Unforeseen Danger

by Michelle Perry

  November 20

  Nikki went to work with Jake the next morning. Although they talked about announcing their ‘engagement’ at Thanksgiving, she couldn’t wait. She and Jake invited their families and Darcy to an impromptu dinner at a local restaurant.

  Nikki called Sara last. After two different secretaries put her on hold, she was finally patched through to the mayor’s office.

  “Nicole, is something wrong?” Sara asked. “Has something else happened?”

  “No, nothing like that. We have some good news—”

  “Don’t tell me you’re pregnant,” Sara interrupted.

  Nikki recoiled from the exasperated tone of her mother’s voice, but forced herself to keep her voice neutral. She felt Jake look up at her when she said, “No. I’m not pregnant.” Dropping her voice, she said, “But would that be so horrible?”

  Sara sighed into the phone. “I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant now would be a bad time, until we can find out who’s stalking you—”

  “Let’s not talk about it right now.” Nikki leaned back in the chair and pressed her fingertips to her eyelids. She was getting a headache.

  “Ignoring him won’t make him go away.”

  “Nothing’s happened in almost a week. Maybe he’s getting tired of playing games.”

  “That’s what I’m afraid of, Nicole. What if he is tired of playing games? I’m really concerned about you.”

  “And I appreciate it, but we can’t put our lives on hold for this psycho. I can’t live like that. We’re inviting everyone to dinner tonight at Toretto’s. Can you make it?”

  “Is your father going to be there?”

  Nikki felt a flash of impatience. “This isn’t about him. It’s about me. I have an announcement and I want my mother there. Are you coming?”

  “What time?”

  “Six.”

  “I’ll be there.”

  “Thanks, Mother,” Nikki said. She hung up the phone and laid her head on the desk. Jake came up behind her and started massaging her neck.

  “Umm, that’s nice.” She peeked up at him and said, “Tell me this isn’t going to be a disaster.”

  “It’ll be okay,” he said, and she almost thought he meant it. She lifted her head and giving him a skeptical look.

  Jake laughed. “I’m serious here. You don’t remember the really good ones. There were so many different arguments going on it was hard to keep up. This should be positively dull.”

  “Let’s just make sure my father and mother don’t sit together.”

  “Or my mother and Elaine,” Jake said.

  Nikki groaned and laid her head back in her hands.

  ***

  Darcy was the last to arrive. She shut the door to the private banquet room and Eliot pulled a chair out for her. Jake waited until she sat down to stand and say, “Can I have your attention, please?”

  He took Nikki’s hand and tugged her up beside him. “The reason we’ve called you here tonight…you want to tell them, honey?”

  Nikki held up her right hand, flashing the diamond eternity band. “We’re getting married…again!”

  “We thought we’d renew our vows on December 16th, our anniversary,” Jake said.

  Glancing around, he didn’t think anyone looked all that amazed, but at least half of them were frowning. Not surprisingly, Nikki’s mother was the first one to speak up.

  “Are you sure you should do this right now?” Sara asked. “What if it just…provokes this man?”

  “It’s going to be a private ceremony. The only people invited are in this room.” Jake glanced at Nikki, who looked radiant in her black leather pants and white cashmere sweater. “This is just something we want to do for us.”

  Eliot stood and walked up to Jake, holding out his arms. Jake embraced him and he said, “Congratulations, man.”

  He repeated his congratulations to Nikki and kissed her cheek. Almost grudgingly, the others stood and gathered around them, offering hugs and congratulations.

  “Ah, well. I guess Jake’s in for it when we go camping this weekend,” Zeke said as he resumed his place at the table. “I can only imagine what Matt Garrettson and those other hooligans will do to him. Our hunting trip will turn into a bachelor party, right, Eliot?”

  Eliot and Jake looked at each other blankly. They had both forgotten about the trip.

  Once a year, the three of them, along with Matt Garrettson and four or five other men, went to spend the weekend at Zeke’s hunting cabin. Although it was technically a hunting trip, very little hunting actually went on. They usually stayed up all night, eating Matt’s cooking, playing poker and telling tall tales. Jake had been every year since his teens, first with his father and then with Zeke.

  “Uh, Dad, I’m not going to be able to make it this year,” Eliot said. “I have to go out of town.”

  “Aw, come on, son,” Zeke said. “Can’t you reschedule your trip?”

  “Afraid not, Dad.” Eliot shook his head and glanced at Kelly. “It’s important.”

  “I’ll have to sit this one out, too,” Jake said. “I don’t want to leave Nikki right now.”

  Nikki squeezed his arm. “I’m sure Catherine will let me stay with her again if you want to go. You need a break from all this. We said we weren’t going to let this govern our lives. I want you to go.”

  “Come on, Jake,” Zeke pleaded. “You can’t back out on me, too. Saturday is the last day of quail season. The ladies will be fine, won’t you?” he asked Catherine.

  “It could be fun!” Catherine exclaimed. “We can have a ladies’ night, too. Kelly, are you going with Eliot?”

  She nodded, and Catherine said, “Oh. That’s too bad.” She turned her gaze on Sara and Jake could almost see his mother-in-law shrink back, even though she didn’t actually move. “Sara, what about you?”

  “I have plans for this weekend,” she said quickly. “Sorry.”

  “Elaine, Darcy?”

  “Count me in,” Darcy said with a sigh. “No hot dates. I don’t have any plans this weekend.”

  Elaine stared down at her napkin. “I have to work.”

  Nikki sat beside Elaine, and Jake smiled when he saw her nudge his stepsister. “Come after work then.”

  Elaine looked a little trapped. “I don’t know.”

  “Don’t be a party pooper. Come on,” Nikki cajoled. “It will be fun.”

  To Jake’s surprise, Elaine said, “I might come by, but I don’t think I can spend the night.”

  “Somebody run the camcorder for me when you throw Jake in the lake,” Eliot told his father.

  Jake groaned, remembering the way they treated Eliot when he made the unfortunate mistake of announcing his engagement just before their trip seven years ago. Matt and the others had decided to “initiate” him.

  “I’ve been married for nearly three years, already. I don’t think that’s necessary.”

  Zeke snorted and glanced at Eliot. “I agree. Without you there to help, it’ll probably be all of us old geezers that end up in the lake, not Jake.”

  “You’d better not let them throw my baby in that lake, Zeke,” Catherine threatened. “Or both you and Matt Garrettson will answer to me.”

  ***

  November 22

  Nikki reluctantly kissed Jake goodbye Friday afternoon.

  “I’d better not come home hearing some wild story about you and my mother and a couple of male strippers,” he teased, but she was unable to joke, now that he was leaving. He took her chin in his hand and tilted her face up to his. “Do you want me to stay here? It’s not too late—”

  She forced a smile and waved him off. “Go. I’ll be fine.”

  “Be thinking about where you want to honeymoon.”

  Feigning surprise, she said, “Ooh, I get one of those, too?”

  “You betcha. And maybe when we get back, we can start planning for one of those other little things you talked about last night.”

  Nikki gasped. “You mean—”
>
  “You took one of those three month birth control shots back in October, so we’ll have a little time to honeymoon before we set about trying to make Mom a grandmother.” He kissed her again, and Nikki closed her eyes, imagining what his children would look like.

  “Hurry back to me,” she whispered, and gave him another lingering kiss. Catherine and Zeke joined them on the porch. She and Catherine watched them leave, waving until they got out of sight.

  “Well, it looks like it’s just us girls.” Catherine ushered Nikki inside and closed the front door behind them. “Darcy called. She’ll be over as soon as she packs her overnight bag and do you believe it—” Catherine smiled. “—Elaine called, too. She told me to tell you she’s coming by after work.”

  “So what’s the plan, mother-in-law?” Nikki asked, reaching to give her a hug.

  “Pretty much like the men, I imagine. Eat junk food, play cards.” She smiled. “But we have the new Mel Gibson movie.”

  “Oooh,” Nikki said.

  Catherine glanced at her watch. “Well, do you think you’ll be okay until I go get our munchies? I hate for both of us to leave, knowing that Darcy’s on her way.”

  “I’ll be fine,” Nikki assured her. “She should be here any time.”

  “Okay, dear.” Catherine grabbed her keys. “Oh, and by the way…you should be able to find those pictures you need of Jake in one of those albums over there.” She gestured toward the bookshelf. “Help yourself.”

  Elaine had told Nikki about a display she’d seen at a friend’s wedding recently. Pictures of the bride and groom from infancy to adulthood were assembled in the reception area. Although their wedding was going to be small, Nikki thought she might incorporate the idea anyway.

  She heard Catherine’s car start up outside as she reset the alarm. Walking over to the bookcase, she pulled out a heavy blue album. It was more of a scrapbook than a photo album and Nikki started to replace it when a clipping of a very young, very determined looking Jake caught her eye. He couldn’t have been more than five, and the photographer had caught the perfect angle to capture the shot. The ball was suspended about a foot in the air above his glove. Seeing the grim set of his jaw, she hoped he’d made the catch, but she’d never know for sure. The caption read, “Jake Hawthorne scrambles for a pop-up.”

  He looked so sweet and innocent. Amused, she flipped through the pages. There was Jake at his high school homecoming. He stood beside a beaming Elaine as she was crowned homecoming queen. Nikki flipped the page, and what she saw nearly stopped her heart. It was a picture of Catherine and Zeke dancing. The caption underneath read:

  Ezekiel Simms III and wife Catherine celebrating his appointment as Circuit Court judge. Simms was appointed to a 4 year term Saturday.

  Dear God.

  Could Zeke have been her mysterious E.S. all along?

  Nikki felt her stomach lurch at the implication of this thought.

  Jake!

  He was with Zeke right now. How easy it would be to stage some kind of hunting accident, to get rid of Jake and none of them would be the wiser.

  Fighting the wave of nausea that assaulted her, Nikki yanked on her coat and searched desperately for her cell phone. Finally, she spied it lying on the coffee table. She yanked it up and furiously began punching in Jake’s number.

  An automated voice informed her that the cellular customer she had just dialed was currently unavailable.

  “Not now!” Nikki cried, and was about to punch in 911 when the doorbell rang. Nikki shoved the cell phone into her pocket and ran let Darcy in.

  When she threw open the door, Darcy stared at her in surprise. “Hey, Nik – what’s wrong?”

  “I think it’s Zeke, Darcy! We have to get to Jake. I have to tell him.”

  “Calm down, calm down,” Darcy said, stepping inside the doorway. “What are you talking about?”

  “I found this letter in one of my pockets after the ball. It was a letter from my lover and he signed it with the initials E.S. First I thought it was Evan Stephens, then I thought it might be Eliot, but I just saw a clipping – I may be wrong, but I have to get to Jake. What if Zeke tries to kill him?”

  “Amazing!” Darcy said.

  She shook her head and laughed. Impatiently, Nikki pushed past her and jerked open the hall closet to retrieve her boots.

  “Darcy, I’m serious. We have to get to that cabin.”

  “You have to be the luckiest person alive, Nik. I can’t believe you guessed the right answer over such a totally irrelevant piece of evidence.”

  “What are you talking about?” Nikki demanded as she bent over to tug on her boots. She looked up and found herself staring into the barrel of the little snub-nosed pistol held in Darcy’s hand.

  Chapter 14

  Nikki stared at Darcy, stunned.

  “Come on, Nik.” Darcy gestured upward with the gun. “We’re taking a little trip.”

  “Why?” Nikki managed, as Darcy pushed her out the door.

  “You’ve put me in a bad position,” Darcy complained. “This is your own fault.”

  Using the remote to pop her trunk, Darcy said, “Get in. I can’t watch you and drive, too.”

  Nikki just stared at her, unable to comprehend what was happening.

  Anger flashed in Darcy’s eyes. “Get in, or I’ll shoot you right here.”

  Wordlessly, Nikki climbed in the trunk and Darcy slammed it shut. Tears stung her eyes, and she could make no sense of what was happening to her.

  It was cold in the trunk, and she shoved her hands in her pockets as the car lurched backwards out of the driveway. Her numb fingers raked something hard in her pocket and she realized it was the cell phone. Nikki’s hopes surged as she wondered if it would work back here.

  Nikki flipped open the lid, and the glowing green numbers comforted her. She punched in Jake’s cell number and prayed. She almost sobbed with relief when she heard his voice.

  “Jake, it’s Darcy!” she cried.

  “What’s happened to Darcy?”

  “No, it’s Darcy! It’s been Darcy all along,” she said frantically.

  “Where are you?” he demanded.

  “Darcy pulled a gun on me and made me get in the trunk of her car. I don’t know where she’s taking me.”

  ***

  Astonished, Jake repeated, “Darcy pulled a gun on you and made you get in the trunk?”

  Matt crouched nearby, unpacking his bedroll. He snatched the phone from Jake’s hand.

  “Nikki, do you have any idea where you’re at?” he asked.

  “We just left Catherine’s house. She turned right from Catherine’s drive, and we’ve made at least one sharp left since then.”

  “Stay on this line and tell Jake whenever you notice anything different, or you hear any strange sounds. We’re coming, Nikki.”

  He thrust the phone back to Jake and said, “Keep the signal open. We’re going to track her down.”

  Matt whipped his cell phone out of his jacket pocket and Jake dimly heard him barking instructions to his dispatcher.

  “What kind of car does Darcy drive?” he asked Jake.

  “Just a second, Nik,” he said, then turned to Matt. “It’s a red BMW. She has a personalized tag, Darcy 1.”

  “Fantastic,” Matt said, “What’s Nikki’s cell number?”

  “555-2316 .

  “Get me Carl Tompkins on the phone ASAP,” Matt said into his phone. “Tell him I need a trace to 555-2316. I need to know what tower it’s getting its signal from.”

  “Jake, in case I don’t make it, I love you,” Nikki whispered.

  “You’re going to make it, Nikki,” he said, feeling more frightened than he ever had in his life. “You have to.”

  Matt jerked his head and he and Jake ran for the door. The other men were still unloading the car and Jake heard Zeke yell something at him, but he didn’t have time to answer him. He bailed into the passenger seat of Matt’s Blazer just as Matt threw it in drive. They tore down the nar
row gravel road. A white-knuckled Matt drove like a madman, and Jake held on the best he could as he talked to Nikki.

  Matt’s phone rang and he snatched it up.

  “What do you have for me, Carl? Moving south on highway 50 near Altamont. Towards Viola?”

  “Matt, she says they’re stopping,” Jake interrupted.

  “Tell her to quit talking, but leave the phone turned on,” Matt said, before turning back to his conversation. Jake heard him command someone to send a chopper and all available units to the wireless tower on highway 50. “Fan them out, in a three mile radius moving south. We’ve got to find that car.”

  Nikki’s sudden silence terrified Jake, even though he knew it was necessary. He wished he could hear what was being said, could figure out what was going on. He squeezed his eyes shut and began to pray.

  ***

  The trunk popped open and Nikki squinted in the sudden burst of sunlight. It reflected dazzlingly off the snow-covered ground.

  “Get out,” Darcy said tonelessly.

  Nikki climbed out of the trunk onto a narrow gravel back road. Other than the winding slip of road, there was nothing to see in any direction but trees. A sense of desolation settled in Nikki’s bones and wondered if she was about to die. She thought of the cell phone in her pocket and wished she could hear Jake’s voice just one more time.

  “Why are you doing this?” she asked. “You at least owe me an explanation.”

  “I don’t owe you anything,” Darcy snapped. “That’s your problem, Nikki. You think the world revolves around you.”

  Darcy looked wild and disheveled, pacing in the wind as if she didn’t know how to proceed.

  “What did you mean about Zeke? Was he my lover?” Nikki persisted, not so much to buy time, but because she wanted to solve this maddening puzzle before she died.

  Darcy laughed, a crazy laughter that sent shivers down Nikki’s spine.

  “I can’t believe you figured it out, but you really forced my hand this time. All because of your stupid guess!” She shook her head in exasperation. “That letter wasn’t written to you. It was written to Jake, from Elaine. I dropped by his office one day to pick up your keys – you’d locked your car up at the mall again – and I saw it on his desk. I made a copy of it, but he caught me putting the original back on his desk. He made me promise not to say anything to you. We both knew how you flipped out if he even mentioned Elaine. If you confront Zeke, you implicate me. I really have no choice.”