“You won’t. I promise you that. Okay, no fun at work even on breaks. Bring your chair over here next to mine.”
I did as he suggested, then waited while he read what I’d written as we munched on our sandwiches. When he’d finished his food, he polished off his drink and straightened in his chair.
“This is really good, but it could use a little work. First tip: don’t use the first person when you write up your notes. It’ll be easier to put them into an article if you use third person as if you’re watching it happen rather than being part of it. You’ll only use the first person and express your opinions once Roger gives you a column to write. For now, stick to the facts,” he added. “You’ll understand what I mean when we blend your report and mine. Added to that, be concise and reframe from asking rhetorical questions. I like the way you introduced the article. It’s short and to the point, but try to keep the interview notes in chronological order, and don’t add any of your suppositions yet. We’ll get to them eventually.”
He continued analyzing the weak and strong points of my report, explaining everything simply. I was going to be assisting him, so if I could learn to do it his way, it would save a lot of time and frustration on both our parts. He was an excellent teacher. After half an hour of text analysis, my report had improved considerably, and not only due to Carter’s help.
“I think I’ve got the basics,” I said, exhaling in satisfaction.
“I’m sure you have. Now, next step is to meld my work and yours into a coherent human interest story. It goes to print tomorrow. Do you want to use your own name or a pen name?”
I gawked at him. “My name? You’re going to add my name to yours in the byline?”
He smiled, playfully pinching my chin between two fingers.
“Yes, tomorrow, Miss Camilla Jackson, you make your debut as a fledgling journalist and special consultant to this newspaper.”
“Then I want to use my own name.” Mom and Dad would be so proud of me—even Carrie might. “What story will we work on after it does?”
“We’ll see what Roger gives us. Journalism is a thing of the moment. You can’t plan ahead. You have to wait and see what fate throws at you. We’ll follow up on the Doleman case, but unless something new happens, it’ll be consigned to the back pages, all but forgotten.”
“That works for me. I’m not good at long-term planning anyway.”
We worked for the rest of the afternoon, merging our documents into a cohesive whole.
It was well after five when Carter reached for my hand and raised it to his lips.
“You can go home now. I have something to finish up here, and we can have dinner and dessert later,” he said, gazing longingly into my eyes. “Especially dessert, lots and lots of it. I don’t think I’ll ever get enough dessert.”
My stomach flip-flopped as did my heart.
“There’ll always be lots of dessert available,” I whispered, my voice husky. “Call me when you’re done here.”
I saved my copy of our combined document, turned off my computer, and stood to go. After a quick glance at the closed door, I bent to give him a quick peck on the cheek. Carter had a different idea.
He captured my jaw between his fingers and gave me a long, lingering kiss. When he finally withdrew his tongue from my mouth, I stumbled, grabbed my purse, and headed toward the door, dizzy and unable to walk in a straight line. Carter’s laughter followed me out.
I was floating above the ground, drunk on happiness and my first day of work. I headed to my car, looking forward to the evening. How had I gotten so lucky?
There wasn’t much traffic on the street now since most of the other office workers were gone for the day. I was taking my keys out of my purse ready to unlock my car, when I saw a shadow detach itself from the side of the building and quickly move toward me. My heart lurched as I recognized Richie Delgado.
I opened my mouth to say something, but never got the chance. He lunged and gripped my arm. A thousand volts rushed through me and everything went dark.
Chapter Fifteen
My toes tingled, and not in a pleasant way. I heard voices, but at first couldn’t understand what they were saying. My fingers twitched as did the rest of my body—not a spasm but damn close. What the hell had happened to me? Where was I?
My eyelids fluttered open. I was in a rustic cottage of some sort. One large space served as both a living area and kitchen. A set of stairs in the far corner went up, probably to the bedrooms. Through the window on the opposite wall, I saw that it was now night. While I couldn’t make out any of the landscape, I recognized the outline of trees and heard leaves rustle in the light breeze.
How long had I been here? Would anyone miss me? Carter had said he would come for dessert. Would he guess what had happened to me?
From outside, I heard voices. They were arguing.
“Look at the mess you got us into,” a voice I’d never heard said. “What the fuck are we supposed to do with her now? What on earth were you thinking when you snatched her?”
“I told you, she went to the police. My cousin Vinnie called me. I was lucky he was the one on duty. He didn’t report it, so at least we’ve kept a lid on it,” the other one said.
I shuddered as the scene beside my car came back to me. Richie Delgado. I recognized his voice. The son of a bitch had tasered me. That’s why I didn’t know where I was. He’d kidnapped me, just as he had Jack Doleman.
I shivered and forced my wide eyes closed, deciding to play possum. Wasn’t that the safest thing to do until I knew more about the situation I was in?
“That means she’s a nice girl, Richie. She was doing the right thing—her civic duty. If Vinnie wasn’t going to tell anyone about her visit, why the hell did you go and kidnap her? What are we going to do with her now? She must have a family. Someone will miss her and report her missing, and if that someone knows she went to see the police...”
“Damn it! I just wanted to make sure she wasn’t going to attract attention to me with those accusations,” Delgado whined.
“Well, now you may have attracted a hell of a lot more attention to yourself and your cousin by kidnapping her, you idiot!”
“Listen, Boss, we could just make her disappear,” Delgado said. “You know...”
I trembled violently. He wanted to make me disappear as in kill me? I wasn’t ready to die. My life was finally coming together. I had a good job, a man I loved ... dying in the middle of nowhere was definitely not on my wish list. The man Delgado spoke with had to be involved in Jack Doleman’s disappearance. Would he hesitate to kill me? Jack was probably already dead or dying.
“Out of the question,” the man Delgado had called ‘boss’ said.
My breathing resumed, and I exhaled, aware of the tears slipping down my cheeks. I tried to raise my hand to wipe them away and realized they were tied together behind my back as were my ankles. I was trussed up liked some damn Thanksgiving turkey. No wonder my toes and fingers tingled. The circulation had been cut off by whatever bound me. My heart thumped madly in fear and outrage.
“I may be a lot of things,” he continued, “but I ain’t no murderer.”
Delgado sighed. A door opened and I heard footsteps slapping the wooden floor, getting closer to me.
Richie Delgado’s cousin had told him I’d been to the police, which meant the officer on duty had to be that man. He was the one who’d taken the report, the one who should’ve passed it along. I’d known there was something wrong with his attitude, but I’d just blindly gone on. Talk about screwing up. I’d given the man my name, address, and told him I was starting at the paper today. I might as well have drawn a bullseye on my back.
Instead of informing the detective as I’d assumed, he’d called Delgado and turned me in. The man had then kidnapped me and now wanted to kill me. Could I have made a bigger mess of things?
My mind spun madly. Panic clutched at my throat. I tried taking deep breaths, but couldn’t stifle the whimper that escaped fr
om my chest.
Hurried footsteps rushed to where I lay. The sound fed my fear, making tears blur my eyes just as Delgado and his buddy faced me.
“So, you’re awake,” he said, his hands framing his hips.
“Who the hell are you?” I asked, deciding to play dumb. “What do you want from me?”
“You know very well who I am, Camilla,” Delgado said. “You’ve been a busy girl since Friday, talking to Mrs. Doleman, going to the police about me. It was careless of me to talk on the phone in the hair salon like that, but eavesdropping is a worse habit. I’ll get away with my mistake,” he mocked, “but you won’t.”
“Cut it out, Richie. You’re scaring the poor girl half to death,” the other man said. “Listen, baby, no one’s going to hurt you; you have my word on that. I appreciate what you tried to do.”
I gaped at him through eyes blurry with tears. Had Delgado’s stun gun damaged my brain? Because if it hadn’t, then I was pretty damn sure that the man bending down in front of me was none other than Jack Doleman, the Jewel King, himself.
“You ... You’re ... You’re Jack Doleman,” I stuttered, mouth agape. Either he was the world’s most cooperative kidnapping victim, or it had all been a set up.
“Yes.” He wiped the tears off my face. His voice was soft with a slight Hispanic accent. “And right now you might be a damsel in distress, but you wanted to be my knight in shining armor. I’m sorry that you got dragged into this mess, trying to do the right thing. Things just haven’t gone as planned. But don’t worry. We’ll fix it. Nothing bad will happen to you. Do you want some water?”
“I want answers!” I struggled against my bindings. “What the hell is going on here?”
Doleman looked sheepish as he scratched his black stubble covered chin.
“Well, you see, it was all Mitsy’s idea.”
“Who’s Mitsy?” I asked.
Delgado touched Doleman’s arm, saying warningly, “Boss...”
“It’s okay, Richie,” Doleman reassured the man. “She deserves to know the truth. You’re the one who involved her in this mess. We’ll find a way to resolve the matter.” Doleman turned to me. “Mitsy’s my girlfriend.”
“Girlfriend?” I repeated stupidly. “But you’re married!”
“Tell me about it,” he muttered, sitting on the edge of the couch. I shrank away from him instinctively, but he didn’t seem to notice.
“Mitsy and I are in love and want to get married. The thing is Regina and I both signed prenups, so when I divorce her I’ll lose a lot of money. While we’re married, neither of us has access to sums over $100,000 without the other one’s signature—unless it’s a major crisis. We figured kidnapping’s pretty major,” he added and winked. “Anyway, Mitsy suggested we should fake my kidnapping to get money out of Regina, so that I wouldn’t have to split it all with her when we divorced. So, here we are.” He shrugged. “But it looks as if my dear wife doesn’t give a damn whether I live or die, and our plan has backfired.” He raised his hand to the back of his head.
I stared at him for a few moments, trying to make sense of this. Slowly my blood boiled.
“How could you do this to your wife? Why cheat on her in the first place? She’s stunning!”
Doleman smiled sadly and shook his head. “Yeah, she had me fooled at first, too. But underneath that smoldering beauty, there’s no heart. She’s as cold as an iceberg. Had she been aboard the Titanic, she could’ve sunk the ship herself if she’d wanted to. I guess blue-blooded women are like that. Mitsy, well, she’s all Jersey girl, but I tell you, she loves me and wouldn’t hesitate to die for me.”
Delgado rolled his eyes and snorted. It turned into a startled yelp when his cellphone rang.
Doleman covered my mouth with his hand, putting a finger to his lips.
“Hello,” Delgado answered. “What? ... Who? ... Damn! Okay, thanks.” He ended the call and tucked his cellphone inside his jacket.
“Some guy named Carter Evans just reported her missing,” he said, jerking his chin toward me.
Carter reported me missing? My heart overflowed with gratitude and love.
“God damn it!” Doleman swore, jumping to his feet. “This is all your fucking fault,” he said, pointing an accusing finger at Delgado.
With his back to me, I saw the white bandage covering the back of his head. I shuddered at the thought of the patch of scalp they’d sent to Regina Doleman. This guy had to be crazy to let himself get partially scalped for the sake of a few million dollars. So why did he have second thoughts about killing me. But if his hesitation was only a matter of scruples, I didn’t think that would do me any good in the long run. I had to find a way to get out of here, and fast.
“How the hell are we going to get out of this mess now?” Doleman asked.
“I don’t see any way other than getting rid of her for good,” Delgado said coldly.
Goosebumps raced along my spine.
“We’ve already talked about this. She wanted to help me, damn it, and by God, she won’t die for trying to do the right thing,” Doleman exclaimed. He shoved his hands through his hair, wincing when he touched the back of his head. “Since I was stupid enough to think this would work, I’ll find a way to end it, but without any victims. You’d better get out of here and get yourself an alibi. Even if Vinnie doesn’t talk, someone else might. Go and make yourself as visible as you can,” he instructed his accomplice.
“What about her?” Delgado asked, pointing at me.
“I’ll take care of her. By tomorrow, I’ll have a solution.”
I swallowed hard, trying to dislodge the knot in my throat. He claimed he wasn’t going to kill me, but how else would he stop me from going to the police?
Carter’s gesture of caring concern might well have signed my death warrant.
Delgado sighed, shook his head and walked out, slamming the wooden door behind him.
I watched Doleman pace the room.
“I need to go to the bathroom,” I said, trying awkwardly to sit up. My arms and hands were numb, but I tried wiggling my fingers to restore circulation, even though the pins and needles it caused were painful.
“Sure.”
Doleman moved toward the couch, then stopped. He stared at the bindings on my ankles and scratched his chest thoughtfully, the white cotton t-shirt he wore moving against his skin. Finally, he seemed to decide on a course of action.
“Here’s the deal. I’m going to untie you, but you have to give me your word you won’t try anything stupid,” he said, his black eyes staring intently into mine. “I don’t want to hurt you, but if you cross me, that can change. Richie is a cold-blooded bastard, and if you do something stupid, he will hurt not only you, but that guy who reported you missing, and maybe your entire family. Unlike me, he has no scruples. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
I swallowed, my heart hammering with fear, and nodded slowly. Cheese and rice, how the hell had I gotten myself in this situation? More importantly, how the hell was I going to get out?
I followed Doleman with my eyes as he walked to the kitchen area. Seconds later, he returned with a wicked-looking knife. I shrunk away as he approached, but he didn’t seem to notice. He sliced through what I assumed was duct tape holding my ankles. The blood rushing back into them was so painful, I gasped.
“Turn over so that I can release your hands.”
I did as he said, hoping he wasn’t going to stab me in the back. He didn’t. Carefully, he cut the tape.
Suddenly, I was free and in more pain than I’d ever imagined. I managed to sit up and rolled my aching shoulders. Frantically, I tugged at the remains of the tape on my wrists and ankles until I’d managed to remove it all.
Delgado hadn’t been gentle. My wrists and ankles were bruised and sore. In fact, now that I thought of it, every muscle in my body ached as I recalled the jolt from the stun gun. Why did I always have to learn things the hard way?
“The bathroom is over there,” Doleman said, gett
ing to his feet and pointing to a door behind the couch. “Are you hungry?”
I was just attempting to stand when his question took me aback. I found his quasi-kindness suspicious, but decided to use it in my favor. If I played the obedient little hostage, I might find the perfect moment to escape.
“I ... think so,” I said, hoping I sounded like a poor helpless female at his mercy. I blinked my eyes rapidly, thinking he might assume I was fighting tears.
I’d never been good at things like this, but he fell for it. His Hispanic features softened, and he smiled at me.
“I can only scramble eggs, so I hope you like that. Do you need help getting to the bathroom?”
I was about to shake my head and take a step forward, but my rubbery knees weakened and I fell back onto the couch.
Doleman rushed over, took my hands, and helped me stand again.
“I guess you’re still a little shaky. Richie tossed you around like a sack of potatoes. Come on, I’ll help you.”
He put an arm around my waist and supported me as I walked gingerly to the bathroom. He pushed the door open with one bare foot, and ushered me inside.
“You going to be alright?”
“Yes, thank you,” I replied. “I can manage from here.”
“You can shower if you want to,” he said, closing the door behind him.
Right! Like that was going to happen. There was no way I would ever get naked with a crazed kidnapper in the next room. I leaned back against the door, taking deep breaths as I tried to get my body and brain to function as one. I groped for the cellphone I knew I’d put in my pocket, but it wasn’t there. Richie Delgado had been cunning enough to relieve me of it.
I gritted my teeth and looked around the small room, with an even smaller window. Not even a dog could crawl through it. I walked over to it anyway and stood on tiptoes, trying to see where I was. There were no lights anywhere. Only trees and darkness surrounded the cottage.
Sacked! Page 15