Ready, Scrap, Shoot

by Joanna Campbell Slan

  Mom didn’t have the capacity to put other people first. It wasn’t part of her nature. Because she hadn’t shown that concern for me, I grew up unsure how to care for myself. But that was then and this was now. Since George’s death, I’d been forced to become self-reliant.

  I knew better than to count on other people. I would look after myself.

  Ninety-two

  Although she was drowsy, Mom woke up enough to stumble into Sheila’s house and curl up on the sofa in the great room. I preferred not to have any interaction with “Claudia,” so I didn’t call up the stairs to say that we were home. That left me with the task of retrieving Mom’s belongings by myself, but I didn’t mind. Sheila would be back from her nail appointment any second, and she would keep an eye on my mother.

  I popped open the trunk, stuck my head inside, and fished out the bag of clothes. I lifted the lid off the cooler and retrieved “Claudia’s” lunch. My plan was to take these items inside and then try to move Mom upstairs to her bedroom.

  But I didn’t get that far.

  A car pulled into the driveway. I figured it was Sheila, but I was wrong.

  “Put your hands in the air,” said a woman’s voice from behind me. “Or I’ll shoot you where you stand.”

  “Okay, Brenda,” I said as I lifted my hands slowly.

  “Keep your hands up and get in the driver’s side of my car,” she said. “We’re going for a little ride.”

  I shook my head. “Shoot me here where I stand, but I’m not getting into a car with you.” I knew the statistics. Victims who are abducted are less likely to survive. I doubted Brenda’s ability to murder me in cold blood, but I wasn’t about to ride around in a car with her.

  “I figured you’d be stubborn. Take a look at this,” she shoved her iPhone into my face.

  I gasped at the image.

  Sheila sat on a metal folding chair. Silver duct tape sealed her mouth. Yards of the stuff strapped her hands and feet to the seat. Most people would have read the look in her eyes as defiant, but I knew her well enough to tell that she was both terrified and ticked.

  My stomach knotted and my knees went weak. I couldn’t imagine any harm coming to her, especially if I were the cause.

  “Either you come along like a good girl, or Sheila gets it.”

  “Gets what? What are you trying to do, Brenda? Have you lost all your marbles? Sheila hasn’t done anything to you.” I really didn’t need this drama. Not now. Sheila would be hopping mad about this, and Brenda was goofing around with the wrong woman. When Robbie Holmes got wind of what happened to his fiancée, he’d throw Brenda’s skinny white bottom into jail faster than she could say, “My bad!”

  By way of response, Brenda shoved a gun into my ribs.

  “Oomph.” I groaned. I looked down to see it was a Kel-Tec.

  Seriously, Detweiler had to start giving better presents. Shoes? Maybe. Flowers? Definitely. Guns? No way.

  “Come on, Brenda. Where is she? You’ve got me now. Let’s drive there and you can let her go. This is between the two of us.”

  I sounded reasonable, but inside I was going nuts. Where was Sheila? How could I find her? Should I pull my gun on Brenda? Would I have time to retrieve the clip and load it? Would that put a scare into Brenda or goad her into shooting me on the spot? Could I force her to tell me where Sheila was?

  “You can’t count, blondie,” snarled Brenda. “There are more than two of us. Tell her hi, Bill.”

  On the phone screen, Bill Ballard stepped behind Sheila. “Hey, Kiki,” he waved to me with a big grin. “Watch this.” He dropped his hands onto Sheila’s throat and squeezed. I could see her face turning red from the pressure and her eyes bulging with the effort of breathing.

  “Stop it! I’m coming. You don’t want her! You want me!” I raced to the driver’s seat of Brenda’s white Camry. The decision had been made for me. Pulling my gun on Brenda might cost Sheila her life.

  Brenda opened the passenger side door and threw herself in. Holding the gun to my ribs, she said, “Give me your cell phone.”

  I reached into my purse, fished around, and found it.

  Brenda threw it out her window. “Take 40 and go across the river.”

  I groaned inwardly. That would take us into Illinois. Robbie Holmes would have no jurisdiction. Brenda’s father would have friends there. Detweiler could come after us, but he’d have no backup available. Johnny was nowhere to be found.

  I was sunk.

  Ninety-three

  I’d been car-napped before by Bill, but back then he forced me to drive to Babler Woods where the hilly road gave me a chance to escape. There was no way I could free myself on Highway 40, which is really Highway 64, but not according to the locals. With its multitude of lanes, the zooming pace of traffic, and its newly revamped entrance and exit ramps that fed more cars onto the pavement faster, the best I could hope for was a gigantic multi-car crash to divert us.

  I was desperate, but I’m no fool. I had no right to endanger the lives of innocent people as I fought for my own.

  There would have to be some other way.

  But how? What? When? Where? I went over my options and came up dry.

  Brenda yakked on and on, happily, telling me that she and Chad Detweiler belonged together. “Sure, I threw him out,” she said, “but he knew I didn’t mean it. He loves me. Always has. Always will. He was just fooling with you.”

  She was so high, she was out of her mind. I didn’t bother to argue with her. As my Nana once said, “Never try to teach a pig to sing. You’ll annoy the pig and lose your voice.” Fussing with Brenda wouldn’t help my situation.

  “Um, how did you wind up working with Bill?” I asked when I couldn’t take much more of the “Chad loves me and only me” baloney.

  “He contacted me. He’d heard about you and Chad. He knows you are trying to ruin our marriage. He’s decided you need to pay for how you messed up his life, too. You really are a slut, Kiki. Everyone agrees. Even Chad’s sisters. They have no use for you. None.”

  Ouch. That hurt. I hadn’t met Detweiler’s sisters, and now I doubted that I ever would. His parents had been very nice, but maybe that had been a pretense of civility.

  “You have the morals of an alley cat, Kiki,” said Brenda. “You’re really disgusting. Bill thinks so, too.”

  Wasn’t that just ducky? The man who cheated my husband, snuck around on his pregnant wife, and killed his lover had problems with my morals? The woman who had a drug addiction, threw her husband out, and then abused me was calling me names?

  All I could do was take it. I thanked my lucky stars that Mom was safe in Sheila’s house. I sent up prayers of gratitude that Anya had elected to stay after school and work on a science project. As for Sheila? Once Bill had me, he could let her go. She’d be honked off, and Robbie Holmes would make Bill pay, but she’d be okay.

  Or would she?

  With a jolt, I realized: Bill couldn’t let her go. He had too much at stake.

  “Brenda, you don’t want to be involved in this. When Bill kidnapped Sheila, he crossed a line. You do realize she’s engaged to marry Police Chief Robbie Holmes, don’t you? He will hunt you both down. But if you make sure she’s freed, he’ll put in a good word for you.”

  Brenda laughed as she twisted a piece of oily hair around her finger. “I didn’t kidnap Sheila. Johnny Chambers did that.”

  I struggled not to show my surprise. Fortunately, she kept talking.

  “There’s no way anyone can prove I was involved. You got into this car by yourself. No one can put me with Sheila. All I have to do is drop you off.”

  “Um, where is Johnny right now?”

  “He’s with Bill. Johnny’s got a real hate-on going for you. Even his sister is angry at you. He says she wants to wring your neck.”


  I fought tears, struggling against the burning lump in my throat. Whatever happened next, I hoped that Mert would learn I hadn’t meant to hurt Johnny. That my actions had been part of a plan, and that he’d agreed to it. I couldn’t stand the idea of Mert thinking I’d betrayed her. She’d been my best friend for years. If something happened to me, I wanted Mert to continue to be a part of Anya’s life. How could that happen under the current circumstances?

  I sniffled.

  Brenda saw the effort I was making not to cry. “Yeah, that’s right. You’ve done it now. I got in trouble with my supervisor for what happened in the hospital. Did you know that? You love creating problems for people, don’t you? Well, you’re finally getting your comeuppance. Guess what Bill plans to do with you?”

  “I have no idea,” I said, and I didn’t.

  A peace settled over me. This was the end. I was tired, so tired. I hadn’t been sleeping well. Dodie’s quick acceptance of my resignation hurt. I’d had morning sickness and the inevitable exhaustion that followed. I dreaded telling Detweiler that I might be pregnant. I felt bad for my daughter. If I was gone, she wouldn’t have to put up with my mother. As long as Sheila went free, Anya would be taken care of. Sheila could parent Anya. I’d named her my daughter’s legal guardian months ago. Sheila had the funds to take good care of Anya, and with her upcoming marriage to Robbie Holmes, Anya would have a surrogate father. However, if both of us died, my sister Amanda could claim custody—and Amanda didn’t have any experience raising a child. Anya would have to move to Arizona, and that would surely break her heart.

  I had to rescue Sheila. No matter what the cost to me.

  Once my mind was made up, a peaceful feeling descended upon me.

  I couldn’t keep fighting on all fronts. Whatever Bill planned to do with me, I hoped the end would come quickly. And I hoped my body would be found so that Anya could go on with her life.

  “Bill plans to drown you. That dead husband of yours told him how scared you are of water. He wants to make you suffer. Because we’ve all suffered. Thanks to you. Yup, payback is a pain. You’re going to get yours.”

  Ninety-four

  Why hadn’t Johnny told me about the change in plans? Why had he gone along with Sheila’s kidnapping? Why hadn’t he called Robbie Holmes to warn him? Or let Sheila know so she could be prepared?

  There could be only one reason: He’d switched sides.

  Perhaps Bill offered Johnny enough money to make him change his loyalties. Or maybe Johnny really was angry with me. I thought that our spat was for show, but quite possibly I hit a nerve. Bill had the resources to help Johnny disappear—and Johnny often joked about moving to Cuba where he could drink rum and smoke cigars. I knew that everything Johnny made went to pay off his legal bills. Maybe that had gotten old.

  I could fight one man, maybe. I could kick Bill hard or wrestle myself free and run away. But I couldn’t escape from two men. And what was Brenda’s part in this? Was she just the courier and I was the package? She had no beef with Sheila.

  I needed to free Sheila. But how? With all that stupid duct tape, she couldn’t make a run for it. If Johnny was on my side, he might help me get her free. But if he had switched sides, that would be two men against me and a hog-tied Sheila. Providing that Brenda dropped me off and left.

  How could I tell where Johnny stood?

  I gritted my teeth. My palms slipped on the steering wheel because they were wet with sweat. I had to believe in Johnny. Or else all was lost.

  Sooner or later Detweiler would figure out I was missing. Even if we crossed the river, he’d come for me. If Robbie called Sheila and didn’t get an answer, he’d know something was wrong. Surely he had friends on this side of the river. All I needed to do was stall.

  “You listening to me?” Brenda poked me with the gun barrel.

  “Um, could you repeat what you said?” I sounded conciliatory.

  “Turn onto 270 North. Take that over the Mississippi. We’re going to Piasa Island.”

  ___

  One thousand two hundred years ago, Native Americans painted a mural of a monster bird on the limestone bluff overlooking the Mississippi River. The original limestone was quarried and taken away, so now the image is repainted regularly to preserve it.

  I love the piasa bird. I think it beautiful and passionate and wildly entrancing. Although legend said that the name meant “monster that eats men,” I didn’t believe it. I believed the bird was a guardian over the lands occupied by the Miami-Illinois Indians.

  “Piasa Island,” I said, squinting up at the bird on the rock face. “What’s so special about it?”

  Brenda gave me a smug smile. “It’s the only place with free boat access between Alton and Grafton. It’ll be really easy to launch, and no one has to know we were here.”

  “I never figured you for a murderer, Brenda. Honestly. You trained as a nurse. A lifesaver. Now this. How can you be so sure Chad won’t find out about your part in this? That he won’t come looking for you or me? Or both of us?”

  She laughed. “Because he’s sound asleep and will be for quite some time. I met him at his apartment and brought him a latte laced with Ambien.”

  My stomach twisted into a tight knot, and suddenly it was hard to breathe. There would be no last-minute rescue by Detweiler. The whole promise of signing the divorce papers had been a ruse. Not that it mattered.

  What was I going to do?

  Ninety-five

  At her direction, I pulled into a deserted parking lot. Johnny’s truck was nowhere to be seen. I wondered if this had all been one big bluff. I wouldn’t put anything past Brenda. Maybe I should have looked at the photo on her phone more carefully. Maybe it hadn’t been Sheila, just someone dressed as a decoy.

  “Get out, and leave the door open. Turn around with your hands up and your back to me.”

  I had to hand it to her, Brenda was smart. With my back to her, I didn’t know if she had me in her sights or not. I heard her crunch her way around the gravel. I felt the round, hard barrel of the gun pressed against my back. I wondered if she’d search me. I expected her to, but she didn’t. It must not have occurred to her that I might be armed. Score one for looking blonde and dumb.

  “Walk toward that stand of trees,” she said.

  I moved slowly, hoping to buy time, although I wasn’t sure what good it might do me. As we neared the clump of sycamores, I spotted a man and a woman. The light glinted off the woman’s body and face. That was the duct tape, reflecting the sunshine. I noticed a third figure behind the woman. From his stature and posture, I knew I was looking at Johnny. He stood up and I noticed the roll of duct tape in his hand.

  Bill held a revolver on both of them. Or so it looked. Johnny handed the duct tape to Bill, and Bill lowered the gun. At least he didn’t have Sheila in his sights anymore.

  This was bad. Much worse than I expected. I couldn’t tell who was on my side.

  My stomach took an express elevator ride down to the ground floor. A late-breaking wave of morning sickness hit me so hard that I stumbled, doubled over, and heaved my guts out. When I was through, Brenda grabbed me under my armpit and hauled me to my feet.

  “Get up. Stop it.” Her voice was harsh with disapproval.

  “Hi, ya,” Bill called out, “Glad you could join us, Kiki. Welcome to our little goodbye party. Bring her over here, Brenda.”

  Beyond him waited a small rowboat, sporting patches of faded blue paint. Partially submerged trees formed a fence around the boat. Weeds nearly covered it.

  I shivered as Brenda shoved her gun into my ribs. “Start walking.”

  Sheila sat in a lawn chair, one of those folding aluminum jobbies with the woven mesh seat and back. Her shoulders were slumped, and her posture was beaten. She seemed despondent, and when she raised her eyes to
mine, they seemed devoid of any life at all. As I’d seen on Brenda’s phone, Sheila’s arms were trussed behind her back. Her white silk blouse wore a vibrant smear of red across the bust. I could see that her legs were taped together loosely. She might be able to make hobbling steps, but she couldn’t run. A trickle of blood ran down her left temple. From the looks of it, she’d been hit on the side of her head hard enough to split the skin. A dark maroon crust formed an angry crescent along her face. She stared at me a minute and then hung her head, a gesture oddly submissive and apologetic.

  Poor Sheila. She had been the bait to get me here.

  Ninety-six

  “Johnny? Pat her down, won’t you?” Bill tipped his head toward me.

  “With pleasure.” Johnny gave Brenda a small nod. “Step aside, I need room. And for goodness sake, don’t point your gun at me.”

  Mert’s brother ran his hands up and down my legs, in a lascivious manner, snickering at my quick intake of breath. When he reached under my loose blouse, I could tell he found my holster, but his hands never stopped, never gave any sign that I was armed.

  So he hadn’t gone over to Bill.

  I had a chance!

  “She’s clean,” Johnny told Bill, giving me a small push forward. “What you want me to do with her?”

  “Yeah, what are you going to do with her?” snickered Brenda.

  “Come on over here by me, Brenda,” said Bill. She loped over, her long legs covering the distance quickly. “You did a great job.”

  Her face beamed with the warming glow of approval.

  “Let me see your cell phone.” Bill held out his hand.

  “Wh–why?” Brenda reached for the phone clipped to her waistband, but she didn’t pass it over to Bill.

  “So I can erase the phone log. Don’t want anything linking us. That would put you in danger.” His hand entered her personal space, his eyes locked on hers.

  She shrugged and handed it over. “All right. That makes sense. Thanks for looking out for me.”