by Diane Blake
"I was walking on campus with a friend and we were kidna-" Jasinda stopped the sentence dead mid-word.
"What?"
Jasinda's head swiveled in every direction possible around her new environment. It appeared to have been a former employee breakroom. "Where is he?"
"Who?"
"My friend. There were two of us. Thrown into the van. I think I was chloroformed or something like that. I don't know. Then I woke up kind of dazed and those men were there. I forgot about my friend until just now."
"Besides those two men who brought you in, I haven't seen anyone else. I've been locked up in this room for God knows how long."
Jasinda's voice cracked. "They must have killed him. He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. It's all my fault. Just like with Trudy. They wanted to kill me."
Kandi gave her the side-eye. "Why would anyone want to kill you?" Kandi's tone indicated that Jasinda wouldn't be worth acknowledging if someone bumped into her at the grocery store, much less killing.
"It has to be because-"
"Yeah? Go on..." Kandi urged.
Jasinda clammed up. She shook her head. Jasinda thought, What if she's in on it with them? This could all be a trick. I'm not telling her anything. At least not yet.
Instead, Jasinda asked a question of her own. "Have you tried to escape?"
"Duh! I even broke a couple nails trying to pick at the ropes."
Jasinda glanced over and noticed that Kandi's previously perfectly manicured nails were indeed in sad condition.
Kandi continued, "These knots are tighter than a nun's crossed legs!"
"That's a visual I did not need. Changing topics...Did you get Craig's message?"
"What message?"
"After you and I spoke at The End Zone, I confronted Craig. He assured me that you and he had no relationship, never even dated. Then he called you so the three of us could sit down together and find out why you lied."
"Oh. So you didn't dump him?"
"Of course not," Jasinda told her. "I trust Craig." Jasinda wondered if that were completely true. In any case, she wasn't about to modify her statement to Kandi. She shot Kandi a narrow-eyed glance. "It's you I don't trust."
Kandi snorted a laugh. She looked around. An old unplugged refrigerator sat against the wall with its door missing. A dirty glass coffee pot covered in a layer of dust in which one could write a name occupied a spot on the counter. A dented microwave with a cracked glass front sat on the counter next to a trail of what Kandi assumed was rat droppings. "I hope they didn't bug this place."
"From the looks of it, it needs a different kind of debugging. Anyway, who were you talking about?"
Kandi shrugged as best she could considering her position tied to an uncomfortable wooden chair. "I honestly don't know. But I do know that if we don't start trusting each other, we're probably not going to get out of here alive."
Jasinda arched an eyebrow. "You first..."
"Fine. Craig told you the truth. He and I have never been a couple or anything other than acquaintances at work. Based on that picture of the two of you sucking face at the mall, he obviously prefers your type of girl." Kandi couldn't help herself; she added, "Though I have no idea why."
Jasinda sighed. Her anger at Kandi's destructive lie outweighed her desire to react internally or externally to the little dig about body types. She decided to stick to the facts. "Then why would you ever make up such a thing and go out of your way to try to convince me so forcefully and nastily of it on two separate occasions?"
As if the answer should have been self-evident, Kandi shot back, "Why does anybody ever do anything?"
"Love? Do you have a crush on him and you couldn't stand to see him with anyone else?"
"God, you're dense!" Kandi practically screamed. "I don't give two whits about Craig Wilder. I did it for money!"
"The love of money is the root of all evil," Jasinda quoted.
"Really? Are you for real with this?"
"It's from the Bible," Jasinda explained.
"I know," Kandi replied with the mocking voice and scrunched up face of a snotty little girl saying that to her sister.
"You're nasty," Jasinda told her.
"You're nasty," Kandi mocked in the same annoying voice she'd used a couple seconds earlier. Kandi rolled her eyes. "Whatever. I do not know what Craig Wilder sees in you."
Jasinda ignored the insult. She tried to focus on the important revelations. "So, how exactly does money figure in to your lie?"
"Somebody paid me over ten thousand dollars to tell you that story about me and Craig."
Jasinda's jaw fell open in shock. "Who?"
Kandi answered coldly, "Don't know. Didn't care. I deposited the money in the bank and it wasn't counterfeit. That's all that mattered."
"Then why would someone want me to think Craig was cheating on me, or on you with me... whatever."
"Again, don't know. Didn't care."
Jasinda felt almost as confused as she had when she awoke from the induced sleep. She shook her head "How?"
"That's a question I can answer. Sit back and I'll tell you the tale."
"Like I have a choice," Jasinda said as she jiggled her shoulders against the back of the straight wooden chair to which she was strapped.
Kandi began, "It was right after that pic of you and Craig hit the Internet. That night..."
Chapter 35
That night, Kandi Chambers had pulled into the grocery store parking lot after cheerleading practice. An expensive black town car with tinted windows pulled up alongside her. She recognized it as the kind of car that rich people get driven around in.
Kandi didn't feel scared or intimidated. She'd been propositioned before by wealthy men and just plain old pervs plenty of times, often from cars just like that.
The back window rolled down a couple inches. Not enough to see inside, but enough to talk. A man's voice said, "You wanna make some money?"
She barely stopped walking. "Dude, you can't afford me." Kandi Chambers was nothing if not confident!
Without saying another word, the guy dropped several hundred dollar bills out of the window. He let them fall loosely from the car to the cement parking lot.
Kandi watched in amazement, wondering if it was play money or something. She surveyed the nearby cars looking for spectators or hidden cameras. She wondered if she was being punked by a friend or if she was secretly being recorded for some stupid new reality TV show.
As if reading her mind, the mysterious man told her, "Go ahead. Pick them up and bring them to the bank branch inside the grocery store. Let them verify they're not counterfeit. They are yours to keep no matter what. There are five bills there so that's five hundred dollars. Should you wish to earn an additional ten thousand dollars, meet me back in this spot an hour from now once you finish your shopping."
The back window rolled up and the car pulled away. Kandi did as she was told. The bank verified the bills as real. Kandi made sure to be standing in the exact same spot with her full cart one hour later.
Right on time, the sedan pulled up again. The tinted window rolled down a couple inches as before. "Excellent, Miss Chambers. I trust you found everything in order."
Kandi smirked. "So you already knew who I was when you gave me those bills."
"Yes," he admitted.
"So what's with all the cloak and dagger routine? Are you going to open the window all the way or what?"
"Not necessary."
"Whatever, just get to it. What is it you want me to do for that nice chunk of change you promised?"
"I like a woman who gets down to business," the man in the backseat said. "It's very simple. All I want you to do is tell a little lie. I assume you're aware of Tigers quarterback Craig Wilder and the new woman he's dating. A picture of them kissing 'went viral' on the Internet."
"I'm aware of the situation," Kandi affirmed.
"Good. That woman's name is Jasinda Reed. I want you to tell her that you're also dating Cra
ig Wilder. In fact, tell her that he's your boyfriend. That you've been dating secretly for a while." The man stopped talking.
Kandi's skepticism leaked out with the words, "That's it?"
"Yes."
"I don't even know Jasinda whatever her name is."
"No matter. The opportunity to follow my instructions will present itself. When it does, follow them precisely."
"What if she doesn't believe me?"
"Make her."
Something in the man's tone of voice caused a shudder in Kandi's spine. She didn't want to find out what would happen if she failed to make Jasinda believe her.
An envelope suddenly protruded through the window. "What's that?" Kandi asked.
"Your payment."
"But I haven't done the job yet! What if I take your money and then don't go through with it?"
There wasn't a moment of hesitation from inside the car. "You wouldn't do that." The calm, eerie voice perfectly delivered the unspoken message behind the spoken words. If you try to steal my money and not complete the task, you won't live long enough to regret it.
"How do I get in touch with you to let you know I finished the job?" Kandi asked.
"No need. I'll know. But do take this." He handed her a small cell phone through the window.
"I already have a cell phone," she informed him in a "like-duh" voice.
She thought she heard a chuckle from inside the car, but maybe it was just a cough. The man behind the tinted window explained, "This phone I'm giving you is only to be used in an emergency related to our business transaction. By emergency, I mean, you fail to convince her the first time you tell her or she ever contacts you in the future to question you again."
"Got it. So what's your number?"
"All you have to do is press and hold the number one key. The screen will be blank, but the phone will dial me immediately."
"Anything else? My frozen yogurt is probably melting here," Kandi complained.
"That's all. Just follow my instructions precisely. I hope we never have to see each other again. For both our sakes."
Chapter 36
Back in the present, in the breakroom turned hostage holding area, Jasinda wished her hand was free of the ropes...even if only so she could reach out and smack Kandi Chambers across the face! Jasinda's blood boiled when she thought about how she'd doubted Craig and herself. All that unnecessary heartache...all because of this cheerleading twit and an elaborate lie which Jasinda still hadn't gotten to the bottom of.
"Wait a minute," Jasinda said. "If you knew some mysterious stranger paid you a mini-fortune to lie to me, why were you so resistant to the idea that someone might be trying to kill me?"
Kandi rolled her eyes. "I think the whole thing is about Craig. Not you!" Kandi had a particular way of saying "you" at the end of those sentences when referring to Jasinda that sounded like she was describing someone farting in front of the Queen of England. Kandi's accompanying facial expressions matched too.
Kandi still wasn't done. "Craig Wilder is an internationally known sports figure and you're well..."
"A nobody?" Jasinda finished the thought for her fellow captive. "Is that what you were going to say?"
Kandi's silence indicated her agreement.
Jasinda looked away from her. It was the closest she could come under the circumstances to turning her back on Kandi.
"I told you how I ended up here-" Kandi started.
Jasinda interrupted. "Actually, you didn't. At the point you left off in your story, you were ten thousand dollars richer and I was about to be miserable thinking Craig was a cheater when he clearly wasn't."
"Oh, yeah. Obviously you know about our two conversations. One at Jefferson University and one at The End Zone. After we talked at the sports bar, I used the cell phone the creepy guy had given me to call him."
Jasinda pursed her lips. "Like he told you to do if I showed up questioning you..."
"Exactly. He told me to stay put. A car showed up. A masked man got out of the car. Grabbed me and put a gross rag over my face. Next thing I knew, I woke up in here. They wouldn't tell me anything."
"That last part is similar to what happened to me. As I already told you, my friend and I were walking in the college parking lot when a van chased us down. Masked men kidnapped us. One held the rag over my face and now here I am too."
Kandi eyed Jasinda. "I told you my story. Now, you tell me why you think you're at the center of all this and why you think someone is trying to kill you."
Jasinda took a deep breath. She wiggled around as much as she could, trying to accomplish the impossible task of making herself more comfortable while strapped to a chair. "Well, it all started when-"
A noise outside the door garnered their attention.
"Someone's coming," Kandi said.
"Please, God, I hope it's the police," Jasinda replied.
The door swung open. A smile of hope dared to cross Jasinda's face. "Gus! You're alive!" she cried in a stage whisper. The fact that the scarred guy and beard guy weren't accompanying him pushed the smile even broader.
Gus hurried across the room.
Jasinda gushed, "Thank God you're all right. I didn't know what they did to you. I've never been so happy to see you or your trademark scarf!"
"Quick! Untie us before they find out you escaped!" Kandi told him.
Gus bent down to the spot where the ladies' feet were tied to the chairs.
"How did you escape?" Jasinda asked.
"I didn't."
He pulled on the ropes at Kandi's feet.
"Ouch! You're hurting me."
"That's the general idea," he answered. Gus pivoted towards Jasinda as well and repeated the maneuver with his hands. Satisfied all the ropes were still securely in place, Gus stood up and stepped away from the two women.
The bewilderment washed over Jasinda's face. "I don't understand. What's going on, Gus?"
"I'm so sick of hearing that name. And the way you say it... particularly grates on my nerves. My name is not Gus Santini."
"Of course it is. What are you talking about?"
"My real name is Tommy Dagostino."
Jasinda trembled with fear!
Chapter 37
All the color drained from Jasinda's face.
The reaction didn't escape Kandi's notice. "What does that mean, Jasinda? Who is this guy?"
Gus/Tommy answered the question for her. "I'm the brother of the man Jasinda sent to jail with her testimony seven years ago. She ratted out Jim and then she walked away scot-free. Some kind of immunity/community service plea deal."
Though she had previously tried to forget every detail of that horrid time, Jasinda now tried to reconcile this revelation with what she remembered. She spoke her thoughts aloud as they came to her. "I never met Tommy, but Jim showed me his, um, your, picture once. Tommy had black as night dark hair..."
Tommy flicked his fingers through the bleached-blond strands on his head. "Tell me about it. I can't believe the process you broads go through just to change your hair color for fun."
Jasinda shook her head in denial as she talked. "And a thick dark mustache..."
"Thanks to you, I have to shave twice a day to keep that thing at bay these days."
She looked at Gus with his flamboyant outfit and thought of all the times they commiserated about guys. "I remember something else Jim told me about his brother. He wasn't gay. No, in fact, he was a player. Jim said he always juggled multiple girls. Oh, and he had gotten one of them pregnant."
"All true," Tommy boasted. "I was always real slick with the ladies. Still am! Well, until the last couple months when I had to put on this act for you." Tommy gestured towards himself. "It's not like this is going to turn a woman on!"
Something else suddenly occurred to Jasinda. "Your voice. It sounds different now than you usually sound. Deeper and-"
"Nothing like a little stereotype to make an impression huh?" Tommy goaded. "And my father said I was wasting my time when I got
my acting degree! He said it was useless for the family business! Guess I showed dear old dad, didn't I?"
"You're insane," Jasinda accused.
"Nope. Just motivated."
Jasinda shook her head in disbelief. "So you pretended to be gay. That's so weird – and involved..."
"And it worked, didn't it? Tommy Dagostino, or any dangerous bad boy like him, could never get close to you. Never earn your trust and gain your confidence. Never learn the details of your pathetic life. But sweet, loser-in-love, non-threatening gay Gus? Oh, yeah, he made the perfect 'gal pal' for you, didn't he? You ate that right up like one of your favorite triple scoop brownie sundaes from work."