“Hmm, you know what, that might be a good idea.”
“Since you haven’t bought yourself anything in a while, you might want to take a look around. The girls love going there and spending my money on new clothes,” Chris remarked with a slight downward smile, and Janice laughed.
Janice also decided that she would make an appointment with Cathy, Aaron’s fiancée, at Joan’s Beauty Salon to get her hair trimmed. The owner of the shop was Joan Miller, a tall, lanky woman who had her hair teased and piled high on top of her head. The hairdo reminded Janice of the 50s and 60s and looked like a bird’s nest.
Janice wanted to get her bangs and the end of her hair trimmed. When Janice arrived for her appointment, she found that the beauty salon was busy with numerous customers. As Cathy worked on Janice’s hair, Joan came up to her and asked, “Are you and Chris going to get married?”
Janice glanced at Cathy in the mirror, and Cathy rolled her eyes.
“I don’t see where that is anyone’s business,” Janice said.
“Oh, well, I asked because we were concerned that Chris would have to raise his prices at his auto shop if he got married,” Joan said.
Another lady, who looked to be in her mid-forties, with short, teased hair, joined in the conversation. “If you do get married, will you still be working at the library?”
“I will not be leaving the library, whether I get married or not.” Janice looked up at the woman and wondered if the ladies in the shop thought she was high-maintenance because of how she dressed.
“Good, we go to Chris all the time for our car maintenance, and we don’t want him to raise his prices because he has to support a wife.”
* * * *
Chris came to pick up Janice. He had on very casual clothes because he knew he would be walking around keeping an eye on the crowd and mingling and socializing with the people. When Janice came out of her bedroom, Chris couldn’t decide if he wanted her to go back in and change her clothes or if he wanted to talk her into staying at the apartment and making love. She had on a lovely black dress. It was short, falling about three inches above her knee, and it clung to her body. The back was opened, exposing her skin, but only through a thin netting, and the long sleeves were made of the same fine material.
“Whoa, Janice, I’m not sure I want you to go out looking like this,” Chris said with a wry grin as his gaze raked boldly over her.
“You don’t like it?” she asked, startled.
“Oh, it’s beautiful on you. I’m going to have a hard time tonight. I can feel it already,” Chris mumbled.
They arrived at the barn dance and Janice walked over to the corner to get her corsage and talk with the ladies and Barb. Chris walked over to Shane, looking around at the crowd.
“I don’t know if I’m gonna be able to stand this,” Chris remarked to Shane.
“Stand what?” Shane asked, handing Chris a long neck bottle of beer.
“Watching all these men dance with Janice.”
“Well, why didn’t you sign up to be one of the male dancers? That would have kept you busy.”
Chris laughed and said, “Yeah, right.”
“I hate to tell you this, dude, but I’m gonna get in a couple of dances with her too.”
“You just watch yourself, bro. I don’t want to have to tangle with you.” Chris eyed his friend warily.
* * * *
The band started and the men were all lining up to dance with Janice and the other ladies. Janice was having a ball dancing with the men, but she would occasionally look for Chris and wave when she spotted him. She wondered why he hadn’t paid any money to dance. She thought he might when she saw him walking over to the table where the money was being collected. But he just talked to the lady taking the money, then he walked away. Janice was disappointed.
Alexis came up to cut in and said it was his turn to dance with her.
“How are you doing?” she asked as Alexis took her in his arms.
“I’m doing good. Dad isn’t though.”
“What? Why? What do you mean?”
Alexis laughed. “He’s watching us like a hawk.”
She looked over at Chris and saw that he was staring at them. She smiled slightly at him, but he only managed a half-smile back at her.
“He’s been like that all night. I wonder why he won’t just pay the dollar to dance with me,” Janice said.
“I don’t know. I’ll find out.”
* * * *
The next guy cut in and the music changed to a new song with a faster beat.
Alexis went over to his father and asked, “Why don’t you pay the dollar and dance with her, Dad?”
“I’m saving it for the last dance,” Chris replied.
“You and about a hundred other guys,” Alexis said, smiling.
“No, I paid for Janice and I to dance the entire last song of the night.”
“Well, she’s wondering why you won’t come and dance with her.”
“She’ll be surprised later,” Chris replied smugly.
* * * *
Shane came up to Janice and the guy she was dancing with and cut in.
“Hi, Shane,” Janice said.
“Hello there. I can’t believe I get to actually dance with you.”
Janice laughed.
“I have to tell you that I am to be on my utmost best behavior as I was told tonight that a certain someone didn’t want to have to tangle with me.”
“Really? You mean Chris?”
“Yeah. He said this was gonna be a hard night for him.” Shane chuckled and danced with her until Aaron cut in.
“Hi, Janice,” he said.
“Aaron, hi. How are you doing?” she asked as they danced to the music.
“I’m good. How are you?”
“I’m doing fine. Where’s Cathy?”
“Oh, she’s dancing with one of the other guys so I thought I’d dance with you.”
After a few steps, Mark cut in. “Be still my beating heart. I’m finally going to get to dance with the woman of my dreams.”
Janice smiled. “Hello, Mark. How are you?”
“I’m fine now. I was frantic thinking I would never get to dance with you. Too bad you’re doing this dollar thing, otherwise, we could dance all night like we did last month.”
“Yes, that was a great time, wasn’t it?” Janice said.
* * * *
While Chris was watching Janice dance with Mark, Joan from the beauty salon came up to him.
“Hello, Chris.”
Chris turned and looked at her. “Hi, Joan.”
“I was wondering if I could have this dance with you?”
“I’m not participating in the money dance.”
“That’s okay. We’ll get to dance to the whole song and not get interrupted.” Joan batted her eyes at Chris and flashed her big, toothy smile.
Chris couldn’t think of the right words to turn her down, and he didn’t want to hurt her feelings, so finally, he said, “Okay.”
Although Chris was taller than Joan, her hair was piled so high on top of her head it made her look like she was taller than him. Chris held her at arm’s length, even though she tried to get in a little closer. He looked over at Janice as she danced with another man and gave her a wry grin.
“Tell me, Chris, is what I’ve been hearing true? Are you and Janice a couple?”
“Yes, we are,” Chris replied.
“Oh, so when is the wedding?”
“We haven’t decided on marriage yet.”
“I heard that you two were engaged and she was going to quit her job and be a housewife.”
“Really, where did you hear that?” Chris asked.
“You know, the scuttlebutt that is going around at the salon.”
“Don’t you ladies have anything better to do than spread gossip?”
Joan laughed loudly, and as Janice’s partner turned her toward Chris, she looked over at them.
“I was just hoping that if you two go
t married, that she didn’t quit her job, because otherwise you’d have to raise your prices at the shop to accommodate her.”
“I don’t think you have anything to worry about.”
When the music was done he walked Joan off the dance floor and turned around to see Mark coming up to Janice for another dance. The way that Mark and Janice were dancing had Chris getting agitated.
“That womanizer doesn’t know when to quit,” Chris muttered irritably.
Shane walked up beside him and chuckled.
Chris decided he couldn’t watch this anymore and walked over to where a couple of guys were talking about stock car racing. Chatting with them would get his mind off of watching Janice until the right moment.
* * * *
The evening was drawing to a close and the last dance was announced. Chris appeared out of nowhere and asked, “Can I have this dance?”
Janice turned around with a big smile, and said. “Yes, you can.”
Chris pulled her close to him and held her tightly. She laid her head on his chest as they danced in perfect motion to the song I Love You Always Forever.
“I’m surprised someone hasn’t cut in,” Janice whispered.
“They better not. I paid Lola off to have the last dance with you.”
Janice looked up at him, and he was staring down at her, his face full of love and passion. She stepped back into his embrace as they continued dancing to the music.
“What did Alexis say to you?” Chris asked quietly.
“Nothing,” Janice replied.
“He seemed to be talking to you in detail when he was dancing with you.”
“He just remarked that you were staring at us.”
“Hmm, okay,” Chris murmured.
“Shane said you told him you didn’t want to have to tangle with him.”
“Yeah, I did,” Chris said shamelessly.
“Oh,” Janice replied, smiling to herself.
Chris brought his head down to her neck and started nibbling on her earlobe.
“Chris.” Janice sighed.
“Hmm?” He continued to plant sweet kisses on her neck.
“It’s a good thing this is the last dance.”
“Mmm-hmm.”
“Chris, you’re getting me all excited,” Janice whispered.
“I think we’re going to have to go.” Chris chuckled quietly.
The song came to an end.
“I’ll go get your coat and meet you at the front entrance,” Chris said.
“Okay. I want to see how we did with the money.”
Janice walked over to Lola at the money table. “Well, how did we do?” Janice asked.
“We made fifteen hundred dollars. That’s the most we’ve ever made.”
“That’s wonderful,” Janice replied. She gave the corsage back to Lola to put away for next year’s event and headed toward the entrance. She saw Chris standing there with her coat.
Mark came up to her before she got to Chris. “Janice, can we go out tonight and grab some dinner?”
“Thanks, but no, I’m with someone else tonight.”
“The guy that paid for the last dance?”
“Yep.”
“Darn, I was too late,” Mark replied dejectedly.
Janice smiled weakly and continued walking toward Chris.
“Ready, honey?” Chris asked as she walked up to him.
“Yes, I am.”
Chris held her coat open so she could get her arms in it and they walked out into the cold evening.
“They raised fifteen hundred dollars tonight, so it wasn’t so bad for you, was it?” Janice asked.
“It was bad enough, but survivable. Next year I think they should find other people to do it.”
“Maybe next year you could join the money dance and let the women pay to dance with you!” Janice suggested cheerfully.
“Hmm, I don’t know about that.”
“You do like to dance, don’t you?”
“Just with you.”
Janice smiled. She couldn’t believe that she could be this content and happy and that Chris loved her. Life was blissful.
Chapter 19
Janice wanted to purchase some new suits to wear to work, so she stopped at Barb Wickman’s shop and found some beautiful things.
She came back to her apartment and put her suits in the bedroom closet. When she turned around, she froze and gasped.
“I see my lovely wife has been busy.”
“David, what are you doing here?” Janice asked, shocked.
“All this time I thought you loved me and were waiting for me to get out, and here I find you fooling around with another man,” he said through clenched teeth.
“What are you talking about? I never told you I would wait for you. I divorced you. I want nothing to do with you, David.” Janice’s heart was beating hard in her chest, and she backed up, afraid of what he was planning to do.
“Yeah, I know. It was that woman who calls herself my mother all along. Don’t worry, she won’t hurt anyone again.”
“What do you mean? What did you do?” Fear gripped Janice. Her hands were trembling, as was her body, and she stuck her hands in her blazer jacket.
“What did I do? I gave that bitch everything she deserved, that’s what I did,” he rasped, pacing back and forth. “That bitch kept writing love letters to me, telling me how much you loved me and that you were waiting for me to get out so we could be together, then she signed your name.”
Janice thought she might pass out. David was ranting and raving like a maniac. She hadn’t been notified that he was loose, and now he was there in her apartment.
“David, what did you do to her?” Janice asked again, trying not to panic.
“I killed her, that’s what I did, and that’s what I’m going to do to you too, after I have a little fun with you. That injun isn’t going to have you. If I can’t have you, no one else will, especially that injun,” he said menacingly.
Janice cringed as she took small steps back toward the bedroom door. Her legs were weak, and she felt like they were going to buckle under her.
He caught her by the arm. “Where do you think you’re going, wife?” He twisted her arm and pulled it around to her back, then clamped a pair of handcuffs to her wrist. Grabbing her other arm, he yanked it around and cuffed her wrists together. He pushed her out the door and said, “Move it. Out to your car.”
David dug through Janice’s purse for her car keys and then made her walk out to the SUV. When she was inside it he tied her legs so she couldn’t run. He shifted his gun to his left hand, and he got into the driver’s seat and started the engine.
“Where are you taking me?” Janice asked nervously.
“Someplace no one will ever find you,” he growled.
* * * *
Jack Logerstein called the sheriff’s office of Colstrip and talked with Shane Booths. “Hello, Sheriff Booths. My name is Jack Logerstein, and I’m an attorney representing Janice Meyers. I need to get ahold of her right away. She’s not at the library, and she’s not answering her cellphone. It’s imperative that I speak with her. Her life may be in danger.”
“I know Janice. Is there a message I can get to her?”
“Yes. David Banning, her ex-husband, has escape from the institution he was in. He killed his mother. We don’t know the reason, but apparently he was being difficult and his doctor put him on stronger medication. He stopped taking it and is now suffering from psychosis, hallucinations, and an increase in anxiety. Janice and I were supposed to be notified if he ever got out, but I just found out about this today and he escaped several weeks ago.”
“Okay, I’ll track Janice down and tell her. Thank you for calling me,” Shane said.
“Please have her call me as soon as she can so I know she’s okay.”
“I will.”
As Shane was getting into his cruiser he called Chris’s shop. “Aaron, I need to talk to your dad right away, it’s an emergency.”
Chris came to the phone.
“Chris, I’m going to Janice’s apartment. I got a call from her attorney that her ex-husband escaped from the institution he was in, and he killed his mother. They fear he’s coming here to hurt Janice.”
“Call me as soon as you get to her apartment. I’m on my way,” Chris said.
Shane turned the emergency lights on and sped through town toward Janice’s apartment. When he pulled up, the back door was wide open and her SUV was gone.
While in route, Shane had called the Pitkin County Sheriff and asked for information about David Banning and his escape. When he had the details he called Chris, who answered the phone on the first ring.
“Apparently, Banning’s been missing for several weeks now. As near as they can tell, his mother had been writing love letters to him and signing Janice’s name to them. He was getting bored and restless at the home and started acting out. They had him on some sort of stabilizing drug, but after a while he stopped taking it and began to exhibit violent tendencies. He walked off the premises and went to his mother’s place, where he found a letter written and waiting to be mailed. She had signed Janice’s name to it.”
“What?” Chris let out a string of obscenities. “How did that happen, and why?” Chris demanded explosively.
“Someone here in Colstrip was mailing the letters for her. We haven’t found the culprit yet, but when David found out, he went into a rage and killed his mother. I’m in Janice’s apartment now and she isn’t here.” Shane looked through Janice’s apartment and saw signs indicating a struggle. “He’s got her,” Shane said grimly.
He hung up his phone and it rang again. “Sheriff Booths.”
“Hey, Sheriff, I just got a call from OnStar about Janice Meyers,” his desk sergeant said.
“Okay,” the sheriff said.
“She contacted OnStar and told them she’s been kidnapped. They said they would keep a tracer on her and relay information back to us.”
“Where are they headed?”
“They’re heading up highway 39.”
“Keep me on the line as well and report to me where they go.”
Shane called Chris again.
“Janice managed to contact OnStar and told them she’s been kidnapped. They are able to trace her vehicle.”
“Where are they?”
Book of Love Page 16