatsoever. Affair? Maybe. Kidnapped him and took it? Murdered him and took it? Why me? Why now? Why two years later?
I could ask Teddy...what if he saw her face?
She clambered around inside the cage, felt the metal bars digging into her knees. She thought about tugging at the blanket, slipping it off so she could see him, but that would be against the rules. Breaking them would result in another phone call, another scream from one of her children in pain because she refused to obey.
“Teddy,” she whispered. “
Teddy
. Wake up.”
Sara cocked an ear, listened over her shoulder. Tried to hear any movement coming from the other room. Earlier, who knows how long ago, she’d heard the tall man moving around, followed by the front door slamming. Was he gone? Sitting on the front porch? Taking a leak out in the woods?
I need to pee...almost hurts...
“Teddy? Can you hear me?”
She heard him inhale, imagined him waking up, opening his eyes. Panic setting in as he realized that it wasn’t a dream, that he was tied to a chair in a pitch black room. He mumbled her name through the gag. It came out as a question, testing the space in front of him, like he was unsure if her voice was truly there.