Muffled sounds came from behind us and then shouts could be distinguished. People! I jerked to a halt and yelled, muffled by tape that it was, as loud as possible.
“Shut up, shut up!” Abigail’s harsh whisper tickled my ear. She pushed me forward but my determination was renewed.
I heard Samantha and then Griff. I heard dogs barking. This was it, someone was coming to save me. Flashlights bounced around as I continued to make noise. Abigail flew into a panic and tried to drag me when I wouldn’t budge but she stumbled and we both crashed to the ground.
I rolled away from Abigail and in the precious moments of her confusion, I was able to scrape the duct-tape off of my mouth with my knee. It took a lot of spitting and slobbering to loosen it up but I was willing to try anything.
The moment it came partway loose I began shouting as loud as my lungs could manage.
“Help! Sam, Griff, help!” Flashlights shot our direction. I could hear the dogs and a few footsteps getting closer. Abigail kicked me, striking a glancing blow to my leg as I yelled and rolled. The scarf on my wrists caught on a piece of driftwood. I yanked and nearly cried in relief when I heard a small tear. I pulled and rubbed and pulled, not even sure it would work but finally, the scarf tore and my battered wrists fell free. The lights were nearly to us. I could see Abigail groping in the dirt. When she stood up, my heart nearly stopped; she had found a half-broken bottle and was coming right at me with no regard to the rescuers coming closer.
“You. You can’t have him. If I can’t have him, you can’t have him.” She was screaming at me now, only three steps away. I jumped up, fumbling my hand into the side of my bra under my arm at the same time. I dug my feet into the sand, gripping with my toes like my life depended on it; my ankles were still bound and keeping my balance was so hard. Finally, I pulled my pocket knife free of my bra just as Abigail raised the bottle above her head. Fumbling to make use of my nearly dead hands, I flipped the knife open and thrust it toward her just as she lunged. The bottle missed my head and cut a jagged line down my shoulder. Time seemed to slow down. I let go of the knife and stepped back, tripping over the driftwood that freed me; Abigail’s body fell with a thud in the sand right next to me. I shrank back, unable to look at her. I didn’t want to know if I had killed her or not.
Hands caught my shoulders and I screamed and flailed my arms at them. Griff’s voice penetrated the shock ever so slowly. “Piper, it’s okay. I’ve got you.”
Sam threw herself into the dirt on my other side. This was a woman who didn’t care about ruined clothing, I thought to myself in a distracted way. I could hear her and Griff, but their voices were fuzzy almost like they came from far away. The sheriff caught my eye next, as he bent down and cut the tape from my ankles. Griff stepped away to talk to the sheriff, I caught the words hospital and tomorrow. Sam hugged me close.
~
By nine the next morning, I was cranky, hungry, and ready to go home. The nurse insisted I had to wait until the doctor made one more round before I could be released from the hospital. Sam agreed with her, the traitor. A soft knock on the door announced the arrival of another visitor. Gladys peeked around the door.
“May I come in?”
I waved her forward, a small gesture, moving my body as little as possible. I didn’t dare to risk nodding since my head felt like a stampeding herd of horses had taken up residence there. Gladys came and stood by the bed.
“Your nails still look great,” she pointed to my toes which had survived the barefoot trek unscathed. Leave it to Gladys to find the positive side of something.
“Thanks,” I said sarcastically.
“Here, I brought you something,” she said, opening up her large neon orange purse. Why neon orange I have no idea since it clashed completely with her pink velour tracksuit. I didn’t care though when I saw what she brought; in fact, I was prepared to kiss that neon orange purse. Out of it Gladys pulled an entire bag of dark chocolate chips and passed them to me.
Sam smiled. “Well, Gladys, Piper is just in heaven now.”
I accepted the bag of chocolate chips with a grin.
“Thanks, Gladys, and have I told you yet how sorry I was that we suspected you?”
“Don’t worry about all that. I’m glad you are okay.”
I tossed a palm full of dark chocolate into my mouth and closed my eyes, savoring the rich and bitter notes as I let it slowly dissolve over my tongue.
“Now,” I swallowed and looked at them both. “I’ve told you everything that happened to me. I want to know what was going on at the spa and everything that led you to find me. I never did hear what the fire department found when they showed up.”
EIGHTEEN
“You go ahead,” Gladys told Sam.
“Alright, here goes,” Sam began. “I went to talk to Rick, one of the firemen, and Pastor Dan to see what was happening. It turns out there was no fire. All of that smoke we saw, that was because five smoke bombs were set off in the yoga studio and one of the windows broken. The smoke was more than enough to set off the smoke detectors. The sprinkler system evidently malfunctioned and never went off so, in a way, it was a blessing that the smoke bombs made the spa aware of the issue in time to fix it before a real fire happens.”
“Who set off the smoke bombs? And why?” I asked.
“We weren’t sure for a while, but we think now that it was Abigail. We can’t confirm it, or her motives, but Felicity says she was in the hallway when a woman with short, blonde hair ducked past her in quite the hurry. Whether Abigail was trying to cause a distraction to hurt you or to get into your room and do something else I have no idea. She isn’t talking, not even to confess to the smoke bombs.”
“So, so I didn’t kill her?” I asked looking up at Sam.
“No don’t worry, she isn’t dead. She has a pretty nasty wound in her side but she lived. The sheriff is working to get her transferred to a prison hospital far from here as soon as possible and to make sure she never gets out to hurt anyone again. There were enough witnesses on the beach that nobody thinks the prosecution will be difficult.”
I nodded, still numb. I supposed I was glad I hadn’t killed someone but at the same time, I didn’t feel the relief I expected that news to bring.
“Tell her how you found her,” Gladys leaned forward, prodding Sam to continue telling me what all had happened in the search for me.
Sam took a breath and launched into the telling.
“While I was still with Pastor Dan, Griff showed up looking for you. He was babbling about some woman trying to get Mother to arrange a marriage between the two of them, how she kept calling him and saying they were meant to be and that he had to find you and make sure you knew it wasn’t true. I thought he was out of his mind because he kept asking if you were mad about the dress, he wasn’t making any sense. When we were searching for the van I finally got him to slow down and talk to me. He explained that he had sent you the silver dress as a gift because of your phone call worrying about clothes and the text about the ruined dress the other night. I asked why in the world he didn’t include a note and he said there was a card attached. That is when I remembered what Jill said about the blonde knocking into her in the hall and the card being gone. It all started to fit together, in an insane kind of way. I told him that I thought a blonde woman took the card.”
Sam paused and stole a drink from my water cup. “Remind me to get you some tea,” she said then leaped back into the story. “Right about then Gladys came running up.”
“Or as close to running as someone my age gets,” Gladys interjected.
“She told us some blonde put you in a van. Griff called 911 to get people to help find you; Gladys took a photo of the license plate so I texted it to myself and posted it as an emergency on Facebook. By the time Gladys showed Griff where Abigail took you, the van was gone. It had no identifying logos on the outside but thanks to that license plate, we had a good start.”
“Gladys, thank you! Thank you so much, I d
on’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t got that plate number and the search party hadn’t found me.”
“I just wish I could have stopped her. But I didn’t know how dangerous she was and I’m not all that strong; I knew I couldn’t do anything by myself so I took the picture and got help as fast as I could. It was a miracle I even saw you, really. I was tired of getting bumped into in the crowd so I was trying to find a bench to sit down on out by the parking area. When I saw her shoving you in the van I froze. Thankfully, I ducked behind a palm tree and the crazy lady didn’t see me taking the photo as she drove away.”
I had a moment of wondering if Gladys spoke to the palm trees while she took the photos of me being abducted and nearly laughed. Maybe I was delirious from pain meds. I kept my face straight though and listened as they continued.
“Well after we called 911 and they showed up to coordinate the search,” Sam picked up, “I had posted the license plate photo on Facebook, like I said, with an emergency help request. Everybody’s on the thing twenty-four-seven, I figured we might as well use it. Thankfully a few sightings led the police to predict the route Abigail was taking would lead to the beach. We started the search at the nearest beach access to the last van sighting. The dogs were given your scent and the scent from the area where the van had parked. We had no luck during the first two hours so the police decided to try some of the more remote access points. At the last one, only one set of vehicle tracks were in the sand, and they were pretty fresh. We found the van soon after and let the dogs take it from there.”
“I’d like to kiss those dogs,” I said.
“We could finally see you lying on the ground and it looked like Abigail was getting ready to hit you with something. Griff took off running like he was back on the track team, the sheriff right on his heels yelling at him to stay back. Everything happened fast and by the time I got to you, well, Abigail wasn’t a threat anymore. The sheriff kept insisting he needed to get your statement but Griff refused to allow it, saying you needed rest and a doctor and food before anything else. I think he may have threatened to call Dad if the sheriff bothered you before nine this morning.”
“Griffin was beside himself thinking he was somehow responsible for getting you hurt. That poor boy wouldn’t even eat the cookies I offered him after we had been searching for hours,” Gladys shook her head sadly.
“Why would Griff think it was his fault?” I wondered aloud.
“Because it kind of was,” a gruff voice spoke from the doorway and we all turned. Griffin stood there, disheveled, with sand clinging to some of his clothes, dark stubble covering his normally clean-shaven face.
“Griffin!” Sam stood and dusted off some of her brother’s clothes. “Did you not go home to shower and sleep?”
“Couldn’t sleep.”
“Sam, why don’t you and I step out and find that tea for Piper?” Gladys nodded toward the hospital corridor.
“Fine. Piper, we will be right back,” she assured me.
“Griffin, you can come in,” I told him when he made no move past the door frame.
“Piper, I’m so sorry. How are you doing?” he asked pulling a chair closer to the bed.
“I’m fine. Truly. Just some scrapes and a couple of stitches on my head. The doctor said I didn’t even sustain a concussion.” I rubbed my wrists self-consciously, hoping the dark and ugly bruising would disappear as fast as my paychecks usually did.
“That’s great to hear. I can’t believe Abigail took you. I’ve never been so scared in my life.”
“Thanks, Griff.” Warmth that had nothing to do with the hospital blankets stole up my neck and I hoped he didn’t notice the blush. “Maybe you can fill in some blanks for me though. Starting with why in the world you think any of this is your fault.”
A nurse came in to check some things on the machine next to my bed and Griffin shifted uncomfortably in the chair until she left.
Clearing his throat, he said, “Abigail has always been very friendly to me, maybe overly-friendly, but I thought it was because she assisted Mother. I had no idea she was so delusional or I never would have asked her advice. You see, after that incredibly cute phone call when you were flipping out over what to wear to the spa…”
“I was not flipping out,” I crossed my arms over my stomach.
“Yeah, okay,” he smirked. “Well, after that I wanted to get you a present that would make you more excited about your wardrobe. I got Gladys to go through your clothes to find out your size after you got to the spa. And then you sounded so sad in your text about how your dress had been messed up, so I thought a new dress would be perfect.”
“Wait! Do you mean that Gladys was in my room that day when she denied it? Why didn’t you ask Sam?”
“Please, give me some credit. I know my sister and she doesn’t keep any secrets from you. There was no way I was letting her ruin my surprise.”
To be fair, that made complete sense. I nodded, then winced as I received a kick from one of the many ponies prancing on my brain.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Griff asked.
“Yes.”
“Anyway, after Gladys got the information for me on your size, I asked Abigail where a nice place to buy a dress was. Being Mother’s assistant, I knew she would have all of the information on what stores would be the best places to shop. I wanted the dress to be perfect. I didn’t know that by asking her I would be pushing her crazy button and setting her on some jealous rampage.”
“That doesn’t make sense,” I rubbed my forehead. “The first note I received was at the bakery before I called Sam about what to pack.”
“Yes, Sam told me about the notes. When I asked her about places to buy the type of dress I wanted, she told me it was heartless of me to get your hopes up by flirting with you in the bakery and then buying you gifts. She said that my mother would never approve of you and that I should set my sights on someone more worthwhile. She must have already been angry about hearing me talk to you at the bakery a few days before. When I asked about the dress, it was like rubbing salt in a wound that I didn’t know existed.” Griff rubbed his palms down his face and sighed. “I made it abundantly clear that who I did or did not have a relationship with was neither my mother’s business nor her business and then I left without a store recommendation. I think that was enough to send her into some kind of spiral and unleash her jealous rage on you and for that, I am so sorry.”
“Griff, you could never have guessed she would react violently. You’ve never led her on. Why didn’t you just tell Abigail that you and I were friends?”
Griffin reached for my hand. “Piper, I don’t think…” He was interrupted by an abrupt rap on the door.
Sheriff Kent stepped inside. “Good morning, Miss Rivers. I need to take your statement. This young man convinced me to let you rest last night, but I really have to get it from you now.”
“Of course, Sheriff. I understand,” I told him. “Thank you for waiting.”
Griff squeezed my hand. “We’ll talk later, Piper.” Shaking hands with the sheriff, Griff excused himself and left. I hoped he was going home to rest and shower; he looked in worse shape than I felt.
Sheriff Kent opted to stand when I invited him to sit.
“Won’t take but a minute,” he insisted.
I took a drink from my water glass, wondering where Sam and Gladys were with that tea, and then started at the beginning with the note at the bakery.
~
“You saw Miss Abigail Fletcher was about to strike you with the broken bottle we found. Where did the weapon come from that she was stabbed with? Did you take it from her?”
Sam and Gladys had returned in the course of the sheriff’s questions, remaining quietly at the door so as not to interrupt. Sam had to cover her chuckle and walk away when I answered this last one.
“No, sir. The pocket knife is, was, my own. My father gave me my first knife when I was twelve to keep for self-defense. I’ve carried one so long I qui
t thinking of it as a weapon and merely as a tool that was always on hand. I got into the habit of never being without one. The knife was clipped to the side of my bra because I didn’t have any pockets yesterday, there was nowhere else to put it. I couldn’t reach it when Abigail held me in the van but I finally got my hands free and grabbed it on the beach. I hope I never have to use one like that again.” I shivered. “But I think I should call Dad and tell him thank you.”
“No need to call,” Sam piped up. “Your parents are on their way here. Their flight lands in about two hours.”
Tears flooded my eyes. My friend, always determined to take care of me. “I don’t know what I would do without you,” I told her gratefully.
“Probably sit home and eat chocolate,” she told me in her matter-of-fact way.
“Okay, Miss Rivers,” the sheriff said as he closed his steno pad, “I think I have everything I need from you. You take care.”
The second the sheriff disappeared from the room, Sam burst out, “Piper! Did I hear you tell the sheriff you had a knife in your bra?”
“Yes. I had no pockets, where do you expect me to keep it? The summer after Landon was taken, my dad gave me a pocket knife and taught me some of the basics of self-defense. I’ll admit I let my lessons lapse and probably couldn’t tell you the difference between carrot and karate, but the habit of carrying some type of weapon never left.”
“Smart girl,” Gladys commented.
Sam, Gladys and I drank our tea and passed around the bag of dark chocolate chips until it was time for Sam to pick up my parents at the airport.
“By the way,” she said as she fished in her purse looking for her keys, “my mother is angry with you.”
I closed my eyes and leaned back into the pillows. “Your mother has never liked me, Sam. Why is today any different?”
“She says you cost her a perfectly good secretary and wants to know why they will not release Abigail after, and I quote ‘the little cat fight over my son’.”
Rest, Relax, Run for Your Life Page 13