Incisions

by Barbara Winkes

  “You’re not even going to talk to me?” Kathryn asked in disbelief, and Jordan scolded herself for not hanging up right away.

  “I am talking to you now, aren’t I? I’m sorry it’s not what you expected. Maybe if you’d given a damn many years ago…who am I kidding? Look, we found Ellie. I need to bring her some clothes.”

  “Is she okay?”

  “I don’t know why that would be of any concern to you, but yes, thank God she is. I don’t have time right now.”

  Jordan disconnected the call, annoyed at herself for feeling slightly guilty. Of course she knew where that sentiment was coming from. She’d take some time to deal with it someday, or never.

  Real family came first. She had to call Jack and Pauline and tell them Ellie was safe.

  * * * *

  Ellie understood that most of her friends had been working tirelessly and were probably still busy wrapping up the scene, the shooting in the convenience store, and the apartment she’d fled from—she couldn’t help feeling a little lost.

  Detective Doss had taken her initial statement at the scene since Ellie had assured her she felt well enough to do it, and she’d probably be back for more details.

  Jordan would have questions too, but at the moment, it was just her, alone with her thoughts after she’d been examined and minor wounds cleaned and bandaged.

  She reached up to her hair and cringed. The doctor had recommended an overnight stay to watch any reaction to the drugs she had been given—Ellie knew she wasn’t harmed though she could have been, because her kidnapper had a partner who wasn’t nearly as mild-mannered as he was. Josh Ward was dead. From what she could tell, they hadn’t found the other guy yet, the thought making her uneasy. Just because he hadn’t hit her and brought her food, it didn’t mean he should go free and possibly take another woman he’d hide in his apartment.

  Jordan would be here soon. She could relax for now, the danger averted, from the weird guy who had taken her, and the other one who seemed to be the hired help in crime, the one who had more sinister plans. Ellie shuddered at the memory of his hands on her, remembering with some satisfaction when she’d cut him. The pull-tab had come in handy after all, and it had enabled her to fight him off.

  Lucky.

  She didn’t want to go there, but she knew that her and her co-workers’ best chances to find the accomplice depended on her remembering as many details as possible. Somebody needed to pay for screwing up her vacation. Things had to get back to normal.

  * * * *

  Jordan wanted to get to the hospital as soon as possible, but she also needed information, details, and every clue they could get as to why Josh Ward had gone after Ellie—and if there was someone else they had to look at.

  Branson had gotten the car for Ward. He looked good enough as the other man.

  At the apartment, the crew had bagged Ward’s computer, and some paperwork stating him as the tenant. They had found a cell phone in a box with clothes, and to no one’s surprise, it turned out to be the phone the text messages to Ellie had been sent from. She looked into every room, careful not to disturb the crew’s work. In the small kitchen, there was a brown bag from a fast food restaurant. The place was nearly empty, with only a few boxes and pieces of furniture. It made her wonder if Ward had planned to move in at some point, or if he had rented this unit with the abduction in mind.

  The last room was the hardest, the tiny bedroom, not much bigger than a closet, where Ellie had been held. The cuffs weren’t there anymore, but in an evidence bag on the way to the station. Even so, she could tell the story in her mind. In a situation like this, your life depended on acting the moment a chance presented itself. A small piece of metal, a detail overlooked on the kidnapper’s side had been Ellie’s chance.

  Thank God.

  There were no chains, no torture instruments in this room, yet for a moment, the image of Darby’s basement overlaid reality, a swirling vortex drawing her in. Jordan came back to the present moment with a gasp, realizing she was trembling. This wasn’t good. She had to be there for Ellie now. In fact, she should be with her.

  She found Detective Waters talking to one of the techs in the hallway.

  “Do you have a minute?”

  “Sure,” he said, stepping aside. “I’m surprised to see you here.”

  “Just checking in quickly. Ellie said there were two kidnappers. Any trace of the other one?”

  “None whatsoever. We have to wait for DNA, but so far there’s nothing suggesting that anyone other than Ward was in this apartment. He might have rented it for this specific purpose. Less than three months ago, that’s quite the coincidence.”

  “Hm. Yes.”

  “What does that mean? Looks pretty cut and dry to me. His name was on the list after all. Marshall was main on the arrest, but Harding was there that day. He might not have threatened her, but maybe that wasn’t his objective after all. Those text messages…more like he was obsessed with her. Branson definitely is dirty, but his crime is that he didn’t prevent one when he could. I don’t think he was interested in getting any closer to this, and I’m sure he didn’t plan it.”

  “No. I don’t think so. If Ellie says there was another man, I believe her. Ward, he couldn’t have been the brains behind something like this.”

  “We’ll see,” Waters ended the conversation. “I’ve got to go, and you should be elsewhere as well.”

  Jordan took the not so subtle hint and left.

  The last time she’d been to a hospital, bringing clothes to someone, had been after TJ Pratt had held Kathryn hostage in her trailer. Kathryn had somehow mistaken the situation for a chance at a late reunion, imagined that everything was forgiven. Jordan wasn’t ready to do that, and she didn’t think she’d ever be. She had no idea how to make that clear to her birthmother, but it wasn’t the most pressing problem after all.

  To her surprise, Ellie was sitting up and scribbling on a notepad when she came in.

  “Oh, good you’re here,” she said. “I asked the nurse to bring me something to write. I told the story to Doss earlier, but I thought it would be better to take notes and make sure I don’t forget too much. Any news on the second guy?”

  “No, not so far. Waters even doubts there was another one, but…”

  “What?” Ellie frowned. “No. They were two, definitely. I’m still trying for figure out who was the creepier one. I heard them talking to each other in the bathroom when I got out, and they came after me. Ward…I recognized his voice.”

  Jordan sat down beside her on the edge of the bed and embraced her. They’d been wrong all along to believe Darby in the first place. He’d been playing them, even after changing his story.

  “Anyway.” Ellie pulled back slightly. “The other guy, he was strange. Didn’t talk to me at all at first, then he was trying to mask his voice, but every once in a while he slipped. In the end, he completely gave it up. I tried to figure out whether or not I know him. It’s been driving me crazy.”

  “We’ll find him,” Jordan assured her. “You should rest for a bit.”

  “I don’t know. I’ve been lying down for the better part of the week, and that wasn’t fun. What I really want is to shower and get into fresh clothes, and I told the nurse I wanted to speak to the doctor as well, have him discharge me. You could take me home? I don’t really know what I’m doing here. I got hurt worse playing outside as a kid.”

  “Ellie. You were drugged.”

  “Yes. That part sucked.” For a moment, Ellie’s gaze was haunted, but the determination returned. “Nevertheless, it’s over. I understand we can’t get on the next plane to Costa Rica right away, but let’s not exaggerate this. It’s over.”

  “Yes, it is.” Jordan was more than willing to leave it at that for the moment. The nightmares would come soon enough.

  * * * *

  The doctor was willing to let Ellie go, which came as a surprise. However, Jordan canceled her meeting with Detective Doss to go home with her.
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br />   Ellie was silent for most of the drive, but when they were halfway there, she said, “Would you mind if I spent the night at your place? You got me some clothes, and it would be easier for you too. If that’s okay with you.”

  “Of course.”

  Jordan could imagine why Ellie preferred not to be in her own home. Ward had been in there, and Darby before. Those were hardly memories she’d want to deal with right now.

  Ellie breathed a sigh of relief, leaning back in her seat.

  “All right,” she said, managing a smile. “What’s new with you?”

  Jordan waited, wondering what would be a good answer to that, and if Ellie really benefited from small talk at the moment, or if she was stalling.

  “You know, whatever you need right now…”

  “It’s fine. Tell me what happened in those, what three days?”

  “Well, let’s see. I kind of stalked your ex and probably made her worry, so you might want to call her sometime soon.”

  “Rhonda?” Ellie scoffed. “I didn’t think she’d care. If you have a current address, that’s more than I have. Well, I could have looked it up. I didn’t bother after she left me hanging with the rent, and the hair.”

  “Your hair is fine.” At a red light, Jordan reached out to brush her fingers over the blonde strands. Ellie leaned into the touch.

  Much of the time after Ellie had found her at Darby’s had passed in a blur, and Jordan had little incentive to lift the shadows. She remembered, though, flinching at every touch, no matter how well meant. She should be relieved that Ellie was handling the situation so well, but these experiences could catch up with a person.

  Then again, it depended on what exactly those experiences had been.

  “At work everyone knows. I called Jack and Pauline. Kathryn knows because I was stupid enough to answer her call. On the bright side, maybe she’ll stop bothering me for a while.”

  “She’s bothering you, why? Shouldn’t she be a little more grateful?”

  They had arrived at the house, and Jordan walked around the car to open the door for Ellie. “Probably, but these aren’t very humble people. She heard about you, so she probably won’t stop calling.” Jordan halted. “It’s nothing, really.” In comparison. She could tell from Ellie’s expression that she got the meaning anyway.

  “No, this is not how we’re going to do this. I’ve got my notes, and I’ve got a pretty good memory. Not that there was so much to remember, mostly he brought me food, I tried to get away a few times and it finally worked. I got sick once because of the drugs, and I scraped my knees falling down those damn stairs. All in all not how I wanted to spend this week, but it could have been worse. Please believe me. I’ll be okay, and I want to put this behind me as soon as possible. Doss and Waters got this. I would go for tea though.”

  Jordan laughed, surprised at the non-sequitur. “I’m afraid I don’t have any, but I think there’s some hot chocolate. Are you interested?”

  “Why not? The guy wasn’t going to let me starve, but he wasn’t a big spender either, and I missed dinner at the hospital. Come to think of it, let’s just order in. No, don’t say anything. I know your habits.”

  “All right. What would you like?”

  “Whatever’s fastest. I’ll have the hot chocolate first.”

  Jordan wasn’t surprised when Ellie wanted to turn in shortly after the meal. She didn’t mind, grateful to make it an early night after the stress and fears of the past few days. She didn’t expect Ellie to strip out of her nightgown and join her under the sheets naked, whispering, “I just need to be close to you right now,” but she had promised to go with whatever Ellie needed, and so be it.

  * * * *

  Danny wanted to drown his sorrow in a bottle of fine vodka, but as it was, he had to work, and no one cared about how he felt about this huge mess. Getting involved with Ward had been a mistake, but then again, it wasn’t easy to find junkies he could have tricked into this scheme. Josh had seemed like the perfect candidate, doing any job for money…or the promise thereof. He was such an idiot, not playing by the rules and then getting himself killed.

  What now?

  At least he had taken some precautions, he thought, wiping the bar briskly, trying not to let anger get the better of him. He had to be extra careful now. He had rented the apartment in Josh’s name, and that’s where the cops would find the cell phone and every bit of evidence that tied him to the kidnapping. They would look at Branson who got him the car, but so far, Danny was safe.

  He wasn’t only angry at Josh, but himself for being too chicken. There had been a small window from when he heard the gunshot to the police arriving on the scene, a time in which it could have been him to report the shot and possibly earn their gratitude.

  He had wanted more, though, to be the hero who saved Ellie Harding from Ward. Then he would have gotten all the press and the attention. Eventually, the tightly knit group he watched at nights would understand he belonged with them, instead of scrubbing bars and washing glasses.

  Neither Ellie nor Detective Carpenter was here tonight, probably still at the hospital. He watched Carpenter’s partner come in with Officer McCarthy, the fiancé of the cop who got murdered not long ago. Danny frowned at their obvious body language, standing too close, whispering to each other.

  If he was wearing the uniform, maybe women would be impressed with him too. He was so damn tired of being the one no one noticed. He would bet that most of the cops who frequented this place didn’t even know his name. They knew his dad, because he had been one of them. Danny was probably less than an afterthought to them.

  “Can I have two Coronas?” the man asked. They didn’t know him from any other waiter. A thought formed in Danny’s mind, a new idea, something…

  Bigger.

  “Hello?”

  “Yes. Sure. I’m sorry. Coming right up.”

  He couldn’t carry it out right away, that would be too suspicious, but Danny had already proven that he could be cautious. With Josh dead and his associates unaware of Danny, he did have some leeway. Ward was the perfect scapegoat for the kidnapping.

  This, the new idea, was so much better, and some of Josh’s contacts could prove interesting for him.

  Everyone would know his name eventually.

  That made him feel better even though he could tell that Henderson—he knew all of their names—barely refrained from the impulse to roll his eyes.

  Danny finally cut the lime, opened two bottles and prepared them before he handed them to the detective.

  Chapter Nine

  The first night after the unwelcome detour from their vacation passed without nightmares. Ellie knew from experience that she wasn’t on the safe side yet, but she’d cherish small favors. Jordan hadn’t asked, just held her until she fell asleep, and that had been so much better than spending the night at the hospital. That was a good thing about their relationship, she mused, slowly preparing herself for facing the day. They might deal differently, but they accepted each other’s way.

  Today, she’d meet with Detective Doss again, and then, thank God, things could go back to normal after they found the second guy. He wasn’t a professional, just some guy acting out a fantasy—it shouldn’t be that hard. She was still angry at him, at fate in general that proved to have such bad timing once more. They should be walking on the beach right now, not handling another curve ball thrown their way.

  Ellie assumed she was lucky after all.

  Everyone could stop worrying. If only they found him soon. She sat up, startling Jordan awake.

  “You can stay a bit longer,” she said, her voice still heavy with sleep. “I told Doss we meet her at eight. We stop for breakfast on the way.”

  “Let’s get started. I really want to get this over with.”

  “I can imagine. Okay.”

  Half an hour later, they sat in the diner, Jordan with a barely touched toast and a black coffee. Ellie had ordered the brunch special and a café au lait. She might r
egret this later, but for now, she couldn’t get enough of light, the freedom to move, and putting as much food on her plate as she damn well pleased.

  She saw Jordan regard her with affection and barely concealed amusement.

  “You’re going to eat all of that?”

  “Well, I’d rather ruin my figure with cocktails under palm trees, but since that wasn’t an option…”

  Jordan took her hand on the table. “We’ll get back to that. I promise.”

  “I know. In the meantime, there are ways to stay in shape…by which I mean you can take me to your gym sometime.” Ellie laughed at Jordan’s self-conscious expression. “No, I didn’t mean that, actually. You got it right the first time.”

  “Funny. Let’s wrap this up…If we’re lucky, we can reschedule vacation time before we see Doss, and I’ll drive you home after.”

  “What, why?”

  “You didn’t think you were going back to work today? Come on. Give it a few days. The doctor might have been okay with you going home, but I didn’t hear anything about work.”

  Everything Jordan said sounded logical and sensible, yet it left Ellie with an uneasy feeling. She wasn’t prepared for any of this, sitting at home alone, in the apartment she’d wanted to leave for months, that had been invaded by two criminals, their degrees of insanity and ruthlessness varying. This wasn’t a good time. She wanted out.

  Maybe she had imagined this all along, approaching the subject carefully during the vacation…Then again, it might not be the best idea. Jordan wasn’t ready. They’d only been dating for a short time and after her tumultuous relationship with her ex, moving in together was probably the last thing on her mind.

  Bad timing. They were pretty good at it.

  “Just until the weekend, to make sure you’re okay to run after bad guys again,” Jordan said softly.

  Perhaps Ellie should simply ask her. She waited too long, and the moment passed, the waitress stopping by their table to bring the bill. Jordan picked it up, but Ellie snatched it out of her hand.

  “No way. That wouldn’t be fair.”