She remembered gasping as one of them grabbed her. If she let herself linger on those moments long enough, she could still feel the strength in the hands of the man who had grabbed her. It was a kind of force she had never before felt. His grip contained more than just raw strength. She could feel his hands wrap around her and tighten like a vice. The harder he squeezed, the more she could feel his venom, his hatred.
Each time he’d yank her in one direction or another, Sam felt like her body was being tossed around like a rag doll. Then he slapped her. She brought a hand to her face, as if the sting of pain still lingered. She could feel him as he released his grip just as he felt her falling. Her head took the full impact of the car bumper before she fell to the ground.
Details were fuzzy after that. She did not remember being stuffed into the trunk of the car, but that’s what Wilson had told her when she regained consciousness. She could not remember much about the room when she woke, only that it was cold and dark.
Remembering the incident made her shiver involuntarily. She grabbed the sides of her arms and rubbed them to chase away the chill. Then she rubbed the back of her head. She could still feel the bump. Sam collected Morrison and climbed back into bed, falling into a restless sleep.
The alarm sounded a few hours later and Sam unwillingly dragged herself out of bed. She showered, dressed, fed Morrison and headed out the door to work. Morrison watched her leave, sitting quietly on his haunches, his long black tail wrapped around his paws.
Sam drove all the way to work glancing often in her rearview mirror. Relief flooded her as she drove into the parking lot at the Perspective. She hadn’t been followed, but she wondered momentarily if she were making everything up.
Nick was standing at the reception desk talking to Anne when Sam entered the building. She waved at them and quickly headed down the stairs to the newsroom. She set her briefcase against the desk, turned on her computer and logged onto her e-mail account. She did not bother to remove her coat.
Sam was certain that because she had seen the black sedan in her parking lot, she would receive a message from the kidnappers. Friday morning’s e-mail, however, proved to be just like Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Nothing but spam mail and press releases and a few responses back for comments she was seeking on a story. She looked up and saw Nick enter the newsroom. He paused at his office door and glanced in her direction. She shook her head and mouthed the word ‘no.’ She watched as he disappeared into his office. She thought about telling him about the black sedan, but decided to wait.
Maybe it was nothing. Maybe there wasn’t a black sedan. Maybe she had dreamed the whole thing. Maybe the incident was just a nightmare and Wilson really did leave for Mexico and would be back on Monday. Maybe, just maybe, she would wake up very soon.
At least the incident had helped Sam to keep her mind off April. Somewhat. Sam hadn’t talked to her daughter. She called Esther’s every night just about the time she thought they’d be finishing dinner. Most of the time the answering machine picked up her call. The one time that Sam managed to get Esther on the phone, she told her that April was already in taking a bath.
“She has a bit of a fever, Sam,” Esther had said. Her tone abrupt. “And she’s taking an early bath and going straight to bed. Call back tomorrow night.”
When they hung up, Sam made a disgusted look at the cordless phone before tossing it on the couch. As if she had to be told to call back tomorrow night.
That was Wednesday night. It was now almost 10 a.m. on Friday and Sam had not heard another thing from Esther. Calls the rest of the week were picked up by Esther’s answering machine. Each time Sam time heard Esther’s voice, she had to grit her teeth. She wanted to shout out a string of obscenities and then slam the phone down hard into the cradle. Instead Sam waited patiently for the greeting to finish before leaving a message. She tried hard not to make it sound as though she was pleading to talk with April, but she guessed that’s the way she sounded. Sam had no idea how sick April was or if it was just a ploy by Esther to make her feel guilty. Either way, it was working. Overwhelmed, Sam put her face in her hands and sat quietly for a moment, trying to determine her next step.
“Sam? You okay?”
David Best’s voice startled Sam and she looked at him wide-eyed. He set his gym bag on the floor, looking at her with that with boyish innocence of his, waiting for her to speak. He was dressed casually in dark chinos and a white oxford shirt buttoned at the cuffs. His shirt collar was open and Sam could see the top of his T-shirt. “David,” Sam said with a small, embarrassed laugh. “It seems like every time you see me I’m having a rough moment. You probably think I’m a basket case.”
He nodded as if in agreement, but he was too nice, to say anything.
Sam eyed his bag. “Going to the gym?” she asked, shifting the spotlight away from herself.
Again he nodded. “You should come with me some time, Sam. Exercise does wonders to relieve stress.”
Sam sighed and shook her head. “You remind me so much of my sister,” she said. “Robin planned her entire week around her workout schedule. If she’d have a meeting one night or knew she’d have to work late, those were the nights she didn’t go to the club. That’s just the way she was. Working out was as important to her as it seems to be to you, David.”
“I can’t imagine not going for a run every day, or doing some kind of workout,” he said and picked up his gym bag and fished his car keys from his pants pocket. “You should come with me, Sam. You’re welcome to any time.”
“Thanks, David,” Sam said and smiled. “You’ve been so nice to offer to help me get back in shape. Robin had been after me too.” Sam looked down at her waist and then her thighs. The blazer she wore was deliberately dark. It helped to hide some of the excess weight she had gained. She patted her thighs firmly several times. “Here’s where it all is,” she said keeping her attention fixed on her thighs and she patted them again only this time more firmly. “I’m afraid to get on the scale.”
“You don’t have much to lose,” he said. “Maybe ten pounds.”
Sam looked at him skeptically and couldn’t help laughing out loud. “You’re being very kind, David, but try like forty pounds, probably more. But like I said, I’m afraid to get on the scale.”
David’s smile was sincere and it helped put Sam at ease. “It won’t take that long,” he said. “Once you get started and stick to it. You’ll see how easy it is. I’ll help you with a program when you’re ready.”
“Thanks,” Sam said with a sense of falling.
David waved. Sam watched as he headed out the back door, thinking how often Robin had offered to help build a fitness program that would best suit her to lose weight. They never had the chance. “Come on, Sammie,” Robin would always say. “Let’s get you a membership at my club and I’ll help you get back in shape. Think how much fun it’ll be, us working out together!” Robin’s voice was full of anticipation and an eagerness that was almost contagious. “You can start with something as simple as just walking on the treadmill three or four times a week. Twenty minutes to a half-hour at the most, maybe with a little bit of an incline. Get that heart rate up a little. Come on, I’ll run beside you on another treadmill.”
At Robin’s insistence, Sam would join her sister’s club. And she would work out vigorously, for the first month or so. Then her visits would start to dwindle. Sam would have one excuse after another before she’d stop going. It wasn’t for lack of trying. She just didn’t share Robin’s enthusiasm for sweat and elevated heart rates. Sam had joined the athletic club primarily to make her sister happy. It was for all the wrong reasons. And she knew it. Sam knew she’d have to lose weight. But it wasn’t up to Robin to help her. It was Sam’s responsibility. For the time being, however, she would do what she had always done, she would put it off yet again. After everything with Wilson was over and she had April back, then she could concentrate on losing pounds and inches.
With the events of the past we
ek, Sam suddenly realized how little her sister had been on her mind. How she had actually gone home each night and did not have that longing to pick up the phone and call Robin. It was one of the first things she used to do after she got home in the evenings. She’d fix herself a drink, turn on the news and dial Robin’s number. It was hard for Sam the first few weeks after her sister’s death to go home. The emptiness would be waiting for her as soon as she opened the door. It was almost as if she could see the emptiness hanging in the air before her like a haze of heat.
Sam glanced at her desk calendar. Her weekend was wide open. She thought of the loneliness waiting for her when she opened the door at home. She could not stand to know that another long weekend awaited her. She looked at the picture she kept on her desk, one taken of April, Robin and Sam the last time they were all together at Nona’s ranch. Robin and Sam were standing in front of an old wagon parked near the barn. The sisters stood beside April like bookends. The boards on the bed of the wagon were faded gray and the wheels, which long ago had stopped turning, had given way to rust. Sam guessed the wagon dated back to the early 1900s. It was one of several pieces of rustic farm equipment that had long ago lost its usefulness, but Nona kept on the property anyway.
Sam looked at each of their faces. The sun was beating down on them and everyone was squinting. Robin and April were beaming. Sam couldn’t help smiling now as she looked at the photo. She was happy that day too. Being on her grandmother’s ranch with her most favorite people, how could she not be happy? She was looking forward to moving to the ranch. The only thing that could have made the move more inviting was to know that April would be there with her.
Sam stared at the photo a moment more, then she got up from her desk and went to Nick’s office. “Got a second?” she asked.
Nick motioned her in. “Close the door.”
Sam did and sat in the chair facing Nick. He was eating a jelly-filled doughnut. It seemed every time she came into his office, he was eating something. At least this time, he didn’t have filling caught in his mustache. Did you hear something?” Nick asked, his expression hopeful.
Sam shook her head. “Nothing,” she said. “But I want to leave early.”
“Where you going?” Nick asked.
“To Seattle.”
“The kidnappers took Wilson to Seattle?”
“Nick, I said I hadn’t heard from them,” Sam said trying to keep the irritation from her voice. “No, I want to go see my daughter. She’s with her grandmother on an island up there. I called her this week and her grandmother said she was sick. That was Wednesday and I haven’t been able to get a hold of them since. I’m worried.”
Nick cocked his head and eyed her for a moment. “And you think going up there is gonna help?”
Sam stared back at Nick, the expression on her face blank. She was certain that sometimes the blood that ran through his veins wasn’t human. “Nick, it’s my daughter. Do I have to say anything else?”
Nick put his jelly doughnut on his desk and wiped his fingers with a napkin and then used the napkin to wipe his mustache. “Sam, you can’t go. I mean you could leave any time you wanted otherwise, but now isn’t the time,” he said. “What if the kidnappers contact you? They won’t contact anyone else. I need you here. Besides Wilson is due back Monday. What’ll we tell the rest of the staff?”
“Nick, I’m only taking a few days off. But I have to go see my daughter. Besides no one will expect to see Wilson the first few days he’s…”
Nick interrupted her. “How can you leave at a time like this? Wilson’s life is on the line.”
“Don’t throw that back in my face,” Sam snapped. “Don’t tell me something I haven’t already thought of a thousand times.” Sam spoke through gritted teeth. “Don’t you think I am well aware of that? I was with Wilson the night they took him. Remember? It’s just that…” Sam’s voice drifted off and she avoided Nick’s stare by directing the rest of her sentence to the fabric in her wool skirt. “It’s just that I miss April terribly and if she’s sick then I want to be there for her. It’s driving me crazy not knowing how she’s doing. Wilson would want me to go.”
“Sam, we need to find Wilson.”
Sam rolled her eyes. “Don’t you think that I want to find him too? Nick, we’re at the mercy of those who have him. Nothing would make me happier than knowing he’d be in that corner on Monday.” Sam pointed in the direction of Wilson’s office. “We don’t have any choice but to wait for word.”
Nick looked away from Sam and snorted. He picked up his jelly doughnut and took a large bite. “Do you have a flight yet?” he asked.
Sam shook her head. “Not yet. I was going to do that after we talked.”
“Will you be back Monday?”
“Tuesday. I will check my e-mail constantly.”
“See you when you get back,” Nick said and dismissed Sam as he turned away from her and starting to sift through a pile of press releases spread out over his desk.
Sam watched Nick for a moment, but he continued to ignore her so she got up and went to the door. “See you Tuesday morning,” she said. Sam waited a moment for a response before she opened the door, walked into the newsroom and headed for her desk. She sat down hard in her chair and started pounding her keyboard as if the computer had offended her. Within minutes she was on the Internet checking flight information from Denver to Seattle. She booked a flight to leave late that afternoon and return late Monday. She picked up the phone.
At the ranch, Nona and Howard were finishing breakfast at the kitchen table drinking coffee. Howard answered the phone at the end of the second ring.
“Hi, Howard it’s me.”
Howard beamed. “Hello, Samantha. How’s my daughter from a former marriage?” It was the way he always referred to her. Sam felt immediately better as the sound of his voice filled the phone.
“Howard, can you take me to the airport for a five o’clock flight this afternoon?”
“Did you hear from the kidnappers?” Howard’s voice filled with hope as he glanced at his watch and then to Nona, who was looking at him expectantly.
“No. I called Esther this week and she said April was sick. I haven’t been able to reach them since Wednesday. I know she’s there and just screening the calls. I’m sure every time that she sees my number, she lets it go to the answering machine. If I hear that woman’s voice on that machine one more time…” Sam’s voice trailed off. She closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead hard with the tips of her fingers.
“Samantha? You okay?”
“Yes, Howard, I’m fine. I’m sorry to talk like that, it’s just that she’s keeping me from seeing my daughter and who knows what she’s filling April’s head with. I just want to go to Seattle and spend some time with my daughter. I’m flying back late Monday.”
Howard and Nona already knew that Esther had declined Sam’s request to let April come home for a weekend. They were no more pleased about it than Sam was. Sam originally planned not to tell them. She did not want to disappoint them, but then she decided to tell them after all. Someone to share her misery.
“You have to do what you have to do,” Howard said.
“Thanks, Howard.” Sam said, feeling her spirits lifting.
“What time’s your flight?”
“Five-thirty.”
“I’ll pick you up,” he said.
“Thanks, Howard,” Sam said into the phone. “I’m leaving the office in just a few minutes. See you in a bit.”
Wilson was in her thoughts as she collected her things and called Anne to tell her she’d be out of the office the rest of the day and when she would return. She tried not to think about what could be happening to him and could not understand why nothing else had been heard from the kidnappers.
As soon as Sam walked into her apartment, she called Esther to let her know that she would be flying out later this afternoon. Of course, the answering machine picked up the call. “Esther? Hello? Are you there? It’s Sam.”
Sam gently put the phone in its receiver, leaned against the wall and closed her eyes. All she could do now was hope that Esther would be there to pick her up at the ferry and that she would tell her daughter.
Sam changed into boots and a pair of Levis. She put on a thick black sweater and a lighter top underneath. Though the rainy season was on the verge of ending, February days in the Pacific Northwest could be deceiving. She took her Polar Tec jacket out of the closet. The sleeves in the jacket could be removed. Sam had been to Esther’s one time with Jonathan. He had told her it was best to dress in layers. All she remembered about the trip was the cold. It had been mid spring then, but it might as well have been winter, for the sun was seldom seen and the chill had yet to leave the air.
At 2 p.m., Sam was putting food in Morrison’s bowl. As she watched him eat, she glanced around her apartment, surveying what she would take with her when she moved to Nona’s ranch. Not much. Her place was sparsely filled with a hodge-podge collection of contemporary furniture, which had been taken from the spare rooms in their house on Glen-Gary Street. She would donate everything but the kitchen table. Robin was with her the day she bought it. Nona had everything else that Sam needed and they would make a place for the kitchen table.
She looked out the living room window just as Howard pulled in and stopped next to the Accord. She thought of the black sedan that had been in the parking lot last night. She was relieved to see Howard’s old and ugly, albeit ever-reliable, two-tone brown station wagon. Sam wasn’t sure of the make, maybe a Dodge. She smiled at the welcome sight and waved to Howard from the window. “Okay, Morrison, be a good kitty,” Sam said. “And don’t worry, you’ll have plenty of food, Howard will come feed you while I’m gone.”
Revenge is Sweet (A Samantha Church Mystery, Book 2) Page 11