What To Do About Wednesday

by Jennie Marts

  Although he didn’t seem as scary when he was laughing and playfully flirting with Cassie. Piper noticed the way he looked up and scanned the new group of patrons, and she caught the quick frown he made before his attention returned to her aunt.

  Edna was playing pool with three guys who looked like they worked construction for a living, all of them in jeans, long-sleeved undershirts, and flannel. They were laughing at the funny little old lady now, but she had a feeling Ginger Lafayette was hustling those boys out of their hard-earned cash.

  ‘Rachel’ and ‘Monica’ were still in the booth, but Piper’s muscles tensed as she watched her mom.

  Something was wrong.

  She could tell from the way her body had sunk inward, her shoulders hunched down, and her chin almost touched her chest. She’d pulled up the hood of her jacket and stuffed her hands into its pockets.

  Before Piper could get up to check on her, Claire slid from the booth, gave the room a furtive glance, then slipped out the door of the bar.

  What the heck?

  Where was she going?

  Sunny scooted from the booth and headed toward the pool tables. She had to pass by the tables of rowdy newcomers, and one of the men grabbed her as she walked by and pulled her into his lap. He wore sunglasses and a black doo-rag wrapped around his head, a silver skull emblem in the center of his forehead.

  Why did he need sunglasses? The sun hadn’t been out for hours.

  But Sunny had other things to worry about besides his choice of eyewear. She struggled to get up, her expression showing signs of panic as she pushed against his chest. Her motions only egged on the other guys at the tables who whistled and cat-called.

  Piper jabbed Cassie in the side with her elbow as she pushed off the bar stool.

  Snake looked toward the turmoil and grabbed a baseball bat from behind the counter. He leaned toward Cassie. “I think it’s time for you and your friend to be going. It gets a little rough around here after ten.” He nodded toward Sunny. “And you need to take your pals with you. I wouldn’t want anything to happen to you all.”

  Huh. So much for their undercover op. They hadn’t even fooled the bartender.

  He made his way toward the group, but Sunny had regained control of the situation and was glaring down at her captor.

  Her teacher voice could be heard all the way to the bar. “Take your hands off me right now.”

  “Ewww. This lady’s a tough one,” Skull-head said, but he held his hands up in surrender.

  Sunny pushed up from his lap, smoothed down her shirt, raised her chin, and continued toward the pool tables.

  Piper shook her head. She would have been scared to death. But Sunny handled herself like a champ. She was tougher than she looked.

  Still, Piper agreed with Snake. It was time to get out of there.

  Sunny reached the pool tables, then turned toward her and Cassie, her expression of panic back. But this time it had nothing to do with the bikers.

  She looked scared for the same reason a jolt of fear was skittering up Piper’s spine.

  Edna was gone.

  Piper hurried toward Sunny, Cassie on her heels.

  How could an eighty-something year old woman wearing pink sweats and leather chaps disappear?

  The bar wasn’t that big. The basic layout was one giant room with a hallway which led to the restrooms. An emergency door lit by a green EXIT sign was on the back wall behind the pool tables. Had someone snatched Edna and pulled her through those doors? Had she hustled the wrong flannel shirt-wearing guy and he was teaching her a lesson?

  That was crazy. Who beats up an old lady?

  The thought sent terror streaking through Piper’s veins as she practically tackled Sunny. “Where is she? What happened to her?”

  “I don’t know. She was here a minute ago. I just saw her.” Sunny dragged her fingers through her hair, her head snapping left to right as she searched the bar for signs of the mermaid-colored head.

  “She couldn’t have just disappeared,” Cassie said, dropping all pretense of them being strangers. “Wait, where’s Claire?”

  Sunny shrugged, her voice climbing a shrill octave. “I don’t know. We were just talking. Everything seemed fine. Then that big group came in. Her face went pale then she took off.”

  “She left on her own,” Piper said. What else is new? “But I don’t think Edna did. Let’s focus on finding her and then we can look for my mom.”

  A loud bang sounded from the hallway, followed by heated shouting then an eerie silence.

  Sunny, Cassie, and Piper stared at each other, similar wide-eyed expressions on all their faces, then they turned as one and raced toward the hallway. Snake and his baseball bat followed in their wake.

  The men’s room door was propped open by a jean-clad leg and a steel-toed Timberland-booted foot.

  Piper pushed open the door, holding her breath as she prayed Edna was okay. Sunny and Cassie squeezed in next to her.

  “What the hell happened in here?” Snake asked, peering over Piper’s head.

  Two of the flannel-shirted pool players lay sprawled out on the floor. One sagged against the corner, his head leaning against the white ceramic front of the urinal, and the other lay sprawled in the middle of the floor. It was the second guy’s leg sticking out the restroom door.

  Edna stood next to the sink, her cute leather hat missing and her hair sticking up in disarray like little blue-green clouds floating around her head. Her arm drooped at her side, her pink stun gun clutched in her fingers.

  A sizzle of electricity seemed to float on the air, and Edna’s eyes sparked with fury. “These boys said they were going to introduce me to somebody named Jane. I couldn’t figure out what she was doing in the men’s room, but I thought she might need help.” She pointed to the men on the floor and offered them a sniff of disgust. “Turns out they were just trying to offer me some drugs.”

  The guy leaning against the urinal wrapped his arm around his chest and let out a groan. “I’m sorry. We just thought it would be funny to get the old lady baked.”

  Edna planted a fist on her hip. “For your information, young man, the only thing I bake is cookies and cinnamon rolls.”

  Cassie held out her hand to Edna. “I think we’d better get out of here.”

  Edna took her arm and stepped over the man sprawled in the doorway. She dropped her pink stun gun back down the front of her shirt and smoothed her ‘pleather’ vest. “Didn’t anyone tell you boys you should ‘just say no’ to drugs?”

  Snake gave Cassie a wide-eyed look of amusement. “You’ve got your hands full with that one.”

  “Don’t I know it?” Cassie chuckled then gestured to the bat in his hands. “Thanks for having our backs.”

  “Anytime. You ladies made my night. Consider your drinks on me.” He dipped his chin. “And I’m here most days after three if you want to come back in. We can continue our conversation.”

  Piper glanced at her aunt and shook her head at the flare of pink coloring Cassie’s cheeks. “She’ll keep that in mind. Thanks for the drinks.” She hustled the group down the hall and out the bar, pressing her lips together to keep from laughing as Snake called out, “Take care, Phoebe.”

  Claire’s car was missing from the parking lot so they all piled into Sunny’s sedan. Fitz and Kyle had still been sitting at the bar when they’d hurried past, and Piper filled the others in on the story Kyle had told.

  “It sounds like Kyle was a jerk, but nothing about his story gives him a motive for murder,” Sunny said. “It seems like he came out of the whole deal pretty unscathed.”

  “Except for the fact both the girls he was involved with are now dead,” Edna pointed out.

  “Yeah. Except for that.”

  Piper slumped back against the seat. “Did anyone else find out anything useful?”

  “I don’t know how useful it is,” Cassie said. “But Snake told me he knows Kyle through his uncle, and he’s been in the bar quite a bit lately. He sa
id he’s been worried about him because he looks so depressed, and he doesn’t think he’s been going to his classes.”

  “Again, that could be due to the fact his girlfriend was just murdered. In which case, his behavior doesn’t seem too out of the ordinary.”

  “I still find it interesting he had a connection to both girls,” Edna said.

  “Me, too.”

  They spent the remainder of the drive tossing around ideas and their thoughts about the undercover operation.

  “Do you want us to come in with you?” Cassie asked Piper, as they pulled up to the curb in front of her apartment.

  She was going to make a comment about how they wouldn’t be able to protect her if someone were in the apartment, but she’d just seen a little old lady drop two construction workers with a pink stun gun, so that argument didn’t hold much weight.

  “No, I’ll be fine,” she said. “It’s only ten steps to my door. You can watch me walk in if you want, and I can flash the lights when I get safely inside.”

  “Okay. We’ll talk more tomorrow. Tell your mom I’ll call her later.”

  Claire’s car was not on the street, and Piper had a sudden fear her mom was gone again, this time for good. Pain ripped through her chest, and she dug her nails into her palms as she clenched her hands into fists.

  She knew she never should’ve let her guard down, should never have let herself get close to her mom again.

  Standing at her door, her hand on the knob, she paused to take a deep breath, reluctant to open the door and face the evidence of another one of her mom’s betrayals.

  Screw it. She had to face it sometime.

  The sound of sharp toenails on the hardwood greeted her as the little dog raced across the floor to meet her. Dropping her bag, she scooped the puppy into her arms and grinned as it frantically licked her ear. “Hi girl. I’m glad to see you too.”

  Peering around the apartment, she saw no signs of her mom. With a sigh, she flashed the room’s light twice then heard Cassie’s car drive away.

  Her feet carried her toward her mom’s bedroom, a discouraging sense of dread filling her chest as she wondered if all her mom’s belongings would be gone.

  Her breath caught in her throat as she saw Claire’s things still lined up on the dresser and scattered across the room. The blue sweatshirt she’d been wearing earlier hung from the side of the bed and her favorite pair of running shoes still lay on the floor, a set of low-top socks carelessly tossed across them.

  So, she hadn’t left.

  Or if she had, she’d left all her things.

  But if she hadn’t left, where was she?

  The dog let out a whine then ran to the front door and scratched to be let out.

  “Good dog,” Piper told it as she grabbed a plastic bag then opened the door and followed her outside. She didn’t bother with a leash, because so far, the dog had been very good about going out, getting its business done quickly and running back inside.

  Apparently tonight was going to be the exception. The dog ran into the front yard, sniffing the grass as it looked for the perfect spot to relieve itself. But then she stopped and lifted her head, her nose sniffing the air as her ears perked straight up.

  She let out a small whine then ran under the porch.

  A chill of unease skittered up Piper’s back, and she anxiously searched the yard for signs of whatever had frightened the dog.

  Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but suddenly every shadow, every dark corner of her neighbor’s yards seemed to hold something sinister.

  The forgotten rake leaning against the side of the shed took on the darkened shape of an assailant. The silhouette of an evergreen bush became the hunched figure of a man.

  Piper scurried down the stairs and knelt beside the house, peering under the porch. “Here, girl. Please come out,” she pleaded with the dog, her voice a frantic whisper.

  It was too dark to see much of anything under the porch, but Piper could hear the rustling of dirt and an occasional whimper.

  Her heart pounded against her chest, and she peered around the yard again, feeling suddenly exposed and vulnerable.

  But what could she do? She couldn’t leave the dog out here.

  She shoved the plastic bag in one pocket and pulled her phone from the other, then tapped the flashlight app. Shining the light under the porch, she spotted the dog cowering in the far corner.

  “Come on, girl,” she coaxed, trying to keep her voice calm while everything in her screamed for her to run, to get back inside.

  She patted her pockets, hoping to find a forgotten morsel of food, an unfinished power bar, a mint, anything she might be able to use to persuade the dog to come out. There was nothing. Not unless the dog could be enticed by a wadded-up tissue and a tube of lip balm. “Hold on. I’ll be right back.”

  She stood and felt the sudden shift of movement behind her. The hair lifted on the nape of her neck, and her body went stiff.

  She held her breath, trying not to make a sound as she took a cautious step back—right into the solid chest of a man.

  Before she could move, strong arms snaked around her, one hand covering her mouth and the other gripping her throat.

  Piper tried to scream, but no sound came out.

  She struggled to take a breath against the dense fabric of the gloved hand pressing against her mouth. Her mouth went dry, and fear curdled her stomach.

  Her body seemed frozen, immobile with terror.

  Fight! her brain shouted.

  Twisting against the constraints of her assailant’s arms, she tried to break free, but he was too strong.

  She gulped down a breath, her heart racing, feeling like it would explode out of her chest with every frantic beat. She tried to think, to remember the self-defense tips Edna was always drilling into their heads.

  Flinging her head back, she tried to smash his face, but he was taller than her and held her too tightly against him, so her head merely thudded against his shoulder.

  He had her arms pressed securely against her sides so she couldn’t elbow him.

  She squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head. No. This couldn’t be happening. This couldn’t be real.

  But the pressure against her throat was real. The foul smell of onion on his breath was real.

  And the slight rustling sound of plastic was real.

  “No. Please no,” she whimpered.

  Images of Brittany’s body sprawled on the floor, the grocery bag covering her face, filled Piper’s mind, and her knees went weak.

  What had she been thinking—coming outside alone? How could she have been so stupid? How could she have let herself get into this situation?

  More importantly, how could she get herself out of this situation?

  She wasn’t dead yet. And she wasn’t going down without a fight.

  Think.

  The sound of her heartbeat thrashed against her ears as she tried to sharpen her concentration and focus on the details.

  But her efforts failed her as he dragged her around the side of the house and into the darkened shadows. He was strong. She could feel the tightened muscles of his arms as he kept her body flush to his. It didn’t seem to take much exertion from him to move her, but she still felt the hot moisture of his quickened breathing against her neck.

  Was he breathing harder because it took more effort than she thought or was it due to excitement?

  That thought had a tremor racing through her body, and she fought to keep her teeth from chattering.

  She had to get away.

  She struggled against him, trying to free herself, but his hand tightened on her throat, making it harder to even breathe, let alone concentrate.

  Why wasn’t he saying anything?

  The only sound she’d heard from him was a slight grunt when she’d tried to head-butt his shoulder.

  The eerie fact he hadn’t said anything scared her more than if he’d been yelling threats into her ear.

  Why wasn’t he speak
ing?

  Was he afraid she’d recognize his voice?

  Would she?

  His hand moved from her throat and dipped into the neck of her shirt.

  No. Please no. Brittany hadn’t been sexually assaulted, but maybe he was upping his game.

  The rough fabric of his glove scraped against her skin then she felt him press something smooth and soft into the cup of her bra.

  His cheek pressed to the side of her head, and he finally spoke, his voice a gravelly whisper in her ear. “It was supposed to be you. Now everyone will know it was supposed to be you.”

  Her eyes went wide as the meaning of his words hit her with the force of a strong wave in the ocean, knocking her down and tumbling her around, her body disoriented and unable to gain her footing.

  It was supposed to be me?

  He pulled his hand out of her shirt, and she let out a gasp, tears of relief pricking her eyes. Until she felt him reach behind her shoulders and heard again the unmistakable sound of plastic crumpling in his hand.

  He whipped his arm out, shaking loose the plastic grocery bag he must have pulled from inside of his jacket or a shirt pocket.

  Another whimper escaped her throat, and she couldn’t take her eyes off the tan bag as he drew it closer to her face.

  “Hey, what’s going on back there?” a deep voice called from the front of the house.

  Her assailant tightened his grip on her. “I’ll be back,” he growled into her ear, the threat even more menacing in an eerily whispered voice.

  Then he let her go and took off, sprinting further into the back yard and hurtling himself over the cedar fence. She heard scrabbling in the gravel as he landed on the other side of the fence then the sound of his feet running down the alley.

  Piper’s knees finally gave way, and she crumpled to the ground.

  “Are you okay?” The man who had called out a moment before hurried toward her.

  She cowered against the side of the house, letting out another soft whimper, as his dark shadow loomed over her and his big hands reached toward her.