Authors: Sarah Biglow
Kalina’s heart hammered against her rips as she yanked the driver side door open and tossed her phone onto the passenger seat. The car’s engine fought her as she tried furiously to jam the keys into the ignition. “Come on!”
On the third try, the key slid into the slot and she was able to turn it, the engine rumbling to life. The tires squealed as she peeled out of the parking lot and turned onto Main Street. The tree symbol from the hotel key card danced in her vision. There was only one hotel in town. She didn’t even need to look it up. The four-story building sat at the edge of town, leading toward the highway on and off ramps. It was a genius layout and the hotel’s location also meant she saw it every time she came to town during college. She’d even stayed there a time or two when she stopped by and her parents were out of town.
Unfortunately, with all of the snow, the town maintenance hadn’t gotten all of the roads cleared and her car swerved on unseen patches of black ice. Kalina’s fingers gripped the steering wheel in a white-knuckled vice grip until the car righted itself and she slowed down. Beside her, the screen of her phone lit up with an incoming call. Chris’s face flashed on the screen and she reached over and hit “Accept” and set the phone to speaker as she continued driving.
“Sorry I missed your call,” her fiancé said over the phone line.
“Did you get to have your chat with Bruce Hempstead?”
“Nope. There was a sign on the front door saying he was going out of town for a few weeks and would be closed until then. He’s in the wind.”
“I know where Beth is hiding.” The hotel’s front entrance loomed ahead of her on the right hand side of the road. “The Elm Tree Lodge.”
“How do you figure?”
“I did some digging into Beth and the type of articles she’d written. When we were going back to the shop she mentioned wanting to be a crime reporter. The rest of her work was mostly boring town fluff pieces. But she’d also done a history of the town’s most influential families. The Hempsteads and the Finnegans were on the list. I think she and Bruce are cousins.”
“This seems like a long shot, Kal.”
“Just hear me out, OK? If we’re right, and Bruce proposed to Fiona and she turned him down, then maybe seeing Gabriella and Margaret happily wearing the ring he’d chosen set him off. I think dear Cousin Beth offered to help him find a way to convince Fiona to change her mind and in exchange he’d give her something to launch her career as a crime reporter.”
“You think all of her emotion at getting the severed finger was just a ruse?”
“I’ve seen better actresses”—her sister’s ex college roommate Savannah came to mind—“but she’s definitely believable. It’s not hard to conjure tears over someone losing a finger.”
“Let’s say you’re right. Where does the hotel come into play?”
“When I was talking to Fiona earlier, she pulled out her car keys and I saw a key card with the hotel’s logo on it. I didn’t think much of it then but that has to be where she’s staying to keep away from Bruce. I can’t imagine Beth would let her out of her sight for long.”
“OK. I’m going to get some officers to check it out.”
“I’m already here,” Kalina said and nearly strangled herself in her effort to get out of the car. “I’ll see what I can find.”
“Kalina, do not go in there. This situation just got a lot more dangerous.” His tone took on a more emotional tone. “You aren’t just thinking about yourself anymore. You have our child to consider. Please let me take it from here on out.”
“OK.” She wouldn’t be interfering by just sitting in the lobby. If she was lucky she could find out what room Fiona was in. And Beth certainly couldn’t be in the room with her, could she?
“I mean it, Kal. Stay out of it.”
“I will.”
She ended the call and stowed her phone in her coat pocket before heading through the revolving doors into the warm air of the lobby. It was just as she remembered with the warm, muted browns and reds in the carpet and furniture. Even the wood of the front desk had been stained a deep cherry color. A tired looking man stood in the reception area. Beth was nowhere in sight. That worried her a little. Kalina sidled up to the reception desk and leaned forward, chin propped in one hand.
“Checking in?” the desk clerk asked.
“No, I was actually looking for a friend of mine. Fiona Hayes. She mentioned she was staying here for a few days. She said I could stop by if I had time.”
“I’m not supposed to give out guest information.”
“Oh, I know. Guest privacy is very important. But she told me what the number was but I can’t remember.” She pulled out her phone and made a show of searching through her notes app. “I swear I put it in here but I think it got deleted. I had to do a restore on this stupid thing the other day. Such a pain.”
The clerk gave a long sigh but turned to the computer and hit a few keys. “She’s in room 117. Down the hall to the left.”
“That’s right. Thanks so much!” She kept her phone out and headed down the hallway he’d indicated.
The hall was pretty quiet except for the occasion blare of a TV. She reached a junction where rooms 113-121 branched. She approached slowly, staying to the far side of the hall, when a loud crash echoed ahead. She had a sinking feeling it had come from room 117.
Kalina paused across the hall from room 117. Nothing came after the crash and she suddenly realized that she had no way of getting into the room. She had no key and if either Beth or Bruce was inside with Fiona, they wouldn’t be letting her in willingly. Chewing her bottom lip, she glanced back down the hallway and back to the door. The silence was broken by a woman’s scream coming from the room in front of her.
“That’s it.”
She barreled back down the hallway to the lobby. The clerk stared at her with only a mild interest. “I just heard a scream coming from Fiona’s room.”
“Probably the TV.”
“No. I don’t think so. Do you have a master key or something?”
“Look lady, I’m starting to think you don’t even know her.”
“OK, you’re right. I don’t really know her that well. But I know she’s in trouble. Her boyfriend has been violent before and she’s been staying here because they’ve been fighting. I think he’s found her.” She searched her phone for anything with a picture of Bruce. She finally settled on the “About Us” page from the jewelry store website. “This is what he looks like.”
The clerk took the phone and studied the picture. The color that had been in his cheeks a moment before drained in an instant. “He came here about a half hour ago. But he wasn’t meeting the woman in 117. He was here to see some reporter. She rented out 119.”
“Do they connect?”
“Yes, but they’re locked.”
“How hard is it to jimmy them open?”
“If you know what you’re doing, probably not hard.”
Kalina let out a groan at the revelation that, as long as Beth knew which room Fiona was in, all she’d need to do was get the adjoining room. “Get a key for 119 then. And whatever you need to unlock the door between the two rooms.”
“Shouldn’t we like call the police or something?”
“They’re already on their way. Now come on. A woman’s life depends on you moving your ass.”
The clerk fumbled for a set of key cards and a regular metal key and followed after her down the hallway. The hall was silent again and that unnerved her. Kalina motioned for him to unlock 119. He dropped the key card three times before she yanked it from his fingers and slid it into the lock. The little light turned green and she eased it open as quietly as she could. It turned out they didn’t need the metal key for the doors separating the rooms; the one leading from room 119 was already open. Kalina waved the clerk back. “Wait for the police,” she whispered.
He backpedaled out of the room and she heard muffled footsteps going back down the hallway. She held her breath and pressed her ear to the door leading into room 117. She could hear shallow breathing and then a loud whimper.
“I did what you wanted.” Bruce’s voice was low and strained.
“Not enough.” Beth’s tone was far more authoritative than Kalina had heard her before.
“Says you. You have more than enough to take you as far as you want.”
“We shouldn’t be discussing this in here. In front of her.”
“She won’t say anything. Will you, sweetheart?”
A muffled whimper answered him. Did they have Fiona tied up and gagged? The image in her head was almost enough to give her away. Footsteps thudded toward the dividing door and Kalina pressed herself to the wall so that when the door swung inward it would hide her. She bit her tongue to keep from breathing too loudly as the door swung in and Beth pushed past. She didn’t seem to notice Kalina and neither did Bruce as he trudged after her, something shiny gripped in his hand. The door on the room 119 side closed and Kalina exhaled slowly. As quietly as she could, she slipped around the door and into the next room. Fiona sat on the bed, her left hand cradled to her chest. Her eyes shone with tears and her cheeks were pale. It became readily apparent what had happened as soon as Kalina held a finger to her lips for quiet and Fiona meekly raised her left arm a little. A hotel towel was wrapped around her hand.
“Let me see,” Kalina whispered.
“He … they are insane,” Fiona moaned.
“Shh. I’m going to get you out of here but I need to see what happened.” As gently as possible, she unwrapped the towel and had to swallow back a new batch of bile. Fiona’s ring finger was missing just above the second knuckle. Just like Gabriella and Margaret.
“The police are on their way. As soon as we’re out of here, I’m going to call for an ambulance.”
“He still has it.”
Kalina’s brow wrinkled in confusion. Then it hit her. The shiny item clutched in Bruce’s hand had been her severed finger and the engagement ring. She prayed that Chris would arrive soon and apprehend Bruce before he did something even crazier.
Kalina helped Fiona scoot off the bed and wrapped the towel around her hand again to stem the bleeding. Together they eased their way out the front door of the hotel room and started toward the lobby. Fiona was uneasy on her feet due to the blood loss, which slowed them down. They were almost at the junction when a door slammed open behind them and Bruce appeared wielding a knife in one hand and Fiona’s finger in the other. Without thinking, Kalina put herself in front of the injured woman.
His knife hand faltered an inch. “You?”
“It’s over, Mr. Hempstead. The police are already on their way. You and Beth aren’t going to get away with what you’ve done.”
“And I thought I was the only one who had the chops to be an investigative reporter,” Beth said from behind Bruce. She stepped up beside her cousin and brandished a gun.
Heavy footsteps thudded behind Kalina and she didn’t have to turn to know that the police had arrived just in time to back her play.
“Put your weapons down and get on the floor,” Jimmy ordered. His service weapon was held high, aimed right at Bruce’s chest.
Bruce’s lower lip trembled and he tossed the knife aside. As he got to his knees, he pressed Fiona’s finger to his chest. “I love you.”
Beth remained standing, weapon still pointing at the cluster of police. Jimmy’s aim moved to her and after a moment she relented and tossed the weapon aside. Two uniformed officers approached and cuffed them.
Ambulance sirens wailed in the distance and Kalina turned to look at Jimmy. “Thank you.” She flung her arms around his shoulders and held him close.
Before long, paramedics huddled around Fiona, one of them packing her finger in ice for transport. Despite the amount of blood, they seemed confident it could be reattached without much issue. That was small consolation considering what the man who claimed to love her had put her through. Kalina wasn’t certain but had an inkling that Beth had been the one to push him to such extremes. Of the two, she had the more dominant personality. Both of them had already been led away in handcuffs by the time Kalina trailed Fiona and the paramedics out to the parking lot. Just as the ambulance peeled away, lights flashing and sirens wailing anew, Chris’s car came screaming into the lot. He pulled to a stop across several parking spaces and her cheeks burned with color.
“Please tell me you are OK,” he said and grabbed her by the wrists.
“I’m fine.”
He frantically checked her over for signs of injury. His hand stopped on a few splatters of blood on her jacket. She hadn’t even noticed it there.
“Chris, it’s not mine, I swear. Bruce Hempstead cut off Fiona’s finger. She had her hand wrapped in a towel. It must have gotten on me when I took a look.”
“I told you to stay put and let the police handle this, Kal.”
“If I hadn’t then maybe they would have done worse than they did.” She didn’t mean to start yelling at him.
Chris tightened his grip on her wrist and pulled out of view of the other officers still on scene. As soon as they were alone, he let go. “I know you like to help and I can’t say that it hasn’t been invaluable but this was really dangerous. They could have gone after you.”
“But they didn’t. They didn’t even know I was there until the end. And by then Jimmy had already showed up. I helped that woman survive a trauma and I’m not going to apologize for it. Be angry at me if you have to. That’s fine. But I’m not going to say I’m sorry when it would be a lie.”
Chris exhaled a long, slow breath and scrubbed at his face with the heels of his hands. “The more you get involved the more I worry something is going to happen. And with the baby now… I can’t do my job if I’m constantly worrying about you. Do you understand that?”
“I do. Of course I understand, Chris. And I never meant to make you worry or put me ahead of the needs of the job. Look, I’m going to go back to the shop and let you finish up here. We can talk about it when we get home.”
She didn’t give him time to respond before she dug the car keys out of her coat pocket and headed for her car. The streets were empty as she made the short journey back to Geeks and Things. The shop felt almost lonely as she settled in behind the counter to do a cash count. She didn’t regret taking action to save Fiona. There was no way she could have sat by and let them hurt her further. She tried to understand what would motivate someone to start cutting off body parts of the people they loved but let the train of thought derail quickly. It was too disturbing to consider. She also couldn’t believe Beth was willing to throw away a career as a journalist just to get ahead in the business.