by Jen Talty
“No. I’m fine. Thank you, Josh.”
“You, ma’am? Can I get you anything?” the driver asked.
Annabel shook her head. “No, thanks.” She watched the driver wearing a dark suit meander across the lot in the direction of the manager’s office. She half expected him to sport a chauffeur’s hat. “Doesn’t it bother you to have someone with you all the time?”
“He’s only here when I do this. Otherwise, I’m on my own. This is the only thing I have caved to with my husband,” Tara said. “He had no idea what kind of strong, independent woman he fell in love with until it was too late. He almost hopes we don’t have a girl because he’s afraid I’ll indoctrinate her with my feminist viewpoint and make her a real handful.” Tara patted her stomach. “You have to meet my husband. He really is a lovely man. Kind, sweet, romantic as all hell.” She smiled as wide as the state of Texas. “I just let him win this one battle.”
Annabel wanted to be that happy. She wanted to love so unconditionally that she could accept their imperfections, even as she ‘managed’ them.
And Ethan made her insides flutter like the dance of a thousand butterflies.
“You sound like you have an amazing relationship. How long have you been together?”
“Well, I met him when I was eighteen. I worked in his office, but we didn’t start dating until I was twenty and from there, it went right quick,” Tara said.
A noise from the other building caught Annabel’s attention. Trouble raced off in a full sprint toward a unit where the door rattled open.
“That’s his,” Tara leaned in and whispered.
Annabel’s heart jumped to her throat in one beat.
“Trouble,” she called. “Come back here!”
But the cat paid no heed as he raced past Peter Sulkie and ducked into the storage unit.
“My cat!” she raced toward the man who had his hand on the door, ready to pull it down and lock it up. “Wait, my cat is in there!”
From behind her, she could hear Tara’s tennis shoes hitting the pavement. She glanced over her shoulder, waving her friend off, but Tara just shook her head and kept on running.
Peter pulled the door shut.
“Hey. Mister!” Annabel skidded to a stop a few feet from him.
He turned and glared at her. “What do you want, Annabel?”
She swallowed at the sound of her name. “My cat just went in your unit. Can you please open it and let him out?” Annabel pressed her hands on her knees, her lungs desperate for oxygen. It wasn’t so much the short sprint that had her winded but rather the knowledge that she stood before the man who had purposely tried to crash her car.
“I didn’t see any cat,” Peter said, waving her off. “Surely, you’re mistaken.”
“No, really, her cat just made it in at the last second. He’s kind of slick that way,” Tara said as she made her way next to Annabel, not quite as out of breath.
“I didn’t see anything, and I need to go.” He put the lock through the hole. “I’ve got appointments this evening that I can’t miss.”
“Please. Just check for me,” Annabel pleaded. Besides wanting to keep Peter occupied until Ethan could get there, she wanted Trouble safe. When he’d slipped under the crashing door, she’d been terrified it would slam on the cat’s tail.
“All right.” Peter took the lock off. “You two can look inside for the cat.”
Annabel immediately stuck her head inside. “Trouble? Come on, lets…” Something smacked the side of her shoulder, and she catapulted forward. She crash-landed on the floor, her knees throbbing as they made contact with the cement.
She groaned.
“No. Stop. Leave me alone,” Tara yelled with a shaky voice.
A rattle echoed in the metal space. Trouble meowed and hissed.
Then darkness filled the space as the door slammed shut.
“Tara?” Annabel whispered.
“Right here.”
“Do you have your phone?” Annabel asked as she found her legs and stood upright, knowing her phone was in her purse back at Tara’s unit.
“No,” Tara said, her voice filled with anxiety.
“Trouble? Are you in here?”
A defining silence filled the moist, humid air.
“Tara, talk to me so I can find you?”
“I’m right here.” Tara touched Annabel’s shoulder.
As her vision adjusted to the darkness, she saw the whites of Tara’s eyes.
“It’s going to be okay. Ethan is on the way, and he’ll get us out.”
Trouble would make sure of it.
I barely escape the storage door as it smashes against the concrete. Peter puts his foot on the handle while he takes the lock and loops it through the hole.
I leap in the air, but Peter is quicker than I had anticipated as he slaps me away. I hit the ground, skidding across the pavement. Gritting my teeth, I keep from hissing as the pebbles scratch at my skin.
Well, that didn’t go quite as planned, but I can work with it. I’m good at thinking on my paws and what Annabel and her friend need now is for me to go bonkers.
It’s undignified and beneath me, but it’s not the first time I’ve had to resort to such trickery.
I’m sure it won’t be the last.
I know the girls must be terrified. If I had thought I could do something to save us all from inside, I would have stayed with Annabel and her friend.
But inside the unit, I’m of no service to them at all.
I spring toward Peter for the second time. I scream and wail as I dig my claws into his clothing, hoping I reach the skin. By the way he howls, I’ve achieved my goal. I keep hissing and attacking as he tries to pry me off his legs, kicking at me.
I don’t see the driver. He could be of help if he either heard or saw the commotion. Either way, I will keep Peter here as long as I have to.
I bite down on his thigh, but unfortunately, he manages to get a tight enough grip on me, to rip me from his body and toss me a few feet away.
I think a claw is bleeding, but that won’t stop me.
I lunge forward, getting between Peter and his car. He pauses for a moment and laughs.
He’s obviously never wrangled with an intelligent feline before, much less a master detective skilled in all tactical forms.
Peter moves to the right. I move with him. My eyes narrow into menacing slits. My hair is puffed out, but not because of fear. I growl like a cheetah might before going for the kill. Unfortunately for Peter, he doesn’t take me seriously. Poor man. He has no idea who he’s dealing with.
“Scat,” he says.
What an impotent word in the face of my skill and determination.
He pulls open the driver’s side door, and I take the opportunity to attack his forearm, digging claws and teeth into his flesh.
Peter flings his arm left and right, but I have such a good hold on him, he can’t shake me.
That is until he slams me up against the vehicle. I hiss in pain as I wiggle my body, so I do indeed land on my feet. No way will I let him get away. Not until I know Annabel and her friend are out of harm’s way.
I pitch forward once again, this time clawing at his chest with frantic motions as if I’m rabid and on fast forward times five. I do a few maneuvers that I’ve seen and practiced before, making sure he can’t catch me, all the while keeping him from making a mad dash to his vehicle.
I’m almost bored by my actions. This man isn’t as smart as he thinks he is and he won’t get away with trapping my human.
“Damned cat,” Peter swats at me like a fly, only I’m faster, stronger, and a hell of a lot smarter. “Get out of here before I kill you.”
If he could decipher my language, he’d hear me laughing.
I hear squealing tires off to my left. I spy Ethan’s patrol car make haste into the parking lot, stopping just inches behind Peter.
“Officer, get this cat off me,” Peter wailed.
I pierce his flesh one more time th
en take off toward where Annabel and her friend are trapped.
Ethan will follow.
“What’s going on here?” Ethan asked as his gaze combed the area. His personal vehicle was parked behind a limo, but Annabel was nowhere to be found.
Nor was her friend.
Peter stood in front of him with ripped clothes and a few bloody patches.
“That cat came out of nowhere and attacked me. God, it probably has rabies.” Peter was edging toward his car as he spoke. “I think you should shoot it.”
“We’ll call in animal control.” Not. Nothing wrong with that cat, but Ethan needed to assess the situation before doing anything.
Ethan glanced at Palmetto’s patrol car as it rolled to a stop next to his, grateful for the backup.
“Well, good.” Peter reached for the driver’s door.
Trouble raised up on hind legs, scratching at a storage unit, hissing like he was in pain.
“Mr. Sulkie, is that your storage unit?” Ethan asked as he did a second scan.
Still no Annabel.
“Why?” Peter asked wide-eyed.
“I’d like you to open it,” Ethan said calmly, even though his heart raced. Annabel wouldn’t hide out like this, knowing all she did about the case. No, she’d be up close and personal.
And Trouble wouldn’t be going crazy on a metal door.
“Listen, I’ve got to go. I’m already late for an appointment.” Peter inched toward the door of his car.
“Sir, I need you to back away from the vehicle.” Ethan rested his palm on the butt of his weapon. “And I need you to open that door.”
“I won’t do that. I know my rights. You need a search warrant,” Peter said with as much indignation as he could muster. The muscles on his face tightened.
“Actually, I don’t need a warrant. There’s a little thing called probable cause. Now, we can do this the easy way, or the hard way.” Ethan cocked his head as Palmetto flanked on the other side.
“I’d go the easy way, if I were you,” Palmetto said.
“Well, I’m not going anywhere near that cat,” Peter said, folding his arms tight across his chest. “Why haven’t you shot it, or called someone to destroy it?”
“I won’t be asking again,” Ethan said, inching closer. “If you don’t open the door now, we will open it for you.”
“This is police harassment. What the hell did I do?”
“We can start with how you ran someone off the road,” Palmetto said, tapping his hand against the hood. “And then there is a little thing called kidnapping.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
A man wearing a black suit that might be seen as a maître d waltzed out of the office building, glancing once over his shoulder before making a beeline to the limo.
“I’ll take care of him,” Palmetto said, his boots kicking up the broken pavement as he chased down what Ethan believed to be the driver for Tara Rivers.
“Let’s go.” Ethan took Peter by the forearm.
He jerked.
“Don’t make me cuff you,” Ethan said. He wanted to add yet but would prefer a clean arrest once they had him for more than a hit-and-run. He yanked at Peter’s wrist. The photographer shoved Ethan and turned to scramble through the open door of his car.
Stupid.
Ethan caught his balance. “Stop, or you force me to shoot, and I don’t want to do that.” Ethan held his weapon at the ready while he moved to stand in the open door. “Mr. Sulkie, get out of that car.”
Peter reached for the ignition button.
Ethan let out a long breath and fired one round, popping the front tire. He fired a second shot, puncturing the rear.
Peter jumped, raising his hands.
Out of the corner of Ethan’s eye, he saw Palmetto jogging in his direction. “Get the key.”
Ethan pulled Peter from the car, made him lean spread-eagled against the hood, and patted him down.
“I’m going to have your badge for this,” Peter growled.
“That’s what they all say.” Ethan took the keys, while Palmetto cuffed Peter.
“Hey. What the hell are the charges?”
“For starters, resisting arrest. But let’s see what we find in that storage unit.” Ethan raced across the parking lot, and Trouble danced in front of the door, making a horrible noise.
“Don’t move,” Annabel whispered, blinking wildly, hoping her eyes would adjust to the darker-than-night cramped space. She found Tara’s hand, carefully moving closer until she felt Tara’s moist breath on her heat-prickled skin.
“Do you hear that?” Tara asked.
The sound of something sharp grating across the metal door screeched like fingernails on a chalkboard.
“That’s Trouble.” She sucked in a deep breath, trying to calm her heartbeat. “I think I hear voices—”
Bang!
Both girls screamed, hugging each other closer.
Bang!
“That can’t be good,” Tara said.
“Let’s hope that was Ethan saving the day.” Annabel swallowed. Hard. She didn’t know what was worse, being locked in this unit, not knowing what was happening, or being out there with gunfire. She shivered. “We need something to defend ourselves with.” She carefully felt around with her free arm.
“That is so not reassuring,” Tara said with a long breath.
“Just in case.” Annabel patted down a box, flipping it open, tentatively reaching inside, finding a soft, velvety pouch of some kind. Pushing it aside, she found what she thought might be a napkin based on the size, shape, and texture of the fabric.
“Annabel?” Ethan’s voice rang out as the door rattled.
Snap!
Snap!
Light peeked in slowly at first, until the hunk of metal flipped open.
“Annabel?” Ethan asked again.
“Thank God.” She raced toward Ethan, silhouetted by the sun behind him. “I heard gunshots.”
“That was me.” Ethan took her into his arms, hugging her tight, kissing her temple over and over again. “You two girls okay?”
“I think so,” Annabel said, pulling away from his embrace. “Tara?”
“I’m fine, but look…” she pointed toward a BMW screeching to a halt, “my husband just got here and boy, am I going to get a lecture.”
“Then I’ll spare you, but Annabel, really, you shouldn’t have come here alone. You could have gotten hurt,” Ethan said with his hands on his hips, shaking his head.
“I couldn’t leave Tara here alone knowing that…” she glanced across the lot just as Officer Palmetto helped Peter into the back of a patrol car, “he was here. That would make me a bad friend.”
“Not the point and you know it.”
“I knew you’d get the text and come right here,” Annabel said, turning and eyeing the contents of the storage facility. “I just needed to see who the man was who’s been spying on me and threatening my life.” A headless mannequin wearing a timeless black tuxedo stood proudly in the center of the unit. “I didn’t plan on being anywhere near him, but he actually locked Trouble in here before either of us could react, and I couldn’t leave him to suffer in this heat.”
Trouble meowed, rubbing his back against Annabel’s legs. She reached down and picked him up.
“All we did was ask him to let my cat out. I didn’t think he’d try anything out here in the open, that he’d push us inside. I mean, I really just wanted to make sure nothing happened to Trouble.”
“I think this cat can take care of himself. He was attacking Peter when I pulled in. Trouble went all Rambo on him.”
“Tara, sweetheart, are you okay?” A tall man wearing a dark-blue suit jogged across the pavement. His brown hair with graying temples shimmered in the sun.
“Wow,” Annabel whispered.
“I know, right. And I get to go to bed with that every night.” Tara squeezed Annabel’s arm.
Ethan cocked his head. “And I’m not a wow?” he whisp
ered in Annabel’s ear.
“Oh, you’re a double wow,” Annabel said.
“Good to know.”
“Hi, honey,” Tara said. “I’m fine. I was just helping the police solve a mystery.”
“That’s not remotely funny,” Blaine said, cupping his wife’s cheeks and kissing her lips gently.
Annabel had to bite her lip so she didn’t audibly sigh.
“May I take my wife home?” Blaine asked, tucking her under his broad arm.
“I’m going to need to take her statement, but I can do that later, if you don’t mind me stopping by in an hour or so.”
“Not at all, Officer.” Blaine held out a card. “You must be Annabel. Your father talks about you all the time. He’s quite proud of you.”
“He has to say that, he’s my dad,” Annabel said with a smile, setting a fidgety Trouble on the ground. The cat immediately dashed into the unit.
Can’t take the curiosity out of the kitten.
“We should have Annabel and Ethan over this week for dinner,” Tara said.
“Ethan?” Blaine asked.
“That would be him.” Annabel slipped her arm around Ethan’s back, patting his chest.
“I’m the boyfriend,” Ethan said.
She liked the sound of that.
Chapter Sixteen
Annabel stared out at the ocean from Ethan’s deck with a glass of red wine in her hands. Ethan sat next to her and Trouble with two new black kittens on a cat bed at her feet. While Ethan had been busy filling out reports and charging Peter Sulkie with a long list of crimes, she’d taken a hot bath and caught up on her sleep with Trouble nestled beside her. Now they were both at Ethan’s terrific condo.
The ocean breeze gently lifted her hair as she sipped her wine. The stars dotted the night sky like fireflies. The crescent moon danced in the waves. A slight breeze tickled the treetops.
Her mother had always told her that life often came full circle.
And hers had done just that.
“I still can’t believe that Peter thought he was engaged to Dawn at your sister’s wedding,” Annabel said.