by P. Creeden
The scent of fresh bread still lingered in the air of the kitchen, and Felicity’s mouth watered. Her heart fluttered at the idea of finding her own ingredients for the sandwich. She hoped to find an interesting cheese; since it was a winery, she knew they’d have several kinds. She slipped open the silver door. A commotion outside in the bar drew her attention to the bar area. “What was that?”
Heath’s brows furrowed as he set down the knife. “Not sure, but I should go check it out. Go ahead and pick out anything you want for the sandwich, and if I’m not back right away, don’t wait for me. Eat as much as you want.”
“But I need to pay for the sandwich.”
He shook his head as he pressed his back against the kitchen door. The most charming smile spread across his lips. “My treat,” he said before slipping out the door and not giving Felicity a chance to argue.
She frowned, watching the door swing a bit before settling closed after him. Heath had stopped everything and brought her to the kitchen for a sandwich even though the kitchen staff had already left for the day. He’d already gone above and beyond for her, and now he was going to pay for her sandwich. She’d have to think of a way to pay him back for his kindness.
Cold air seeped toward her from the fridge door that she’d had open a few inches through their conversation. She frowned at herself and slid inside, felt for the light switch, and flicked it on. Then she stepped inside, allowing the door to close behind her since she’d already let too much cold air out.
Meats, cheeses, tomatoes of a few different kinds spread throughout the cooler, which had to be kept just below freezing. Her breath spread out in a cloud around her and she wrapped her arms around herself for the cold as she quickly chose the items she’d wanted on her sandwich. The cold air blew on her bare arms and the back of her neck from the overhead fan. Once she’d made the best choices, her arms were loaded full. She backed toward the doorway of the refrigerator and pressed on the handle to let herself out, and though the mechanism gave, the door didn’t open on first try.
With a frown, she pushed all the items to one arm, so she could try the handle again with her hand. Still, the door didn’t budge. She tried again. Nothing. After setting the items in her arms on a nearby wire shelf, she tried with both hands and pushed on the door even harder. The door didn’t budge. Dread poured down her spine, adding to the chill she’d already felt. Was she really stuck in the refrigerator?
Chapter Eight
Darren pulled over to the side of the narrow driveway on the way to the winery, allowing three cars that were coming from the opposite direction to pass him more comfortably. He lifted his hand in greeting on his steering wheel as the cars passed him, recognizing the purple shirts the employees wore at the winery. He frowned. How many employees would still be around for him to question about the situation now? He peered at his clock. It was a little after six-thirty. He’d told Felicity that he’d be only an hour, but when he’d tried to call her and tell her he was running late, it went to voicemail. He hoped she’d gotten his message.
Once the cars passed him, he resumed his drive up and parked next to one of the only two vehicles in the lot, Felicity’s SUV. When he hopped out of his sedan, the jingling of dog tags drew his attention to the wagging tail of JJ, standing with his front paws on the gate. The Golden’s tongue lolled off to the side, and his whole body wiggled a little back and forth with his tail.
With a smile, Darren stepped over toward the dog and patted him on the head. “Where’s your owner, JJ?” He scratched the dog behind the ear. “She can’t be too far away, huh?”
After pushing the dog down and back, Darren opened the gate and headed up the long walk to the main house. JJ followed him all the way up to the front porch then barked once at him before running back toward the gate. Darren shook his head at the dog and said under his breath, “I’m not going to be the one to let you out. You’ll have to wait for your owner for that.”
He frowned at himself. Was he just talking to himself or the dog? He blinked and shrugged. After taking a deep breath, he knocked on the screen door. A few moments passed, and he didn’t even hear the slightest movement within. The door was unlocked, so he opened it and stuck his head inside, calling out, “Hello? Felicity?”
Except for the normal hum of household electronics, the house remained silent. Darren stepped in and peered around. He headed for the kitchen, calling out again.
No answer.
He opened the refrigerator and peeked at the marinating roast that sat on the top shelf. When he closed the door, he also noticed a list pinned to the fridge with a magnet. It read like a normal grocery list, nothing special. He glanced down at the kitchen table where Liz’s body had been when he first came onto the scene. He recalled the pills and the note that had sat on the table next to her. The coffee cup. Now the table-top sat, cleared of all evidence. Felicity had said something about a housekeeper. It’s unfortunate they hadn’t preserved the scene just a little bit longer. Instead he was having to go by memory. Then something clicked in his head as he stooped down and looked below the table to the floor, playing the scene in his mind. Now that he was thinking about it, there was no pen near the body. If she’d just scribbled a quick note after taking the pills, as the evidence suggested, she wouldn’t then get up and put the pen away.
He glanced at the coffee mug that sat on top of the refrigerator loaded with pens and pencils, and a pair of scissors. He pulled an evidence bag out of his pocket and slipped on a rubber glove. It was a long-shot, but it wouldn’t hurt to check for prints and partials on the cup and contents. After zipping up the bag, he walked slowly around the room, replaying the previous scene in his mind, using double exposure to lay the one scene overtop of the other.
He kept his glove on as he headed into the living room area and thought things through. Light faded fast as the sun began setting, but he didn’t yet want to turn on the lights. When he got to the stairwell, he called upward, “Hello? Felicity?”
Still no answer.
He skipped up the steps and peered into each room, finding them all empty. If she wasn’t in the house, where could she have gone? He stood in the bedroom, flipping open the laptop. Gratitude. The password seemed so simple, but it also wasn’t that common. The laptop pulled up the main screen. He closed it again. No need in looking through everything just yet. Right now, he felt he needed to find Felicity more. He pulled the glove from his hand and shoved it in his pocket with the evidence bag. Then he loped down the steps and straight out the front door. The blue of the sky had darkened overhead, already turning black to the east. A golden glow from the sun was barely visible over the horizon to the west.
JJ stood at the gate still, his front end on the top of the fence while his feet remained on the ground. Darren frowned. Why hadn’t he really noticed before? He’d thought the dog had been left outside while Felicity was in the house, but now he realized that the Golden Retriever had given him the clue all along that Felicity was on the other side of the gate, for certain. Darren walked up to the dog and could see the distress in JJ’s face. He patted the dog on the head and pushed him down and away from the gate again. Then he opened it, but before he could command the dog to stay, JJ dashed out through the gap.
Darren frowned.
“Hey! That dog can’t be running around like that.” Perfect timing for the groundskeeper, Mr. Page, to drive up in his ATV. He pulled to a stop and jumped out. His face was distraught, his hands fisted. His posture looked as though he was ready for a fight. “Where is that woman? I’ve told her a dozen times already to keep this dog on a leash. Liz wouldn’t approve of this. Not one bit.”
“I’m looking for Felicity now. She wouldn’t just leave JJ like this. Have you seen her?” Darren tried to deflect, but the man still kept his eyes on the Golden who sniffed at the bottom of the door to the wine store.
Mr. Page grabbed a bit of rope from the back of his ATV. “Not for hours. She was talking to Mr. Anderson.”
T
hen JJ began scratching a bit at the door.
“Hey! Stop that, you stinking mutt. I can’t be having to refinish the floor because you scratched it all up.”
The Golden stopped, sat, and looked up at Darren with a whine.
Darren frowned. “Is she in the wine store?”
Mr. Page shook his head. “Everyone’s gone for the day. It’s all locked up. There’s no way she’d still be in there.” He stepped up to the dog and looped the twine he had through the dog collar and tied a quick knot. Then he set the other end in Darren’s hand. “When you find that woman, could you please make sure she keeps her dog restrained?”
The coarse, thin rope lay across his palm, and Darren fisted his hand around it. He pulled out his phone and hit redial. Maybe Felicity would answer this time. Then he heard the echo of the ring in the distance. He pulled the phone away from his face. There it was again. The ringtone sounded distant, but it was coming from inside the building.
The older man had started back toward his grounds-keeping SUV.
“Wait. Come here. Do you hear that?”
Mr. Page grumbled but started back toward Darren begrudgingly. The ringing stopped. “I don’t hear nothing.”
“Hold on a second.” Darren punched the buttons on his phone to hang up and redial. Then the ringing began again in the distance. Gooseflesh rose on his arms. The first time, he thought it might be Felicity’s phone, but now he was certain of it. “I’m going to have to ask you to unlock this door.”
Frown lines deepened on the groundskeeper’s face. “Is that a phone ringing?”
“It’s Felicity’s phone. I’ve dialed it twice and it’s ringing from inside. I’m going to need to take a look around. Could you please unlock this door?” Something didn’t seem right about this situation, and Darren found his free hand resting on the pommel of his gun. Why would Felicity be inside the wine store when everyone had gone for the night?
“Fine. But the dog stays out here. Health code.” Mr. Page began flipping through the large set of keys he’d had stuffed in his pocket, searching for the right one to the doorway.
Darren tied the dog to one of the posts on the front porch with the twine, peering through the windows, but finding nothing but darkness inside, barely lit blue by a soda machine near the back of the store.
When the groundskeeper finally opened the door, Darren drew his gun.
“Is that really necessary?” Mr. Page sucked in a breath.
He peered down at the man and said, “Hopefully not,” and then he stepped inside.
Darkness shrouded the room, and Darren lead with his gun arm aimed in front of him. If Felicity was inside with the murderer, he wanted to be prepared. His molars ached from his biting down hard on them, and his ears rang. Anger and dread welled up at the thought that something might have happened to her. If she was hurt in any way, he’d never forgive himself for running late.
With his thumb, he dialed the phone again. The lights overhead flicked on as Mr. Page came in behind him. “Is there anything I can do?” he asked.
“Stay back but keep your eyes open.”
The phone started ringing. Because they were close, the ringtone sounded louder. The noise led them to toward the back of the bar and building. He leaned against the metal door leading to the kitchen and peered in. The lights were off inside, but he could see the flash of the screen on the countertop within. After taking a deep breath, he slipped inside, brandishing his weapon in both directions to make sure there was no one hiding in the dark within. He stepped in and toward the phone, lowering his gun once he was sure that no one was there.
Mr. Page came in behind him and flicked on the light overhead.
Darren squinted and blinked at the sudden brightness. He frowned.
“Looks like it was just her phone in here. I wonder what she was doing in the kitchen in the first place.” Mr. Page peeked at the countertop. “Someone sliced some of the bread leftover for the staff.”
Darren looked at the countertop and saw that things looked unfinished and uneaten. Felicity could have been getting ready to do something with the sliced bread, and then the perpetrator interrupted her. Had she been taken? His stomach flipped in response to his train of thought. He didn’t like where they were taking him, but he couldn’t understand where she would have gone if she wasn’t in the kitchen with her phone. Why was she here when there was food in plenty at Liz’s house? Would she have been comfortable here alone? Who was with her, and what happened to her now?
Too many questions flooded his mind.
“Well, I don’t see that girl anywhere in here unless she’s hiding under the table.” The old man put his hands on his hips and his face pulled into a scowl. “You were getting all riled up as if there was a burglar in here or something.”
Darren shook his head and re-holstered his weapon. His response had been a bit extreme. Still, he wasn’t ready to give up this search. “What else is in here? Is there a cellar?”
“Yeah, but we have to go out and to the side of the building to access it.”
“That’s fine. Take me there. I just want to look everywhere we can here before I call this in. As of right now, Miss Stilton is missing.”
The old man lifted an eyebrow. “I thought that the police didn’t consider a person missing until 24-hours had passed.”
A frown tugged at Darren’s lip. “This is a murder investigation and Miss Stilton is a witness.”
The tired, half-lidded look to the groundskeeper’s eyes disappeared as they widened. “Murder? Who? What?”
Darren clenched his teeth again. He hadn’t quite been ready to let that one out of the bag, especially not to a potential suspect. Now this man would be on his guard when questioned about the situation, but right now he had to throw the idea of keeping things under wraps out the window. He needed to find Felicity, and he needed this man to be willing to help. Now.
Mr. Page pushed the swinging door to the kitchen back open and led Darren across the hardwood floor, past the bar, and back to the front door. But the moment he opened it, a yellow blur pushed its way in and darted past them both. The thin rope that had tied JJ to the post outside seemed shorter and frayed as he ran past. The twine had broken.
“That dog can’t be in here!” the old man hissed.
But Darren smiled. This was it. JJ had been telling him the whole time that he knew where Felicity was, and the determination in the dog’s gait only proved that the dog still knew. It was time for Darren to start listening to him. He darted after the dog, ignoring the old man’s shouting and cursing.
JJ stood and pushed on the swinging door, making his way into the kitchen area. Darren came in close behind him. When JJ darted around the counter where Felicity’s phone was, his nose sniffed along the ground. Was he finding her scent? Would the dog really know where she is now, or just where she was?
After a moment of circling around the area of the kitchen where Darren already knew Felicity had been, the dog darted to the left and straight toward the large metal door to the walk-in cooler near the corner of the kitchen.
“Unsanitary,” the old man grumbled from behind Darren as he walked into the kitchen.
“What’s in there?” He pointed to the metal door.
“It’s the refrigerator.”
“Does it lock from the outside?”
“No, but opening it from the inside is a bit tricky; you have to know how to pull the door handle just right and upward.”
Darren rushed over to the doorway and yanked the refrigerator door open. The moment the door pulled free, whatever had been standing against the door fell toward him. He caught her freezing cold form. Felicity.
Shivers racked her whole body, and her teeth chattered as she looked up at him with her warm blue eyes. “D… D… Darren.”
The tightening in his chest intensified. He pulled her to his chest and lowered them both slightly toward the ground. Shooting a glance toward the groundskeeper, he said, “Call 9-1-1. We need an ambulance.�
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“N… no. I’ll be fine. I just need to warm up..p..p.” Her voice was hoarse.
He frowned down at her. “Let the ambulance come. If you’re doing better by the time the paramedics get here, fine. But if not, you’re going to the hospital.”
She nodded but couldn’t control the movement well.
Mr. Page talked quietly on the phone several feet away. Which was a relief to Darren that someone was here to help him. He didn’t want to let her go. Her arms and torso were so very cold to the touch, and her lips weren’t quite blue yet, but they were pale. He could feel her pulling the heat off his body, and he was just fine with that.
JJ laid his body right next to Felicity’s legs, lending her his warmth as well. Their bond was something Darren had never seen before. He knew that Golden Retrievers were loyal and loving dogs, but he had no idea how useful JJ would be in both helping him find Felicity and helping now to get her body temperature up.
“Here, take this.” Mr. Page handed them a jacket which Darren immediately wrapped around Felicity. “I’m going to warm up some water for hot cocoa.”
He nodded up at the old man. The sour expression the man had earlier had fled. Darren had respect for that. He’d much rather have a person with a cool head around to help with a dire situation than someone he had to tell what to do because of panic or surliness.
A few moments later, as her shivers were calming a little, the man brought over a warm cup. “I didn’t want to make it undrinkably hot, so it’s just a little warmer than tepid. I’m going to head outside to wait for the ambulance and guide them in. Will you two be okay?”
Darren nodded.
With a firm nod, the man ducked out the swinging kitchen door. Jay lifted his head to watch the man go and then rested his chin on Felicity’s thigh. Darren pressed the cup toward her lips. Her eyes were closed.
“Drink some of this; it will help.”
When she opened her eyes, the shivers came back a little bit harder. As if going into a more sleep-like state had helped her gain some control over her body’s autonomic response, but now that she was fully awake again, she couldn’t help herself. She took a slow sip of the liquid, her eyes going half-lidded again. “I’m s… sorry,” she said.