The Precipice

by Penny Goetjen

  Chapter 23

  Elizabeth awoke to her cell phone ringing. She lurched forward in her chair and grabbed the phone out of her pocket out of habit, before she was fully conscious. “Hel…hello!” Elizabeth was trying to clear her head while listening to the voice on the other end. Suddenly she realized it was Vera. Oh my God, why did I answer the phone? “Yes…Yes. Vera is that you?”

  “Well of course it is me! I have been trying to get a hold of you for quite a while. I think Drescher has too. What the hell is going on?”

  Elizabeth was regretting answering the phone while still semi-conscious. It was bound to happen, though. She had been dodging Vera since she arrived. This was not the responsible Elizabeth Pennington, the professional interior designer that Vera knew and loved…well, knew.

  “Vera…I’m sorry! Things are a little crazy here right now.”

  “I don’t want to hear that! I’ve got Drescher on my back looking for design ideas for his new building. He wants to meet tomorrow afternoon! What am I supposed to tell him, Elizabeth? Sorry, my top designer was busy over the weekend and couldn’t be bothered to spend time for our most important client?!”

  “What?” She couldn’t believe what she was hearing and she certainly didn’t have time to deal with it.

  “Look, Elizabeth! I need your designs!”

  “Vera, there is a hurricane headed our way! We are currently conducting a complete evacuation of the—”

  “Fax me what you have!”

  “I can’t right now! I have to go!” Lizzi flipped her cell phone closed. She could not believe that Vera was being such a bitch about this. Is New York City that far away that she and Drescher had no idea what was happening in Maine? She sat for a moment to reflect on the brief, but ridiculous conversation. She conceded to herself that it was probably grounds for dismissal. She may have just lost her job. Elizabeth had had enough of her boss and she really needed to focus on the inn and the impending hurricane at the moment. She needed to help with the evacuation. Lizzi struggled to her feet and headed for the door. Her head was starting to spin so she grabbed onto the door frame for support and took a moment to gather herself. Then it hit her that she had turned off her phone when she was down in the tunnel. She wondered how it could have gotten turned back on.

  Chapter 24

  Elizabeth stepped out into the lobby and could sense the commotion in the dining room. She peeked in and it became clear that the room had been turned into central dispatch. Everyone wanted to make sure that everyone got out safely and that no one was left behind. She listened in to see how things were going.

  “We tried that door. No one answered. How are we supposed to know if they have already left?”

  “Amelia has the master list of guests checked in for the weekend. She is also maintaining a tally of who has left, when they left and who has yet to check out. Let’s ask her to give us a list of those who are still here and what rooms they are in, so we can divide and conquer. We need to accomplish this as quickly as possible.”

  Sounded like things were under control, even under the circumstances. Elizabeth could certainly lend a hand, though. She decided to head outside. It wasn’t clear if she should still steer clear of Perkins. Better to play it safe. The fresh air would do her good.

  Once at the bottom of the porch steps, she took a deep breath which felt so good. The sea air was always refreshing to her. A light rain was falling. Heading around the side of the inn, she figured she would aim for Moosehead to start knocking on doors. She would just have to keep track in her head who she was able to reach and which doors were unanswered.

  She was approaching Acadia House when she realized that she wasn’t thinking clearly. She didn’t know what the evacuation instructions were. That bump on the back of her head must really be affecting her. She slowed her steps to think for a moment. She could at least direct the guests to central dispatch in the dining room; she wanted to be of some help. Resuming her pace, she rounded the back of Acadia House and started up the sidewalk between the back of the building and a long narrow strip of pines that ran parallel to the building. Before she got to the end of Acadia she started feeling lightheaded and decided to grab onto the nearest stair railing, taking steady breaths. The rain had become heavier. The drops on her face felt good. They were helping to clear her head, but she also knew they were just the beginning of a tremendous storm that was barreling toward them. She was tempted to sit on the back steps for a moment, but didn’t dare. She knew it would be difficult to get up again.

  Behind her was the sound of a door latch. She turned to see who it was. Suddenly she realized where she was standing—at the bottom of the back steps leading to the Hutchins’ room. “Oh, you must be Mrs. Hutchins; I didn’t mean to disturb you. Surely you are aware that the hurricane is—” Someone had grabbed her from behind. Strong hands had pulled her arms behind her so tightly that they ached. She felt something sharp at her throat. A soft gasp escaped her mouth. She could still see Mrs. Hutchins standing at the top of the stairs looking down at them. Her face remained motionless. She couldn’t understand why she wasn’t reacting to what was happening to her. She had to know the person who had grabbed her. Elizabeth was convinced from the strength that the person was exerting on her, it could only by a man. She was guessing it was Perkins…or Mitchell, depending on whose side he was on at the moment. She didn’t have the energy to struggle this time. “Okay, already. You don’t have to be so rough. Ease—”

  “Oh, yes I do. All the other tactics don’t seem to be working.”

  Elizabeth’s eyes got wide. She didn’t recognize the man’s voice but it wasn’t Perkins or Mitchell.

  “For God’s sake, Elizabeth, why did you even come up here? Everything was going swimmingly into turmoil and then you arrived to save the day.”

  She looked to Mrs. Hutchins for a response. Still no reaction. She swallowed hard. It was hard for her to breathe. The man’s hand, with what she imagined must be a knife, was pressing hard against her neck. Elizabeth struggled to speak. “Wh-what are you doing? What is going on?...How do you know who I am?”

  Perkins had appeared from around the corner at the end of the building where Hutchins room was, with his gun drawn, facing Elizabeth and her unknown assailant. “Hold it right there.” The man tightened his grasp and pulled her closer to him, the knife still pressed to her neck.

  “Don’t come any closer! I will slit her throat with your next step!”

  “Hey, just take it easy.” His voice was assertive and deliberate. “You don’t have to involve Eliz—”

  “I don’t have to involve Elizabeth! She already has herself involved.” Elizabeth didn’t like the sound of his voice. He sounded desperate. “She should have left well enough alone and stayed in New York City. After all, she does have enough work to keep her busy for a while. But she chose to put that all on the back burner and run to her grandmother’s rescue.”

  Elizabeth was trying very hard to figure out who had her by the neck.

  “So…you may have underestimated how close she and Amelia really are. Obviously the bond of love shared by these two is very strong. But you planted evidence on her just in case she did decide to head up to Maine to try and stick her nose into things.” Perkins was fishing, hoping to elicit a response that would provide him with information he needed.

  “Evidence?” Lizzi could barely utter enough sound to make the word heard. She was gasping for air. The man’s grip was getting tighter.

  “Yes, Miss Pennington. There was a package planted on you before you left the city.”

  Elizabeth racked her brain to think. What package? Then it dawned on her. She had all but forgotten that Lenny from the mail room had brought a manila envelope to her just as she was pulling out of the parking garage.

  “It was still on the front passenger seat when we impounded your car. So we took the l
iberty of opening it for you. In the process, we were able to lift prints from the packing tape used to seal the box. It was a long shot, but we decided to give it a try and run them through the FBI’s database. Inside the box was a girl’s necklace, the description of which the Hutchins’ had given to us with the description of their missing daughter. We were disappointed not to find any DNA on the necklace, but our disappointment turned to suspicion when the jacket found on the breakwater, didn’t have any DNA on it either.” We should be hearing back from the FBI very soon to verify who is involved in this mess. But we did determine that the couple who had checked in as Mr. and Mrs. Hutchins are really James and Ann Rizzo. Isn’t that right, Rizzo?”

  Elizabeth listened intently to the Lieutenant. Rizzo was the addressee’s name on the magazine she picked up in the Hutchins’ room. Elizabeth was very scared. The man’s grip tightened as Perkins talked. She took shallow breaths to keep from passing out. The rain was starting to get heavier. The wind was picking up.

  Perkins continued. “Alright Rizzo, it’s over. Give it up. This is the end of the road.”

  “Oh, no....” His voice was still remarkably calm, but firm. He spoke as if he was the one in control. “This is certainly not over, is it Elizabeth?” He pressed his face up next to hers which gave her the creeps. Her stomach turned. How did he know her? She thought she was going to get nauseous. This just couldn’t be happening. She needed to get out of his grip. His knife was starting to cut into her neck. This was a nightmare. God help her.

  Suddenly, the man’s arm pulled away from her neck and she was knocked to the ground. The world was spinning again. She blinked her eyes and shook her head, struggling to stay conscious. She could sense a scuffle on the ground next to her. It was Rizzo being tackled by Mitchell. Kurt easily overpowered him long enough to slip on a pair of cuffs, and then pulled him up to a standing position. A couple of beat cops rounded the corner on a dead run and came to a screeching halt when they stumbled onto the scene. Two more followed behind them. Elizabeth looked up to the landing where Mrs. Hutchins/Rizzo had been standing. Perkins had her in cuffs and was leading her down the steps into the custody of the first two officers to arrive. The other two officers took Rizzo from Mitchell. Elizabeth struggled to her hands and knees. Rizzo had to have the last word. “Oh, and Elizabeth. I took a look at your initial sketches of the lobby. They are disappointing, at best. Definitely not your best work. Too bad you hadn’t stayed in the city where you could have stayed focused.” The two suspects were swiftly led around the corner, presumably to waiting squad cars.

  Kurt immediately kneeled next to Elizabeth. “Are you alright, Liz?” He firmly grasped her shoulders and lifted her slightly to look into her face. “Talk to me!” He noticed the gash on her neck from Rizzo’s knife. It was glistening with blood. “Are you okay? Lizzi?” The wind was starting to pick up in gusts.

  She was finally catching her breath. Kurt had rescued her from an uncertain fate. God, she was so thankful to him. She was beginning to like him after all. “Yeah, Kurt. I’m okay…or at least I will be. Just help me up, please.” She stood up on her own two wobbly feet with his help. She rubbed the front of her neck and noticed a smear of blood across the palm of her hand. There didn’t seem to be too much damage. She dismissed it with a swipe of her hand down her pants’ leg. It felt good to have the Rizzos, or whoever they were, out of her sight. “What the hell just happened? What is going on?” Suddenly, Amelia and Rashelle appeared around the same corner from which the officers disappeared with the bad guys. They were a sight for sore eyes. Elizabeth desperately wanted to run to her grandmother and give her a hug. Unfortunately, there were more pressing matters, like getting out of there before the full force of the storm hit.

  “Alright Lieutenant, we have checked and double checked every room.” Amelia had to shout over the wind and rain. “All guests have been evacuated. The only staff left are the ones you are looking at. Everyone else is safely at the shelter or is on the way.”

  Perkins looked relieved. The stress of the past couple of days was starting to show in his face. “Right, then. Let’s get out of here! Mitchell, you see that Amelia and Rashelle get to the shelter. Elizabeth your car has been returned to you. It’s parked out front where you left it. Are you up to driving or do you need someone to take care of that for you? I’m assuming you wouldn’t want to leave your car here, with the hurricane coming.”

  Elizabeth had never let anyone drive that car before this and she wasn’t about to let that happen now. It was bad enough that the police had snatched it out from under her nose without her consent. There had better not be a scratch on it. “No, I’m good. I’ll drive. Thanks.” In frustration and confusion she asked, “But could someone explain what just happened?”

  “Miss Pennington, I’m sorry. That is just going to have to wait. We will rendezvous at the shelter and debrief you then. Okay? Let’s move out!”

  Elizabeth could feel her frustration building. Everyone else seemed to be clued in. She couldn’t stand it, but she was going to have to wait to hear the details. She wanted to know if the girl had been found and if she was alive. She couldn’t bear the thought of leaving her behind. The last five people at the inn headed around to the front of Acadia building toward the main building of the inn. Mitchell and Rashelle led the group. The two Pennington ladies were in the middle. Perkins brought up the rear. As they were walking, Amelia put her arm around Elizabeth. “Are you sure you are alright, honey?” She was yelling to be heard above the roar of the wind. Elizabeth nodded her head in response. “Are you okay to drive?” She nodded her head again. “Alright, well I’m going to go with Kurt and Rashelle. I will meet you at the shelter. Okay?” Amelia never had felt comfortable in Elizabeth’s little sports car.

  “Okay, Nana.” She was yelling back at her grandmother. “No problem. I will see you there.” She lunged forward and grabbed Mitchell’s arm in front of her, stopping him momentarily on the walkway to the inn. He turned back toward her and Rashelle stopped to see what was going on, too. “You take care of her. Do you hear me? Take care of my grandmother.”

  “Got it, Liz. She’s in good hands. Now let’s get out of here before it’s too late to leave.” They all picked up the pace. They were almost jogging when they reached the front of the inn. The wind off the ocean was incredibly strong. It hit them right in the face. They had to lean forward to walk against the wind. In the semi-circle in front of the inn were three cars. Mitchell’s very modest Honda something or other was located furthest down the drive, with Lieutenant Perkins’ squad car and Elizabeth’s Z4 closer toward the front porch of the inn. Lizzi was thrilled to see her pride and joy again. She couldn’t wait to get in it and become free again. She glanced over to see Amelia walking between Kurt and Rashelle toward his car, their ticket out of there. Apparently, Rashelle had wrapped her car around a tree during the summer on her way back from a night out at a local bar. She had to rely on others for transportation until she could get a new one.

  Elizabeth suddenly gasped. She turned to Perkins who was behind her. “Lieutenant! There is one more guest left at the inn!”

  “What!?”

  “Yes! I am absolutely certain! Come with me! I’ll need your help.”

  Elizabeth set out on a dead run with the lieutenant right behind her. She led him around the corner of the Acadia House back to the spot from where they had just come. Perkins was getting very anxious. She had better be right. They were running out of time. Elizabeth ran right up to the hatchway that Mitchell had locked behind her earlier. She turned to Perkins. She had to shout for him to hear her over the wind. “Mrs. Leibowitz is still in there. I passed her in the tunnel when I was heading toward the main building of the inn. She was walking in the opposite direction. The hatchway was locked so she couldn’t have gotten out, but she couldn’t have made her way back to the inn because of the cave-in.” She stopped to take a breath. Perkins w
as considering everything she had just yelled to him.