by Ashley Emma
“You sure?”
“Ja! Just go!” she shouted, waving him away, smiling.
“I’ve got to go back to work and tell Gideon! I’ll use the shop phone to call her,” he blurted then ran back to the cabinet shop. He also planned on calling a driver from the shop phone so he could go to her.
Chapter Sixteen
Olivia knocked on the door of a suspect’s house. “Mr. Peters? Police. We just want to talk.” No answer.
Jeff gave her a questioning look.
She shrugged and knocked again, harder, almost pounding. “Come on, Peters, we know you’re in there. We just want to ask you a few—”
Gunfire rained down from an upstairs window, hitting a pot next to them, shattering it. As shards of pottery flew, Liv and Jeff leapt off the porch and sprinted behind a shed for cover.
The shooter shouted profanities at them from the window, demanding that they leave.
“Wow!” Jeff exclaimed, catching his breath. “He’s got to have Bella Reeves in there. Why else would he shoot at us if he didn’t kidnap her? He doesn’t want us to find her. Or he really just doesn’t like people on his property.”
“Sounds about right to me.” Liv peeked around the corner. Peters was still there, looking around for them. “Or he’s crazy.”
“What should we do?” Jeff asked, and while Liv thought of a plan he called CPDU for backup.
“They’ll be here in ten minutes. But he might kill her in that time. We’ve got to get in there somehow.” Liv bit her lip. “I saw a cellar door when we drove up. How about if you just talk to him while I sneak in the back door?”
“In case you forgot, he just shot at us!” Jeff said, exasperated.
“I meant you can just stay here and talk to him from behind the shed. It’s not that far. He’ll be able to hear you, and he might not even notice I’m gone. Just keep him distracted so I can get in and look for Bella. Okay?” Liv looked around the corner and gripped her gun tightly.
“Okay. I guess so. But what if the door is locked? Let’s go see. It probably is.”
“Well, yeah. If I was hiding a kidnapped girl in my house, I’d keep all my doors locked, too,” Liv remarked sarcastically as they darted across the lawn to the backyard. Peters hadn’t been standing in the window, which really worried Liv.
She yanked on the cellar door, but it was locked tight. “I don’t think I can pick this lock. Go make him mad so he starts shooting again and I’ll shoot. Hopefully he won’t hear it over the noise.”
“You want him to shoot at me?” Jeff asked incredulously.
“No! Not at you. Just get him to shoot, okay?”
Jeff darted around the side of the house and out of sight.
Liv aimed her pistol and waited. Jeff yelled something snarky at Peters, then several shots were fired. Liv immediately shot at the door, busting it open. So far, so good. She yanked on the door again and it gave way. She crept inside.
Liv turned on her flashlight and searched the room. She held up her M&P Shield as she poked her head around the corner.
She spent the next few minutes looking for some clue to where they could find Bella Reeves. Evidence suggested the kidnapper might be keeping her here. Olivia’s heart pounded with the hope and anticipation of rescuing the girl. Hopefully she was still alive. If she was, surely she was terrified. Olivia imagined her trembling in fear and it spurred her on.
A soft whimper sounded in the darkness. Oh, thank goodness. The girl was still alive. Bella was safe now. Liv aimed the beam of the flashlight at the corner of the room, and there was a teenaged girl with her hands tied and her mouth covered with duct tape, trembling in the glow of the flashlight. Bella looked terrified, her already big eyes widened with fear, her dark hair a tangled mess, dirt smudged on her face.
Olivia used to wonder if the anger would subside after doing this job for a few years. But the anger always came when she saw a victim of kidnapping—anger towards the kidnapper. Why did criminals think they had the right to do this to someone, especially a child?
“Bella, my name is Olivia and I’m a police detective from a unit called CPDU. Can I come closer?”
The girl nodded. Olivia walked towards her slowly. “I’m going to take those ropes and the tape off.” Bella nodded, and Liv pulled off the tape, then the ropes.
The girl whispered, “Where is he? Does he know you’re here?”
Liv held still and listened closely, looking for any sign of movement among the stacks of dusty boxes and old furniture. She pushed her way through the cobwebs and clutter, sweeping her flashlight back and forth, Bella close beside her.
“My partner, Officer Martin, is outside distracting Peters. Now, I need you to listen closely. Right now I don’t know where he is. He’s probably upstairs, but he could be sneaking around outside. Backup is coming in a few minutes, and right now we need to get you out of here. So let’s carefully make our way out that door, okay? Stay right behind me.”
The girl nodded, and Liv led her close to the door. The floor was so cluttered it was hard not to trip on anything.
Bella was going too fast, too hasty. Liv was about to tell her to slow down, but Bella tripped on a curtain rod that was lying across the floor, sending several heavy boxes toppling to the ground.
“Get out, now!” Liv ordered, aiming her gun at the stairs that led to the second floor. Bella ran for the door, and Liv backed out behind her. The kidnapper’s loud footsteps pounded down the stairs, but she couldn’t let the man out of this house without endangering Bella’s life. Liv had to shoot at him now.
She waited for him to appear at the bottom of the steps.
“Police! Freeze or I’ll shoot!” she hollered.
When he ignored her, she shot at him and hit him in the side, but he only clutched the wound, staggering briefly before continuing to lumber toward her. Hair flying and eyes raging, he looked manic with anger. A split-second glance told him Bella was gone. Liv shot his shoulder, and even though he was hit, he still lunged for her. She darted out of the way but she tripped on something and crashed to the floor. She tried to get up and run, but he was too fast.
His eyes burned with an angry fire as he took a swing at her and pinned her against the washing machine. He wrapped his hands around her neck, squeezing harder and harder as he lifted her feet off the floor.
Not again…
Memories of Ian attacking her flashed through her mind. The way he overpowered her, the way he had held a gun to her head. All the times Jake had abused her. But one memory overshadowed all others. Jake had tried to choke her just like this all those years ago, squeezing the life from her as she began to be overtaken by darkness. Back then in their simple kitchen, for a moment she had figured maybe it would be better if she was dead. She had let her eyes close, knowing she would go to a better place than the hell she had lived in.
Then that was when she had fought Jake for her life.
Her eyes opened.
She would fight back. Again.
She tried to punch him, but it was as if he didn’t feel a thing. She tried to scream Jeff’s name, but her vocal chords were being crushed.
Peters grappled the firearm out of Liv’s hand, nearly breaking her wrist. She cried out in pain, but he held her arms down as he pressed her against him. She smelled his sweat and blood and cringed at the feeling of his skin. Peters then held her own gun to her head.
“Call your partner and tell him to send Bella back in here now. Alone.” His fetid breath was hot in her ear. He groaned in pain.
When she hesitated, he yanked on her communicating device and shouted, “Do it now!”
Trembling, she took it and said into it, “Jeff, send Bella back in here alone.”
“What? I can’t do that.”
“And tell him if he doesn’t do it within one minute, I’ll kill you,” Peters spat, clutching her even harder like a menacing grizzly bear grasping a wriggling fish in its claws.
“And Peters says if you don’t do it in one
minute, he’ll kill me.”
Was this how she would die? In the grasp of an insane kidnapper?
No. Liv trusted Jeff to make the right decision. He was smart. She knew he’d come in here and somehow get her out of this situation. Somehow.
But Liv knew even if Jeff did come down here and shoot, she’d be hit anyway because Peters was using her as a body shield. And if Jeff came down here at all without Bella, Peters would kill Liv anyway.
Maybe this really was how she would die. Unless backup got here really soon, she was a dead woman.
The steps creaked. Someone was coming down to the cellar.
Jeff.
Liv braced herself to fight. She waited…
Then Jeff leapt into the room, shooting at the wall behind them. While Peters was distracted, Liv slammed her foot down on his leg sharply, bringing him down just long enough for her to elbow him in the nose and wiggle out of his arms. She bolted for the door, running wildly, leaping over boxes as Jeff ran towards Peters and the gunfire continued.
The sound of the gunshots vibrated in her body, the sound exploding in her middle. Wait… That wasn’t sound.
A terrible pain exploded in her side, knocking her to the ground. The grimy floor was so cold, so dusty. She felt something wet when she pulled her hand away from her side, and when she looked down, she saw blood blooming like a red flower on her new white blouse.
She closed her eyes for a second, just after seeing their backup team raiding the room, weapons aimed on Peters. She saw a screaming Bella running up to her, falling to the floor beside her. When she opened her eyes again she saw Bella’s hands pressed onto her side. Liv wasn’t sure if Bella was trying to comfort her or stop the bleeding. She heard more gunshots, shouts, orders, the snapping of handcuffs. Bella crying, Jeff screaming her name.
Liv just wanted to fade into unconscious, into a world of oblivion. The pain was so unbearable, she just wanted it to end. So she let herself slide into a world of darkness.
*
Isaac burst through the doors of the cabinet shop just after talking to Maria.
“Have you seen Gideon?” he asked another employee, who pointed him to his boss.
Gideon looked busy, talking with an employee about an order. Maybe he would go call Olivia and then tell Gideon about it after.
“Isaac?” a new employee said as Isaac walked toward the shop phone. “There’s a phone call for you.”
A phone call? He never got phone calls for him personally. Was something wrong?
Was it Liv?
He rushed to the phone, picking it up.
“Hello? This is Isaac Troyer.”
“Isaac, this is Officer Jefferson Martin. I’m afraid I have some bad news for you.”
Isaac’s knees felt weak as he leaned against the wooden desk, dread filling him like poison.
“Liv has been shot,” Jeff said.
Isaac felt lightheaded. His knees gave out, then he crumpled to the floor, pressing his palm to his forehead. A dozen questions bombarded his brain.
“How bad?” he managed to choke out. “Is she…?”
“No, she’s alive. She was shot in the side. She’ll recover fully, but I knew you’d want to know. And I didn’t know what her family’s contact information was or if they have a phone in their house. So I looked up the cabinet company’s phone number. Just get them down here and come see her, okay? She’ll want to see you.”
Isaac squinted his eyes shut, trying to fight off the dizziness, trying to slow his heart rate. She’d be okay. She’d be okay…
“Thanks so much for calling, Officer Martin.”
“No problem.”
Jeff gave Isaac Liv’s location and hospital room number, then they hung up, and Isaac felt like kicking himself again for not protecting her. He wished he could have been there for her!
He promised himself that would never happen again. He wanted to protect her for the rest of his life. He wanted to always be there for her and love her forever.
He picked himself up off the floor, glad no one else had been in the office. He stumbled out into the shop.
“Gideon?” he called out, looking for Liv’s uncle to tell him the news.
*
The Mast family and Isaac piled out of the driver’s car when they reached the hospital. Liv was shunned, but because she had solved the crimes in their community and because she had been injured, the bishop and the elders graciously made an exception and allowed the Mast family and Isaac to go see Liv without being shunned themselves.
As they reached Liv’s room, they all huddled outside the door.
“You go in first,” Isaac told them. “I need a minute, and you’re her family.”
They agreed and started walking.
“Wait.” Isaac grabbed Gideon’s arm. “I have something to ask you.”
“What is it?” Gideon said, and Mary and Maria gathered around.
He knew this was not the best timing, but he also knew he couldn’t go another hour without asking Liv to marry him. “I’d like to ask you for Liv’s hand in marriage. I want to ask her to marry me,” he blurted, pushing the words out before he got too nervous.
Gideon grabbed Isaac’s shoulders and pulled him into a hug. “I’d be so very happy to have you as a son-in-law.” Gideon’s voice cracked as his eyes filled with joyful tears. “You have our blessing.”
Liv was not technically their daughter, but Isaac knew to Mary and Gideon, she was like their own child. And Maria and Liv were like sisters.
“I’m so happy for you!” Maria cried.
“Finally,” Aunt Mary said, smiling through her tears.
“But where will you live?” Gideon asked. “Will you be Amish or Englisher?”
“Look, that’s a whole other conversation. I thank you for your blessing, but now you should go in and see Liv. We will talk about that later.”
As they went inside the room, Isaac paced the hall. “Please, God. Give me the right words to say,” he prayed quietly. He gripped his worn Bible for comfort, then felt for the small box in his pocket. He had bought the ring that day before coming to the hospital. The Amish did not wear jewelry or even wedding rings, but he wanted Liv to have a ring. Besides, Liv was an Englisher.
After what seemed like hours, the Mast family came out into the hallway.
“She’s doing well,” Mary said, then turned away, her eyes red. “But it is so hard for me to see her like this.”
Isaac touched her shoulder, then stepped into the room.
Liv lay on the white hospital bed, looking almost as pale as the sheets. Several monitors and machines hummed and beeped around her. She smiled at him weakly. It broke his heart just to see her like this, just like it had hurt Mary.
“Isaac.” Her voice was quiet as she reached out for him. He rushed to her side and sat in the chair beside her.
“I’m so sorry I lied to you about not loving you,” she murmured as he took her hand gently, careful not to disrupt the IV.
“Shhh. It’s all right, Liv. I understand now why you did it. But you shouldn’t have felt like you had to make that choice for me.” His love for her threatened to burst his chest open.
“I only did it because I love you.” He noticed the purple circles under her eyes. “It’s stupid, really.”
“We’ll laugh about it one day.” He hoped to laugh with her every day until he died. He picked up his Bible and set it on the bed next to her. “I brought this for you. I know you don’t have one with you, and it brought me a lot of comfort when I was in this hospital.”
“Thank you so much. You know I wasn’t lying about wanting to become closer to God, right?” She patted his hand.
“Good. I’m so glad.” He reached out to touch her smooth face. “Liv, I want to help you every step of the way, whenever you need me. In fact, I want to be with you every day for the rest of my life.” An overwhelming elation filled him, taking up space in every pore of his body. “I’ve been thinking a lot about what I would do to be
with you, and I realized I would do anything. Even if it meant leaving behind everything I know and love. If marrying you means I have to leave the community, then I will do it.”
She looked at him questioningly at first, then a smile covered her face as she remained silent for once. She knew. She knew what was coming.
He stood up, then bent down on one knee, keenly aware of Maria, Mary and Gideon who were now spying on them conspicuously from the doorway.
“Olivia Mast, you mean more to me than anything else in this life ever could. Will you marry me?” He opened the small box to reveal a sparkling diamond. Liv gasped when she saw it and burst into tears of joy, grinning, unable to say anything. For several moments as he put the ring on her finger, she still said nothing, obviously in complete shock.
“This is the first time I’ve ever seen you not have some type of smart remark for something.” Isaac laughed as he held her hand, waiting for an answer.
She let out a cry of joy. “Yes! I say yes!”
Isaac gently hugged her as the three eavesdroppers ran into the room, laughing and crying all at once, crowding around them.
“It’s so beautiful,” she told Isaac, pulling him towards her to kiss him.
“Wait, you got her a ring? But we don’t wear jewelry,” Maria observed.
Isaac looked at Liv. “I decided I am going to live in the Englisher world with Liv.”
The Mast family gasped. “Even if you are shunned?”
“Yes,” Isaac said.
*
After several laughs and tears, the Mast family and Isaac had to go back home.
Liv stared in disbelief at the ring glistening on her finger, a round diamond set on a dainty, antique-looking band. Beyond it she saw the Bible on her lap. She opened it and flipped through its worn, torn, written-on pages. She wondered how many times Isaac had read passages from this Bible, how many hours he had spent in its words. Even though they were apart, Liv felt close to him as she held the book in her hands, then held it to her chest.
Yes, she wanted her relationship with God back. She knew she had to start somewhere, and she knew it was definitely time for her to really talk to Him.