Vicious Valentine

by Patti Benning

  They fell silent, listening for any sound inside the apartment. The two women turned to look at each other when there was nothing but silence.

  “What should we do?” Caroline asked in a low voice.

  “I don’t know,” Hannah said. “Maybe we are wrong. Maybe she’s not here after all.”

  “Who else would have a motorbike parked outside of their apartment building in the middle of winter? Besides, where else would she go? The crime scene tape is gone, and she took all of her things out of your house. She has to be here.”

  “Even if she is, what can we do about it? I don’t really want to call the police on her just because we are worried. She wouldn’t thank us for that.”

  “She would if she was hurt and needed help. What if she tripped and hit her head or something?”

  “I think it’s a lot more likely she’s just ignoring us,” Hannah said with a sigh. “We might be able to see if one of her neighbors has a key, I suppose.”

  “Do you really think they would let us in even if they did?” Caroline said with a groan. “I don’t know what to do. And don’t forget, we lost track of Helena. What if she slipped out of the bar and made it here before us and is in there murdering my best friend?”

  “That’s not very likely,” Hannah said, trying to calm Caroline down.

  Frustrated, Caroline kicked the door. Surprisingly, that got them a reaction. They heard footsteps and then a moment later, the deadbolt turned.

  “Finally,” Caroline said, stepping forward as the door slowly opened. “Vanessa, what on earth were you thinking –” She broke off and Hannah leaned forward to see why.

  The face on the other side of the door wasn’t Vanessa’s at all. Shayne was the one peering back at them.

  Chapter Eleven

  “What are you doing here?” Caroline asked without an ounce of her usual politeness.

  “Whoa,” he said, stepping back and raising his hands. “It’s all right. I ran into Vanessa outside and she wasn’t feeling well so I helped her up here. We’ve gotten to know each other pretty well ever since I got hired. She stops in at Hawk’s Place a lot, you know?”

  “Well, where is she? We want to make sure she’s all right.”

  “She said she didn’t want to see you,” he said. “Sorry, I don’t know why. Just that you were fighting about something.”

  “We are not fighting,” Hannah said. She took a step toward the door, sticking her foot in the gap between the door and the doorframe. “We were helping her with something and she vanished out of nowhere. We’re worried about her.”

  “I promise you, she’s fine,” Shayne said. He tried to close the door, but hit Hannah’s foot instead.

  “Can you at least tell her we are here?” Caroline asked. “Tell her we just want to see her.”

  “Fine, I’ll see if she wants to talk to you.” He frowned at Hannah’s foot and stepped back reluctantly. Hannah pushed the door open and she and Caroline stepped into Vanessa’s apartment. It was the first time Hannah had seen it since Rory had been killed, and she was appalled at the mess. The furniture had been shoved over, and the knickknacks that were on the tables were scattered across the room.

  “Wait out here. She’s in her room. I’ll go ask her.”

  He disappeared down the hallway. Hannah shifted, feeling comfortable. A glance at Caroline told her that her friend was likely feeling much the same way.

  “Did he really get to know her that well over the past couple of days?” Caroline asked in a low voice.

  “No, I don’t think so,” Hannah said. “But I guess I don’t really know. I’m in the kitchen a lot of the time when I’m there.”

  “So am I.”

  “I don’t like any of this, Hannah –”

  Caroline broke off when Shayne came back into the room. His hands were in his pockets and he had an apologetic look in his face. “Sorry, she said she didn’t want to see either of you.”

  “Sorry, but I don’t think she really gets a choice in this. I’m just going to open the door and say hi.” Caroline said, her voice firm. She took half a step forward and Shayne moved as if he was going to block her. Hannah tensed, not sure what to do. All of the alarm bells in her head were ringing by now.

  Then a thump came from the back of the apartment. Shayne flinched, and Hannah and Caroline both hurried past him at the same time. Caroline reached the bedroom door first and flung it open. She stopped so suddenly that Hannah nearly ran into her. She peeked over her friend’s shoulder and saw Vanessa tied to the radiator on the far wall with zip ties. She was gagged and there was a shattered vase of roses on the floor next to her.

  “It’s not what you think,” Shayne said from behind them. Hannah spun around, shoving Caroline into the room as she backed through the doorway and managed to slam the door shut just as Shayne reached it. He pounded on the door, but Hannah leaned against it while Caroline ran over to Vanessa. She crouched beside her friend and removed the gag.

  “Are you okay?” Caroline asked.

  “Thank you,” Vanessa said, heaving in great gulps of air. She had tear streaks on her face. “He was going insane. I thought he was going to kill me. He’s behind all of this, Caroline. He killed Rory and he attacked Corbin, and he’s been stalking me for months. Corbin was never the one behind it.”

  Caroline began tugging at the wrist restraints, but even from this distance Hannah could see that they weren’t going to pull apart easily. “How did he even get you up here?”

  “The police said I could come back to my apartment today, and he was waiting in the hallway when I arrived. He said Hannah sent him, and I thought he had my food. I let him in. I was so stupid.”

  “Hurry,” Hannah said, trying to hold onto the doorknob as Shayne wrestled with it. “I don’t think I can hold this for very long.”

  “There is a pair of nail clippers in the drawer in the bedside table,” Vanessa said.

  Caroline jumped up and pulled open the door, bring the clippers over to begin working on the heavy plastic zip ties. It didn’t take long for her to free Vanessa. She stood up just as Hannah stumbled back from the door. Shayne had managed to somehow turn the knob and slam the door with his shoulder at the same time, and it nearly knocked her off her feet.

  “No!” he said when he saw Vanessa on her feet. “You don’t know what you’re doing. We’re meant to be together. You can’t take her away from me.”

  “You only met her a few days ago,” Hannah said, grabbing the first thing she could – a pillow from the bed – and throwing it at his face. “You’re insane.” Her phone buzzed with an incoming call, and for a crazy second she thought about throwing that at Shayne’s face too.

  “I’ve known her for a long time,” Shayne said, knocking the pillow away. “I first saw her at the bar almost six months ago. I tried to talk to her a few times, but I was always too nervous. I decided to get to know her first.”

  “Stalking someone isn’t getting to know them!” Vanessa shouted. “You stalked me for months. I thought I was going insane. I thought someone was going to murder me in my sleep.”

  “I’d never hurt you,” he said. “I would never do that.”

  “You already did,” she shouted back. “You tied me up. You threw a vase at me!”

  “I just needed you to listen,” Shayne said. He had such an open, panicked look on his face that Hannah forgot for a moment that he was dangerous.

  “You killed Rory,” Vanessa said, her voice dipping low. “Do you think that didn’t hurt me?”

  His face shut down. “I had to, didn’t I? I can’t stand the thought of him getting to spend time with you when I can’t. You’ll see, Vanessa, it was the right thing to do. I love you more than he ever could.”

  “You’re insane,” Caroline spat.

  “I’m not! All the things I did, I did for her.” He pointed at Vanessa almost accusingly. “When I found out that your ex came to the restaurant on Valentine’s Day and you had a run-in with him, I knew I had to hurt
him just like he hurt you. And after you found Rory, I had to make sure you were okay. I was just keeping watch on you. You were at that house all alone. Anything could’ve happened.”

  Hannah felt a chill go down her spine at those words.

  “Enough,” Vanessa barked. “We’re leaving.”

  “No,” he said. “Please, don’t. Just hear me out.”

  “I think we’ve all heard enough,” Hannah said. She took a step toward him, hoping that he would back away, but he reached into his pocket and pulled out a folding knife, which he flicked open without looking.

  “I really don’t agree, Ms. Cooper,” he said. “Vanessa just needs to hear me out. I’m not going to let anyone take her away from me again.”

  The phone in Hannah’s pocket buzzed again. Shayne’s eyes flicked toward the sound for a moment and she used that time to back up, standing with the two other women. They outnumbered him this way, though she had a bad feeling that might not matter much. He had already proven how dangerous he was with the knife, after all.

  “Vanessa, I just want you to listen to me,” he said, approaching slowly, one hand raised slightly as if trying to calm a frightened animal. “I love you, I really do. You have no idea how much. I would do anything for you.”

  “Put the knife down then,” Vanessa said, her voice shaking. “If you really care about me, then you won’t want to hurt me. You don’t want me to be scared of you, do you?”

  “No, of course not,” he said. Slowly, he put the knife on the bed, then took another couple of steps closer. “Do you mean it? Will you hear me out now?”

  For a moment, Hannah thought she heard the sound of a door opening somewhere else in the apartment, but before she could focus on the sound, Vanessa spoke up. “Yes, of course. But you have to promise me you won’t hurt my friends, okay? They’re my best friends. I don’t want to see either of them get hurt.”

  “As long as they don’t try to interfere, I won’t hurt them,” he said. Vanessa nodded and stepped forward.

  “No –” Hannah started to say, but broke off when she saw the bedroom door move. She recognized Ben’s outline and her eyes widened. Shayne was still facing them, with his back to the door.

  “It’s okay, Hannah,” Vanessa said loudly. She seemed to have spotted Ben too, and was trying to keep Shayne distracted. “I know he won’t hurt me.”

  Shayne’s face lit up with hope and he took another step closer to her, but she shook her head.

  “Backup,” she said. “I don’t think you’ll hurt me, but you might tie me up again. You already did that once, after all. Let’s keep a few feet between us. I know you don’t want to let the other two out of your sight, so you can just back toward the door. We can have a private discussion in the hallway.”

  He nodded, keeping his eyes on her. “I won’t tie you up again, now that I know you’re going to listen to me,” he said. “But we can do it your way.”

  He did as she asked, backing toward the door as Vanessa kept pace with him, speaking soothingly. She didn’t give the slightest sign that Ben was approaching carefully from the opposite direction until he made his move, lunging forward and wrapping an arm around Shayne’s neck. He kicked and struggled, but Ben was much stronger than him, his muscles honed by the hours spent working on cars. Hannah hurried forward to grab the knife, holding it in front of her with a shaking hand.

  “Stop struggling,” she said. “We outnumber you, and we’re armed and you’re not. Ben, can you hold him until the police get here?”

  Ben nodded, tightening his grip. “Don’t worry. He’s not going anywhere.”

  Epilogue

  “I think that takes the cake for the worst Valentine’s Day ever,” Vanessa said, kicking her feet up on the coffee table in Hannah’s living room. “My date got killed by my stalker, then two days later, my stalker kidnapped me. Oh, and don’t forget, he also landed my ex in the hospital.”

  “Your ex, who you mistakenly broke up with because you thought he was the one stalking you,” Caroline pointed out helpfully.

  Vanessa rolled her eyes. “Yes, thanks for the reminder. I really do owe him some apologies.”

  “Do you know what I just realized?” Hannah asked, leaning back against the couch. It was the first night they’d all been able to get together since the fiasco, and they had taken advantage of it by loading the table full of snacks and gossiping. “I never fired Shayne. I was going to do it as soon as the police showed up — I had a whole thing planned out in my head. It would have been a great way to get the last word in. But I completely forgot when they arrived.”

  “You did take him off the books, didn’t you?” Caroline asked.

  “Yeah, but I didn’t tell him. And normally, I’d assume that kidnapping your boss’s friend and threatening both of your bosses with a knife would make it obvious that you’re fired, but Shayne is delusional. What if he shows up here in five or ten years, or whenever he gets out, and tries to pick up a shift?”

  Caroline snorted, then started giggling, and soon even Vanessa started laughing.

  “You’ll have to write him in prison,” Vanessa said. “Just one letter. Two words. You’re fired.”

  “But then he might write me back,” Hannah said, shuddering. “I don’t want to have anything else to do with him. It’s bad enough that we even hired him in the first place. I’m really sorry about that, Vanessa.”

  “You had no way of knowing how off the rails he was,” Vanessa said. “Besides, the two of you came to rescue me in the end. You’re good friends. The best.”

  “We’re worriers,” Caroline said, taking the last cookie from the plate on the table. “That’s all. We worry too much to let you vanish like that without looking for you.”

  Vanessa smiled and swiped the cookie from her friend’s hand. “Like I said, you’re the best friends.”

  Also by Patti Benning

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