Burn Out (15 page)

“
I’m going to head down to the
cafeteria and get some coffee. Need anything?”

Rachel looked down at her gown. “I
guess I’m going to need some clothes. I’m guess most of my stuff
was destroyed in the fire.”

“
Yeah, I talked with Stacy this
morning. She was able to catch an early flight and will be here
soon. She said she was bringing you some stuff.”

“
Thanks for everything. I’ll be
okay if you need to go.”

“
Ok. I’ll be back soon.”

Rachel let the nurse do her thing
while she thought about what her next move was going be. Someone
must think she was a threat. She wondered if Flores had gotten wind
of her poking around his rental properties. The afternoon before
the fire, she and Mike drove by all his rentals, but they didn’t
find anything that was out of place. Three of the four rentals had
tenants. The other one was vacant with a for rent sign in front.
Well, one thing is for sure, she thought. She wasn’t going to let
someone run her out of town. First thing first. Her things needed
to be replaced and she needed to find another place to
stay.

The door opening interrupted her
thoughts.

Jeff Stanton poked his head around
the corner.

“
How are you?”

“
Good. I think I’m going to be able
to leave today.”

The nurse took off her blood
pressure cuff and told her everything looked good. “The doctor will
be by shortly,” the nurse said as she walked out the
door.

Jeff pulled up a chair next to her
bed. “I wanted to come by and see you. I went to the beach house
earlier. Not a pretty sight.”

“
What do you think
happened?”

“
Possibly arson,” Jeff
said.

“
Really?”

“
I won’t know for sure until tests
come back, but I would guess gas accelerant. Plus, the tool marks
on the side door look familiar.”

Rachel’s face paled.

“
You’re lucky Mack drove by when he
did. Another couple of minutes…” He let the thought go
on.

Stacy walked into the room carrying
a cheerful balloon and flower bouquet. “Hey, girl.” She looked
tentatively at Rachel.

“
Hey, thanks.” Rachel sat up
straighter in bed.

Stacy looked over at Jeff. “Sorry
to interrupt.”

“
It’s okay. Looks like she needs
some cheering up.”

“
I brought a few things for you.”
Stacy held up a bag with her other hand. “Change of clothes, makeup
bag, toothbrush….and voila! Trashy magazines for your guilty
reading pleasure.” She put the copies of Life & Style, Star,
and OK! magazines on her nightstand.

“
You got a mirror in there?” Rachel
asked.

Stacy hesitated. “Are you
sure?”

“
Is it that bad?”

Stacy reached in the bag and pulled
out the makeup case. There was a small mirror on the flap. She
handed it to her.

The first thing she noticed was her
eyebrows were singed. Rachel ran her finger over what was left of
her right eyebrow. She also had several small cuts around her mouth
and forehead.

“
I guess it could be worse.” A tear
slid down her cheek.

Stacy walked over and gave her a
gentle hug. “Oh honey, it could have been a lot worse. You’re alive
and we will get you back to normal in no time.”

“
Anyone see anything?” Rachel
started to get angry.

“
No, unfortunately not. But trust
me when I tell you this…we will get this guy,” Jeff
said.

“
I know we will. Thanks for
stopping by.”

“
Call me when you get to feeling
better. We’ll get together with Chief Gladstone and come up with a
plan.” Jeff got up and left the room.

Stacy took his side by Rachel’s
bed.

“
Hey, I’m really sorry with the way
we left things. I shouldn’t have given you any heat about the
tip.”

“
I’m sorry, too. I wish I could
tell you everything Stacy. You are one of my dearest friends. You
know that.”

“
I promise not to get hotheaded
again. I know we have to draw the line between business and
friendship sometimes.”

“
If you would just know when to
keep your big mouth shut,” Rachel said.

“
I know sometimes it gets me in
trouble.” Stacy laughed. “Now let’s get you dressed and out of
here.”

Lake Juniper, Monday late
afternoon

Sam sat at the table staring at the
meal “the asshole” had fixed for her. The steak and potatoes had
grown cold, which was just as well because she had no
appetite.

“
What’s wrong? You need to keep up
your strength.”

“
I told you I’m not hungry. Being
kept locked in a dark cell does that to you.”

“
I said I was sorry. I couldn’t
help it. I had things to do.”

“
Why are you doing
this?”

“
To keep you safe.”

“
I was doing fine without your
help.” Sam poked at her salad. The lettuce was drowning in the
ranch dressing and the tomatoes were mushy.

“
No, not really. You have no idea
what was going on around you.” He smiled at her. “Did you know
Pedro Gonzalez had someone following you?”

“
What?” Her fork hit the plate with
a loud clang.

“
Yeah. One of Gonzalez’s goons was
hanging out around the fire station watching you. Following you on
calls. Biding his time.”

“
Is that what you called to talk to
me about the night of the fire?”

“
Yes. And to offer you a safe place
until I could handle the matter.”

Sam took a deep breath to control
her anger.

“
My welfare is none of your
concern. I can take care of things myself. Now, if we can quit this
whole charade, I need to get back to my girls. My life.”

“
I’m sorry. That is not an option
right now. It’s too dangerous for you to go back. Especially in
your delicate condition.”

Sam’s face went pale.
“What?”

“
Don’t play me. You know what I’m
talking about.”

Sam thought hard.
How in the world would he know about that? No one
knew.
She laid her hand protectively over
her stomach.

“
Look, I’m tired of your games and
I’m not playing along anymore.” Sam abruptly pushed away from the
table and stood up.

“
Sit back down. Now.” The asshole
had a crazy look on his face. She had seen the look only one other
time and it scared the crap out of her.

“
No. I’m ready to go. Either you
take me home or I’ll walk back.” She slammed her hand down hard on
the table. “Enough!”

His eyes met hers as he slowly
reached under the table and pulled out a gun. He pointed it at her
stomach and said in a quiet voice, almost whispering, “I said, sit
down. If you’re good, I will let you sleep in the cabin tonight. We
need to come up with a plan of action. We are going to Millers
Lake.”

Sam sat slowly back in the chair.
She would listen to what he had to say. Pretend to cooperate. Then
devise a plan to escape this craziness.

Santa Rosa Beach, Tuesday
morning

Mike had Rachel moved into the same
hotel where he was staying. It was one of those hotels designed as
an efficiency apartment. She had a kitchenette, separate bedroom
and bath, and a small living area which she set up as her office.
Stacy insisted on staying with her again, although she joked she
may have to up her health insurance policy. Rachel replaced her
wardrobe and her laptop, which was destroyed in the
fire.

When Janine and Red found out what
happened, they both offered to come up and stay with her. But she
insisted they stay in Miami. A few new cases had come in and it
made more sense for them to stay there.

She put on a pot of strong
coffee to brew and fired up her computer to update her website and
blog.
When Mallory went missing, Rachel spent her nights on
the computer visiting various missing persons’ websites. The fact
that Rachel found stunning was over 2,300 Americans were reported
missing every day. Of course, a lot of those cases are runaways,
family abductions, people with drug and alcohol problems, as well
as people with
psychiatric
problems.

But regardless of the reason why a person was
missing – family abduction, runaway, or kidnapped by unknown person
– the families go through the same range of emotions. The feeling
that Rachel knew so well – an empty pit in your stomach, the
sleepless nights of not knowing where your child is, the hurt in
your heart and the helplessness feelings.

It was an easy decision to dedicate her life’s
work to helping find missing people – especially
children.

One thing Rachel found true, publicity was
essential in the days just after a person goes missing. In addition
to assisting people in finding their loved ones, she maintained the
Florida Omni Search website so other people she couldn’t help could
download a tip sheet and a list of helpful resources.

Rachel logged in to the Florida Omni Search
website and was happy to see Janine had put up Samantha Collins’
picture and information on the front page of the site. Rachel wrote
a short update on the case and then turned her attention to
updating the blog. She was working on a three part piece about how
to travel safely in foreign countries, with a special emphasis on
teenagers who travel during spring break. She had a lot of
experience in that area when she took on the case of a missing
teenager who had disappeared while on a spring break cruise. She
reviewed her notes, opened up the word processing software…but the
words wouldn’t come to her. Her thoughts were jumbled and filled
with Sam Collins. She couldn’t focus and her hand still hurt where
she got burned.

A knock at the door brought welcomed relief.
Mike walked in with a bag of donuts and a cup of coffee. “What are
you working on?”

“
I was trying to finish an article
for my blog, but I just can’t focus. All I can think about is
Sam.”

“
Me too. It kept me up all night.”
He handed Rachel a chocolate donut. “Maybe some sugar will
help.”

She took a bite of the donut.
“Yummy.”

“
Are you feeling
better?”

“
Yes. My hand still hurts a little,
but the swelling on my ankle has gone down.”

“
Good. Just take it easy.” Mike sat
down and handed her a cup of coffee. “You know, I think we are
looking at this all wrong.”

“
What do you mean?”

“
We agree Sam was probably
kidnapped. She wouldn’t leave her kids. Right?”

“
Yes.”

“
So the question is not who, but
why would someone want to kidnap her?”

“
Revenge. The mafia wanted to send
a message to Ken.”

“
Then why hasn’t her body shown up?
I have looked into Mafia executions – specifically Richard Flores
gang – and all of them left the bodies were they could be found.
Immediately. He does not have a history of kidnapping. Just
killing.”

“
Ok. So that leaves…?

“
Why are most people
kidnapped?”

“
Sexual abuse,” Rachel said,
as she shuddered at the thought, but it was true. The most
troubling statistic is ninety percent of abductors are men and they
sexually assault their victims in over half of those cases. That
was one thing that kept her up at night.
Who had her daughter Mallory and what terrible things might
they be doing to her
?”

“
And money.”

“
Sam isn’t rich.”

“
No, but her husband was rumored to
have stashed some money. So, now who would benefit from it?” Mike
asked.

“
I imagine the mafia would want
their take.”

“
Anybody else?”

“
A lot of people may have known
about the money. Her best friend Tammie, but I don’t picture her
pulling off a kidnap plot. And there is Mack, her other best friend
and possible lover. But, he was with her the night she was
kidnapped.”

“
Keep going.”

“
And…Paul. He was a little creepy
when I met with him. He seemed to still harbor some resentment
toward Ken.”

“
Now we are getting
somewhere.”

Rachel’s cell phone buzzed on the table. “It’s
Stacy. I need to take this. She left this morning to meet with a
source.”

After a few minutes, she got off the
phone.

“
This case just took an interesting
turn.”

“
What?” Mike asked.

“
Sam was pregnant.”