Fire Games

by Lorana Hoopes

  The rectangle slid open again, but this time Cassidy didn’t scramble over to try and peer out. She knew the view was limited and she didn’t want to give this guy the satisfaction of seeing her. “Dinner.”

  “I’m not hungry,” Cassidy said though the ache in her stomach protested.

  “You will eat.”

  She had tried begging and lying. Neither had worked, but Cassidy wondered if bribery might. “I’ll eat if you’ll tell me who you are.”

  “You shouldn’t have to ask,” the voice growled.

  Ouch! She’d touched a nerve, but she wasn’t going to stop now. She wasn’t sure what she would gain by knowing the identity of her captor, but she needed to know. “But I do. You’re disguising your voice and you haven’t shown me your face, so how would I know who you are?”

  “I sent you the letters.”

  “Yes, but you didn’t put your name on them or a return address, so how could I know it was you?”

  “I left you other gifts.” The agitation in his voice increased with every answer, but Cassidy felt fairly safe locked in this room.

  “At the fire station?” There’d been a few gifts in the bag, mostly chocolates which she had thrown out even though she loved chocolate.

  “No, on your doorstep.”

  Cassidy sucked in her breath. So, he knew where she lived. That had to make it Dustin unless Scott had followed her home without her knowing it. “What gifts? I never received any on my doorstep.” She thought back over the last few months, but she couldn’t remember anything being outside her door.

  “You’re lying. You did get them and after everything I’ve done for you, I can’t believe you’re saying you don’t remember or that you kissed that guy. I know you didn’t mean it, but I’m the only guy you’re supposed to be kissing.” He dropped the plate spilling the soup and bread onto the floor before slamming the rectangle shut again.

  So, he’d seen her yesterday with Jordan. That made sense. Seeing her kiss another man would probably push him over the edge enough to abduct her, but that still didn’t tell her who he was. Her gut was telling her it was Dustin, but what had he meant by gifts? She hadn’t been lying about that; she’d never received any gifts at her apartment. At least not that she knew of. She lay back on the bed and tried to go over every interaction she had ever had with Dustin.

  Generally, she saw him on her way to or from work when he’d be walking his dog outside. There was the one time he’d offered to wash her windows, but she’d declined. She hadn’t wanted him that close to her windows, and the landlord had a company that came out once every few months to clean up the outside of the apartments.

  The gifts still bothered her. What if he had put the gifts on the wrong doorstep? But Dustin knew which apartment was hers; she was sure of it. Did that mean it was Scott then? Maybe he’d followed her to the parking lot but hadn’t seen which building she entered? That didn’t make much sense though because if he was stalking her, why wouldn’t he watch her walk all the way inside?

  He just hadn’t given her enough clues to be sure, but Cassidy would keep trying.

  Chapter 14

  “Jordan? What are you doing-” Al’s voice faded as she spied Ivy behind him. “Who’s that?”

  “This is Ivy Hopkins. She’s a friend of Cassidy’s and a paramedic who works out of the firehouse. Cassidy’s been taken, and she’s here to help identify the possible suspects.” Jordan sat down at his desk and turned the computer on.

  “Whoa! What?”

  Jordan could understand Al’s confusion, but he didn’t have time to explain it. He typed the cell number into the database and waited for the information to pop up. Scott Cline 5554 Wagoneer Avenue.

  “Is that him?” Ivy asked peering over his shoulder.

  “Is that who?” Al asked coming around the desk to see the computer.

  “The guy who came to the firehouse,” Ivy said. “Evidently, Cassidy gave him a jumpstart and then he showed up later with flowers and a dinner invite, so we think he might be her stalker.”

  “A possible suspect,” Jordan corrected, “and I don’t know yet. Let me put this in the DMV site and see if there’s a picture.” Jordan pulled up the website and plugged in the information. A moment later, a picture filled the screen. He turned the monitor toward Ivy. “Is it?”

  Ivy nodded. “Yeah, that’s definitely him. Is he the stalker?”

  “I can start a background check, but it’s going to take some time to get results back. In the meantime, I’ll visit Scott’s home and see if he’ll talk to me. Then I want to stop by Cassidy’s apartment and see what else I can find out about Dustin. You don’t know his last name, do you?”

  Ivy’s head shook slowly, sadly. “I don’t. I never asked much about him.”

  “Can you at least tell me what he looked like?”

  Ivy shrugged. “Bland. He has sandy brown hair, about your height, thin. Nothing that would stand out. Maybe I should go with you to help identify him.”

  “No, you’re staying here. The landlord should be able to help.” He glanced at his watch. It was after five. “Except the office is probably closed. Do you have the landlord’s number?”

  “No, but I think it was on the door for emergencies. I know it was on Cassidy’s fridge.” She reached into her purse and pulled out her keys. “I have her apartment key if you need it.”

  Jordan stared at the key. He didn’t want to go in Cassidy’s apartment. Not without her permission and not with the emotions running rampant through his body right now. “I’ll take my chances on the number first. If it’s not on the door, I can find it out another way. Al, call me when the background on Scott Cline comes in.”

  “I’m going with you.”

  “No, I need you here to give me the information. Cassidy’s already been missing nearly a whole day. We have to move fast and that means I need someone I can trust getting me the information I need.”

  Al held his gaze for a minute as if debating whether to argue with him or not. “Fine,” she said and sat down in his vacated seat.

  “Thanks Al. I’ll get you a complete name as soon as I talk to the landlord.” He headed for the exit and pushed open the door.

  A few minutes later, he turned left on Wagoneer and pulled to a stop in front of 5554. An old Mustang was parked in the driveway, and Jordan hoped that meant Scott Cline was home.

  The door swung open to reveal the man from the photos. “Scott Cline?”

  “Yeah?” The man’s voice was hesitant as his eyes scanned Jordan’s face.

  “I’m Detective Graves, and I need to ask you a few questions about Cassidy Marcel.” Jordan pulled his jacket aside to display his badge.

  The man’s eyes flicked down to the badge and then back up to Jordan. “Who?”

  “Cassidy, the firefighter you brought flowers to.”

  Scott blinked, nodded, and pushed the glasses up the bridge of his nose. “Oh, okay. I don’t really know her. She helped me jump my car and I brought her flowers and asked her to dinner. I tried calling the number she gave me, but it was the wrong one. I just figured she wasn’t interested.”

  “Unfortunately, she’s gone missing, so I’m hoping you can tell me where you were yesterday.”

  Scott’s eyes widened and he took a step back. “I didn’t have anything to do with that. I was at work all day yesterday. You can check with my office. I had another big meeting, so I was there at seven a.m. and didn’t leave until after nine p.m.”

  Jordan ran through the timeline in his head. He had left Cassidy before six p.m. and she had never texted him which made him think the accident had occurred shortly after she left him. “Can I get your work information to verify?”

  Scott rattled off the information and Jordan plugged it into his phone. He would have Al verify it, but his gut told him Scott was not the man.

  “Listen, I hope you find her, but if you do, tell her I’m no longer interested. I don’t need this kind of drama in my life.” He stepped back and
closed the door.

  Jordan fought the urge to knock on the door again and give the guy a piece of his mind, but that would do nothing to help Cassidy. This guy didn’t seem to be the captor and the timeline didn’t fit. He was a jerk but nothing more. Which meant that the best suspect right now was Dustin.

  While it was possible he was dealing with a total unknown person, the statistics behind stalking suggested it was someone who knew Cassidy, and Dustin asking about her was a classic sign of stalking which made him wonder if this escalation was his fault.

  Could Dustin have been at Edward Long’s apartment or the hospital and seen them kiss? If he had, it might explain the abduction. Dustin would have been angry that Cassidy was seeing someone else and that might have led to the aggressive behavior. If that was the case, Jordan was responsible for this event. He had put an innocent woman in danger, and he had to make it right.

  “Dustin?” Cassidy banged on the door and hollered at the top of her lungs. “Dustin, let me out of here so we can talk.” She still wasn’t positive Dustin was her stalker, but after reviewing what she knew, the scale tipped in his favor. “Dustin?” She pounded again and the rectangle slid open. “Dustin, let’s talk about this.”

  “So, you finally realized it was me.” His voice modulator was gone, and Cassidy recognized the voice immediately. The sound had never given her warm fuzzies but it sent shivers down her spine now.

  “I did, but I still have questions for you. I was hoping you could answer them. I know you don’t owe me any explanation since you’ve done so much for me already, but it would help me.” Cassidy hoped she was hitting the right buttons. She’d never had to deal with a stalker before, but the cop shows she watched stated stalkers usually made up stories in their heads of what they thought happened.

  “What do you want to know?”

  “Why did you send the letters to the firehouse? Why not leave them on my doorstep?”

  “Because you never said anything about all the other letters I left on your doorstep. When I heard you’d gone on the show, I thought maybe if I sent the letters to your work, you would know how serious I was.”

  Other letters? Cassidy had no knowledge of other letters. “I never got them, Dustin – the ones you left on my doorstep. I’m sorry; I would have acknowledged them if I had.” She probably would have run to the police and filed a restraining order, but she would have acknowledged them.

  “I don’t believe you,” he roared and pounded on the door with such force that Cassidy took a step back. “I told you in those letters how much I loved you and how we belonged together and you went on that stupid dating show anyway. That’s not how you show love.”

  “You’re right, but I promise you that I never received any letters or gifts from you at my apartment. I only got the letters and gifts at the station and since you didn’t sign them, I didn’t know who to thank. Please, can you let me out so we can discuss this?” Cassidy held her breath as she waited. She didn’t know what she would find on the other side, but it had to be better than this tiny room.

  “I’ll think about it.” And then the rectangle closed again and Cassidy was left in the silence once more. Only now, the light was officially gone, and the room was dark. Dark and silent. She didn’t know how much longer she could take it.

  Chapter 15

  Jordan pulled into the apartment parking lot and parked in front of the darkened office. He hoped the landlord’s number was on the door. Twenty-four hours had already passed and Jordan knew the statistics were grim, but he’d beaten the statistics with the children. Maybe he could beat them with Cassidy too. He breathed a slight sigh of relief when he saw the small note on the door that held the landlord’s name and phone number.

  He punched the numbers into his phone praying the man would be home.

  “Hello?”

  “Is this Bob Warnke?” Jordan asked.

  “It is. What can I help you with?”

  “My name is Detective Graves with FBPD and I need to ask you a few questions. Can you give me your apartment number or meet me at the office?”

  “I’ll be right there.” The phone clicked in Jordan’s ear and he ended the call and placed it back in his pocket.

  A minute later, a man with fuzzy white hair and a bathrobe shuffled up to him. “I’m Bob. Sorry, I generally retire pretty early. What’s this about?”

  “It’s about one of your tenants,” Jordan began. “Do you have a Dustin who rents here? About my height with sandy brown hair? Always walking his dog?”

  “That’s my nephew, Dustin Gibbs. Has something happened to him?”

  Jordan dodged the question and posed his own instead. “Do you know where he is, sir? It’s important I find him.”

  “I’m sure he’s in his apartment. Come on, I’ll take you there.” The man shuffled down the sidewalk to a building two down from Cassidy’s. “His apartment is B, but what’s this about?”

  Jordan knew he needed to tread softly. He didn’t want to alarm the man and have him shut down. “I believe Dustin may have information about a missing person I’m searching for.”

  The man blanched and dropped his eyes as he fumbled with the keys. “Please tell me you don’t mean Cassidy Marcel.”

  A vice squeezed Jordan’s heart and he balled his fists to keep from shaking the man. “I do mean Cassidy. She went missing yesterday. What do you know?”

  Bob’s hands trembled as he flipped through the key ring. “You have to understand Dustin isn’t quite right in the head. He’s a good kid, but sometimes he gets fixated on things. I saw him talking to Cassidy one day and the next morning I saw him by her apartment. He had left a flower on her doorstep. I didn’t want her to freak out, so I took the flower. I thought Dustin would let it go, but he seemed to become obsessed with her. He left at least three more items on her doorstep – notes, flowers, candy.”

  Jordan’s blood boiled in his veins. This man had known and done nothing? “Why didn’t you tell Cassidy?” If he had told Cassidy, she could have done something. She could have moved or filed a restraining order. She could have at least known what she was up against.

  Bob offered a small shrug. “I didn’t think he was dangerous. He never has been before, and I’ve known him his whole life. In fact, I’m sure it’s just a misunderstanding, but I can get him to talk to you.” He inserted the key in the door and turned the lock. “Dustin?” he called as he pushed open the door. “Maybe he’s sleeping.”

  Or more likely he wasn’t there. Jordan followed the man into the apartment, his hand close to his gun, but he didn’t really expect to use it. Bob continued to call out as he entered the apartment, but when every room had been checked, he sighed. “I guess he’s not here.”

  “Where would he go? Where would he take her?”

  Bob scratched his head as the thought. “My sister has an old place a few miles outside of town. No one lives there now, but he could go there I suppose.”

  “Get me the address. Now.”

  Jordan placed the call for backup as he sped toward the address. He just hoped they arrived when he did. He wasn’t sure he would be able to wait outside knowing Cassidy was so close and probably in danger.

  Cassidy awoke with a start when she heard a bang. Had that been a gun shot? Something falling over? She put her ear to the door to try and hear the commotion outside. Had she been found? If it wasn’t rescuers, she might jump from the frying pan into the fire if she banged on the door, and someone worse than Dustin found her. Although, right now she couldn’t imagine someone worse than Dustin. However, if it was rescuers, she had no idea if they would find her if she didn’t pound on the door. She had no reference on where this door was in relation to the rest of the house. There was the one window, so she wasn’t completely underground, but it could still be the basement if this was a split-level house.

  Deciding the benefits outweighed the drawbacks, Cassidy threw her fists against the metal. “In here. I’m in here. Somebody please help me.” There was anoth
er crashing sound followed by shouting and then the clear sound of a gunshot. Cassidy’s hand froze before banging the door again. She was no longer sure she wanted to be found. The gun could belong to her rescuers, especially if it was the police, but it could also belong to Dustin or someone worse.

  Before she could decide, a creaking sound filled the room. The lock turning on the door. Cassidy tried to scan the dark room for anything she could use, but she had nothing. Nothing but a plastic plate and bowl somewhere on the dark floor covered in oatmeal. She backed away from the door and crouched ready to launch herself at whoever came through the door. It wouldn’t last long, but maybe she could overpower them with the element of surprise long enough to bolt for the door.

  Light flooded the room as the door opened, and with a primal scream, Cassidy threw herself at the body in the doorframe. Only as her eyes adjusted to the light did she realize that the body belonged to Jordan, and by then, she was powerless to stop her force. Her body slammed into his sending him stumbling backward. His arms wrapped around her and he pulled her to his chest as they fell to the floor.

  A grunting noise escaped his lips as they landed and then his hands flew to her face. “Are you hurt, Cassidy?”

  “Jordan, I’m so sorry. I heard the gunshot and thought Dustin was going to kill me. I figured the element of surprise was my only shot.” She ran her hands up his chest where they had landed to his face as if trying to feel out any injured spot.

  A small smile played across his lips amid his pained expression. “I’d say you did a good job with that. You might have broken a few of my ribs, but it’s worth it to see you safe.”

  Cassidy knew this was no time for emotions, but she couldn’t help placing her lips against his – in apology, in relief, in love.