I didn’t know how long that would take, and I didn’t know how long I had. I wasn’t gagged, but that only made me feel that there was no reason for me to shout. I had to be in an area where I would not be heard.
I shouted a few times, but there was no cavalry coming over the hill to save me. I was alone in a room by myself. My arms were tied behind me, so I couldn’t check to see if Ruck had discovered my wire. Given that I was still dressed, I hoped that he’d left it intact. So I began to talk, telling the air and hopefully the rest of Danvers’ team that I was in a room that I didn’t recognize. I wasn’t sure how much help that would be since I couldn’t share much in the way of concrete information, but I was willing to try.
I described the walls and the floors and any equipment I could see from my vantage point. I kept at it until my voice started to become scratchy. I felt desperate and slightly silly. I didn’t even know if the wire was still attached. I could be spending my last few minutes describing the décor to myself.
Ruck appeared in my line of vision. He was holding a syringe in his hand, with the plunger pulled back and ready to use. I didn’t like the thought of that. He’d killed one woman with that contraption and tried to kill another. I knew that he probably had his knife on him, in case this didn’t work out.
He started his way to me, still smiling. “Don’t worry. This will be over one way or the other in a few minutes. You won’t feel any pain.”
I shouted again, cursing my sore throat. I went on shouting until he was a few feet from me. Then I stopped because I saw the door open. I’d never been so glad to see men with guns in all of my life. Danvers led the charge with Land, who was also carrying a gun, right behind him.
Ruck stopped as he saw the men in the room. He looked like someone caught in that game where you have to freeze in place. He didn’t move, and I wondered if he was trying to come up with a halfway decent excuse as to why I was tied up in a storage room at the studio with him carrying a syringe just as the murderer had done several days ago.
Danvers didn’t have that long. “Put down the syringe, Ruck, and come with us. You’re under arrest for two murders. You don’t want to add to the list of crimes.”
I thought about the implications of Danvers’ statement. Ruck had only committed the murders, which meant that it wasn’t a case of capital murder—yet. If he surrendered now, the police would have nothing else to charge him with except my kidnapping. I’d be willing to drop the charges to see him not be shot up like he was threatening to do to me. I just wanted this to end.
Ruck looked at the detective for a long time, and then he charged at the men with the syringe held high over his head—as if that would be a sufficient weapon against a group of men with guns.
It wasn’t.
His body danced as the bullets hit him repeatedly. The noise alone made me shut my eyes as if I could avoid what was going on around me. However, with my hands tied behind my back, there was no way to remove myself from the noise of the gunfire or the sound of his body hitting the floor.
When I opened my eyes, Land was in front of me, untying my legs. “Sorry it took so long. The sound went dead for a bit, and Danvers didn’t make the call to come in for a few minutes.” I could imagine what Land had said about that. He wasn’t known for holding his tongue.
“I fell backward and hit my head trying to get away from Ruck. He was a bit crazy there at the end.” Land moved around me to untie my hands. I waited patiently as he did. Someone had thrown a blanket over the body. I knew this wasn’t standard protocol for a crime scene, but I was grateful not to have to look at his body while we waited for the ME.
“Well, it’s all over now,” Land said finishing the last knot.
I sighed deeply, bordering on the start of a sob. “But there won’t be any prize and we won’t win anything. I had counted on the publicity.”
Land smiled at me. I wasn’t really in the mood for smiles at the moment. I was dirty, disheveled and had rope burns on my wrists and ankles. My voice was hoarse, and I thought I was going to cry. I wasn’t up for anyone being nice at the moment. “You’re going to get more publicity than you can handle.”
Of course, he was right. No sooner than I’d left the building with Land at my side, at least twenty video cameras were in my face.
~ End of Book 2 ~
NEXT FOOD TRUCK MYSTERY: Leftovers
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
MURDER IN THE SPOTLIGHT (Food Truck Mysteries Book 2) Page 15