AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I thought the same. But why didn’t Katherine show any signs of being leery at Fill N Go this morning?”
“She did when the guy in the balaclava showed up.”
“Uh-huh, but not before that. It didn’t look like she was living in fear, I guess is my point. Was it just the fact he was wearing a balaclava or did she recognize something about him?” The latter thought just hit her.
“Not being a mind reader, I can’t say.” He added a smile to lessen the sarcasm of his words. “But while I hate to say this, was she involved in something that got her into this trouble? She’s got a nice house, luxury car, high-end furniture.”
“Furniture?”
“Yep. The furniture in the front sitting room is designer. That set would easily cost mid to high five figures.”
“And you know that how?”
“Wendy has expensive taste. She dragged me around furniture shopping one day and insisted on hitting stores far outside of her tax bracket.”
Wendy was his younger sister. “Okay, let’s assume Katherine wasn’t involved with anything shady and she came by her money honestly. It might have been an inheritance like we mentioned before. Where does that leave us? The threats aren’t entirely helpful as they are rather vague.”
“Well, we considered we might be looking at someone she put away. And the burner and cash might suggest she was prepared to move if it came to that.”
Amanda nodded, her mind on the threats. “One of those letters called her a liar, another said ‘you owe me.’ Is this about money or more metaphorical?”
“Whatever the case, someone wants to cause her harm, and for some reason Katherine was hiding it.”
Amanda had nothing to say to that.
TWELVE
They had put a sack on her head and yanked her out of the van. The fabric wasn’t cinched around her neck and followed the contours of her face allowing her to see her feet.
Katherine strained to hear anything that might afford her a clue as to where they had taken her. All that returned to her ears was birdsong. She inhaled deeply, trying to distinguish smells. Nothing much past the cool, brisk air that threatened snow. Wherever they were, it was remote and far from civilization.
Her captors worked together, the man on her left and the woman on her right, and wrangled her in the direction they wanted. She tugged, but both had a firm grip. The woman’s slight build was deceiving, but she was definitely the subservient one of the two. The man was muscular and strong, an observation she’d made at the gas station, but he was shorter than her six feet by at least an inch or two.
Looking down, she was walking on gravel, flattened brown grass, and then a concrete path. “Where are we?” she asked but didn’t expect an answer.
“Don’t you worry about that,” the man said.
As if that alone would stop her. She was God-knows-where with people who wanted God-knows-what with her. They had killed a young woman who couldn’t have been twenty years old. The needless loss of life stung, but more so, it pissed her off. “Why are you doing this? What do you want?”
“Shut up,” the man said.
Obedience wasn’t her strong suit. Some might call that a weakness, but she viewed it as a strength. Independent thinking was an asset by any measure. “You won’t get away with this.”
“I said shut up.”
The fact the man spoke again confirmed he was the dominant in this partnership. This dynamic might be something Katherine could exploit once she figured out how.
Next, squeaky hinges and a clanging noise hit her ears. A steel door? They were unlikely about to enter a house. Maybe a shed, shop, or garage? Even so, it still told her absolutely nothing definitive about her location.
They pushed her forward, and she crossed an expansive threshold. Their footsteps followed, then the metal door clanged shut and a deadbolt thunked into place.
Only the man held her arm now. The floor beneath her feet was linoleum. An abandoned medical clinic or school?
They stopped and directed her into a room. It was brighter in here as light seeped through her head covering. Again, she asked, “Where are we?”
“I told you. Not your concern,” he hissed close to her ear and shoved her forward again.
She stumbled and fell into a hard, plastic chair. Its metal legs scraped along the floor as her weight had the chair shifting.
