Laurel Heights 3

by Lisa Worrall

Will watched him, amazed as with a couple of deft movements, the door to Noah’s apartment swung open. “Where the hell did you learn to do that?” he questioned as they stepped inside.

  “YouTube,” Kelly replied casually, as though breaking and entering was an everyday occurrence, and closed the door behind them. He reached out, flicked on the lights and looked around him. “Huh.”

  “Yeah,” Will echoed, his gaze taking the same path Kelly’s had. “Not big on furniture, is he?”

  The large room had a kitchenette in one corner, a desk in another and the bed was by the floor to ceiling windows. Beside the bed was a nightstand, upon which sat a lamp and a framed photograph. That was basically it. There wasn’t even a chest of drawers, just a portable rail with three suits, three shirts and three pairs of trousers hanging from it.

  “You check the desk,” Kelly said brusquely. “I’ll check the nightstand.”

  Will crossed the room to the desk and pulled open each drawer. Each one was empty. “What the fuck?” He would have loved to rifle through the papers on top of the desk, but that, too, was completely clear. Will turned his attention to the kitchen area, pulling open cupboards and drawers, looking for, well, any sign that someone actually lived here. He shook his head slowly when all he found was one cup, one plate, one knife and fork. “Jesus.”

  “Did you find something?” Kelly asked, walking toward him.

  “No, nothing.” Will scrubbed his hand through his hair. “There’s absolutely nothing here! How the fuck did this guy pass the psyche evals?” He glanced down at the picture frame in Kelly’s hand. “What’s that?”

  “It’s from the nightstand.” Kelly held it out to Will. “The drawer was empty, just this on the top.”

  Will took the frame and looked at it, recognizing the girl in the photograph immediately. “It’s Jenny Boul.” He tossed the frame onto the counter, not really caring if it broke or not, and strode to the window to look out on the lights of the city. He’d never felt so helpless in his entire life. They could be anywhere. He tried to swallow the breath that caught in his throat, but he couldn’t get it past the lump that had been sitting there since Jesse’s phone call. He opened his mouth and the breath fell from his lips on a sob. All hope that he hadn’t heard him disappeared with the weight of Kelly’s hand on his shoulder.

  “We’re gonna find them, Will,” Kelly said softly. “We’re gonna bring them home.”

  Bring them home. The words bounced around his skull. Bring them—

  “Shit!” Will dug into his pocket for his phone.

  “What?”

  “Matt.” Will quickly dialed the number and pressed the call button. “He must be going crazy.” It only rang once before it was answered.

  “Will? Have you found them?” Matt’s tone was frantic, bordering on hysterical.

  “Not yet,” Will replied, trying to keep his voice even. “But I know who took them.”

  “Who?”

  “Do you remember someone called Stevie Burrows? His parents owned the hardware store in Tivoli?” Will asked.

  “Of course,” Matt replied. “Stevie lived next door to Jenny. He was always hanging around. Shy kid, adored Jenny though… why?”

  “He has them.”

  “Stevie Burrows?” Matt sounded incredulous. “But that’s—”

  “It’s him, Matt, trust me.” Will sighed heavily. “We tracked their phones, but they’d been left in a trash can. We’re at his apartment now, but there’s nothing here.”

  “Both their phones were in a trash can?” Matt cursed. “So, you can’t find them through the GPS? What about Scott’s car? Doesn’t that have GPS on it?”

  “They took the minivan, Matt.”

  “Fuck!”

  “Matt—”

  “So, what’s nex—not now Jesse—what’s next?” Matt asked. “Jesse, what the—what?”

  Will could hear Matt talking with Jesse, but he couldn’t make out what they were saying. “Matt? Matt?” He all but screamed his name the third time. “Matt!”

  “Sorry, sorry, I’m here.”

  “What’s going on?” Will asked. “Is Jesse okay?”

  “Was there another phone in the trash can?”

  “No, why?” Kelly quirked an eyebrow and Will shook his head.

  “Ally took Jesse’s phone. I totally forgot.” The words tumbled together in Matt’s haste to get them out. “He missed his curfew two days ago and she took his phone. It’s in her purse.”

  “Text me the number.” Will’s heart leapt as his cell pinged the arrival of a text moments later. “Got it.” He closed his eyes, his gut tightening. “I’ll call you soon.”

  “What’s going on?” Kelly quizzed.

  “Jesse missed his curfew,” Will said, already heading for the door. “His phone is in Ally’s purse.”

  “Fuck, I love teenagers!”

  They sprinted from the apartment and back down to the car, ignoring the puzzled looks from the doorman as they ran past him. Inside Glenn’s car, Will turned on the radio and called dispatch. He reeled off the number to Maddy, who was still on shift, this time keeping the line open while he waited for her to come back to him.

  “I’ll call Glenn,” Kelly said, taking out his phone.

  “No!” Will plucked the phone out of Kelly’s hands.

  “What? Why?” Kelly stared at him, confused.

  “Because he’ll tell us to wait for back-up,” Will snapped.

  “And?”

  “And while we’re waiting for back-up, we could be too late!” Will shook his head. “I am not taking that chance.” The line crackled and Maddy’s voice echoed around them.

  “The phone is at an abandoned printshop in Corporate Park.” She gave them the address and Will thanked her as calmly as he could before disconnecting the call.

  “Let’s go,” he urged, slapping the dashboard with the palm of his hand. Will frowned in consternation at Kelly. “What are you waiting for?”

  “I think we should call Glenn,” Kelly replied, his fingers curled around the steering wheel.

  “Fine,” Will snapped. “But do it outside.”

  “What?”

  “Get out.” Will shuffled across the seat toward Kelly, urging him closer to the door. “We’re running out of time. They’re running out of time. So, if you’re not gonna drive, get out.”

  Kelly glared at him, the tendons in his neck standing stark against his skin as he clenched his teeth. It was only moments before he spoke, but to Will it felt like a lifetime. A lifetime he didn’t have to spare. “Put your fucking seatbelt on.” Will slid back across the seat to the passenger side and Kelly started the engine. As he checked his mirrors, he shot Will another angry glare and pointed the car east. “I should break your face for that.”

  “I know,” Will said softly.

  “I still might.”

  “When they’re safe,” Will replied. “I’ll let you.”

  Kelly eased the car to a stop half-a-block away from the address Maddy had given them and turned off the engine. Will gazed out of the windshield at the dark, imposing building at the end of the street. The lightless windows were like giant eyes looking over their domain, and he shuddered involuntarily. All it needed was Freddie Krueger and it would be the perfect setting for a horror movie. A cold hand closed around his heart as the realization hit him that this was where Jack and Rachael lost their lives. Scott.

  “I can’t see any lights from the front,” Kelly said, following Will’s gaze.

  “He’d probably take them around back where it’s not overlooked.”

  “How do you want to play this?” Kelly quirked an eyebrow.

  “It depends on what we find when we get inside,” Will replied. “Let’s play it by ear.” He climbed out of the car and closed the door to, bumping his hip against it to secure it. The last thing he wanted was to announce their arrival with a slamming door. Will frowned as Kelly got out of the car, closed his door in much the same manner as Will, then loped aroun
d the car to open the trunk. “What are you doing?” He rolled his eyes as Kelly took two Kevlar vests out of the trunk and held one out to him. “Seriously?”

  “Yes, seriously,” Kelly hissed. “If you won’t let me call for back-up, you will wear a vest.”

  Will shrugged into the vest and fastened it, grumbling at more precious seconds wasted, then took his gun out of its holster. “Ready?”

  Kelly curled his fingers around the grip of his own gun, and he nodded. “Let’s go.”

  Will and Kelly moved quickly toward the building, keeping to the shadows and out of the dim glow of the odd streetlight dotted here and there. As they drew nearer, Will could see that the front entrance to the building was chained and padlocked. He motioned to Kelly to go around the front and Will made his way down the side of the building and around the back.

  Overgrown bushes and greenery scratched at his face as he turned the corner and he brushed them aside, ignoring the sting of the branches. When he broke through the foliage, he found himself in a parking lot and he could see, by the light of the moon, how the concrete was cracked and uneven, long overtaken by weeds. It was obvious it had been many years since it had seen a car.

  The back entrance was up a small flight of stairs to his right, and he approached it carefully, his gun held high. It too, was chained and padlocked. His heart sank. Did they have the wrong place? What if he was too—? Kelly hissed low in his throat to attract Will’s attention and beckoned to him from the opposite corner of the building.

  Will carefully picked his way over the uneven ground and, as he got closer, he realized Kelly was lit by more than the moon. Where’s that light coming from? His eyes widened when he saw the ramp that led under the building, and the light emanating from within. With Kelly slowly making his way down the left side of the ramp and Will down the right, they stepped into what appeared to be a smaller parking area for what Will would assume were the more senior members of staff. Except the only car parked there now was Ally’s. His heart leapt into his mouth and he had to bite his lip to stop himself from crying out loud. They were here. But it wasn’t over yet.

  Will waved his gun at the stairs, indicating for Kelly to follow him, and climbed them slowly, not knowing what was beyond the door at the top. He pressed his ear to the wood, but couldn’t discern any viable noises, so he curled his fingers around the handle and turned it. The door creaked open and he froze, waiting for the sound of running footsteps but, when there were none, he shot Kelly a pointed look and stepped inside, Kelly close behind him.

  Will’s practiced gaze took in his surroundings in a glance. He crossed the room to the adjoining door and looked out into a long corridor to the right, with doors off it on either side. His heart pounded as he and Kelly walked stealthily along in single file against the wall, straining to hear the slightest sound. It was as they turned left at the end of the first corridor and into the second shorter one that Will heard Ally cry.

  “Stop, Stevie, please stop!”

  Will nodded to Kelly and they moved as one to where the corridor turned right. He peered around the edge of the wall. The door to the room at the end stood open, and he could see Ally tied to a chair and, beside her, was Scott. Rage, white hot flowed through him, followed by a pain so acute he could hardly breathe. Scott’s face was a bloody, swollen mask above his blood-stained shirt his—Thank God—rising and falling blood-stained shirt—he’s alive! Every inch of him wanted to run screaming into that room and grab him, but all that was going to do was get Scott killed. A black-clothed figure crossed the open doorway and, recognizing Noah immediately, he swiftly stepped back out of sight. He turned to Kelly and pressed his finger to his lips.

  Kelly frowned at him and mouthed, “Can I call back-up now!”

  Will shook his head vehemently. He could be in the room in three strides and take Noah down before he even realized they were there. Kelly could call for back-up when Noah was handcuffed, and Scott and Ally were safe. He indicated to Kelly with a series of hand motions and nods of his head that he was going in. As predicted, Kelly made a few choice gestures of his own and, after a moment’s insistent glaring and some mimed threats of physical violence from Will, he finally nodded. Taking a deep breath, Will looked around the corner, fully intending to pad quietly down the corridor ninja style, honest—until Noah stepped back into view and the light glinted off the hypodermic in his hand.

  With a yell loud enough to wake the dead, Will hurled himself down the corridor, dropping his gun like an amateur and Kelly’s, “Aw, crap!” echoing in his ears. Everything from then on seemed to happen in slow motion. Noah turned, wide-eyed with astonishment, seconds before Will launched himself into his mid-section and they fell to the floor in a heap of tangled limbs. His breath was knocked out of him by Noah’s elbow to his solar plexus, but he managed to grab onto Noah’s ankle as he tried to crawl after the syringe that had slid across the room when Will hit him. Will’s head snapped back when Noah kicked out and his boot connected with Will’s mouth. He grimaced as the taste of blood exploded on his tongue. Noah scrambled to his feet, but Will quickly followed suit and grabbed his arm, spinning him around. When his fist connected with Noah’s nose, Will grunted at the satisfying thud of flesh on flesh and the crunch of breaking bone. Noah’s hands immediately went to his face and Will took the opportunity to sucker punch him in the gut. The blow forced Noah to double over and he dropped to his knees, blood pouring through his fingers. Will stared down at him and it took a split-second for him to decide Noah was done, and even less to decide he didn’t give a shit. He drew back his arm and, this time, Noah collapsed, unconscious.

  Will rushed across to where Kelly had freed Ally and was in the process of doing the same to Scott, who groaned with every tug of the rope. “Scott,” he said softly, pulling at the knot holding Scott’s left wrist to the arm of the chair. “I gotcha, baby. I gotcha.” He glanced at Ally. “You okay?”

  She nodded. “Yeah, he did—”

  “Get down!” Kelly’s yell, combined with his hand pushing on Will’s head, forced him to the floor just as a gunshot echoed around the small room.

  Will turned to see Noah on the floor, a single gunshot to his forehead, a gun beside his hand. He let go of the breath he wasn’t even aware he’d been holding, and his gaze found Kelly’s. “You couldn’t have done that while he was beating the crap out of me?”

  Kelly shrugged and continued to untie Scott’s ankle. “You were doing alright.” Scott cried out as he unwound the rope and Kelly winced. “Sorry, buddy.”

  Will freed Scott’s wrist and other ankle then, between them, they lifted Scott out of the chair and lowered him to the floor. He nodded to Kelly as he held Scott across his lap. “You can make that call, now.”

  “Thank fuck for that,” Kelly mumbled, pulling his phone out of his pocket.

  Will looked down at Scott and gently stroked his hair back from his eyes, which slowly flickered open. “Hey,” Will said, blinking against the sting of the tears.

  “Al…?” Scott’s voice was barely audible.

  “She’s fine,” Will soothed. “She’s right here.” He held his hand out to Ally, who sank to the floor beside them.

  “Scott,” Ally said softly, curling her fingers around Scott’s. “It’s okay. I’m okay.”

  Scott’s lips twitched, which was about all Will surmised his broken flesh could manage. He attempted to lift his hand, but it dropped wearily to his side, so Will picked it up and pressed kisses to his knuckles.

  “You’re gonna be fine.” Will smiled down at him. “Good as new.”

  “Che…st,” Scott stumbled over the word. “Can’t….”

  Will opened Scott’s shirt and gasped at the bruising on Scott’s skin. Son-of-a-bitch! His gaze caught Kelly’s and knew what he saw there was mirrored in his own. Fear. “It’s okay, baby.” Will hoped he sounded a lot more reassuring than he felt. “They’re on their way.”

  “Tired….” The word was slurred, and Scott’s eyes be
gan to close.

  “Scott!” Will all but yelled his name. No, no, no! “Stay awake, baby. You gotta stay awake.”

  “Love….” Scott’s head lolled against Will’s chest and he went limp in his arms.

  Will shook him, repeating his name over and over as the sound of approaching sirens echoed in his ears.

  Epilogue

  Two months later

  “Maybe I should’ve gone with the burgundy. Is the purple too…?”

  “Too what?”

  “I don’t know, purple?”

  Will shook his head as he straightened Todd’s bow tie. “It goes with your eyes.”

  “My eyes?” Todd turned around to squint at himself in the mirror. “My eyes aren’t purple.”

  “They will be if you touch that tie again.”

  “Really?” Todd quirked an eyebrow. “Threatening me on my wedding day?”

  “Why should you have all the fun?” Will smirked at Todd’s eye roll. “You look amazing.” He brushed his hands across the shoulders of Todd’s pale gray suit. “And the purple is perfect.” Todd’s smile was so bright, Will had to resist the urge to shield his eyes from the glare.

  “I’m so glad you’re here,” Todd said, cupping Will’s face between his hands. “I mean, I would have totally understood if you hadn’t come. I’d have hated it, but I would have understood.”

  “Please,” Will scoffed, grabbing Todd’s hands and gripping them tightly. “As if I would have missed this. The release of the doves alone will be worth sitting in front of that five-year-old seat-kicker on the flight from hell.” He ignored Todd’s wince at the mention of the doves.

  “I’m serious.” Todd’s worried gaze searched Will’s face. “There’s been so much going on since you got here, we haven’t had a chance to actually sit down and talk. How are you, really?”

  “I don’t want to talk about me,” Will said, with a dismissive wave of his hand as he checked the flower in the lapel of his matching gray suit. “Today is all about you and Marcus.” He sighed heavily under the weight of Todd’s pointed glare. “I’m… I’m getting there.”