by Dianna Love
Trish had to give him up when she returned home. Fair enough. Just not right now. She had thrown all caution to the wind last night to have this little bit of heaven that would disappear soon.
A twenty-something, blonde, Meg Ryan type in an ultra-short, red spandex dress fell into step behind Josh, headed for the bar. Based on the way she was checking out his butt, Trish knew exactly what was on that blonde’s mind.
Across the room, she saw Heidi speaking to someone, but her gaze kept flitting away. Was she searching for where Trish had landed? Trish stood and waved until she caught Heidi’s attention, then sat down again.
Gunter appeared from nowhere. “Having a good time?”
She managed not to jump or snap at him, but she was on edge enough lately without people sneaking up on her. “It’s been a nice convention. What about you? I saw you across the room yesterday, but couldn’t get over to talk to you.”
He sniffed, a sound that matched the disgusted look on his face. “I’ve made a few worthy contacts, but nothing earth-shattering.”
Heidi showed up wearing silver spandex tights with a faux tiger skin sweater. “Hi Gunter.”
“Heidi.”
Trish detected irritation in Heidi’s voice. Why?
Fingers tapping on her hip, Heidi asked Trish, “Where’s Josh?”
“Getting some food and drinks.”
At the mention of Josh, the disgust on Gunter’s face dialed up another level. “He’s becoming a permanent fixture.”
Something in his tone pricked Trish’s temper. Or, maybe she was taking out her tiring weekend on the easiest target.
“Yes, he is,” Heidi said, smiling. She turned her head back and forth, searching the crowd. “Our men should be back soon. Bunko said he was getting drinks, too.”
Our men? Trish glanced between Heidi and Gunter, trying to figure out why Heidi seemed to be purposely poking at the older man.
“On that note, I’m off to find a drink for myself.” Gunter ambled away, blending into the crowd.
“Thought he’d never leave. He really gets on my nerves some days,” Heidi grumbled.
“He’s even getting on my nerves tonight, but what was with all that our men thing?”
Heidi’s entire body brightened with excitement. “I didn’t want to talk in front of him, because I checked our emails for ReSolution and I have news for you.”
“What?”
“Dixon’s campaign manager contacted you. He said the Senator is still on to film the segment for Treasured Past on Tuesday.”
“Are you serious?” Trish couldn’t believe she might finally be getting a break.
“Yes, I am. In fact, he said the Senator also agreed to allow the television producers to do some additional filming of the Senator’s private collection in Chicago. Dixon agreed as long as you flew up tomorrow to participate. His campaign manager apologized for any inconvenience, but he said they’re planning on it and the studio is booking your ticket tonight since they have the information from your application file.”
Trish rolled her eyes. “As if I wouldn’t cancel everything just to do that. Oh, my God! This is amazing!
It took a moment for Trish to realize her phone was buzzing in her purse. After a day of attendees grumbling over cellular calls not going through down here on the conference level she’d forgotten about her phone, but text messages came through on and off. Trish was so caught up in being excited over Heidi’s good news that she just stared at the phone display, not comprehending at first.
Go to your room and wait for further instructions.
Don’t push me to make others pay.
The stalker was here?
Trish looked up, searching the room. What did she think? That the stalker would be standing nearby, holding a phone and staring at her? But the message didn’t have its usual taunting quality.
And the number was an Atlanta area code.
Was the stalker using a local disposable phone?
She couldn’t spend time on questions she couldn’t answer, not with Josh, Heidi and Bunko’s safety to worry about. If she told Heidi she was going to the room, then Heidi would call Josh immediately.
“What’s up?” Heidi asked, turning to follow Trish’s gaze.
Think fast. Trish shoved the phone back in her purse. “I’ve got to find a bathroom.”
Heidi turned back. “I’ll go with you. Josh wouldn’t want you to go alone.”
“No.” That had come out too harsh. “If you aren’t here he’ll panic that something has happened. I’m just going to the bathroom, Heidi.”
“Can you wait a sec until one of the boys gets here?”
Trish put her hand to her stomach and grimaced as if she had intestinal pain. “I have to go now. Security is everywhere. Just sit tight and I’ll probably be back before Josh gets here.”
Doubtful since she was headed to their suite.
“I’ll be there right behind you as soon as I find one of the guys.” Heidi pulled out her cell phone.
Now would be a good time for the poor cellular service to work in Trish’s favor.
She stood and took off toward the restrooms, then made a direction change as soon as she was out of Heidi’s sight and hurried to the elevator lobby. No one could enter that lobby without showing their key card to security, then they had to use the card to activate the elevator. With her suite six steps from the elevator, she felt competent enough from her workouts with Arnie to make it there unharmed.
Then she’d hunt for her pepper spray first thing.
But why did the stalker want her in her hotel room? Was this another game like the night she had to sit in the car for over an hour?
The minute she passed through security, her cell phone rang with the phone number blocked.
Worried the stalker would retaliate against Josh, Heidi or Bunko for Trish being slow to comply, she answered it with a breathless, “Hello?”
The call dropped before she heard a word.
When she stepped off the elevator onto her floor, her phone rang again with a blocked number. She was quick on the button. “I’m here.”
A robotic voice said, “Tick tock, tick...”
The call died again.
Damn! She rushed to the room and shut the door quickly behind her. Her hands were shaking so hard she almost dropped the phone.
She stood waiting, but it didn’t ring again.
For once, she begged silently for the stalker to call her back.
AA
Josh waited impatiently for the bartender to serve the two couples ahead of him. Heidi was with Trish in the middle of the room. She’d told him that Heidi and Bunko were also recovering alcoholics, which was why Trish had been adamant that night at her shop when she told police that her employees didn’t drink. He’d told Trish that she had good instincts, and after spending time with Heidi and Bunko, he’d figured out that Trish was also a good judge of character.
He’d been right to bring in friends she could trust. No one would bother her tonight with three of them watching out for her. Even knowing that, worry ate at him.
Olivia sidled up next to him. “Lookee here, lookee here. I’m glad to see you at this boring event even if Gunter isn’t.”
“Oh?” Just what was the platinum diva up to?
“Maybe with you in the picture, Gunter will give up on Trish. I sincerely hope you keep her.”
Keep Trish? Olivia finally said something Josh agreed with. “What have you got against Trish?” he asked, tired of the witch’s caustic digs.
“Of all women, I don’t get why Gunter is interested in her.”
Josh started to tell her it was because Trish epitomized everything a woman like Olivia would never come close to being. Instead he said, “Trish is a terrific woman. She’s attractive and witty, works hard and cares for the people important to her. I don’t see how any man wouldn’t want her.”
But those other men couldn’t have her.
Olivia fanned her hand, dismissing hi
s remarks. “Regardless of all that, Trish looks just like Gunter’s ex-wife. You’d think he’d want someone different, like me.”
“Then why don’t you work harder to get him and leave Trish alone?”
“Am I bothering Trish? How lovely.” Olivia smiled and pranced away.
Josh picked up the two drinks and fought his way back through the crowd. Something about what Olivia said pricked a memory he couldn’t pull up but had a distinct feeling the information was important.
Chapter 40
Trish ran across the hotel suite living room and into her bedroom to find the false lipstick holder with the pepper spray. It had fallen off the nightstand. She grabbed it off the floor and wedged the gold tube into her evening bag, then dashed back into the living room.
The hotel room phone on an end table rang.
Had Heidi had enough time to go the bathroom and find Trish missing?
The phone rang again.
Could be Josh if Heidi had found him. If Trish didn’t answer, he might come up looking for her. She grabbed the phone on the third ring.
“Avoiding me, Trish?” the mechanical voice asked
Her hand shook. “I didn’t hang up. The call dropped.”
“Don’t let it happen again.”
“Like I have any control over the cell service?”
The stalker ignored that. The mechanical voice said, “Having fun? No? Party girl like you should be enjoying yourself. Don’t worry. I’m having enough fun for both of us. In fact, you may not have any worry at all soon.” Harsh mechanical laughter crackled across the line.
Trish clenched the phone, wanting to choke the stalker. She’d had it with being a victim and hiding in fear. No one was pushing her off the wagon. A buried fury came steaming to the surface. “You’re a coward to send notes and make phone calls. If you’re so bad, come and get me.”
“I won’t have to. You’ll come to me, because losers always run from their fears. And you will lose, starting with your silly little shop, then I’ll turn my attention to those you love.”
Trish slammed the phone down, unwilling to spend another minute living this way.
And neither would she stay in this hotel room.
Closing the door behind her, she rushed toward the elevator.
The hotel alarm went off. A booming, automated voice announced a fire alarm, to take the stairs and exit the hotel.
Doors banged open.
People spilled into the corridor, rushing for the stairs.
Trish fought against the panic rising in her chest. That phone call, and now this. You’ll come to me.
AA
Josh hurried back to the table where he’d left Trish.
Heidi stood there, but no Trish.
What the fuck?
“Where’s Trish?” Josh asked, keeping his voice calm.
Bunko walked up and handed Heidi a Coke.
Heidi said, “Glad you’re here. She had to go to the bathroom.”
Fuck. Don’t panic yet. “Why didn’t you go with her?”
Josh caught a hard look from Bunko who obviously didn’t care for the tone he’d taken with Heidi. “Sorry, Heidi, I just don’t like her to be alone.”
“I know and I was only waiting for you to get back so I could go with her.” Heidi picked up her purse from the table, grumbling, “I should have grabbed Gunter to stay around so I could go, but that guy gets on my nerves. He’s such pain in the butt. No wonder he’s divorced.”
Josh froze as the understanding washed over him. The first time he’d met Gunter, the annoying German had said he got rid of everything that reminded him of his ex-wife.
Olivia said Trish looked just like Gunter’s ex-wife.
“Stay here.” Josh slammed the drinks on the table.
“What’s wrong, Josh?” Heidi called out in a worried voice.
“I don’t know yet, but I want to find Trish. Now.” He left at a run for the bathrooms, stretching his gait and ignoring all the shocked faces at his lack of decorum.
He hadn’t reached the hallway leading to the ladies room when fire alarms started shrieking.
The crowd turned into a noisy herd that bordered on panic. Security ordered people to not take the elevators. Conference attendees down here on the basement level clogged the stairs, terrified of being trapped below ground, and trying to reach street level.
Josh burst into the ladies room, ignoring the gasps and evil looks of women rushing to exit, He bent to check under the stall doors, looking for the sparkly silver shoes Trish had stepped into just before they’d left the suite. Nothing. Shit.
He raced out of the ladies room, searching all around him until he was convinced Trish must have been closer to the stairs than he was when the alarm went off. He joined the push for the stairs, jostled and shoved by a sea of frightened people.
Trish would be busy doing the same, rushing for the stairs
Then she would be outside, exposed.
Josh trusted his gut, and his gut said this had FUBAR written all over it.
AA
Caught in a wave of humans pouring onto the street, Trish clutched her bag and moved away from the building. With no wrap or jacket, she shivered against the chilly evening air.
The bulging mass drove Trish further from the building. A cacophony of stricken voices yammered all around her while she stepped from one small pocket of open space to another, trying to maintain the bubble of space around her. Fire engines screamed in the distance.
Police directed gawkers and guests to keep moving away from the hotel.
Trish searched the glass-covered tower for a blaze, but saw none. No smoke. Not the first sign of a fire.
The burgeoning crowd forced her down the sidewalk until she had to back down a side street.
She reached for her phone to call Josh and Heidi.
A sharp tip stabbed her ribs.
Knife. She wasn’t in a position to defend against that, and she couldn’t run in this narrow gown. Not yet.
Annoyed and ready to let someone share in her misery, Trish half-turned until the knife shoved harder and she heard, “Keep your hands at your sides and move when I tell you unless you want to die right here.”
From the corner of her eye, scraggly gray hair, thick makeup and a bulky flowered dress came into view.
Pruneface? What was she doing here? The hag tugged her arm, forcing her to take a step.
The pepper spray. But she couldn’t get to it, or to her phone that was now buzzing. Trish felt she could take the woman if Pruneface didn’t have a blade ready to cut her if she made a wrong move. What did this bitch have against her?
“What do you want?” Trish asked. Could this old crow be the stalker behind a terror campaign?
“Shut up and walk.” Pruneface stood upright now, as if her curved spine had miraculously healed itself. She yanked Trish away from the crowd with more strength than expected. “I also have a gun. Make a sound to draw attention and I’ll kill you and anyone who tries to help you.”
Trish kept moving on shaky legs. She cut her eyes to the side at three men across the street who were walking the opposite way toward the hotel. Paying no attention. No help there unless she wanted to get them killed, too.
With all the noise and excitement going on back at the hotel, no one would notice two women in an empty side street.
Trish’s pulse thrummed with fear, but she’d had enough. Frustration and anger battled to the surface. This was the moment she’d been training for with Arnie. She only wished she were wearing clothes she could better move in, but she would not go down without a fight.
AA
When Josh ended up outside, he muscled his way through the crowd and searched for Trish.
He’d lost one woman to a human predator.
He couldn’t fail Trish.
Thousands of guests were pouring out onto the street, pushing him toward the first cross street. He kept turning, looking in every direction for Trish while he called her cell phone over a
nd over.
He’d just glanced down the cross street when he had to look again. A pair of women walked along two blocks away.
One wore a shimmering white gown.
They disappeared around a corner.
He took off after them.
AA
Trish tried stomping on the woman’s foot to get loose. She got choked for her efforts.
Pruneface lost her wig in the struggle and shouted in a much deeper voice, “If I didn’t have to get rid of your body I’d kill you right now.”
Trish recognized that voice.
Twisting, she stared at a person she’d believed was her friend. “Gunter?”
“Took you long enough to figure it out.” Covered in heavy makeup and wearing a bulky dress, he peered at her through bright, insane eyes.
Trish searched the street, hunting for help, but no police officer miraculously appeared. They would be helping with the hotel crisis.
Gunter held her arm in a tight grip and moved the knife to Trish’s throat, pricking the skin. “I don’t want to have to carry you, but make a sound and I’ll cut your throat and drag you to my van.” He yanked her along.
“Why are you doing this?”
“You’re a blood sucker just like my ex-wife. That damn shop of yours is ruining mine, then they want you for that miserable show. I’ve been on Las Olas longer. I’m the pro, not you.”
Gunter’s shop was near Las Olas, not on the street, but that wasn’t relevant when a madman had a knife at her throat. “How am I a threat to your business? I’m struggling to make it.”
He hauled her along faster. The dress he wore slapped at boot-covered ankles. His voice snarled and lifted hairs along her neck. “You stole my customers. You and Charlie were going to team up. Finish me off.”
What was he talking about? She stumbled, but he kept her upright, taking her farther and farther away from Josh.
At least Josh was safe, but he’d never forgive himself if Trish let Gunter kill her. She trembled at the thought of dying, but Josh was right.
She wasn’t ready to give up the life she’d fought so hard to own.
Gunter’s mind had left the room, but if she kept him talking he might make a mistake and give her an opening to escape.
“You’re wrong about me and Charlie teaming up. He didn’t even like me.”