by Sherri Hayes
Panic started to rear its head, but she tried to breathe through it. If she wanted any chance of getting out of this, she had to keep her wits about her.
Ripping fabric brought her attention back to Stephanie, who had a pile of what looked to be clothing in front of her, and she was slowly shredding it.
She was about to ask Stephanie what she was doing, but thought better of it. She’d learned from experience that it was often best to be invisible in these types of situations.
Her mind raced, trying to figure out exactly what was going on and why Stephanie was doing this. If she could figure that out, maybe she could find a way to use it to her advantage. She didn’t have a lot of options.
It made no sense. Stephanie had always been the one person Elizabeth could talk to. The one person Jared never had a problem with; in fact, he encouraged it. They were here in the downtown apartment, and Stephanie had a key.
The wheels in her head came to a complete halt as all the puzzle pieces fit together. She knew it was probably better to keep her mouth shut, but she needed confirmation. “It was you. You were the one underneath Jared’s desk. You were the one he was having an affair with.”
Stephanie gave her a sinister smile. “You always were a slow learner. Jared said you’d never figure it out, and if you hadn’t busted into his office that day, you never would have.”
Knowing Stephanie had been the other woman, hurt. It also explained a lot. The one person she’d thought of as her true friend in her former life was the one who committed the ultimate betrayal. “How long?” she asked, feeling cold again despite the hot sun streaming in through the windows.
Stephanie just laughed, never pausing in her continued destruction of the material in front of her. “You were a toy, Elizabeth. A pawn. Only you thought you were anything more. Jared certainly never did. He needed a wife to parade in front of his colleagues that he could keep in line, and you fit the bill; meek and moldable.”
She thought back to all those nights he’d spent in this apartment. All the nights he’d worked late.
The click of heels brought her attention back to Stephanie who was walking toward her, material in hand. It was then she recognized what Stephanie had been ripping up. Her dresses. The ones Jared had bought her. She remembered that not quite right feeling when she’d looked in her closet after the break in. Now she understood. What wasn’t making sense was why she’d taken her clothes.
Stephanie knelt down so that she was at her eye level, and ran her manicured fingernail from Elizabeth’s temple to her jaw. “I’m going to enjoy killing you.”
Elizabeth’s eyes widened as a jolt of fear surged through her. Her gaze darted around frantically looking for anything that could help her. She could tell by the look in Stephanie’s eyes that her time was running out. She didn’t want to die.
Stephanie laughed and stood. “I wonder how your little boy toy will feel when he finds you’ve taken a nosedive from your dead husband’s condo. Do you think he’ll be sad?” Stephanie pouted mockingly.
She was stunned. How had she never seen this side of Stephanie? How had she not known she was psychotic?
“Chris will never believe that I jumped. Neither will the police.”
“Sure they will. I’m not stupid, you know. That’s why I’m setting the scene. You’re going to leave a suicide note and everything.” Stephanie continued to laugh as she moved around the condo, preparing for Elizabeth’s fake suicide.
Reality set in. Stephanie could actually pull this off. She could kill her. Whether she got away with it or not was irrelevant.
The words Chris had spoken to her the night they declared their love came back to her with complete clarity. “Don’t ever leave me.” His desperation had cut straight to her heart, then and now. She couldn’t leave him. She’d promised. With a sudden desperation, she looked around the room again, trying to find an escape, a weapon, anything. She was a survivor, and she was going to find a way to survive this.
Giving his statement had taken much longer than Paul had expected. Being an out-of-state cop seemed to complicate things for some reason. By the time Chris burst into the room, it was almost one o’clock.
He followed Chris back out into the hall without questioning what was going on. Chris was acting like a man on a mission, and for now, Paul was content to follow him.
The hallway was full of people, just as it had been earlier. He watched his brother’s eyes scan the crowd and knew he was looking for Elizabeth. There was no sign of her or her lawyer.
He turned on his phone and realized he had ten messages. The first was from Detective Stephens telling him what he’d found out about Stephanie Manning. He now understood why Chris was acting frantic.
Just as he was about to suggest to Chris that they go downstairs and locate a police officer, he saw Elizabeth’s lawyer exit the elevator followed by two uniformed officers; none of them looked happy.
Chris noticed them too. “Is she with you?” he asked.
“No.”
“She has to still be with Stephanie,” Chris said.
“Agreed.” Paul turned to the officers. “Ms. Manning said they were going to a restaurant near here called Lugi’s. Do you know it?”
The two men wrinkled their brows before the one on the left answered. “There’s no restaurant by that name near here. Nearest one I know of is near campus and that’s a good five miles.”
Chris let off a string of curses.
Paul rubbed a hand over his head. “This isn’t good. She’s with Stephanie.”
“We’ve got to find her.”
Paul turned to the officers. “Can we get a look at the security cameras? We know they were in the building less than an hour ago.”
“The judge will be back soon, and I need to tell her what’s going on,” Mr. Frederick said.
“You do that,” Paul said. “Also, see if the judge will agree to hold Mr. and Mrs. Carter for us. We don’t know if they’re involved.”
The ride down to the basement took too long in Chris’s opinion. Elizabeth was somewhere with a woman who had stalked her, broke into her apartment, and threw blood all over her bedroom wall. This same woman sat beside him last week and only pretended to be her best friend while they ate breakfast. The woman obviously had a screw or two loose.
Thankfully, with the two officers beside them, they made it through the security check without too much difficulty. The security room was big with wall-to-wall monitors. It didn’t take more than a minute to pull up the footage of Elizabeth with Stephanie Manning walking through the building and out a side door.
Chris’s chest constricted. He needed to find her.
“Do you have any cameras outside?” Paul asked.
“Only on the front of the building.”
“There are some outside cameras on the other buildings around here, but accessing them will take time.”
“Time we don’t have,” Chris said, already moving toward the door.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Paul said.
“I need to talk to the Carters. They live here. They run in the same circles as Stephanie. Maybe they have some idea where they’ve gone.”
“They may not talk to you.”
The look in Paul’s eyes said it all. Chris was grasping at straws, and he knew it. “I can’t lose her, Paul. I just can’t.” Without another word, Paul clasped his brother on the shoulder and they both trekked back upstairs to see if they could weasel any information out of the Carters.
When they walked into the courtroom, things were not looking good. “Give me one good reason, Mr. Frederick why I shouldn’t hold your client in contempt.”
“I’m sorry to interrupt, Your Honor,” Paul said, coming forward. “I think I can shed some light on this if you would allow me.”
“And you are?”
“Detective Paul Daniels of the Indianapolis Police Department. I’ve been working with Detective Stephens of the Springfield P. D., investigating crimes committed
against Ms. Marshall. She’s been receiving threats recently.”
The judge glanced down at the papers in front of her again. “Springfield is where Ms. Marshall currently resides?”
“Yes.”
“And why is the Indianapolis P. D. involved?”
“They aren’t. My brother, Chris, lives in the apartment above Ms. Marshall. I became involved at his request about a month ago.”
“I see,” the judge said. “Please proceed, then.”
Paul kept to the facts as he filled the judge in, but it still took time, time that Chris knew they didn’t have. The judge motioned to the bailiff and handed him a note.
“We have reason to believe that the Carters may have some idea as to where Ms. Marshall is.”
“Like I’d tell you anything even if I knew,” Abigail said.
The judge narrowed her eyes. “Mrs. Carter! I will not tell you again to watch your tone in my courtroom. And I might add that if you do know something about Ms. Marshall’s whereabouts and fail to share them, you could be charged as an accessory to kidnapping if something happens to Ms. Marshall.”
That and the two police officers who stepped into the room seemed to bring her up short as she looked desperately to her husband and lawyer.
Mr. Haines finally said, “Try Jared’s old condo. It’s only about three blocks from here.”
The lawyer swiftly wrote down the address, and Chris grabbed it out of his hand and ran for the door, Paul and the two police officers hot on his heels.
“Hey!” Paul yelled, running down the hall after him. “Where do you think you’re going?”
Paul held the door to the elevator open. “Get out of my way, Paul.”
“You can’t just go storming over there halfcocked. You need to leave this to the police.”
Chris took a deep breath and looked his brother straight in the eye. “What would you do if it were Melissa?” He knew it was a low blow bringing Paul’s wife into this, but Chris didn’t have time to argue. Instead of stepping back and letting Chris go, Paul jumped inside the elevator with him along with the two police officers. “What are you—”
Paul cut him off as they began their descent to the lobby. “You asked what I would do, and you’re right. But I’m not letting you go alone. You’re my brother. If things get dicey, keep your head down.”
Elizabeth wasn’t having much luck in freeing herself. The only positive was that Stephanie seemed preoccupied with whatever she was doing and wasn’t paying her any attention.
All that changed in an instant. “Okay then. Are you ready? I don’t want to keep you tied up,” Stephanie said, cackling at her own joke.
Elizabeth tried to make it difficult as Stephanie pulled her to her feet and then pushed her onto the balcony outside. She tripped over a chair and landed hard on her right arm.
“Oh, don’t worry,” Stephanie said. “A few more bumps and bruises won’t matter when they scrape your body off the pavement.”
She grabbed Elizabeth by the hair, pulling her to her feet, and brought her to the cast iron railing. At thirty stories up, taking a fall from this height would be more than enough to kill her.
Elizabeth gasped when the cast iron dug into her waist as Stephanie moved behind her, pressing her against the railing. She could hear the bustle of the city around her, feel the heat from the sun beating down on her. The tall concrete and brick buildings of the city she’d called home for nine years surrounded her. She wondered if this was really it. Will this be the last thing I ever see, feel?
Then a sharp point at her wrists brought her thoughts back into focus. She wasn’t dead yet, and she wasn’t giving up.
“Say good-bye, Liz. You never were good enough,” she said, slicing the bands around her wrists.
The moment she felt the bands snap, Elizabeth used the momentum to push both her palms against Stephanie. It was enough to give her a little room to move. She twisted around and shoved Stephanie hard, pushing away from the railing.
She made a run for the door, but only made it a few feet before Stephanie charged her causing them both to lose their balance. Before she knew what was happening, she felt the railing pressing against her side as Stephanie’s forward movement hurled them both toward the edge. Elizabeth’s feet lost their feeble purchase and she found herself airborne. Reaching out, she grabbed hold of the hard metal rail beneath her. She felt the weight of Stephanie’s body beside her, then her fingers, pulling and biting into Elizabeth’s skin as she too tried to hold on to something, anything.
Inch by inch she felt Stephanie slide lower. “Help me!”
Even if Elizabeth wanted to, she couldn’t. She put all her effort into holding onto the one thing that was keeping her from hitting the pavement below.
Then, the weight was gone.
There was a scream, but it sounded far away to her ears. And then nothing.
Everything was suddenly still. She felt suspended in time as she hung from the railing, hoping that she could hang on long enough for someone to see her up here and get help.
“Elizabeth!”
Relief washed through her. “Chris!”
His face appeared over the edge of the railing and she couldn’t stop herself from crying. She was safe. She would survive. “I’ve got you,” he said grabbing her arms.
“Whoa!” said Paul as he helped Chris pull her back onto the balcony.
As soon as she was safely on solid ground, Chris enveloped her, holding her tightly. “Are you all right?” he asked. “Please, tell me you’re all right?”
“I’m fine,” she said, crying and never wanting to leave his arms.
“Police are here, and an ambulance will be here soon,” Paul said. “How are you feeling?”
She didn’t answer him right away. Her head was spinning as she came down from her adrenaline rush. “Is she dead?” she asked instead.
The question was directed at Paul, but Chris answered. “Yes. She’s dead.”
She nodded and leaned back into Chris.
Paul patted his little brother on the shoulder. “I’m going to go downstairs to direct the paramedics.”
Chris tilted her head up and kissed her. “Don’t ever do that to me again. I thought—”
“I know,” she said, trying to sooth him. “I told you I’d never leave you. Did you think I’d go back on my word?”
Chris pulled her close again. “No. Never.”
Their little bubble was soon broken, first by the police and then by the return of Paul and the paramedics. Chris stood to the side and allowed them enough room to do their job, but he refused to go more than a few feet. He knew they needed to question and examine Elizabeth, but he also had a hard time not being in direct contact with her. His eyes told him that she was there in front of him, and that she was okay, at least physically, but he needed that sense of touch to confirm it. Just to verify that his eyes weren’t deceiving him.
The medics cleared her with nothing more than a few bumps and bruises. The two police officers that arrived with Paul and Chris questioned Elizabeth. She was amazing, remaining calm through it all. Sentence by sentence, she relived the last two hours of her life in detail.
Stephanie was the other woman, and he couldn’t say he was all that surprised. From what he’d learned of Jared, the man was all about appearances, and Elizabeth wasn’t fake. He couldn’t see her ever truly fitting into the world in which the Carters and Stephanie Manning lived.
“We’ll be in touch if we have any more questions, Ms. Marshall.” The two detectives stood to leave, and Paul walked them out.
“Are you okay?” she said.
Chris turned to see if she was serious. “You’re asking me if I’m okay? Shouldn’t that be the other way around?”
She blushed, glancing down at the floor. “Well, I know how I am.”
He chuckled and pulled her down with him onto the couch. “And how are you?”
She sighed and leaned back into him. “Confused. Angry. Relieved.”
&
nbsp; “Relieved?”
“I never understood her friendship with me. Now, it makes sense.”
“You’re relieved to know that she was only your friend because she wanted to keep tabs on you?” It didn’t make sense to him.
“No. Well, yes. Sort of. More, I’m relieved to finally have the mystery solved.”
“Yes. And no one is trying to come after you anymore.”
“Except for John and Abigail,” she said.
“I’m not so sure about that. The judge didn’t look all too happy with them when I left. Maybe we’ll get lucky and find out they had a hand in this. That would get them out of our hair.”
She twisted in his arms. “But I don’t think they had anything to do with this. I mean . . . Wait. How did you find me?”
Chris brushed a stray piece of hair behind her ear, before hugging her close again. “Their lawyer, Mr. Haines. He knew about this place and figured that’s where Stephanie must have taken you.”
“Shawn? Wow,” she said. Then out of nowhere, the tears started flowing again. “I didn’t think he would ever go out of his way to help like that.”
“Hey,” he said, increasing his hold on her. “You’re safe now. Everything’s okay.”
“I know. I don’t know why I’m crying.”
“You’ve had a stressful day. It’s completely understandable. As for Mr. Haines, I wouldn’t go thinking him overly noble, if I were you.” He chuckled. “After hearing what was going on, the judge told the Carters that if they knew something, they’d better be forthcoming or face being charged as an accomplice. I do believe it was self-preservation on his part.”
She laughed. “Yeah, that sounds more like Shawn.”
Paul walked back into the room. “They need to get in here and catalog evidence, and I’m sure you’d like to rest, Elizabeth.” He guided the three of them to the front of the building and away from all the commotion happening with the cleanup of Stephanie’s body.
A cab took them to the hotel, and Chris led Elizabeth to their room. Paul followed, stopping only long enough to take his own bags and disappear to his own room next door.