“Do you think something’s happened?”
“No! I’m sure she’s on her way home as we speak but I just want to make sure. Maybe her cell need to be charged. Don’t worry, okay? Everything is fine. We’ll leave a note in the kitchen in case she comes home while we’re out. Grab your shoes and meet me at the car.”
I prayed she would be back when we returned and that I’d been worried for nothing. She never should have gone on her own.
After scribbling a note and climbing into my black Audi TTRS coupe, Daniel and I headed out. It was hard to say exactly which route Dakota would have traveled so we opted for the shortest, most direct way.
Dialing her cell again on hands-free while driving, I left a message asking her to call as soon as she could.
When we reached the apartment it was two and a half hours since we’d last seen her. As we drove underneath to the car park, Daniel exclaimed, “She’s still here! There’s her car.”
I loosened my grip on the wheel, only mildly relieved, not knowing why she would possibly still be here when the apartment was empty. Pulling in beside the Lexus, we got out, checking the doors on her car. Locked.
“What do you think she’s doing?” asked Daniel, pressing the ‘up’ button on the elevator and waiting for it to descend to the basement.
“I’m not sure. There’s nothing for her to do here. We took everything with us.”
When the elevator arrived, we entered and ascended to the penthouse in an eerie silence.
With each floor we rose, I became more and more agitated.
Why would she still be here? We agreed she would get in and out as fast as possible. There is no reason for her to hang around. I don’t like this. Not one bit.
When the bell rang signaling the end of the ride, we stepped out into the penthouse foyer. The door to the apartment was shut.
“Stay behind me, Daniel.” I wasn’t sure why I said that but for some reason, I felt the need to protect him as my adrenalin spiked.
Trying the door, I found it unlocked. We both crossed the threshold into the bare apartment.
“Dakota? You in here, baby?”
Daniel stooped down to pick up something off the floor. “Kyle?”
“Hmm?”
“Um, isn’t this Dakota’s necklace?”
My heart dropped to my knees as I spun around, glaring at the necklace as if by seeing it, the final piece of the puzzle had been put into place. “Shit.”
Acting on instinct, I ran through the apartment, checking every room. Panic held me tightly, squeezing the air from my lungs.
Coming up empty, I spotted her purse on the kitchen counter. I dove into it, finding her cell and seeing the calls I’d made to her had been unanswered.
Without even thinking, I reached into my pocket for my own cell and called my father.
“Hi, son.”
“Dad. Listen, I’m at the apartment. Dakota was meant to be here, picking up her necklace that she left behind. Her car is in the basement and her handbag is in the apartment but she’s nowhere to be seen. I’m worried.”
Dad cursed through the phone. “Okay, son, how long ago did she leave the house?”
My watch told me it had been way too long. “Nearly three hours ago. Her car is locked and her cell is untouched in her purse. Daniel has just picked up the necklace lying by the front door.”
My voice rumbled out as my heart began to shatter.
“You’re going to need to call the police. The sooner the better. If she’s met with foul play we need to act quickly.”
“He’s got her, Dad. I just know it.”
“Let’s not jump to conclusions yet, son, but there is a possibility of that, yes.”
“I’ve lost her once. I can’t lose her again.” I remembered what I’d gone through when I thought she’d died in the plane crash. It had nearly killed me. In many ways though, this was so much worse.
“I know. Call the police. I’m on my way over.”
We hung up and I made the call that tore me in half. An officer was going to be sent around and would be arriving in around fifteen minutes. We were to stay put until he arrived and were advised not to touch anything in case the apartment became a crime scene.
I let my legs collapse from under me and slid down the wall, keeping my knees bent. Daniel walked over and sat down next to me in a gesture of comfort. He put his hand on my arm.
“I don’t want anything to happen to her, either. She’s become a real mother to me. I love her.”
I grabbed Daniel’s head and drew him in for a hug. “I know you do, champ. She thinks of you as her son. We both do. Let’s try to stay positive.”
Those words held little weight and failed to tame my mounting worry. Christ! How could I have been so blasé about letting her out on her own? I swore I’d let nothing happen to her and the first time she leaves my side…Ugh…I didn’t want to jinx it by even thinking what I knew in my heart to be true.
My eyes focused on the top of Daniel’s head. He’d had a hard life on Ragged Island. I didn’t know the full extent of it but I knew Daniel’s father had beaten him and his mother had done nothing to stop it. Dakota had saved him from that life and taken him under her wing, bringing him to America so he could live a better life. She loved Daniel as much as he loved her, and if anything were to happen to her, I didn’t know how severely it would affect the boy.
God, where was she? Why didn’t she have her cell on her? It was still fully charged. Surely she wouldn’t let her guard down and leave her purse on the kitchen counter with the front door unlocked while she went somewhere else in the apartment building. It just seemed out of character. And why had my mom’s necklace been lying on the floor near the front door? She’d have put it in her bag for safe-keeping.
We waited and waited. There was finally a knock on the front door, causing me to jump up and race towards it but I stopped short when a uniformed officer opened it and entered.
“Kyle Rutherford?” the policeman asked.
“Yes. I called you earlier.”
“I’m Officer Clarke.” He took a pen and notepad from his pocket to write down details. “How long has she been missing?”
“Well, it’s over three hours since I last saw her. She was to come and pick up something she left here and then return straight home.”
“What makes you think something has happened to her?”
I knew I was going to have to tell the officer everything. The hand-delivered rose and the stranger who delivered it. There wasn’t a whole lot to go on apart from a strong gut feeling and I couldn’t see that as being sufficient.
After explaining about Dakota’s abusive ex-husband John and the events leading up to the present moment, I waited for the cop to write down everything and then respond.
“With all due respect, sir, you do realize we can’t officially put in a missing persons report until 24 hours have passed.”
“I realize that but at least you’ll have all the details ready, should she still not return home by then.”
“Would she have visited a friend?”
“No. She doesn’t really have any friends yet. She’s from Australia and has only been living in the US for a short time.”
“Okay, give me a full description, including name, age, date of birth, and any distinguishing traits or characteristics, birth marks, etcetera, and I’ll take it back to the station with me. If she’s still missing in the morning, we’ll put in a missing person report and start the search. I’ll talk to management about getting security footage from this morning.”
I hadn’t thought about that. The camera in the foyer had been replaced after the stranger that delivered the dried rose had defaced it with sticky gum.
“So what do I do until then?” There was nothing more hopeless than sitting around, waiting for a loved one to come home when you knew in your heart they could be in danger.
“There’s nothing you can do at this stage. It’s only been a few hours. We’ve got all the
details we need. I suggest you go home and wait and call us if she returns. If not you’ll need to let us know in the morning so we can file the report. In the meantime, we’ll get one of our men to look at the security footage and see if it shows us anything.”
“Can you call me as soon as you find out?”
“Sure, no problem.”
Officer Clarke took a quick walk through the apartment to see if he noticed anything suspicious but was soon back out and offering a quick goodbye.
“Sir?” I asked before he disappeared.
“Yes?”
“Can I take her purse home? It has her cell and personal belongings in it.”
“I can’t see why not. If it’s still here, I can’t imagine it offering any incriminating evidence.”
With that, we were alone again, waiting for my father. The new tenants had called to delay their move until tomorrow which I was grateful for. I didn’t need them here while I was dealing with this.
Chapter Eleven
Dakota
I was shivering with fear as John drove us through a quaint town called Big Bear. We’d traveled around a hundred miles northeast to San Bernardino County and were now passing under a large sign that read, ‘Big Bear Cabins.’ If I hadn’t been on the carnival ride from hell I would have basked in the area’s beauty. The town itself was oozing charm and the backdrop of tall pines at the end of the main street gave it a magical feel.
“Why are you bringing me here?” I found my voice for the first time since we’d left the city behind.
“Why, to celebrate our anniversary, of course! I know it’s a bit late but better late than never, right?”
I couldn’t even answer the freak. He was disgusting. As if he actually thought I would be into celebrating our anniversary when in my own mind we were no longer married. Regardless of what the piece of paper said, emotionally I was as far away from being married to John as I could get.
To the left, inside the entrance was what looked like a reception building. John pulled in and turned off the engine.
“I’m going to see if they have any vacancies. You stay here where you can’t be seen.”
He grabbed his cell and wallet from the center console, snatched his keys from the ignition, and got out, locking the doors from the outside so I couldn’t escape. He inconspicuously tucked the gun into his jeans and pulled his shirt down to cover it.
He sauntered up the two front steps with an air of arrogance, whistling as if he didn’t have a care in the world. It made me ill. I needed to get away from him. When I was sure he was inside and out of view, the first thing I did was check the doors. Locked. I pressed the unlock button numerous times but nothing happened. I was truly stuck. The remote he’d used to keep me contained obviously overrode the ‘get out of jail’ buttons inside the vehicle. I checked around the SUV, searching for anything that may aid my escape once we reached a cabin. The two back seats were empty and there was nothing on the floor. I couldn’t see further into the cargo hold, so I opened the glove compartment to see what was in there.
A receipt from the car rental company under a name I didn’t recognize. Peter McDonald. Well, either he’d stolen the car from someone named Peter McDonald who had rented the car or John was using that alias. I made a mental note of the name. It could prove useful. There was a box of tissues, notepad and pen and a vehicle user manual. Nothing special. Unless…the paper and pen may prove handy but I’d put on a dress that morning and it didn’t have any pockets. There was nowhere to put it. Maybe not the whole pad, but a piece of paper alone would work.
Checking to make sure John wasn’t on his way to the car, I pulled the paper and pen out and wrote down, Peter McDonald. Eyeing the registration number on the rental receipt, I also jotted that down as well as the name of the rental company. It wasn’t much but it was all I could think of. Tearing the sheet of paper off the pad I folded it up until it was small enough to sit flush in the elastic of my underwear, hoping like hell it didn’t fall out. A bell over the reception door rang out and John strode across the porch, down the steps to the car. I quickly placed the pen and paper back, staring straight ahead with no emotion on my face.
“We’re in luck, sweetheart. There’s a honeymoon cabin available. I told the managers that we were just married and not to be disturbed, if you get my drift.” He pulled the gun out and aimed it at my head.
The very thought of John wanting me to have sex with him was worse than getting a beating for being disobedient.
I couldn’t let that happen, ever. My will was stronger now. I was a survivor and if John thought I was still the same meek little lamb he had left to die all those months ago, then he was in for a very big shock. I had too much to fight for now.
Big Bear was going to either make or break me. I would either escape or die trying. It had to stop. John had to be stopped. The fear had to stop.
We drove past clusters of log cabins scattered through the trees for quite a way. The area was bigger than what it initially looked. I was grateful there would be other people around because I would need all the help I could get to escape.
Of course the further away we drove from the huddle of cabins, the more I realized John wasn’t stupid. He wouldn’t risk being caught by others close by. No. We kept driving to the furthermost point of Big Bear Lake and pulled in beside a secluded cabin perched right on the water. It truly was breathtaking but I could never view it that way. I would always associate it with evil, like the man who brought me here.
The gun in John’s hand had hardly wavered during the two hour drive. He needn’t have had it aimed at me anyway because he’d locked the car doors the minute I was seated inside using the central locking system. He obviously hadn’t been game to take any chances of me trying to flee.
I was going to have to bide my time and wait for the perfect moment to get away. John would surely have to let his guard down sooner or later. He would have to sleep at some point.
My thoughts turned to Kyle and Daniel. They would be going crazy by now. If they’d gone to check on me at the apartment they would have found Cheryl’s necklace and my handbag, not to mention my car in the basement. That was a giveaway that something had happened. Kyle wasn’t stupid. He would know. There would be a search party out looking for me. I just didn’t know how they would ever find me out in no-mans-land.
The car door’s locks clicked. “Get out and don’t try anything stupid.”
As if I would try running when he still had the gun pointed at me. Oh yeah, that would be really smart. The question was, would he shoot me? I didn’t doubt it. His anger would take over and he would have that trigger pulled before I made it away from the SUV.
I needed to use the bathroom desperately. We hadn’t stopped on our way to Big Bear and I’d been holding it in for the last fifty miles. The thought of being held at gunpoint while I went about my business was less than thrilling. Surely he wouldn’t be that cruel.
He walked to the back and opened the large door, retrieving a large bag from the cargo hold, and exited the car with the gun still aimed through the windscreen at me so I had no choice but to get out and walk towards the cabin with nothing but the clothes on my back.
The door was already unlocked. The cabin looked a little more modern on the inside, yet still gave off a rustic vibe. There was a large stone fireplace in the lounge room and floor to ceiling windows that showed off the vast expanse of lake at our disposal.
If it came down to it, I wondered if I’d be able to swim for my life. The thought of even entering the large mass of water was disconcerting. After floating at sea for days after the plane crash months ago, injured, thirsty, and hungry, I hoped it wouldn’t come to that.
“I need to go to the bathroom.” My bladder was nearly bursting.
“Through there.” John pointed down the small hallway and followed me closely, pushing the barrel of the gun into my back.
I could feel the cold metal through my thin dress, raising goose pimples on my flesh. I
had never seen a real gun before, let alone been this close to one. It was extremely stressful. To know I could be wiped out with one pull of the trigger.
“If you’re not out in two minutes, I’m coming in after you.”
I shuffled into the bathroom, which housed a giant spa bath, shower, toilet, and modern vanity with a huge mirror above it. Glancing quickly into the mirror I was horrified to see how pale I looked. It was like stepping back in time. My eyes looked lifeless and sad. Frown lines connected on my forehead. It was as if being in John’s presence transported me back to a time before Kyle had entered my life.
“One minute left!”
Jesus! How was I going to finish in that amount of time? I’d been holding on for so long, I doubted I’d be able to stop in time.
As I sat, I scanned the room for a weapon…all I could see were two white towels and some guest soap. My mind tried to conjure up how I could use the towel to my advantage. Suffocation? Maybe a pillow would suffice better.
“Time’s up!”
“I haven’t finished yet.”
“I said you had two minutes, not five! Get out here now!”
“Please, just one more minute! I was bursting from the car trip.” I knew John didn’t have a good nature I could appeal to but I had to try and stall for time.
“I. Said. Get. Out. Here. Now.”
Crap! I knew I was toast anyway, so there was no way I was leaving this bathroom until I’d finished. Did he expect me to do the rest on the floor?
John was apparently agitated outside. He threw something onto the floor of another room and then his shoes were pacing the wooden hallway outside the bathroom. Not good.
Finally, I finished and washed my hands before opening the door to face the boogey-man.
His face was twisted with rage. He grabbed me forcefully by the hair, the gun jammed into my temple, and dragged me to one of the bedrooms, slamming the door behind both of us.
My head was pulled back as far as it would go. The pain tore through my scalp, like flames licking my head.
“When I tell you to do something, you stupid bitch, I expect you to do as I say! I can see I’m going to have to teach you a lesson in respect. It would appear that pretty boy has let you get away with far too much.”
Saving Me (Finding You #3) Page 7