by Rose Pressey
“You have to take me to the vase,” she said.
I shook my head.
“Don’t shake your head at me. You’ll do as I say,” Kendra snapped.
“Why did you bring me here?” I asked.
She rolled her eyes. “If you must know it’s because I thought the vase was in that cabinet.”
The cabinet Ellen Smart had left Mrs. Glass?
“But you knew he sent me the vase.”
“Let me finish.”
I nodded. “Please do so.”
The cabinet was the reason why I came in the first place. Mrs. Glass said the cabinet was locked. So I set out to find the key. Apparently, the key had been in that stupid wooden box. The one had the antique shop. So I had the key and then realized the vase was no longer in the cabinet. What a waste of time.”
“That still doesn’t tell me why we’re here now,” I said.
“I forgot my purse here. I had to come back for it so that the police couldn’t put me here when they finally discover Mrs. Glass missing.”
“You left your purse here? You’re kind of bad at this criminal stuff.”
“Oh, shut up,” she snapped.
I had to warn Sidney. I couldn’t surprise her with a crazed killer. It seemed like an unlikely thing to happen, though, considering my hands were tied. Just then a noise sounded.
She paused. “What was that?”
How the heck was I supposed to know? She looked at me as if I had somehow made the noise.
“Maybe it’s the police,” I said with smugness in my voice.
“Don’t move.” She warned with a point of the knife.
I scoffed. “As if.”
How could I go somewhere when she had me tied to the chair? Kendra stepped out of the room, going to the front door. I supposed to look for the source of the noise. I looked around the room to see if there was anything that would help me get out of there. Sadly, there was nothing. I was in the middle of the room with no access to a sharp object that I could use to cut myself free. Perhaps I could scoot somewhere but I didn’t see any knives handy. Only the one that she’d been carrying, which she had taken with her.
At the side of the room pressed up against the wall was a buffet table with an old landline telephone on top. I wondered if that thing worked? Did it matter though? I was so far away that I wouldn’t be able to use it. Maybe, just maybe, though, I could scoot over close to it. How would I dial for help?
The sound of the door opening and footsteps let me know that Kendra had stepped outside. I tried my best to scoot. At first, the chair didn’t budge, but then when I moved my legs a bit more, I managed to move the chair. If Kendra came in and caught me doing this, though, she’d likely kill me right on the spot. However, she still needed to get the vase and the conjuring book, and she couldn’t do it without me. She would never get them without me.
At least that was what I told myself as I scooted across the room toward that phone, I didn’t know how was even going to use it once I got over there. I had to act fast though since I had no idea what she was doing out there or how long should we be gone. Likely it would only be seconds. With my heart hammering in my chest, I had reached the phone.
I moved my head down and knocked the receiver off the base. Lucky for me the old phone wasn’t one that I had to dial rotary style. It had buttons. I would have never managed that. Somehow, I had to push the buttons now. At least there were only three numbers… 911.
I leaned close to the phone and attempted to push the button with my nose. How ridiculous I must look. Oh well. I didn’t care because this was a life or death situation. I missed the button. My heart thumped harder. I looked toward the door. So far there was no sign of Kendra. I had to try again. I leaned my face down again. With my nose, I pushed the first number. It made a tone, so I knew it had worked. One down and two to go. One was farther away than the nine though. I wasn’t sure I could reach it.
Before I had a chance to dial the second number a noise sounded, and I peeked toward the front door. Kendra was coming back. Oh my gosh. What was I going to do now? I was way over here. How would I get back in time?
Frantically, I started scooting back across the floor. My heart beat wildly. I might just faint right there on the spot. She wouldn’t even have to kill me. She’d come back to find me dead in the chair. If I kept working, though, soon I’d be back to the exact spot where she’d left me. Luckily, the path to the front door was a long one and it took her a few seconds. She was almost at the door. I scooted back over in the same spot.
When I glanced over, the phone was still off the receiver. Surely, she would notice that. I tried to act calm as if nothing had happened. She walked through the door and stared at me suspiciously like she knew I had been up to something.
“Did you find the noise?” I asked, trying to sound innocent.
“Are you messing with me?” she asked.
“How could I mess with you? I’m in the same spot where you left me.”
She raised an eyebrow and looked around the room. I tried not to look over at the phone because I didn’t want to direct her attention to it. I held my breath waiting for her to see it.
“All right, we’re going to the museum,” she said.
Oh no. I hadn’t gotten a chance to warn Sidney. I didn’t want to show up with the killer at the museum. I just had to take the chance and hope that she wasn’t there.
“After that, we’ll go get the book.”
“Oh, fun. A road trip,” I said.
She smirked. “You’re so funny, not.”
“Come on, you know it was funny,” I said.
Kendra walked over and untied my hands from the chair but then immediately tied them back together so that I couldn’t use them. I’d thought about trying to clobber her over the head and get that knife away from her, but now my hands were tied again.
“Get going,” she said, shoving me to walk.
“You don’t have to push,” I said.
I really didn’t like her. I headed toward the door, but another noise sounded. Maybe I was mistaken but it sounded as if someone had knocked on the front door. Maybe someone was here to save me. That couldn’t the case because no one knew I was here. Was it Mrs. Glass?
“What is going on around here,” she said.
“What a shame that someone is interrupting your crime spree.”
“Keep moving.” She poked me in the back.
At least she hadn’t used the knife.
Chapter 25
She hadn’t gagged me again. I guess she assumed I was going to behave. She shouldn’t assume that though because the first chance I got I would do something. Anything to try to get away from her. Since I could speak, I was going to use this opportunity to ask about Brannon and Porter. I just knew she had something to do with their disappearance. It made me sick to think that she had done something to them.
“Where are Brannon and Porter? What have you done with them?” I asked.
“Who?” she asked.
“My boyfriend the detective. He works for the Devil’s Moon Police Department in case you didn’t know. Porter is the demonologist.”
“Oh, right, those two,” she said. “Don’t you worry about them.”
“Well, I am kind of worried about them considering one is my boyfriend and the other is a dear friend.”
“They’re fine,” she said.
“Where are they?” I asked.
“I can’t tell you that, now can I?”
“Yet you want me to give you the vase and the conjuring book? Maybe I should demand that I get Brannon and Porter for those two things.”
“I really don’t think you’re in the position to demand anything, am I right?”
“I could just say forget it and let you kill me. Then you wouldn’t get the book at all.”
“You would do that for them?” she asked.
“Absolutely,” I said.
“We’ll see about that when push comes to shove.”
; “Yes, I suppose we will,” I said.
I wasn’t going to let her win in this mind game. She wasn’t nearly as clever as she thought she was. But for right now I would go along until I could figure out where she’d taken Brannon and Porter. There had to be a way to get out of this situation and save them. I wouldn’t take no for an answer.
I blinked to adjust my eyes to the bright sunshine as we stepped outside. She guided me over to the car and opened the door. She shoved me inside.
“You don’t have to be rude,” I said. “Although that ship has already sailed, hasn’t it?”
I believed there was no way for her not to be rude. It just wasn’t her style.
“Get in and be quiet. We’re going for a ride,” she said.
“I really don’t want to go anywhere with you,” I snapped.
“You don’t have a choice in the matter, now do you?”
No, I suppose I didn’t. Not yet at least. But my mind was turning with ideas and I just prayed that I came up with something before it was too late. Kendra walked around to the front of the car headed toward the driver’s side. I frantically looked inside the car to see if there was anything I could use as a weapon. Or maybe get my hands on to untie my wrists. Not that I would have time because she was at the door now. Perhaps for future use in case she got out again. I checked the gas gauge wondering if maybe she was almost on empty. I needed any opportunity I could get to get myself out of here.
“Where are we going?” I asked as if I didn’t know the answer to that question already.
She started the car, glaring at me. And to my surprise, she answered in a somewhat polite manner.
“I told you I’m taking you to the museum.”
“I thought maybe we would have another stop somewhere,” I said.
“Where to? Shopping?” She laughed.
Now I was dragging Sidney into this and she had no idea what was in store for her. I just hoped that I would get lucky and she wouldn’t be there. The museum was closed at this time of night.
Frantically, I tried to think of some way to get away from this crazy woman. We sat at a red light. A man was behind the wheel of the black car next to us. I glanced over at him. He looked at me and I started making signals with my face, mouthing ‘help me, help me.’ He looked confused and he mouthed ‘What?’ I kept mouthing the words over and over. Why couldn’t he read my lips, for heaven sakes? It was two words. It wasn’t that difficult.
“Are you trying to signal for help?” she snapped. “Stop that.”
The light turned red and she bunched the gas. It didn’t matter anyway because the man had never figured out what I was trying to tell him. He was clueless. There was no telling what he thought I was saying. Maybe he thought I was flirting with him.
“Don’t try that nonsense again,” she said.
How was she going to stop me? Unless she covered my face or stuffed me in the trunk again. I hoped she didn’t think of doing that again. I was just glad she hadn’t put me there this time.
“Now if you don’t behave, I’ll have to do something drastic. You don’t want that to happen, do you?” she asked.
I shook my head.
“Are you going to behave?”
“Yes, I’ll behave,” I said begrudgingly.
If I got the chance, I’d try to signal for help all over again. I hadn’t regretted what I’d done. Not one bit.
Unfortunately, she made an extra effort not to pull up beside any cars at red lights and stayed well behind anyone. So, I never got the chance to signal again. And even worse, we had arrived at the museum now. She pulled up in front of the place. I noticed right away that the sign on the door was turned to Closed.
“What time is it?” I asked.
“What difference does it make?” she snapped.
“You’re so tense. Don’t you ever think about your blood pressure?” I asked.
She glared at me. “It’s ten-fifteen.”
“Oh, unfortunately, my employee went home since the museum is closed. The door’s locked and I don’t have the key with me.”
“What do you mean you don’t have the key?” she asked with clear agitation in her voice.
“I didn’t know I was coming here. It was an unexpected visit, remember?”
“Well, you’re just going to have to call her and tell her to come here right now.”
That was the last thing I wanted to do. It looked as if there would be no way around it though.
She pulled out her phone. “What’s the number?”
Without thinking, I gave her the number. The correct number. I could have even given her a wrong number or just told her I didn’t remember it. That was a dumb mistake. I hated it when I made dumb mistakes, but I suppose I was only human. I couldn’t think of everything. Plus, I was a little stressed right now. She held the phone up to my ear. After a few rings, Sidney answered. I wasn’t sure to be thankful or sad about that. Sidney was falling into this spider web.
“Hi, Rip, is everything all right?” Sidney asked.
She wasn’t used to getting calls from me at this hour.
“Actually, I’m at the museum and I forgot my key. I was wondering if it would be too much to ask if you could come back over?”
She was probably thinking about how rude it was of me to ask and interrupt her time away from the museum. If I ever got the chance, I would certainly apologize, but I was worried I would never get that chance. I wanted to say sorry for bringing her into this mess.
“Sure, it’s no problem. I was just getting something to eat. I can get it to go and come right back over.”
“I really appreciate that and I’m sorry,” I said.
Thank goodness I at least had a chance to apologize. Now I wanted the opportunity to explain.
“No problem,” Sidney said.
Kendra motioned for me to hurry up and end the call.
“I’ll see you soon,” I said.
“Yes, I’ll be there soon.”
I wished there was some kind of signal I could give her over the phone, but there was no way. Kendra watched me like a hawk. She pulled the phone away as I said goodbye.
“How long will it be before she gets here?” she snapped.
“I’m not sure. I didn’t ask where she was, but she’s on her way. She shouldn’t take long. She probably didn’t go far since she lives close by.”
“Good,” she said. “In the meantime, we’ll go up and see if there’s any way we can get inside.”
“What do you mean? You can’t wait for her to get here?”
“No, I most certainly cannot wait for her to get her.” She mocked me. “Stay put. I’ll be right over there to get you out again.”
Where did she think I was going? I couldn’t open the door. She certainly wasn’t the brightest bulb in the chandelier. I watched as she walked around the front of the car and came over to the door and opened it.
“Out,” she said.
I moved my legs out and then pushed to my feet. Would anyone around notice that I was tied up and she was guiding me to the museum? That had to look strange.
“Hurry it up,” she said.
I knew she was worried someone would see me.
“How do you think we’re going to get in? The door is locked. I can’t kick it down.”
“Surely some of the windows are open,” she said as she shoved me.
Chapter 26
We moved over to one of the front windows lining the brick Federal style house. Scrubs impeded access a bit and I had to shove my way through so that I was standing in front of the window.
“Okay, now open up the window.” She gestured.
“My hands are tied. Not to mention the window is locked. How can I open the window? I’m not magic. You don’t want to break it, do you? I mean, these are original windows. Not to mention I don’t have anything to break it.”
She looked around as if she was searching for something to break the window. Again, why had I mentioned breaking the window? Anoth
er questionable decision on my part. Luckily, there was nothing around that would break glass.
“Well, step away and I’ll see if maybe it’s open,” she said. “Don’t try anything.”
I seriously contemplated attempting to fight her for the knife when she placed it on the windowsill. Who was I kidding though? My hands were tied.
She shoved on the window, but nothing happened.
“See, I told you it’s locked,” I said.
“I’ll try this one.” She pointed to the next window over.
I rolled my eyes as she moved over. Again, nothing budged. I hoped she wasn’t going to try every single window. Because there were quite a few and I knew they were all locked.
“She should be here soon. If you’ll just be patient,” I said.
“I’m not a patient person,” she snapped as she picked up the knife again.
“I can see that,” I said. “Especially by the way you stalked me.”
“I wasn’t stalking you. You’re being dramatic.” She punctuated the sentence with a point of the knife.
“Well, you were coming to all the places I was,” I added as I stared at the shiny blade.
Even though she had that weapon, I knew now was the time for me to ask.
“You killed Josh?”
She rolled her eyes.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” I said.
Kendra shrugged. “I had to kill him. I had to have the vase and the book. He wouldn’t give it to me.”
“Why do you have to have them?” I asked.
She narrowed her eyes. “That’s none of your business.”
“I think it’s my business,” I said.
“You think a lot of things are your business. Guess what? They're not,” she said. “Now be quiet.”
The roar of an engine caught our attention. Sidney had arrived. On one hand, I was happy about this, but on the other, I was sad. I didn’t want Sidney to be involved with Kendra. She was erratic and at any moment things could turn violent. When Kendra spotted Sidney’s silver sports car pull up, she hid behind the nearby shrubbery.
“What are you doing?” I asked.