by Ann Mullen
“I’d really like that, but I don’t think it’s going to happen,” Billy said. He looked at Mom. “We’ll call you if we find out anything. Otherwise, we’ll see you tomorrow at ten o’clock.”
“Please do call,” Mom begged. “I won’t be able to sleep a wink tonight. I’m so afraid Savannah’s going to meet the same fate as the woman in her book.”
“Where is that book?” I asked. “I’d like to read it.”
“Sure. I’ll go get it.” Mom walked out of the kitchen and then returned a few seconds later. “Here it is. Please take care of it, because I’d like to have it back. She signed it just for me.”
“I will,” I said as I took the book, opened it, and read the inscription. “I hope you enjoy my book. My best, Savannah Kelley.” I closed it up and smiled at Mom. “I’ll take good care of it, and see to it that you get it back in one piece.”
Billy and I grabbed our coats, said good-bye, and headed out. Claire stood at the door beside Randy and waved to us just as we were walking to the truck.
“Please be careful,” she said. “Call us when you get home so Mom won’t worry.”
“We will,” I said. “Y’all call us if you should hear something. I don’t care how late it is.”
Billy and I jumped into the truck and pulled out of the driveway. By the time we got to the bridge at South River Road, I was on the second page of Savannah’s book.
“My gosh,” I said. “She’s good. She grabs you right from the beginning. Usually, you have to wade through a couple of chapters before you get to the good stuff. This one is good. I can’t wait to read the rest of it.”
“Pay close attention to what you read,” Billy said. “You might find the one clue that can help us. Sometimes people read so fast that they miss some little detail that could bring the whole thing into perspective.”
“I’m not that fast of a reader. Besides, I like to savor what I read. I’m not one to skim through the pages. If I’m going to spend my time reading, I want to remember what I read.”
I just couldn’t stop reading! Savannah’s descriptive writing was so good that her words formed incredible pictures in my head. I was determined to find time to finish her book even if I couldn’t do it right away.
Billy’s cell phone must have vibrated, because he pulled it out and flipped it open as we rode along. I was so ensconced in the book that I wasn’t paying attention to his conversation until he said. “That was Jonathan. He said that Eric Webster works for Jenkins Fencing in Charlottesville—the company that installed Savannah’s fence. He’s going to check it out.”
“We were right about him! He did steal Savannah’s car keys, and he probably stole one of her books while he was at it—read it, and then decided to play it out in real life. Maybe he has a crush on her. Perhaps they had a fling.”
“We know he abducted her. All we have to do is figure out where he’s holding her. Read faster!”
“I probably should just go right to the last chapter.”
“You might want to put that book down for a second.”
I did as he said. I lay the book on the seat, and then looked up. Since we’d been on the road only a few minutes, I realized that the houses I was looking at must be the ones in the new subdivision off Octonia Road—and that one of these houses was the home of Wayne Avery. “I knew you had something up your sleeve.”
Billy was slowly driving past a large, gray, two-story house that was situated on approximately a half acre of land, partially surrounded by evergreens. I looked around and saw more houses of similar design, equally spaced. They were obviously high-dollar homes.
“I didn’t think it would hurt to have a look around before we headed home. We might ride by Eric’s house, too. I doubt we’ll find anything, but it won’t hurt to look. It’s right on our way.”
There were no police cars in sight.
“Pull over in front of the house for a minute. I want to check out something.” Billy pulled over and put the gear in park. I reached into my coat pocket, pulled out the set of keys and said, “Let’s just see if one of these keys fits the door.”
“That might not be such a bad…”
Before Billy could finish his sentence, I had opened the truck door, slid out and was making my way up the front walk. I almost lost my footing a couple of times because of the snow, and it made me think of how sad it was that there was no one to plow the walkway. The parents were dead, and the son was in jail, or would soon be. As I fidgeted, Billy came up behind me, gently took the keys from my cold hands, and said, “Let me help you, dear.”
“Why, thank you, sweetheart.”
He tried each key, but none would open the front door.
“Nice try,” I said. “I guess this was a waste of time.”
Billy stood still for a moment and tilted his head. “Did you hear that?” he asked. “I though I heard someone groan.”
The two of us stood there and listened. The cold air made things creak, and it was hard to tell what we were hearing… until we both heard a moan and then the sound of an object being banged up against the wall.
“There’s someone in the basement!” I yelled.
“There sure is!” Billy replied as he handed me the set of keys. He stepped back, got his momentum going, and then slammed the full weight of his body up against the front door. The door splintered off its hinges and landed in the foyer.
“They just don’t make them like they used to,” he said, smiling. “Let’s go see who’s in the basement.”
Chapter 23
Before we stepped into the foyer, I looked at Billy and asked, “Do you have your gun strapped to your ankle? You’re not wearing your shoulder holster, and my gun is in the truck. I don’t want to enter this house without a gun. I’m going to run back to the truck and get mine.” I turned and ran to the truck before he had a chance to reply. I pulled out my 9MM, and was back in the foyer within seconds.
Billy lifted his leg, raised his pants, and showed me the gun that was strapped to his ankle. “I never go anywhere without being armed. You should know that by now.” He snatched the gun from the ankle holster and said, “I guess I’m going to have to buy you one like mine, so you can always be armed without your weapon being visible.”
“That might not be a bad idea.”
We heard another groan. Billy and I took off running, listening for another sound. Looking for the basement, we opened every closed door in the house, but couldn’t find it.
The house was so clean and everything was so in order that it didn’t look as if anyone had lived in it for a while. The only sign that someone had been in the house was the wet, muddy footprints on the hallway carpet. The prints were damp and hadn’t had time to dry and become crusty.
“Whoever is here hasn’t been here long.”
“Yes, I see the wet footprints,” Billy agreed as he turned around in circles. “Where is the basement?”
“They must not have one. I though for sure the groans were coming from a lower level.”
Billy stopped for a second and thought. He looked around and then as if a light bulb had gone off in his head, he said, “I think I know where the door to the basement is. Follow me.”
I followed him down the hall, through the kitchen, and into a large laundry room.
“Wow!” I murmured, scanning the room. “This is wonderful. Look at the size of this place. This is every woman’s dream.” I pointed to the shelves that held the neatly lined-up detergents and other laundry essentials, and then to the racks used to hang clean clothes. Up against a back wall were a state-of-the-art washer and dryer, a laundry tub, and a large table for folding clothes. “This is almost as big as our bedroom!”
“I will buy you anything you want.”
“I know you would, Billy. I don’t need all this stuff.”
Billy tilted his head as if he needed to be reassured.
I walked over to him and kissed him on the cheek. “I love my home. There’s nothing I need that you haven�
��t given me.”
A moan came from behind a door to the left beside a rack of clothes.
“Ah, that’s where the door is,” I said looking at Billy. “I always thought a basement door was usually in the hallway.”
“That’s the way it used to be, but not anymore,” Billy whispered. He put his finger to his lips as if to silence me as he held his gun out in front of himself. “Stay behind me.” He grabbed the doorknob and jerked opened the door. The two of us hustled down the steps like soldiers on a charge, not knowing what we’d encounter.
The room was very dim, but not completely dark. When we got to the foot of the stairs we could see a woman tied to a wooden chair sitting next to the wall in the corner of the room. Her face was dirty, her nose had been bleeding, and blood had caked along the side of her head. Someone had wrapped a T-shirt around her head to staunch the flow. Her blouse was bloody and her pants were torn at the knee. She was gagged. Tears streamed down her face.
I ran over and untied the gag from her mouth. “I’m Jesse, and this is Billy. We’re here to help you, Savannah. Don’t worry. You’re safe now.”
The look on her face was one of sheer relief. She was so glad that someone had come to rescue her.
“You must be Minnie’s daughter. She’s told me so much about you in the little time that I’ve known her.”
“We can talk about this later,” I whispered. “Right now, we have to get you out of here.”
“He’s coming back,” she cried as Billy untied the rope from her wrists. “I’ve been making noise ever since he left hoping someone would hear me. I even banged the chair against the wall. I thought it was hopeless! I just knew he was going to kill me.” She coughed. Her body shook uncontrollably.
“We need to get you to a hospital,” Billy said.
All of a sudden, we heard a noise on the floor above us. We froze and looked at each other, silencing our words. Savannah tried to stand up, but was too weak. I grabbed her arm as Billy grabbed the other.
“Try to stand up,” he whispered to Savannah. He looked at me. “Hold onto her, Jesse. We’re going to hide and wait for him to come down here. I want to catch him by surprise.”
Billy and I managed to help Savannah limp over to a spot behind the stairs where we could crouch down and hide. We would wait for the killer, and then Billy would jump out and surprise him, and hopefully, save us all from a psycho. I shook almost as hard as Savannah as the seconds ticked away. It was all I could do to keep from coming out of my skin. The two of us huddled together like two little lost kittens shivering in the rain, with me holding a gun in my shaky hand. My teeth chattered—not from the chill in the air—but in fear.
Billy got up and inched his way over to the foot of the stairs just out of sight.
The stairs creaked as the killer’s footsteps grew closer… closer… until finally, the killer was standing at the foot of the steps. Billy, with his gun pointed straight out in front of him, snuck up behind the culprit, and said, “Stop, or I’ll shoot you dead.”
A familiar voice responded, “I sure hope not, brother.”
Billy lowered his gun. “What are you doing here?” he asked.
“Probably the same thing you are. I decided to check out a few places before heading to Charlottesville. I saw your truck and figured that you must’ve had the same idea. My next stop was going to be Eric Webster’s house.”
Jonathan’s face came into view when Savannah and I crawled out of our hiding place.
“I see that you’ve found the missing author,” he said. Jonathan quickly introduced himself to her and then added, “It’s nice to meet you, ma’am, but we need to get out of here now! I’ll go upstairs and put the door back up and then prop something against it. That way it’ll be hard to tell that we were even here. When Webster comes back he won’t know she’s gone until he tries to open the door. By then the police should be lying in wait.”
“I’ll help Savannah to the truck,” Billy said as he handed me his gun, and then picked her up. He headed for the stairs.
Jonathan pulled out his cell phone and made the call to the Greene County Sheriff’s Office as we climbed the stairs. He explained the situation and told Sheriff Hudson that we were transporting Savannah Kelley to the hospital. The sheriff must’ve suggested calling an ambulance, because Jonathan responded that it would draw too much attention, and that her injuries weren’t life-threatening. If they wanted to catch Eric Webster, they would need to get over here before he came back. Once Webster discovered the author missing, he would hightail it out of here and be gone forever.
I brought up the rear as we exited the back of the house. I was silent and also disturbed by the fact that the one thing on my mind at the time was the intense twinge of jealousy I felt when I saw my husband with his arms around another woman. Was I still a little insecure after all this time? I told myself that I was just being ridiculous, but I still couldn’t shake that feeling. I guess that when a woman finally finds the man she wants, there’s always that idea in the back of her mind that one day she’s going to lose him, silly as it may seem. Does anyone ever become totally secure in a relationship? I didn’t know the answer to that question, but I wasn’t about to let it get the best of me. I shook off my insecure feelings and replaced them with the warm smile Billy gave me when he helped me up into the truck.
I shoved my gun in my coat pocket and then slid in next to Savannah, waiting for him.
Billy made his conversation with Jonathan brief and then jumped in the truck and started it up. He turned the heat on full blast.
“I bet you ladies are cold,” he said as he adjusted the controls. “Jonathan’s going to hang around and wait for Cole and the sheriff. He says he wants to be around when they catch Webster.” He looked over at Savannah and added, “We’ll get you to the hospital as fast as this truck will take us.”
“I’m in no hurry,” she whispered. “After what I’ve been through, I’m just glad to be alive. I’m so thankful that I’m safe. I don’t know how I’ll ever be able to repay you for saving my life.”
“Thank you will do,” Billy replied as he pulled out onto Octonia Road, heading to Rt. 230.
“Thank you both,” she replied looking back and forth at each of us. She hesitated for a moment and then said, “I never realized that Eric was so…”
Ah, ha… I thought to myself. She does know him! The silly notion I had earlier that they might have something going, or at least that he had a crush on her, might not be so silly after all.
“Were you seeing him?” I asked. “I don’t want you to think I’m being nosey, but you can bet the police will ask the same kind of questions. They’ll want to know if and how you made his acquaintance.”
She began to cry. “If McCoy finds out, he’ll never forgive me. He’ll divorce me for sure. It’s just that we’ve been apart for so long, and I was lonely. I made a foolish mistake one time and now I’m going to pay for it the rest of my life.”
“Your situation seems a little odd to me,” I said. “I understand that you’ve been living here for a couple of years and your husband lives somewhere else, yet you two aren’t divorced. What’s the deal?”
“Our house in Dogwood Valley was supposed to be a getaway for us, but once I stayed here for a while, I just couldn’t bring myself to go back to Fancy Gap. Oh, don’t get me wrong. I love my home there, but I love it here more. At least, I did, until this happened.”
“Don’t let what happened ruin it for you here. Greene County is a terrific place to live. The scenery is beautiful and the people are so friendly. And you never know what kind of wildlife you’re going to come upon. I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.”
“Where do you two live?”
“Charlottesville, in Albemarle County. About thirty minutes from here.”
“It is beautiful,” she remarked. “I would love to raise kids here, but McCoy’s job is in our hometown. I’ve tried to talk him into living here, but he says he can’t leave his work.�
��
Savannah Kelley is a pretty woman. Even under all the blood and dirty clothes, her beauty was visible. She’s thirty-five or so, approximately five feet tall and looks as if she weighs about a hundred and five pounds—kind of like me with the exception of a few pounds and the color of her hair. Mine is a washed out, poorly-dyed red color, and I wear it in a long ponytail most of the time. After looking at her silky, blond locks, I realized that it was time for a trim or a complete restyling. To top off everything, she has the figure of a model. I hated her already! No, I didn’t really hate her, but I sure could take some beauty tips from her. And how could someone who is so gorgeous be so nice? It’s just not right. I guess that jealous side of me is still hiding in there somewhere.
“I thought Mom said that your husband is a lawyer. Why can’t he move his practice here? I can assure you that he’d be as busy here as he would be in Fancy Gap.”
“That’s what I told him, but he insists that he can’t leave his clients.”
“It sounds like muck to me.”
Savannah laughed a dainty, yet hardy laugh. “Your mother was right about you. She said that you wouldn’t hesitate to say what’s on your mind. Maybe that’s my problem. I’ve never been able to stand up to my husband. The only time I demanded anything was when I insisted on staying here.”
“Well, after this, lady, you shouldn’t have any problem. A near death experience can bring the life back into you. Trust me. I’ve been there, and I’ve learned that if you want something, you’d better go after it. Nobody’s going to give it to you. Life is what you make it.”
Savannah panicked. She tried to duck down in the seat. “It’s him!” she shouted. “Don’t let him see me with you, or he’ll come after us!”
Billy and I looked around and saw Webster, driving a white SUV, pull up to the stop light across from us at the Ruckersville intersection. He was heading west, probably going back to the house where he had stashed Savannah, and we were heading as far away from him as we could get. Savannah stayed crouched down as we turned right at the light.