Hazardous Duty (16 page)

There had to be another way to use my
cell phone.

Think, Gabby. Think.

Using my leg, I pushed against the
phone, trying to nudge it from its clip. My thigh rubbed it. I had to turn my
legs, get the phone closer to my knee.

I twisted. Finally the phone snapped off
and skidded against the carpet.

Now I had to figure out how to pick it
up.

I turned over and arched my back. My
fingers scrambled over the carpet, searching for the plastic.

There it was!

I grasped the phone and felt until I hit
a button. A soft, mellow light filled the car.

Straining my neck, I looked behind me.
Carefully, I dialed 911 and pressed send. Placing the phone on the floor, I
turned and scooted as far down as I could, in order to speak into the phone.

I vaguely made out a “9-1-1, what’s your
emergency?” “My name is Gabby St. Claire, and I’m trapped inside a car on

The dispatcher said something I couldn’t
make out.

“Please, I don’t know how much more time
I have!” I said.

I inched my way up and turned. My
fingers fumbled over the phone. I hit end and attempted to dial Riley’s number.
There was no answer. Using the last of my energy, I tried Sierra.

Sierra’s loud voice echoed through the
trunk.

“Sierra, it’s Gabby.”

“Gabby? Where are you? We’ve been
worried sick.”

“I just called 911. I’m stuck in a
garage in Norfolk.
The car’s running. I don’t know how long I’ve been here.”

Riley’s voice came on the line. “Where
are you?”

I gave him the address.

“We’re on our way, Gabby. You hang in,
understand?”

“I’m doing my best.”

“No, I need you to tell me you’re going
to hang in. Say that for me.”

Could I hang in? I had to. No other option
existed. “I’m going to hang in. But, I’m getting so tired.”

“We’re in the car now. It will only take
ten minutes for us to get there. You can make it ten minutes.”

I licked my lips again, wishing it
didn’t hurt so much to swallow. “Okay. Ten minutes.”

I closed my eyes. Was this the same fear
my brother felt when the kidnappers stuffed him into the trunk and drove away?
A sob choked me. Poor Timmy. I imagined him calling out for mom, his voice
trembling like it always did when he became frightened. A six-year-old should
never have to go through that.

The ache in my chest intensified until
tears pushed to the surface.

“I’m sorry, Timmy. It’s all my fault.”

Just what had those men done with my
brother?

My eyelids felt weighed down. My mind
became fuzzy, as if I’d taken a strong cold medicine.

The third time’s a charm was my last
thought before I drifted into sleep.

gh

I could see Timmy gliding through the
air on the huge metal swing set, pumping his legs back and forth like he wanted
to reach the sky. Red and yellow leaves rained down around him from the
winter-ready trees. His laughter echoed across the playground, though I was the
only one there to hear it.

I started toward him. My breath came out
in icy clouds as I walked. I rubbed my cold hands together, enjoying the
briskness of autumn.

Mom wanted to have a family meeting,
though I didn’t know why. She’d asked me to come get Timmy. As I approached, he
continued flying through the air, the metal chains of the swing set creaking
with each movement.

I started to yell my brother’s name, but
my voice disappeared.

“Gabby!”

No, I had to get Timmy. I couldn’t
listen to whomever called me. I had to get my brother and go home.

I was close enough now to see my
brother’s freckles, his missing front tooth. I’d missed seeing that
six-year-old face.

“Gabby! Can you hear me?”

Someone shook me. I was no longer cold.
In fact, I felt sticky. My hair clung to my neck. Grime coated my face.

“Timmy,” I whispered.

“Gabby, it’s me. Riley. Can you hear
me?”

I looked back at the swing, but Timmy no
longer played there. An empty swing undulated.

“No!” My voice echoed through the empty
playground. Everything spun around me, a blur of autumn leaves and metal
fences.

Someone shook me again. Heat blanketed
me. My eyes pulled open. Riley.

My heart slowed.

Then everything went black again.

Chapter Twenty

I woke up in the emergency
room. A glance at the clock told me it was a few minutes past midnight. After
doctors ran a series of tests on me, Detective Adams came in, and I recounted
everything that happened. He grunted and nodded, while jotting notes on a pad
of paper.

“Did you get a good look at the man? I
know you said it was dark, but anything will help,” he said.

I shook my head. “I wish I could offer
something, but I have no idea. It all happened so fast.”

“I don’t need to tell you to be careful,
do I?”

The seriousness of the situation weighed
heavily on my chest. “No, I figured that out all on my own.”

“You still think this has something to
do with the Cunningham case?”

“I have no doubt.”

He nodded and stared at the pad in his
hands. “I’ll get working, then. Your friends have agreed not to let you out of
their sight until someone is arrested for this.”

Riley and Sierra. I smiled, feeling
fortunate to have friends like them. “Could you send them in?”

He clicked his pen against the paper and
stuffed the items into his blazer pocket. “Of course. I’ll be in touch.”

A moment later Sierra peeked her head in
the room. She tiptoed to my bed. I laughed at her antics.

“What are you doing?”

She shrugged. “I feel like I should be
careful.”

“Walking like that won’t ensure safety.”

“I was just going with the moment.”
Sierra’s eyes turned serious beneath her glasses. “You really gave us a good
scare, Gabby.”

“Believe me, I really had a good scare.
I didn’t think I was going to make it out of this one.” The last few minutes of
being in the car raced through my mind. I shuddered. I could have died. I would
have if my friends hadn’t gotten there when they did.

“You didn’t tell me you and Riley had a
thing going,” Sierra said, mock indignation on her face.

“That’s because we don’t.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Could have
fooled me.”

“What do you mean?”

“You should have seen him when you were
late for your date. He came down to my apartment and couldn’t stay still. Then
after you called?” She snorted. “He was hopeless after that. Almost killed us
twice driving to the garage.”

I smiled, but it slowly faded. “We’re
just friends. Really.”

She raised a shoulder in a half-shrug.
“Whatever you say. Listen, I don’t want to cut our time short, but he’s pacing
outside. The nurse said only one visitor at a time.”

She disappeared out the door, and Riley
appeared. He approached my bed and looked at me with a strange emotion in his
eyes. For a moment, my cheeks warmed. Was what Sierra said correct? Did Riley
really have feelings for me?

His hands emerged from behind his back,
and he pulled out a bouquet of daisies. “For you.”

My heart fluttered. “You didn’t need to
do this. Saving my life was more than enough. I should be bringing you
flowers.”

He smiled. “I wanted to.”

Before the conversation could go any
further, the door swung open and Detective Parker stormed in. He disregarded
Riley and positioned himself by my bed.

I scowled and rested the flowers over my
chest. I glanced at them. Switch them to calla lilies and I was doing a good
imitation of a laid out corpse. Not liking the image, I dropped the flowers to
my side.

“Detective,” I acknowledged.

“I heard what happened.”

“And came to gloat?”

“No, I came to see if you were okay.”

I forced a smile. “I’m fine. The third
time wasn’t a charm, what do you know?”

He frowned. “That wasn’t how I meant
it.”

I stared at him, biting my tongue
against a few insults. If the detective had listened to me from the start, I
wouldn’t be in this mess now. But no-o-o, he refused to believe anyone other
than William Newsome or Harold were guilty.

“I’m Riley Thomas.”

I diverted my eyes to Riley, thankful
for the distraction. Riley held out his hand to the detective who hesitantly
shook it.

“Chip Parker.” He glanced back at me.
“I’m going to be working with the Norfolk
police to figure how who’s behind these attempts on your life.”

“That’s kind of you.” I knew I should be
nicer, but all I had was sarcasm. I wanted to say, “Welcome to the party,
Einstein.”

“I mean it, Gabby.” Something in his
gaze told me he was sincere, though I didn’t want to believe it. “I don’t like
this anymore than you. Is there anything else you can tell me about your
attacker?”

I decided today was a Dr. Jeckyl day.
Mr. Hyde would be along soon enough, so I decided to cooperate. I went through
all the details I could remember. My head hurt and I just wanted to go home.

Parker snapped his notebook shut. “That
should be a good start.” He leaned forward and lowered his voice. “Look, I know
we got off to a bad start. But I really am working on this case, trying to
figure it all out. You hang in, okay?”

I nodded, unsure of his sincerity. At
least he was making an effort.

Parker straightened and nodded toward
Riley. “Take care of her, would you? I’m doing everything I can to resolve this
case. In the meantime, someone needs to keep an eye on her.”

“Got it.” Riley’s gaze followed the
detective out before falling on me. “He’s a piece of work, huh?”

“I can think of other ways to put, but
yes, he is.”

Riley grinned. “So, did they tell you
when can you go home?”

“They want to keep me overnight, just to
make sure there’s no long-term damage. I told them I’m fine, but they keep
insisting on these tests.” I offered a weak smile.

“I’m glad you’re okay.”

My voice turned serious. “Me too.”

Sierra stuck her head in the room.
“They’re saying we have to go now, that Gabby needs her rest.”

Riley looked at me. “I’ll be here in the
morning to pick you up, okay?”

“Sounds great.”

With one more glance, he followed Sierra
out the door. My gaze remained on them until they disappeared. I had two of the
best friends in the world.

Grimly, I pulled the daisies corpse-like
onto my chest again.

Unfortunately, I also had one of the
world’s worst enemies.

Chapter Twenty-One

“Why do people think this is
fun?” I asked, a prisoner to my couch, with Riley as warden. My sentence: a one
thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle that Riley found in my junk closet.

An old college roommate had given me the
puzzle several years ago as her way of saying thanks for finding out who copied
her term paper and sold it to college students across the country. I knew the
only person capable of hacking into her hard drive was computer nerd Jeff
Gates. I’d tracked him down in an off-campus arcade and creamed him at Mario
Brothers until his ego was so low, he had no choice but to confess.

Puzzle pieces scattered across my coffee
table and the edges finally began to take shape. Riley insisted this was the
only mystery I needed to worry about solving today.

“I need to call Mildred and find out how
Harold’s doing.” I started to stand, but Riley prodded me back onto the couch.

“I talked to him today.”

“And?”

“He’s anxious to come home.”

“When can he? Did they set bail?”

“They did set bail, but the case is
going to the Grand Jury soon. We’ll find out then if he’ll being formally
indicted.” Riley set a mug of coffee on the end table. “I have to figure out
how those items got into the trunk of Harold’s car.”

“Cunningham.”

I connected a corner piece with a long
row of edge pieces. A strip of red formed. This was one of those mystery
puzzles that contained no picture for a guide, only a riddle and colorful
pieces that the makers insisted formed a scene. At the moment, I just knew it
was a conspiracy and there really wasn’t any mystery picture, only a mangled
blob we’d never figure out. I could see the game executives laughing deviously
from their high rise offices.

“How would Cunningham get Harold’s
keys?” Riley added a piece to the row.

“He picked the lock?”

“Not a skill your average senatorial
candidate possesses. I don’t see it.”

I sighed and tapped a puzzle piece with yellow
flowers against the couch. “There has to be some explanation. Maybe Harold left
his keys on the table and someone borrowed them while he was working.”

“It’s a possibility.” Riley shoved
pieces around with his index finger, sorting and matching colors.

“What’s the possibility it was
Cunningham who tried to kill me last night?” I turned toward Riley, watching
his expression closely.

“Not possible. He was giving a press
conference at the same time of your attack.”

“Convenient.” I shuffled pieces around.
It had been years since I’d even attempted to figure out a jigsaw puzzle, not
since the days of Barbie dolls, Cabbage Patch Kids, and make believe crime
scenes. “Is Cunningham still running for office?”

“Yep, and, with all of this extra media
attention, he’ll probably win. People feel for him.”

I straightened. “Maybe that’s why he
killed his wife. To get the attention, the sympathy of voters.”

“There are simpler ways to gain
sympathy, other than this plan that could totally backfire.” He shifted to face
me. “Why would he kill his wife?”