“Here it is, here’s the number.” She compares the number on her screen to the phone records in her hand. “That number belongs to a Katie Jackson.”
“Pretty common name. Doesn’t help us out much.” Brown rubs his elbow and leans back in his chair.
“Actually it does, first of all we have a name and a phone number, if she’s purchased a house we should be able to find the deed.” She scrolls through the public portion of the woman’s Facebook page. “She also doesn’t have much set to private, and she looks like she came from money so I would bet…” She trails off as she flips through some of the woman’s photos.
“Bet what?” Brown asks, obviously slightly astounded at his partner’s use of a social media platform during a case.
“That she’s got a cute car. Most girls who have cute cars take a picture of them. Which she did. And here it is.” She spins her screen so Brown can see the photo.
It’s a young, attractive blonde woman standing in front of a bright red Mustang convertible. Brown nods, and pulls up the application to access DMV records.
“Any idea what year?” he asks as he fills out the other portions of the form.
“Eh, I’m not a car person but she posted the picture in 2018 so I’m guessing it would be an 18 or a 19. Let me Google it and see which one looks closer.” She turns the computer back her way and begins to type. She stares at the screen, narrowing her eyes in concentration for a moment. “I think it’s an 18.” She turns the screen his way, flipping back and forth from the Facebook picture to the ones she Googled. Brown nods in agreement.
He types the car make, model and year into the computer then presses send. It always takes a few minutes for this stuff to come back. After a minute, it pops up a result.
“Looks like her. And I have an address.”
Grady stands and grabs her jacket. “Type it into the GPS. Let’s go.”
Brown squints at the numbers in the upper right of his computer screen. “It’s past nine, shouldn’t we wait until tomorrow?”
“No way. First of all, who even goes to bed at nine, and second of all if she did, I’m sure she wouldn’t mind being woken up to find out her friend is missing. I’m sure she’d be concerned.”
Brown grabs his coat and follows suit, although he’s still apprehensive. “But what if they aren’t really friends anymore? After all, the calls and texts stopped about a month ago.”
Grady shrugs as they walk towards her vehicle. “Sometimes people just get busy. But we are going to find out either way.” They slide into the car and Grady starts the ignition and backs out as Brown pulls up the address in his phone.
“Turn left onto Swanson Street,” he tells her as she tears out of the parking garage. “You don’t have to drive so fast.” He quickly buckles his seatbelt.
“Yes I do,” she retorts. “Someone pointed out it’s already past nine and I would like to get there before ten. Because showing up after ten would just be way too late.” She flashes Brown a sarcastic smile and laughs. He rolls his eyes.
RAYNA
NOW
She isn’t sure how long she’s been in the dark cellar, but it feels like forever. She’s tried calling out for help, but gave up pretty quickly as she’s sure absolutely no one can hear her all the way down here. Especially in a subdivision like this, where the houses are far apart.
So this is what being kidnapped feels like, Rayna thinks sarcastically. She never imagined she would be in this position, and as she sits there leaning against the wall and cradling her broken arm, she can only imagine her sister sitting in this exact same position somewhere.
She thinks of her parents and is filled with guilt. Now they’re going to lose her as well. She tries thinking positive, but every time she shifts her weight and pain shoots through her arm, the negativity returns. She’s definitely going to die down here.
Maybe she deserves it. After all, she’s been a pretty crappy person to almost everyone around her these past few months. Especially her twin sister. Remi has been there for her through thick and thin. And when things got tough with Zeki, Rayna pulled her typical move and bailed. Just like she’s been doing her entire life.
After a few more minutes down that thought path, Rayna rolls her eyes and forces herself to her feet. A pity party isn’t going to get her out of here. She already explored the edges of the room earlier, so now she figures it’s time to explore the middle. It doesn’t seem like a big room, but there could be something there to help her.
She slides her foot slowly across the floor in front of her in the same manner as she did before. She starts at the edge, then turns when she reaches a wall. She giggles a little, imagining how dumb this would look to anyone looking on. As she starts her third row, her foot touches something. She immediately draws it back. She takes a deep breath and inches her toe forward. It encounters something again!
Rayna knows reaching down to see what the object is will be impossible with her arm. She’ll have to sit and find a way to rest her broken arm in her lap so she can inspect the object.
She eases herself down on the floor slowly, crossing her legs to sit cross-legged, but leaving one knee higher than the other. She lets her bad arm rest on her knee, then she reaches her good arm out and feels across the floor.
The object moves slightly when she touches it. It’s smooth, and obviously lightweight if just a touch can dislodge it. She reaches out again and sets her hand on top.
It’s cylindrical, and plastic. She feels its shape as best she can and comes to the conclusion it’s probably an empty water bottle.
She uses her teeth to unscrew the cap and lifts the bottle to her mouth. Yep. Empty. She sets the bottle back down and transfers her bad arm so she can stand to continue her search.
Soon she encounters the other wall. That’s it. The room only holds one empty plastic water bottle.
But who was drinking water down here? she wonders to herself. Who else did Katie kidnap?
But even as she wonders, she already knows the answer.
Remi.
DETECTIVE GRADY
NOW
They pull up outside the large house on the nice side of town in no time at all, thanks to Grady’s driving.
“Nice house for a single woman,” Brown remarks as they pull into the driveway.
“Rude of you to assume she’s single,” she counters.
“I mean, there wasn’t a man in her Facebook profile picture so I, uh…” Brown quickly tries to correct his statement, realizing it came out rude. “Why do you think she’s taken?” He tries to distract her from his faux pas.
Grady motions to the two cars in the driveway parked in front of theirs as she steps out. “Two cars, and a two car garage. I mean maybe the garage is full of crap, but somehow I doubt it and I think there’s probably at least three cars on this property. And women aren’t usually the car lovers if you know what I mean.” They walk up the stone path to the door.
“Aren’t you the one who just corrected me for assuming?” Brown snaps back as he reaches up and rings the doorbell.
“Touche,” she replies as they hear the sound of the doorbell echo throughout the house. “No dog,” she comments.
“Strange in this day and age.”
“Strange for this city,” she replies under her breath as the door creaks open.
The young blonde woman from the Facebook profile picture stares back at them. She’s less done up than her picture, but still obviously wearing makeup and dressed very nicely in a cocktail dress.
“Yes, can I help you?” she asks, looking them up and down apprehensively.
They both pull out their badges simultaneously, having done house calls like this a hundred times. Grady does the talking. “Katie Jackson?”
She nods in acknowledgment.
“We are detectives Brown and Grady. We would like to ask you a few questions if that’s okay?”
Katie bites her lip and glances over her shoulder nervously. As if on cue, a male voice calls
out, “honey, is everything okay?”
“Yeah, everything’s fine!” she calls back, then steps out onto the porch, leaving the door open about a foot behind her. “Can we make this quick? I just finished making dinner and I would like to eat it while it’s hot.”
Grady raises an eyebrow at her partner in an “I told you so” way. He nods and turns to Katie. “Sure thing. We are actually here looking for your friend Rayna.”
“Rayna?” Her voice raises an octave. “We aren’t friends,” she says quickly.
Brown makes eye contact with Grady, who continues, “she said she talks to you sometimes, is that not true?”
Katie rolls her eyes. “Okay we were friends for like a minute, then we went to a party together, then she stopped talking to me. But that’s it. We were more of acquaintances than anything.”
Grady nods. “I understand. So you haven’t seen her recently?”
She shakes her head. “Not since I took her to that party about a month ago.”
“Sure, and can we get the address for where the party was at? And maybe some of the names of people who were there?” Grady pulls out her iPad, prepared to take some notes.
Katie’s eyes narrow. “Why?”
“We are just trying to locate Rayna, that’s all.” Brown plasters a fake smile on his face as he says it.
“Is she in trouble?” Katie is obviously trying to distract them in order to get off the subject of the party in question.
Grady knows how girls work, and she knows this girl isn’t an idiot, so she decides to tell a little white lie. “Sort of. I can’t really discuss it with you, but I really need to talk to her.”
“I see.” Katie’s eyes shift from Brown to Grady, then she quickly rattles off an address. “I’m not sure who all was there, but my friend Roger was there. I pretty much just hung out with him and Rayna the whole time.”
“And can we get a phone number for this Roger, please?” Grady presses.
As if he heard them talking, a young man appears in the doorway, pulling it fully open. Brown looks at the man, then looks over at Grady with his eyebrows raised.
“And you are?” she asks, assuming her partner must recognize the man or something.
“Mark Jackson, Katie’s husband. What’s going on here, babe?” He steps out onto the porch, putting his arm around his wife’s waist, leaving the door fully open behind him.
“Nothing, they’re just looking for Rayna,” she replies to her husband. He laughs.
“Something funny?” Brown asks, his voice more stern than before.
“You should try finding her on sexyangeles.com. I think they call her Leila.” He grins widely like a Cheshire cat.
Grady and Brown once again make eye contact and Grady flips her iPad closed. “So neither of you have seen her, in person, in the last month.”
They both shake their heads no.
“Well if you do, here’s my card.” She pulls a card out from her pocket and hands it to Katie. “Give me a call at that number please.”
“Will do,” Mark replies, stepping back into the house, his wife at his heels.
The officers turn and head for their car, hearing the front door of the house click closed behind them.
Once they’re in the car, Grady turns to her partner to ask why all the weird looks, but he already has his phone pressed to his ear.
“This is Detective Brown, I need backup.” He rattles off the address and continues, “we’re going in, exigent circumstances, believe someone is being held against her will.”
Grady begins to back out of the driveway, not wanting to continue sitting there in case the couple is watching. She drives down the street at a crawling pace. Brown finishes the backup call and hangs up the phone.
She opens her mouth to ask what’s going on, but he starts explaining before she even has the chance to say a syllable.
“I saw Rayna’s shoes. In the entryway. They’ve got her. I know they do.”
“Are you sure?” Grady asks nervously.
“Positive. Those are her shoes.”
“Maybe they have the same pair? Girls do that kind of thing,” Grady speculates, not nearly as sure as her partner.
“They’re hers. I saw them on her feet this morning when we were talking. The toe on the left one was frayed. Same as the one I saw sitting in their entry way.”
“Shit,” Grady mutters. “Well if they do have her we might have just spooked them.”
“Park the car and let’s head back on foot. I’m not letting them out of our sight.”
Grady nods and pulls over, parking the car and double checking to make sure her gun is loaded. She locks the car and slides the keys in her pocket. They’re only about two blocks from the house and begin to walk back at a brisk pace.
“You better be right about this.” Grady pulls out her weapon as they approach the driveway.
“I know I am. You stay up here, I’ll go around back,” he whispers as he heads for the backyard, disappearing into the cover of darkness.
RAYNA
NOW
She must’ve fallen asleep, because she’s suddenly awoken as the room floods with light. It takes her a few minutes to blink as she’s blinded from being in the dark for so long.
Once she’s able to see, she can make out the profile of Katie standing in front of her. A pillow in one hand. A gun in the other.
“Katie,” Rayna says hesitantly. She starts trying to get to her feet.
“Don’t. Move,” Katie hisses back.
Rayna freezes, trying to discreetly adjust her injured arm, which is not happy at being jostled. “What’s wrong, Katie?” Rayna tries to keep her voice smooth and calm, but it breaks at the end, betraying her.
“You. You ruined my life.” The gun shakes in Katie’s hand and a single tear slides down her cheek.
“I-I don’t understand,” Rayna stutters.
“It all started after that goddamn dinner. You’re the reason my husband is cheating on me.”
Rayna is taken aback. She thinks Rayna is seeing Mark? “I’m not, Katie, I promise.”
“Shut up! Just shut up!” she shouts, jamming the gun into Rayna’s cheek. Rayna winces as the barrel makes contact with her teeth. “I know you are! I saw your pictures in his phone! I saw your texts! I told him to stop and he won’t!” She closes her eyes for a second and when she reopens them, Rayna can see they’re filled with pure hate. “He won’t stop until you’re dead.”
“Wait—” Rayna starts but is interrupted by the sound of a gunshot. She falls back, a heavy weight on her chest. Pain sears through her. This is it. This is the end, she thinks.
Suddenly the weight is lifted off of her and the outline of a man blocks the light.
“Is this heaven?” she asks, slightly confused.
The figure laughs and comes closer to her. “If it is, we’re all in trouble.”
Rayna relaxes as his features come into shape. It’s Detective Brown. She smiles slightly. “I was wondering why my arm still hurt in heaven.” She looks around and notices the body of Katie off to the side. Brown is checking her pulse. “What happened?” She’s still confused as to how she heard a gunshot and isn’t dead.
“Still breathing!” Brown calls over his shoulder as another figure descends the ladder.
“I called for a bus. I have the husband handcuffed to the stair banister. Backup is also on the way,” Grady replies as she surveys the scene and approaches Rayna.
“I shot her just as she was about to shoot you,” Brown says in a quiet voice, answering Rayna’s question. Grady kneels down in front of Katie, taking off her jacket to stop the bleeding in Katie’s lower torso.
“Are you okay?” she asks, looking Rayna up and down.
Rayna nods. “Yeah, but my arm or shoulder, or both, are broken I think.”
Brown looks at the way she’s cradling her arm. “Can you climb the ladder?” he asks.
“I doubt it.” She laughs at the irony of the situation.
�
��Hello?” someone calls out from somewhere above their heads.
“Down in the cellar!” Grady calls back as two faces appear in the trap door and quickly make their way down the ladder. Rayna assumes by the way they’re dressed that they’re EMTs.
One of the men takes one look around the scene and calls back up, “we’re gonna need a backboard!” He then approaches Katie, pulling bandages and gauze from his bag. The other approaches Rayna. More EMTs and cops descend the ladder. The room is small and filling up fast. An EMT begins inspecting Rayna’s arm and she cries out in pain.
“Definitely broken. We will need to take you to the hospital for x-rays. Let me see if we can get a sheet set up to pull you outta here.” The EMT starts talking to another one that’s just arrived.
Brown must sense her unease. “Grady?” He looks at his partner, who’s securing Katie’s gun and placing it in a Ziploc bag.
“I’ll stay with her, you take Rayna up.” A small smile plays on her lips.
Brown looks at the EMT. “I can climb the bottom few steps with her with one hand if you have a couple guys up top to grab her from me?”
The EMT nods, pulling a sling out of his bag and slipping it over her shoulder so she won’t have to keep holding her arm. Then he motions to another EMT and they head up the ladder. Brown reaches down and slides one hand under her legs. “Now you need to hold on to my neck with your good arm, okay?”
“Yes, sir,” Rayna replies, with a smile despite everything that has happened, as she feels his chest against her side.
He moves her and climbs the ladder with ease, stopping at the fifth step where the two EMTs are able to reach in and grab her out. There are two backboards on the floor outside the trap door.
The nearest EMT smiles at her. “I’m James,” he says cheerfully. “I’d ask you to shake my hand but,” he points at her right hand and Rayna feels a smile coming to her lips again. “Anyways, we need to take you up the stairs. Can you walk or do we need to carry you?”
“I can walk,” Rayna answers and James helps her to her feet.
Before Now Page 21