Ash: Jagged Edge Series #5

by A. L Long

  “Ash, please pick up. I may not be able to contact you again. Oh God, Ash, I’m so afraid. I don’t even know where I am. Some sort of rundown mansion in the middle of nowhere. I… I’m so sorry, Ash, I should have told you everything. If we never see each other again, I want you to know one thing. I love you.”

  “What the hell do you think you’re doing, you little wench?”

  “Ash…”

  Juliette was in danger and I had to find out where she was. The man’s voice in the background was more than pissed off. I would never forget that voice as long as I lived. He had Juliette and as of right now, he was going to be a dead man.

  Pouring the remainder of my coffee in a go-cup and filling it to the rim, I found Peter’s number in my contacts and dialed his number while I hurried to my room to get dressed. “Peter, we need to rethink our plan. I think she is being kept in a rundown mansion on the outskirts of Manhattan. We need to find out if Walter Marlow has a property of this type. I’m heading to the shop. Should be there in thirty.”

  Before I gave Peter a chance to argue, I hung up and slipped on my jeans and a t-shirt. My boots were in the kitchen, so I grabbed them along with my coffee and headed down the stairs to the garage. It took me several tries to get the key in the ignition because my hand was shaking. Taking a deep breath, I was finally able to calm myself and start the engine.

  I made it to the shop in record time. The stop lights were on my side and so was the traffic. As soon as I opened the door, I could see a very annoyed look on Peter’s face as he was standing with his body leaning against the pool table.

  “Would you like to explain to me what the hell is going on, Ash?” he asked in a heated tone.

  “Sorry for the brusqueness of the call. I got a little anxious,” I confessed.

  “So tell me what’s going on,” Peter said, pushing from the pool table and walking towards his office.

  It was always my plan to bring Peter up to speed on what was going on and finding Juliette. When we got to Peter’s office, I let it out. I told him everything from the beginning. He knew most of it already, but I thought if I went through it again, something would pop and we could figure out where Juliette was. Exhausted from my explanation, I took a seat and waited for Peter to boot up his computer. He had a lot more resources than I did, which meant there was somebody out there that he could reach out to.

  I wasn’t sure what he was looking at, but he had a confused look on his face. He picked up his landline and began dialing a number. It had to be someone he thought could help us. Whomever he called must have answered. Even though I could only hear Peter’s side of the conversation, I knew that he was talking to someone by the name of Nick.

  “I need this, Nick,” Peter paused, presumably to wait for a response. “Yeah, his name is Walter Marlow. Call me back as soon as you find anything.”

  I watched Peter hang up the phone while looking at him with an inquisitive expression on my face. “So?” I asked.

  “I think you may have been right about Mr. Marlow and Juliette being in more danger than we initially thought. Seems Mr. Marlow has been a very busy man. He has been purchasing rundown mansions outside of New York City. There are ten in total. I contacted Nick Winters from the county office. He has access to all the property records in New York. Maybe he can give us some insight on where Juliette is being held.”

  “Yeah, I gathered that, but how is he going to be able to do that?” I asked, confused.

  “Because, my friend, he will be able to tell which of these dumps has an increase in utility usage. The more consumption, the more likely that the property is currently occupied,” Peter explained.

  It made perfect sense, especially since it was midsummer and the usage would be minimal. He couldn’t occupy all of the homes at one time. In the meantime, I couldn’t wait for Peter’s friend to contact him back with the information. There was only one man who would know about Mr. Marlow, and that was Sebastian.

  Standing, I started walking to the door when Peter stopped me. “Where are you going? Don’t you want to wait until Nick calls back?”

  “Call me on my cell with the information. There’s somewhere I need to go,” I admitted, but shared nothing else.

  “Ash, if you are going where I think you are, don’t do anything stupid,” Peter warned.

  Nodding my head, I left his office and headed out of the shop. Backing away from the building, I listened once again to the voice message that Juliette had left. I don’t know why I was putting myself through this torture, but I had to hear her voice. God, I missed her so much. These feelings I had for her were much more than what they were twenty-four hours ago. After hearing her say, ‘I love you,’ those were going to be the only words she would hear from me the minute when I took her in my arms.

  Parking across the street, I walked over to the Collins Building. As I stood in front of the elevator door, I controlled my fear of getting into that elevator and just stepped inside. Using my breathing exercises, I managed to tone down my anxiety until the car stopped on the thirty-fifth floor. When the doors opened, I was grateful that Bambi with the fake tits was away from her perch, which allowed me to walk into Sebastian’s office unannounced.

  Pushing open the door, I was greeted with his icy glare as he laid his expensive pen on his desk. With the clench of his jaw, he seethed, “What do you want?”

  “I want to know where the fuck Juliette is!” I cursed as I moved closer to his desk, my knuckles white from my tight fists.

  “What makes you think I know anything, or would even tell you if I did?” Sebastian chuckled, his mouth twitched with amusement.

  “I know all about Walter Marlow. Your contract with Juliette. Now where the fuck is she?” I snapped with disgust as I stepped closer to him, ready to wipe that shit eating grin from his face.

  “Your time is up, Mr. Jacobs,” Sebastian paused, looking to his office door where two security guards were now standing. “Gentlemen, just in time. Mr. Jacobs was just leaving. If he enters the building again have him arrested for trespassing.”

  This was far from over. One way or another I was going to find out what he was hiding. As the two security guards escorted me out of the building, I noticed a chubby fellow getting out of a late model Cadillac. I didn’t know what it was about this man, but there was something familiar about him. His head was lowered and he looked as though he hadn’t bathed in some time. Not even the expensive-looking suit he wore could better his appearance.

  Pulling a dollar bill from my pocket, I walked up to him and asked, “Excuse me, sir. Do you have change for a dollar?”

  The man looked up to me and smiled with tobacco-stained teeth. Digging in his pocket, he pulled out some loose change and began counting it as he picked out a couple of quarters and five dimes. Handing it over to me, he said in a gruff voice, probably caused from years of smoking, “Here you go. Don’t spend it all in one place?”

  I didn’t catch the humor, but there was something definitely familiar about him. I just couldn’t put my finger on it. I put the change in my pocket and watched him walk inside the building. Going with my gut, I pulled out my phone and took a picture of his plate before heading back to my truck. As I got inside, I noticed a yellow slip under my wiper. I was in such a hurry to get inside the building that I neglected to deposit some money into the meter. Opening the glove box, I threw it inside, adding it to the collection of parking tickets I had already had. I never really had to worry about them. Peter had an in with the NYPD and the parking tickets were waived.

  About halfway back to the shop, it dawned on me what was so familiar about that guy. It was his voice. Whipping a U-turn, I headed back to the Collins building to wait for the guy to come out. It didn’t matter that I had broken all of the traffic laws in order to get there, because by the time I arrived, the Cadillac was already gone.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Juliette

  Somehow I managed to fall asleep in the lumpy bed that was in the bedroo
m I was escorted to. Mr. Marlow said that it was the best room in the house and had all the comforts of a fancy hotel. “Fancy hotel, my ass,” I said out loud as I tried to work the kinks out of my neck. At least I was thankful for one thing, the bedding was clean. Scooting to the edge of the bed from the middle, since the middle had the least amount of lumps, I got up and headed to the bathroom to pee.

  When I arrived early this morning, all I wanted to do was to cuddle up and go to sleep. I never made it to the bathroom, so when I switched on the light, my eyes flared with disgusted. The bathroom wasn’t fit for a dog. The tub was stained with rust from where the water must have continually run. There was also a wide ring around the rim, which I was pretty sure never saw a drop of cleaner. And the sink was in the same condition. I was almost afraid to touch anything for fear that I was going to catch something. I guess for every down side there is an up side. At least there were clean towels on the vanity.

  Turning on the water in the sink, it ran brown. I waited for a minute until the water turned clear before I splashed a handful on my face. Drying my face off with the rough towel, I walked over to the tub and turned the nozzle to the hot water, and then the cold, and waited for the water to turn clear before I set the plug in the drain. When the water was just below the stained ring, I turned it off and began taking off my clothes, which wasn’t much, considering what I came with.

  Stepping inside the tub, I was careful not to touch the sides. There was a bar of soap that appeared to be unused in the dish, which I used to clean myself. Having spent all the time in the tub that I could stand, I got out and dried my body, wrapping the damp towel around me for coverage while I hunted for something to wear.

  Opening the door to the closet, there wasn’t much inside by way of clothing, but there were plenty of nightgowns and robes, most of which looked to be very expensive. Looking through the assortment, I decided on a conservative black nightgown with a matching robe. Slipping it on, it didn’t surprise me in the least that it fit perfectly. Drawing my eyes to the floor, I saw that for every nightgown there were a pair of fancy slippers to match. Once again, I picked the most conservative pair and slipped them on, again fitting perfectly.

  With only a nightgown and a robe on, I needed to see if I could find some underwear and maybe even a bra. Opening every drawer in the dresser, I came up empty. “What kind of sicko is he?” I thought to myself as I closed the last drawer.

  With nothing left to do, I sat back down on the bed until either Mr. Marlow or one of his servants came to get me. As I was sitting there lost in thought, I remembered the one thing that might help me get out of here. Walking over to the dusty red velvet chair in the corner of the room, I picked up my trench coat and dug inside the pocket for my cell phone. Pulling up the screen, I only had fifteen percent battery life left. It was just enough for what I needed to do.

  Ash was at the top of my favorite contacts so it didn’t take me long to dial him. The call went to voicemail and the only thing I could do was leave a message. Before I could finish the message, my phone was ripped from my hand. Turning to face the one person that made my stomach churn, I saw the evil in his eyes before he asked, “What the hell do you think you’re doing, you little wench?”

  I yelled one last time for Ash, but I knew it was too late. My only chance of getting out of here was destroyed, and with a backhand to the face I was down. With a look of conviction on his face, Mr. Marlow hissed, “You will never see him again,” before he left the room, slamming the door behind him.

  ~****~

  I must have cried myself to sleep, because when I woke up, the sun was beginning to set. I also knew by the sound my stomach was making that I hadn’t eaten for nearly twenty-four hours. Pushing to my feet, I walked over to the door and turned the knob. Either Mr. Marlow forgot to lock the door or he was testing me. It didn’t matter to me either way. I knew that if I didn’t try and get out of this place, I was surely going to die here.

  Cracking the door an inch, I put my ear to the crack to see if I could hear anything going on from the other side. When I was met with only silence, I opened it a little further until I was able to peek outside into the long hallway. There was no one in sight. Running back to the bed, I grabbed my slippers and slowly headed down the long hallway in the direction that I came when Mr. Marlow brought me here.

  This was too easy. It had to be a test. I was already down the marble staircase and almost to the front door with no sign of anyone. Tiptoeing along, I heard a noise coming from the other room. All I could think about was getting caught. I began trying all the doors near me to find a place to hide. Every door I tried was locked. The voices were getting nearer and I was running out of options. Trying the last door, it opened and I slipped inside. I must have slipped inside a closet because it was pitch black and smelt like someone had died.

  Putting my ear against the door and concentrating on the voices instead of the smell, I heard one of the men say, “He has gone to meet with Mr. Collins. He won’t be back for another hour. He wants us to wait until he gets back to feed Miss Daniels and has advised us to feed her only one slice of bread and one glass of water. He needs her to have some strength for what he has planned for her this evening.” I heard the man chuckle at his lame humor.

  As soon as the voices were gone, I knew that I was in the clear. Even though I knew I had an hour, it wasn’t much time to get far away from here. I slowly opened the door to the closet and looked around for any sign of the men. With my slippers in my hand, I quietly walked to the front door as quickly as possible without making a sound. Pulling the door open, it began to creak, taking my breath away. I thought for sure that I was caught, but no one ever came. They must have been far enough away not to hear the screeching sound.

  As soon as I hit the outside, I pulled the slippers on and ran. I didn’t even bother closing the front door as I left, which was probably a mistake. The cobblestone drive was a killer on my feet, but I knew that I had to keep going. Reaching the end of the drive, I turned to the left and headed down the paved road. Watching for oncoming cars, I steered clear of them by lying down in the embankment until they passed and were out of sight. The last thing I wanted was to run into that piece of shit coming back.

  I knew that it had to have been close to an hour since I ran from the mansion. It was only a matter of time before he spotted me if I continued walking down this road. While I was thinking the best thing to do was to take one of the side roads, a car appeared from the other direction. I thought for sure it was Mr. Marlow’s servants coming to look for me. But when the car stopped and the driver rolled down the window, I knew it wasn’t them. A young girl who couldn’t have been much older than me was sitting behind the wheel.

  I continued walking until she asked, “Hey, do you need a ride?”

  Turning towards her, I said, “Yeah, that would be great,” as I began walking to the passenger side of the car.

  Once inside, she turned down the radio and asked, “Where were you heading to, dressed like that?”

  “It’s a long story, But do you think you could take me to Maplewood?” I asked.

  “Today is your lucky day, I have to go through Maplewood. My folks live in Springfield. I’m visiting them for summer break. I’m Maddy, by the way,” she said, holding out her hand.

  “I’m Juliette,” I replied.

  While Maddy was driving, there wasn’t one minute that passed that she didn’t talk. Most of the time I wasn’t even listening to her, My thoughts were focused on the mess I was currently in. I tried several times to chime in on the conversation, but was stopped by something totally different than what she was talking about to begin with. In one breath she was talking about the history class she took and how she thought the professor was hot and in the next she was talking about whether or not she should color her hair pink.

  I couldn’t have been more ready to step out of the car by the time she pulled up to my place. I wanted her to wait while I went inside to get her some money
for gas, but she insisted that it was no problem and on the way to where she was going anyway.

  Waving her goodbye, I took a deep breath of relief and went inside the house. God, it felt good to be home. I knew I couldn’t stay here, but I desperately needed a shower and a change of clothes. But more than anything, I needed Ash.

  ~****~

  I think I must have died and gone to heaven. Even though my bathtub was nothing like the one at the Four Seasons, it was mine and it was clean. My whole body was engulfed in mounds and mounds of bubbles. The scent of vanilla filled the room, giving me a relaxing tranquil atmosphere. With my ear buds in, I was in absolute heaven.