Web of Lies

by Brandilyn Collins

  Detective Blanche. The one who told her mom she could go to school. “Okay.”

  “Orwin Neese has kidnapped your mother. We — ”

  Kelly wailed. Her knees gave way and she grabbed the edge of the desk.

  “We’ve just picked your brother up, but now we need to get you to safety. I want you to put down the phone right now, talk to no one, and walk straight out the front door. One of our plainclothes detectives is waiting in an unmarked car. He’ll show you his badge. You’ll be brought straight to the police station.”

  “But my mom! Is she — ”

  “We’ll answer your questions in the car. Come now.”

  The line went dead.

  Kelly dropped the phone. Everything blurred. The girl behind the desk asked her something, but she couldn’t hear. Wind and screaming filled her head. Mom, Mom! She whirled out of the office and streaked down the hall. Her legs felt like rubber. Was she even moving? Was this a horrible dream?

  God, I don’t care about me; just let Mom be okay!

  She hit the building’s door and shoved through it. Stumbled into sunlight. Her head swiveled back and forth, searching for the policeman.

  An engine gunned some distance away. A white car surged toward her and punched to a stop. A man leaned over and pushed open the passenger door. “Hurry!”

  Kelly blinked at the empty backseat. Something . . . “Where’s Stephen?”

  “He’s headed to the station in another car; just get in!”

  A sob burst from her and she fell into the car, throat closing up. The car jumped forward. “What happened to my mom? Where is she — ”

  “She’ll be okay; just calm down. I need to show you my badge.”

  They turned out of the parking lot. The man reached into his pocket and pulled out something. Not a badge. A cloth. He stuck it in her face. Kelly gasped, yanked her head back. He pressed the rag against her nose. Dizziness swept over her. She raised her hands to fight . . . push it away . . .

  The world went black.

  Chapter 46

  At ten forty-five the tire shop called. Chelsea’s car would be ready at two o’clock. Jenna would drive her into Redding.

  Exhaustion lumped in my chest, but no way could I sleep. My emotions bounced all over the place.

  We stayed glued to FOX News as it aired updates from Milt Waking. Tips about Orwin Neese were already filtering into the police station. And the Sheriff’s Department had received a couple of leads about John Doe. We saw interviews with detectives, sheriff’s deputies. Milt interviewed Tim Blanche around nine o’clock, and that footage had already replayed a couple of times.

  The scant information didn’t console me. I was a caged tiger, hungry for answers. When would Neese be caught? Were Amy Flyte and the unknown man still alive? Who was John Doe? Was he connected to Neese, or did Chelsea’s vision indeed link two unrelated crimes?

  Milt was supposed to call with whatever information he’d discovered. It was high time he did.

  Dave had needed to attend a meeting in town at nine thirty. He phoned when it ended, seeking any news. “I’ll be home in twenty minutes. Want me to come over?”

  I wandered into the great room, looked through the windows toward his house. “You don’t have to take care of other work?”

  “Annie, how can I? I keep worrying about you.”

  My gritty eyes closed. “Yes, Dave. Please come.”

  “Okay. And . . . Annie?” His voice caught. “I want you to know something. I couldn’t manage without you in my life.”

  The words seeped into my soul. Oh, Dave. What we could have . . . if I could only cut the strings to all my insecurities. “I need you too. So much.”

  There. I’d said it.

  For a moment neither of us spoke.

  “See you soon, Annie,” Dave whispered — and hung up.

  I pulled the phone from my ear and stared across the room.

  The TV beckoned. “Nothing new.” Jenna sighed. “They’re airing other stories now.”

  Frustration curled my fingers. How could the world turn as normal, with all this going on? I headed upstairs for a shower, hoping it would calm me. It didn’t. I only succeeded in riling myself up more over the fact that Milt still hadn’t called.

  By eleven thirty I would wait no longer. That man, what an ingrate! Getting all that airtime and already breaking his promises to us.

  I stalked to the kitchen and dialed his cell phone. “Where are you?”

  “At the Building Services Department.” His words were terse.

  I heard voices in the background. “What are you doing?”

  “Reporting to you, apparently.”

  “Well, don’t sound so put out. You did promise to do that, remember?”

  “Sorry, I’m a tad busy here. Do you have any idea how many calls I’ve fielded this morning? This story’s heating up like a wildfire and I’m jumping all over the place.”

  I wanted to strangle him. “I’m so happy for you.”

  “Annie.” His voice tightened. “I didn’t have to answer your call, you know. What do you want?”

  What did I want? I pushed a fist against the counter. “I want this to be over, how’s that for starters? I want to know where Neese is! I want to know you’re doing something in return for the drawing I gave you — ”

  “I’m doing what I can. And it’s not like I can control where Neese goes.”

  “Did I say that? I just want to know what you’re up to.”

  “I can’t talk here.”

  “Great. When can you talk?” Call waiting clicked in my ear. I held out the receiver to check the ID. Erin’s cell number. Instant concern stiffened my back. Why would she be phoning? “Milt, I need to go; I’m getting a call from the high school.” Without waiting for a reply, I hit the flash button to jump over.

  “Erin, hi. Are you okay?”

  “Annie!” Her voice sounded breathless. “Please tell me you know. Where’s Kelly?”

  Chapter 47

  The girl was still woozy, stumbling around like some Ecstasy-drugged chick. He practically had to carry her inside. She slumped against him as he dragged her through the kitchen, down the basement stairs.

  Let the fun begin.

  He held her up with one hand, opened the storage room door, and leaned around to flick on the one bulb — a red 40watt. It glowed the faint color of blood.

  He could just make out a few scurrying creatures on the floor.

  “Okay, in you go.”

  The girl tried to fight as he pulled her inside. “Hey, knock it off.” He grabbed a waving arm.

  “No, lemme ’lone.”

  Her words slurred. Did she even know what she was doing? He pushed her over to a corner, then slid her to the floor. Her head lolled, hair over her face.

  Too bad; it was a pretty face.

  He stood up. Watched as a fly landed on her arm. He’d stocked the room with a good number as food for the spiders. Most had probably been caught by now.

  Bending down, he unlaced her shoes and pulled them off, then her socks. Just to be nice, he used the socks to sweep the wall and floor around her clear of spiders. That would do — for a little while.

  Outside the room, he used a key to lock her in. He wondered how long she’d take to fully wake up.

  When she did, she’d be screaming.

  Chapter 48

  Erin’s question pierced me like a poison-tipped arrow. That catch in her voice . . .

  “What do you mean, where’s Kelly? She’s at school with you.”

  Erin dragged in a breath. “She was, but something happened. We have two classes in a row together, and during the first one someone from the principal’s office came to get her. Said she had an emergency phone call. Kelly left and never came back. I picked up her backpack and took it to the next class, but she never showed up there either.”

  The poison leaked across my chest. “Did she leave her cell phone?”

  “No, she always keeps it in her back po
cket. But I called it like five times and she never answered.”

  Breath froze in my lungs. I blinked rapidly. Wait a minute, Annie, just wait; there’ll be an explanation. “Maybe she’s with Stephen. Did you try him?”

  “Oh no, I should have. I just thought maybe you’d — ”

  “It’s okay, I’ll do it. Keep your phone on; I’ll call you right back.” My heart pumped dreading beats as I punched off the line. First I tried auto-dialing Kelly. Surely Erin was wrong. My daughter would pick up.

  One ring. A second. Third, fourth, fifth. “Hey, this is Kelly Kingston. Leave me a message and I’ll — ”

  “Come on, Kelly.” I jabbed off the line, hit her auto-dial once more. Again her canned voice. The hammer against my ribs kicked into double time. I auto-dialed Stephen, silently pleading. “Do you know where Kelly is?”

  Surprised silence. “Why, have you been trying to call her?”

  “Stephen, don’t answer my question with a question! Do you know where she is?”

  “Here, as far as I know. What’s going on? Why are you asking?”

  “Because she’s not there! Erin says she was called out from class for an emergency phone call and never came back.”

  “Wait, Mom.” The words congealed. “What are you talking about?”

  The tone of my voice brought Jenna to the kitchen threshold, forehead etched. Chelsea was close behind her. Tears clawed my eyes. “Kelly’s missing,” I blurted to them, then told Stephen what I knew. Jenna’s cheeks drained to paste. Chelsea brought her hands to her mouth.

  Annie, keep calm. There’ll be an explanation.

  “Stephen, the principal told me he’d keep an eye on Kelly. Would you go check with his office?”

  “Okay, I’m walking there right now.” Stephen’s voice rode on puffs of air. In the background I could hear the high school hall noises of trudging feet and laughter. I threw a helpless look at Jenna. How dare anyone laugh at a time like this? “Mrs. Winger isn’t here today, remember?” Stephen said. “Mike’s funeral is this afternoon. So I don’t know who told Kelly to come to the office. Hold on, I’m here.”

  Muffled noises. Stephen, talking to a female. She sounded young. My son’s tone sharpened. “I can’t believe you — ” He cut himself off, his words clearing. “Mom, some idiot junior is filling in at the front desk. She says Kelly got a call from a detective named Tim Branch or something like that. He said there was an emergency and Kelly had to come to the phone right away. The principal wasn’t in the office and this girl didn’t even think to find him first. She just went and got Kelly.”

  Tim Blanche?

  “Kelly came and talked to the man on the phone, then got real upset and ran out.”

  My eyes fixated on the floor, brain scrambling to concoct a reason, any reason, for Blanche to call my daughter without telling me. And what could he possibly say to make her run — where? Out of the school building? Alone?

  “I picked up her backpack, but she never showed up at the next class either.”

  My legs weakened. I sank into a chair.

  “What, what?” Jenna gripped the table. Chelsea lowered herself into a seat across from me, her eyes never leaving my face.

  “Okay, Stephen.” I forced calm into my voice. “I’ll call Detective Blanche. There has to be a reason for what happened. I’ll get back to you.”

  “Okay. Man, it better be good, scaring us like this. I’m gonna strangle that cop.”

  I hung up. Quickly told Jenna and Chelsea what I heard. Then with shaking fingers I blipped through incoming calls until I found Blanche’s direct number. I hit the send button, barely breathing while the phone rang, my heart twisting up my throat. A voice inside my head whispered the truth, but I would not listen.

  Blanche’s answering machine picked up. I exhaled in panicked frustration. “He’s not in his office! Jenna, would you read me the police station number?”

  She strode to the refrigerator and read it off the white magnet that listed the county’s emergency numbers. I dialed again.

  “Redding Police Department.”

  “This is Annie Kingston. I need to talk to Detective Tim Blanche right away.”

  “All right. I’ll put you through to his off — ”

  “No, wait, he’s not in his office! Please find him.” I closed my eyes and waited, desperate prayers filtering through my head.

  Blanche came on the line. I told him what happened. “Please, Tim, please tell me you called her.”

  “Annie, I didn’t call your daughter out of school. Why would I? I’ve been out chasing leads on Neese and just got back.”

  “Somebody else, then. Someone from your department.”

  “Look, if something like that happened, I’d know about it. Nobody’s called her.”

  My windpipe squeezed shut. Oh, God, no. “Whoever called her said he was you. He got her to leave the school, Tim.”

  “All right, just hold on. We’ll look for her. I’ll send officers to the school. If she’s not there, we’ll put out an alert.”

  “Okay.” How could I sound so calm? How could my fingers hold the phone? Alerts were for children who’d been kidnapped. Who wound up dead.

  He spouted assurances I barely heard. I clicked off the line and locked eyes with my sister, my limbs icing over.

  “It’ll be okay.” Jenna’s tone belied her fright. “It’s just some big mistake.”

  Yes, a mistake. That’s all. Any minute now we’d straighten it out. I would accept any explanation, even the sick joke of some other student. Anything. But deep within I knew. I could feel my daughter out there somewhere, snatched away, terrified and helpless.

  Praying for me to save her.

  Chapter 49

  Kelly swam at the bottom of a thick, dark ocean. Terrifying dreams wrapped around her chest like seaweed — a call at school, a man in a car, a dim little room . . . Her arms pushed through the mucky water, legs kicking. Slowly she rose. Her body felt heavy, drained. Push, kick . . . push, kick . . .

  She broke the surface.

  Her eyes opened.

  Dim red light. Shelves on a wall. A small, dirty oval window. The smell of dust and . . . something. A close, buggy kind of smell. A concrete floor.

  Little things crept on it.

  The truth punched her in the stomach. The spider room.

  Shock kicked through her body. Kelly jerked up straight, head pivoting. No, no, no, she hated spiders. Wildly she stared at the floor, the walls, the shelves. They were everywhere. Something tickled the back of her hand. A little white one. She screamed, shook it off.

  She scrambled to her feet, running both hands up and down her legs, her arms, around her neck. Were they on her head? Her back? She shrieked and swiped herself again and again. Bent over and streaked violent fingers through her hair.

  How was she here; what happened? Oh, please, God — her feet were bare! What if she stepped on a spider? Kelly’s mind exploded. The call, the car, that man . . . dragged through a kitchen, down steps, into this room . . . that killer with the spiders, and the jar at her house, and those people he kidnapped, and her mom!

  Did he have Mom too? Where was she? In another room with more spiders? Was she dead? Kelly moaned. What was that man going to do to them?

  Panic seized her throat. She wailed and threw herself at the door, yanking at the knob. It wouldn’t budge, though she rattled and pulled it. Please, please! It wouldn’t turn, it wouldn’t turn. Her nerves singed. She was locked in here; she’d be bitten to death. Her fist thudded against the wood. “Let me out! Please. Let me out!”

  She begged and shrieked. Pounded and pounded and pounded . . . until her hand bruised and all energy drained away. Sobbing, she sagged against the wood. This couldn’t be real; how could it be happening? What if the man never came back; what if she was in here forever? What if he did come back —

  Movement on her arm. She gasped, struck at it. A fly buzzed from her skin.

  Spiders! Kelly wrenched away from the d
oor. They could be anywhere: the walls, the floor. She couldn’t touch anything. She had to stand in the middle of the room and watch her bare feet —

  What if they came down from the ceiling?

  She threw her head back, squinted up. Saw one crawling straight above her.

  Her feet eased one sideways step. Her shoulders drew in. She brought both hands to her mouth, shuddering. She would not move from this spot.

  Oh, God, where are You? Please help me! Please send somebody! Where’s my mom?

  Kelly cried. Cried and sobbed until her chest burned. Her knees shook, but she didn’t dare sit down. How long could she stand here?

  The door rattled. She sucked in air, froze.

  The sound of a key in a lock. The door swung open. The man stepped inside, holding her cell phone. Kelly shrank from him, eyes wide.

  He glared at her. “Stop making so much noise.”

  Her throat closed up. She couldn’t even swallow.

  His mouth twisted into a slow smile. “Well. Like your new place?”

  Kelly’s heart beat out of her chest. She clutched her arms, trembling.

  “What’s the matter, girl? Can’t you talk?”

  Air shook in her lungs. “Wh – who are you?” Her voice barely worked. “Why did you bring me here?”

  “Who am I?” He barked out a laugh. “Man, the chloroform must have played with your head. Don’t you remember the name Orwin Neese? A little present in a jar, left at your house?”

  She stared at him, trying to make sense of it. “Please let me out.”

  “What’s the matter, you scared of spiders?”

  She nodded.

  More laughter burst from him. “Oh ho, that’s funny! But then, you should be. Especially of certain ones in here.”

  No! She looked frantically around her feet.

  “Don’t worry, you seem to be safe at the moment. Just watch where you step.” He sniggered. “You hear the stories about that girl Amy Flyte being in here? And the man-with-no-name? They got bit by two of the deadly ones. I moved their bodies out this morning.”