I stopped and watched her closely, hoping she was listening.
It seemed my last words struck a chord.
She looked up.
“I can help you,” I said again.
“How?” she asked, wiping her nose and taking two raspy breaths in.
“We know where the sapphire pendant is and I have the diamond earring.”
Sally stared. I noticed I had Isabella’s full attention now too.
“Katy found the pendant,” I said. “She can get it for you.”
Sally’s eyes flitted from Katy to me.
“Would you do that?” she said, after a moment of silence. “Why?”
“Because what happened to Clara was wrong, and I want to help you get justice for her. You don’t know this, but Katy and I were orphans too. We lost our families a long time ago, and we had to scrounge for food and shelter, just like you.”
“But…”
“I also think your wish will come true soon,” I said.
“What do you mean?”
“We dug up the financial records for the school,” I said. “The academy is near bankruptcy. It will go belly up soon. Martha May will lose her job, her career and her reputation. Your work here is done.”
I thought I heard a gasp from Isabella, but I kept my eyes on Sally.
“But, if anyone discovers Brianna here, you’ll get into major trouble. If we found this place, and if Jayden came over here on a hike, so could others. It won’t take long for one of the junior officers to sniff this compound out.”
“What are you saying?” asked Sally in a quavering voice, staring at me with her reddened eyes.
“Let Brianna go with Katy. I’ll stay here with you until Katy returns with the sapphire and the diamond. Take it and you can escape. Find your way to Costa Rica or somewhere safe.”
Sally opened her mouth, but nothing came out.
“Nick knows how to turn the jewels to quick cash. He’s done it before, hasn’t he?”
“How do you know?” whispered Sally.
I turned to Brianna.
“You ready to go home, hun?”
The girl nodded.
“We’ll let you go soon, but you can’t tell anyone what happened, okay?”
The girl scrambled to her knees, hope replacing that dull glaze in her eyes.
“Please, let me go home,” she said in a broken voice. “I promise I won’t tell anyone. Cross my heart. You can have the sapphire. You can have everything in my room.”
I looked at Sally, an eyebrow raised.
“What do you say?”
It took me a minute to realize she wasn’t seeing Brianna. She was seeing the face of Becky Madison who killed her friend and threatened her with the same.
The young girl put her hands together and turned to Sally, like she was praying.
“Please,” warbled Brianna through her tears. “I don’t know why you hate me so much, but I promise I won’t say anything.”
Sally’s eyes hardened.
Hatred was still burning in her eyes.
She raised her arm. The candlelight glinted on the Glock in her hand.
Brianna screamed.
“No!” I yelled.
Chapter Sixty-two
I snatched Brianna away.
The gunshot ricocheted off the wall, deafening us.
I let go of Brianna and jumped on Sally. Katy leaped from the pole. We slammed the nurse to the ground at the same time, hitting our heads.
“Hold her down!” I shouted, ignoring the searing pain on my crown.
I sprang up and whirled around.
Brianna was crouched next to the sofa, moaning, and swaying back and forth from the shock. But there was no blood. No wounds. She was safe.
For now.
The door banged open.
I spun around.
It was Isabella.
“Oi!” I shouted, as I crashed through the open doorway and leaped down the steps after her.
She was making a dash toward the truck.
“Get back here!”
I doubled my speed to catch up with her longer legs.
She reached the truck and was pulling on the handle when I caught up to her. I spun her around and slammed her against the vehicle.
“Stop it, Isabella,” I snarled.
She fought back, her face red in fury. She was a big girl and strong for her age.
I had no choice. I grabbed her by the shirt collar and banged her against the truck door.
“Settle down,” I growled, and aimed my gun at her head.
I felt bad for attacking a kid, but she was an accessory to a kidnapping, theft, and murder. Maybe even a willing participant.
She stopped fighting and stared at me with an obstinate expression on her face.
I had no intention of using my weapon on her, but I needed every trick in the book to get her back in the house without either of us getting hurt.
“Turn around, please,” I said.
She didn’t move but her lips curved into a scornful smile.
She knew my weakness.
She knew I wouldn’t, I couldn’t shoot her.
“Hands up and turn around,” I repeated, keeping my voice firm.
“Make me,” she said with a dismissive sniff.
I sighed.
“You think we’re some backwater investigators, don’t you?” I said, glaring at her. “Bet you didn’t know we were trained by the Mossad and the CIA.”
Her eyes widened.
“If I wanted to, honey, I can throw you on the ground and twist you into a pretzel in half a second. I’ve done it to men much bigger than you.” I paused. “And if you think I won’t pull this trigger, you’re deadly wrong.”
That was a lie, but Isabella flinched.
“Are you going to comply or are you ready to become a human pretzel? I’m warning you, that’s gonna hurt. Badly.”
No answer.
“On the count of three,” I said, grabbing her collar and bringing her nose inches from mine.
“One!” I hollered like an army drill sergeant, my spit landing on her face.
“Two!”
That did it.
Her hands went up. And she turned around.
“March,” I commanded, pulling her away from the truck. “Let’s walk back quietly. No nonsense. Don’t make me use my Glock.”
Isabella trudged back toward the manor, stumbling along the path, looking completely deflated.
I kept my gun aimed at her back, in case she decided to try any funny moves.
How did Sally convince her to join her in this mad scheme? What motivated Isabella to get involved?
Status?
Money?
As a student in this upscale school and as the alpha female among her peers, she had both. What did she have to gain?
This wasn’t just teenage rebelliousness at play. There was more to Isabella’s story. But now wasn’t the time to ask.
She halted when we got to the front step of the manor.
I pushed the gun on the small of her back.
“Move it,” I said.
She didn’t budge.
Something felt wrong.
My gut was sending warning signs.
Something was wrong.
I saw the dark shadow pop out of the side of the house from the corner of my eyes.
I whirled around and fired.
With a scream, Nick fell, clutching his shoulder. His handgun clattered across the ancient cobblestones.
Isabella spun around and dove toward it.
“No, you don’t!” I shouted, jumping on her and flinging her to the ground. Using my right foot, I kicked the gun away.
I held the girl down, one knee on her back, grasping her hands behind her as she struggled, screaming obscenities I hadn’t even heard before.
Nick was writhing on the ground. His left shoulder was bleeding, but he was alive.
I sent a silent prayer of thanks to David and Tetyana for forcing us t
o go for target practice every Saturday morning at the fire range. I’m never going to complain again, I promised myself.
Nick made an attempt to get up.
“Stay down!” I hollered, aiming my sidearm at him.
Ignoring me, he got on his knees and turned to me, his eyes flashing in fury.
“You…”
Nick struggled to speak, but the pain was overwhelming him. He turned away from me and reached over to pick up something at his feet.
I was trying not to fall off Isabella, who was bucking like a mad cow under me.
“Stop right there!” I shouted.
The sound of footsteps made me look up.
It was Katy, racing down the steps. She picked up Nick’s weapon and pointed it at him.
“Stay still, mister!”
With one eye on Nick, she bent over and grabbed the fallen item from the ground.
“Who were you calling, Nick?” said Katy, slipping the phone into her pocket. “Martha May? The chief? The mayor? You’re all in on this racket, aren’t you?”
Nick sat back, his mouth turned down, sweat streaming down his face.
“Let’s get these two thugs inside,” I said to Katy, pulling Isabella up. “I have some questions for both of them.”
Chapter Sixty-three
“Watch him,” I said, as Katy pulled Nick to his feet.
I didn’t trust this man, though my friend was now holding a gun to his head.
With a few prods from the butt of our weapons, we got Isabella and Nick to stumble up the steps and walk inside.
I glanced around the room.
Brianna was huddled on the couch, wrapped in her sheet. She turned frightened eyes our way as we walked in.
Sally was lying on her stomach, face on the floor. Katy had tied her hands with the same rope that had bound her to the post only moments ago.
Katy pushed Nick down, next to Sally. He dropped clumsily, clutching his shoulder, his face pale.
With a loud groan, he leaned against the wall and winced in pain. Just as I thought. He was a coward of a man. Yes, he was bleeding, but the bullet grazed his shoulder and it wasn’t as nasty as he played it out to be.
“Tie him up,” I said, kicking the door closed behind me.
Katy took an extra sheet from the couch Brianna had been on and wrapped it around the man’s chest, pinning his arms to his sides.
Nick hadn’t said a single coherent word since I saw him sneaking up behind me. I knew his type. He would lawyer up very soon and make things difficult for everyone.
Katy wiped the sweat from her brow.
“She gave quite the fight,” she said, pointing at Sally with the gun, making the nurse turn her head and grimace.
“This one too,” I said, pointing at Isabella with my chin. “Do you have extra rope?”
“You can’t do this to me!” screeched Isabella, trying to wrestle away from my grip.
“Settle down!” I hollered.
“Oh, yes I have more,” said Katy, picking up the rest of the rope and walking toward us. Isabella struggled, but this time, there were two of us. Between Katy and me, we subdued the girl and got her hands tied behind her back.
We placed Isabella next to Nick on the floor and pulled Sally up to a seated position beside them.
All three sat with their legs splayed out, their backs against the wall, and dark looks on their faces. But they couldn’t run now.
Katy turned to me.
“Still no reception,” she said, showing me her phone screen. “It’s going to be a long walk through the woods with these three. It’ll take us forever to get back to the school, and it’s getting dark.”
“The pickup truck is right behind the house,” I said. “We have our ride.”
Katy’s eyes widened.
“It’s the one that hit Jayden,” I said. “There’s damage to the front where it hit the Prius. If we can find the keys, we can get everyone back to the school.”
I turned to Nick.
“Where are the truck’s keys?”
He glowered but said nothing.
Katy raised an eyebrow.
“A treasure hunt it is, then.”
We stepped up to the trio, making them pull back, but they were cornered.
Katy and I squatted next to them. I checked Sally’s pockets while my friend dug into Nick’s. They squirmed and tried to pull away, but there was nothing they could do about it.
“Whatever made you shoot at Brianna, Sally?” I said, as I pushed my hand in her shirt’s pocket and felt around for the keys. “If you hadn’t, I might have even tried to help you.”
“You’re lying,” she growled. “You were never going to help me.”
“I wasn’t going to let you get away with murder,” I said. “But I’d have tried to find you a good attorney and make sure everyone heard your story. What happened to Clara wasn’t right. The world needs to know.”
“You two-faced witch!” shouted Isabella, next to her.
“But now, you’re on your own,” I said to Sally.
“Found it!”
I looked up to see Katy pull out a key chain from Nick’s back pocket.
“Good job.” I nodded. “Can you pack up the camera and laptop?”
I turned to Sally, then Nick.
“I’m sure the FBI would be very interested to see what’s in your devices.”
Nick spat on the ground. He still wasn’t talking.
A soft whimper from Brianna made me turn around. The girl’s face had turned white, like she was nauseous. She was trembling under the sheet.
A pang of guilt crossed my heart as I realized I’d forgotten her well-being, too preoccupied with restraining the others.
“Oh, honey, we need to get you dressed,” I said. “Do you know where your clothes are?”
She gave an unhappy head shake.
I got up and started searching for her clothes. Peeking behind the sofa, I saw a heap of clothes crumpled on the floor, pulled them up and handed them to her.
I was helping Brianna put her shirt on when I heard Katy say my name.
“Hey,” she called from the couch, her face pale. “Come, see this,” she said in an urgent voice.
I walked over and kneeled next to the table. Katy clicked on something on the laptop screen.
“Look what they did to her,” she whispered, turning the screen away from Brianna.
A silent video started on the screen.
I jerked my head back.
“The mayor,” I whispered in horror. “He was in on this all along.”
“I can’t watch this,” said Katy.
My stomach churned, and I felt something bitter come up my throat.
In the video, Brianna looked like she was partly conscious. She wasn’t moving or speaking, and her face was tilted back, her limbs limp by her side. The mayor looked like he was having a good time, grinning to the camera as he straddled the girl on the couch.
Katy clicked the video off as soon as he started moving.
I stared at the blank screen feeling sick, as my friend made retching sounds next to me.
From behind us, Brianna had started to cry.
I couldn’t bear to look at her.
I’d failed her. I had come too late.
I gritted my teeth.
A steely thread of fury was spiraling up my spine, and my blood had begun to boil.
I spun around and stomped over to our captives. I wanted to pistol whip all three till they screamed for their lives.
Isabella drew back in alarm.
“How could you let this happen?” I roared in their faces. “How could you! Don’t you have a shred of humanity in you!”
“Wasn’t me,” said Sally, pushing away from me in a hurry. “Nick’s the pimp.”
I raised my arm.
“You!” I screamed. “You sold her to that pedophile!”
Nick cowered. “He made me—”
He didn’t finish. I whipped my gun across his face.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
His lips cracked and reddened. A trickle of blood came from the corner of his mouth.
I kicked him in the chest. He tried to roll away, but he was pinned by the wall. He moaned.
I lifted my arm higher and slashed the gun across his crown.
The man’s eyes rolled to the back and his face spasmed violently, but he remained conscious.
Good.
I wanted him to feel every bit of pain I was inflicting on him.
“You’re a vile man. You did this for money,” I growled, wishing I could put a bullet right through his brain.
I raised my arm.
“Asha, stop!” cried Katy. “We need him alive.”
She was right.
I had killed heinous thugs before and I was willing to do it again. But that would have been too easy.
I wanted him to feel the pain. I also wanted this story exposed and for that monster of a mayor to get incriminated. And for that, I needed these accomplices and witnesses alive.
I don’t know how long I loomed over the man, my heart pounding, waiting for him to move so I could kick him again, when I heard Brianna’s cries get louder.
I stepped away, picked up the roll of tissue and handed it to Brianna.
“Here, sweetie,” I said, slipping to the ground next to her and putting an arm around her shoulders.
“Everything’s going to be all right. No matter what happened, everything’s going to be all right.”
I was babbling. What do you tell a young girl who’d gone through such trauma?
“P… please don’t show that to my parents,” she stuttered. “Please don’t let anyone see that.”
“We won’t, honey,” said Katy, who I could see was trying hard not to cry.
With a disgusted hiss, she slammed the laptop lid down and banged a fist on the table.
“We need to delete this,” she cried, turning an angry face at me. “She’s been traumatized enough.”
“No,” I said, shaking my head, speaking forcefully. “No, Katy. We need to hand this over to the FBI.”
“Please don’t,” whispered Brianna.
I turned to her and pulled her in closer.
Merciless Crimes: A Thrilling Closed Circle Mystery Series (Merciless Murder Mystery Thriller) Page 26