by Lea Hart
“I hope you all are right.” Sara sighed.
***
Grady sat at his kitchen table and tied his running shoes. He wore a tank top because he didn’t want to encourage those old ladies. Just as he was about to leave, there was a knock on his door.
When he opened it, he was greeted by the cop in charge of Angelina’s case. “Hey, Clint. What brings you by?” He stepped back and let the man in. “I hope it’s good news.”
“Unfortunately, it’s not. I wanted to give you a heads-up so that you can be prepared.”
“Did Angelina get released from the psych ward?”
“Yes, she did. Her father picked her up last night, and he’s going to keep her at home with a nurse. I got a call this morning from Jackson Memorial that she had been released. I wrote the initial fifty-one-fifty, so a nurse there wanted me to know in case things heat up again.”
“Shit. There’s no way that thirty days fixed the demons in her head. Why in the hell did she get out so soon?”
“Hard to say. Maybe she showed enough improvement that they felt she was no longer a risk. Truth be told, I don’t know how that works. I haven’t had too many cases like this. The only reason I got the call this morning was that I dated a nurse who works there. She called me as a favor.”
“I appreciate the heads-up. I hope to God that Ang has moved on.”
“Yeah, me too. It wasn’t a lot of fun coming out on the calls every night. A woman losing her mind is not something that I need to see on a regular basis.”
“I never saw it coming. I should get in touch with her father and see if he can give me an idea of how she’s doing.”
“Do you think he’s going to tell you the truth?”
“I hope so.”
Tipping his head, he grinned. “Good luck. Give me a call if you need anything. Hopefully she won’t show up at your house again.”
They both stepped outside and watched the women leave Sara’s house. Clint laughed as they walked slowly down the sidewalk. “Seems Sara is making sure the ladies of the neighborhood look good. The only good thing to come out of the crap that happened at your house was the cookies they made. After the first week, the ladies always had something for me.”
“I heard it was a regular party.”
Clint smiled at Sara and waved. “That right there is one pretty woman. I should go over and see if she’s ready to go on a date with me.”
“Sara and I are together, so the date isn’t going to happen.”
Clint’s head swung around. “Damn, that was fast work. I tried for over a month to get her to have a cup of coffee with me. How serious are you two?”
“As serious as it gets.”
Clint shook his head. “Congratulations.”
“Thanks, man.” Clint strode toward the sidewalk and stopped to chat with the ladies. While they were catching up, Sara came over and stood next to him. “Hi, honey,” he said. “How was the mah-jongg?”
“Awful. I don’t think I’m ever going to understand that game.”
He draped his arm around her shoulders and waved to Clint as he got in his car. “The officer has a crush on you. I had to let him know that you were unavailable.” Glancing down, he heard her giggle.
“So, I’m your woman and you let him know.”
“Absolutely. Mine, mine and all mine.”
“Well, all right.”
“Your enthusiasm is a little much to take. You may want to tone it down.” Turning, she pulled him down and pressed her mouth to his and kissed the hell out of him. “Or you could just keep doing that.”
“Oh, don’t you worry, Grady. I plan on doing that a lot.” She spun on her heel, strode into the house, and left the door open.
Being the smart man that he was, he followed her in. Forget running. He was going to get his cardio done a whole different way.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
One Week Later
As Sara strolled out of the market, a strong wind whipped up and threatened to take the cart out of her hands. Glancing up, she noted the heavy dark clouds hanging along the horizon. If she was very lucky, she would get home before the sky opened up.
She pushed the cart with the wonky wheel toward her car and glanced around the parking lot. Ever since Grady had told her that Angelina had been she released from the hospital, she had tried to keep an eye out. Not that she thought Ang had anything against her. But it was hard to tell what might set her off. Her phone buzzed as she reached the car, and she decided to ignore it. Gladys and Agnes were off on a four-day cruise, so it wouldn’t be them, and she had already spoken with Sammy. Grady would have to wait until she got home. The trunk of her car popped open after she had pressed the alarm and clapped closed after a good gust of wind blew it shut. “Let me get this stuff in the car,” she muttered to herself. Opening the trunk again, she put her foot on the cart to hold it in place and started putting the bags inside. The wind blew against her back as she tried to accomplish the task. The cart almost rolled away as she put the last bag inside. Blowing out a breath, she was about to turn around when she felt something poke into her back. “What the…”
“Don’t move or scream. I don’t want to shoot you in front of anyone. So keep your mouth shut and follow directions.”
White-hot fear slid down her back, and she nodded her head in agreement. “Okay,” she croaked out. “You can take my purse. There’s about a hundred dollars in there.”
“I don’t want your fucking money.”
It was a woman’s voice. How strange. She’d expected to hear a man’s. Had the mafia started hiring hit women? “Did they send you from Chicago, or are you a contract hit person?” The pressure of something pushing into her back became more insistent. It was a gun. No doubt about it.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I want you to keep your mouth shut and follow my directions.”
“Got it.” Mother Nature decided that now was the moment to let the sky open up. Rain started falling in sheets across the parking lot. Looking around frantically, Sara tried to determine if there would be a way to escape. Was she close enough to the entrance to make it into the store without being shot? Testing the grip the woman had on her, she moved her arm.
“Don’t try to make a run for it. I’ll shoot you without a second thought.”
Standing in the parking lot with a gun to her back in a thunderstorm didn’t give Sara too many options. Run and hope the woman was a horrible shot. Might be worth it. But if she was a hired killer, she was probably very accurate. Shit. “If you shoot me, then you’re never going to get what you want. My death doesn’t help you get closer to your goal.” Pulling her arm away, she whipped around and faced her attacker. “Angelina?”
“Shut up.”
“I thought you were sent from Chicago.” Angelina gripped her arm and shoved the gun into her side. There was no mistaking that she was off her meds and struggling with reality. Shit. She knew what Ang was capable of. After all, she’d seen her take her crazy out against Grady’s house for weeks. What the woman could do with a hatchet, paint, and some matches was impressive. The fact that she had a gun shoved into Sara’s side suggested she meant business. Again.
Angelina dragged her across the parking lot to a nondescript blue van. The door slid open and Angelina shouted, “Get in.” The point was made when she kicked her knees so that she collapsed into the van. Once Sara was in a heap, Ang took out a couple of zip ties and bound her feet and hands. “We’re going on a little ride.”
Sara watched as Ang grabbed her purse and threw it out into the parking lot. No one was going to see it, because everyone had escaped the rain earlier. The last slice of hope that she was holding on to fell away. There was a tracker in her purse, and Grady wasn’t going to get any clues by finding her purse in the Publix parking lot. As she lay in the back of the van, she realized that she hadn’t used any of the techniques that she’d been taught. If she ended up surviving this disaster, then she had a very difficult conversatio
n to look forward to with Richard. He had spent all that time training her and she had used none of it. Granted, the gun shoved into her side had made it difficult. But she should’ve been able to come up with something. Shit.
***
They had to have been traveling for over an hour when Sara felt the van slow down and turn. There were very few stars in the sky, and they must’ve been in an unpopulated area, because all she could see was inky darkness out the small window in the rear of the van. Angelina hadn’t said a word during the whole drive. Which made the journey seem excruciatingly long. It had always been her impression that people who had lost their minds talked a lot. But apparently that wasn’t Ang’s MO.
Maybe she just wanted to warn her away from Grady, and that’s all this little trip was about. Yeah, right. The woman clearly had skills with a hatchet. There was no reason to believe that she wasn’t going to use them. Was this because they had never invited her for drinks and snacks when she showed up to unleash her crazy? Perhaps this was all just a result of bad manners. She and the neighbors had watched her like she was a freak show put on for their entertainment and not a deeply troubled woman. Maybe if Sara had made an effort to include her, none of this ever would have happened. Her mama had always told her to include people when she was having a get-together and she had never tried to invite Ang. Granted, asking someone if she wanted a margarita after she tried to set the neighbor’s front lawn on fire did present a certain amount of awkwardness. But, damn it, Sara was a southern woman. There were very few things that couldn’t be smoothed over with the right cocktail. Her mama had taught her better, and her lack of manners could very well result in her death. “Sorry, Mama.”
Ang climbed out of the van with her gun in her hand, came around, and threw open the door. “Don’t try to scream, because there’s no one around. This is one of our unused warehouses.”
Sara was roughly pulled from the van and propped against it. “I’m going to cut the ties on your legs so you can follow me. Don’t try to run away, because I’ll shoot you the moment you start.”
“Is this because we never invited you over for drinks? Because, if it is, I would like to apologize for not including you. I realize now that it was rude to sit and watch and then not offer you something to drink.”
“No. Have you lost your damn mind?”
Not what she expected to hear. After all, she wasn’t the one who had just spent a month in a psych ward. But pointing that out probably wasn’t going to help her. “Haven’t lost it yet. There have been a couple of close calls over the last year, but I think I’ve held on pretty good.”
“Why would I want to have a drink with you and your old biddy friends? You’re here because Grady broke my heart, and now I’m going to break his. He thinks he’s in love with you, so I’m going to take away the thing he wants most in the world.”
“So, are you completely sure this has nothing to do with you feeling excluded?”
The gun that was shoved into her side was accompanied by a lot of cursing in Italian.
“So, this is just plain old revenge?” Sarah asked.
“Grady tried to get away from me for a long time, and I wouldn’t let him. He always said he wasn’t ready for a relationship and he was busy building the company. But the minute I’m no longer available, he finds you. And thinks he’s fallen in love.”
“He hasn’t fallen in love with me. He is just protecting me because the Outfit is after me. It’s more of a guard dog type of thing.”
Angelina threw her head back and let out a hysterical laugh that lasted a long time. It took on the quality of the laugh that Jack Nicholson had in The Shining. As best she could remember, nothing good happened after Jack laughed. The same was probably going to be true here. Ang’s eyes glittered with anger, and Sara could see that her grip on reality and sanity was very thin. In fact, she probably had left reality behind a while ago and was simply living in her own world.
“I may be crazy, but I’m not stupid,” Angelina shrieked back. She tugged a ring of keys out of her jacket pocket and hauled Sara toward the door. “No one will find us here. Not even super SEAL Grady.”
Sara glanced around at the abandoned parking lot and could see nothing for miles. Not a person, a business, or even an alligator was around. There was a swamp that bordered the parking lot, and Sara wondered how often critters escaped and made it through the chain link fence. As she was pulled into the dark warehouse, she laughed quietly to herself. The past year had prepared her for the possibility of something horrific happening. In a way, it was a relief that she didn’t have to wait anymore to see who was after her. But she sure wished the mafia would’ve gotten to her before Ang. Her odds of surviving would’ve been better with the hit men than the crazy ex.
Sara watched Angelina lock the door and set some kind of alarm. The only light in the cavernous building came from an office on a mezzanine just inside the door. Angelina had the whole thing planned out, and this wasn’t an I’m-pissed spur-of-the-moment abduction. This was the result of careful planning. Which meant that Angelina already knew the outcome she wanted. She wasn’t flying by the seat of her pants. “So, this is your family business?”
“Yeah. We have a trucking company, and I’ve been running it for the last two years. More accurately, had been running it. My father brought in my cousin from Chicago to run it, since…I was away.” Pulling Sara in front of her, she shoved the gun in her back. “Climb the stairs.”
Sara followed directions and slowly trudged up the stairs. There was no escape to be had, unless she could somehow get the gun away from Angelina. Not ready to give up hope, she tried to remember the many lessons that Richard had given her. There had to be something stored in her brain that would help her find a way out of this mess. Once she was inside the office, Angelina shoved her into a chair and bound her legs again with zip ties.
Sara sat quietly and watched Angelina grab a bottle of water from a cooler next to the couch. She observed Angelina and tried to figure out what she was after. Was it torturing Grady? Getting his attention? Killing her? All three?
“Why is the Outfit after you? You don’t look like someone who would have pissed them off.”
Scooting back in the chair, Sara tried to breathe slowly. How in the hell did Angelina know anything about the Chicago mafia? Was she crazy and connected? “My biological father was part of the family.”
“Who was your dad?”
“He wasn’t my dad. He was the guy who donated sperm. My father was Ken Montgomery. He was a fine and honorable man.”
“We have relatives who are part of that family. My father isn’t. He’s always run a legit trucking company down here. Maybe I should give them a call and let them know that I found what they’re looking for.”
“That might be a good idea. No offense, but I like my chances with them a lot better than with you.”
The crazy laugh escaped again, and Sara knew that whatever Angelina had in mind was going to be bad. By the end, she might be praying for a bullet through her brain. What a shitty day. Not only was she in the hands of a crazy person, but also she was going to miss the Bachelorette finale. Crap. “Do you have a computer or TV here?”
“I have a computer, but don’t think you’re getting near it. I’m not stupid.”
“I’m not suggesting you are. It’s just that tonight is the finale of The Bachelorette, and I’m dying to see it. If you’re going to kill me, first I would at least like to see who she picks.”
Thrusting her hip out, Angelina studied her closely. “I can’t believe that Grady chose you. I mean, look at you. You’re the quintessential nice girl. There’s no way he chose you over me.”
“He didn’t choose me. All he’s doing is protecting me. We’re neighbors, so he probably feels obligated to not see my guts spilled on the sidewalk in front of his house. I mean, think of how bad that would look for someone who runs a security company. The publicity alone would make him want to help out.”
Ang shook
her head and took another gulp of water. “And people think I’m crazy.”
“I don’t think anyone believes you’re crazy. Maybe just colorful and…passionate.”
“I was carted off in a police car and committed to a psych ward. I’m pretty sure people are calling me crazy.”
“You’re probably right. It’s going to be hard to come back from that one. Though you could spin it as a whole ‘I’m really passionate’ thing.” Staring up at Ang with her wild raven curls that exploded around her head, glittering coal-black eyes, and hard smile, she figured that was going to be a tough sell. “Maybe just embrace it and call it a day.”
“You never answered my question. Why does Solly D want you?”
“Because I witnessed Sal’s murder. I met him for dinner in Chicago and as we were leaving, he was gunned down in front of the restaurant. One of his bodyguards did nothing to stop it, and I saw the shooter. So I’m a witness for the murder trial, and they also think that Sal gave me the password for the Swiss bank account that has information that could hurt the family along with around seventy million dollars.”
“Yeah, that would do it.”
“I only spent a couple of hours with Sal, and my life has been in the shit can for over a year. Talk about having crappy relatives. I win the prize.”
“You might be right there.” Ang strode over to the couch and slumped into it. “I still don’t understand why Grady was attracted to you. It doesn’t make any sense.”
“I keep telling you that it’s a protection thing, not a romantic thing.”
“Why does he spend every night with you and walk back to his house in the morning in a towel?”
“If you give me a couple of minutes, I’m sure that I can come up with a really good answer.”
Throwing her hands up, Ang snorted. “Don’t bother.”
“How do you know all of that? You can’t be hanging around, and a lot of that happened while you were at Jackson Memorial. I know everyone on the street, and you don’t have a spy. How did you manage it?”