“My mom is on her way to the Mendoza’s now. I’ll call and warn her that something weird is happening over there.”
Jake hung up and called his mom.
But she didn’t answer.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
“I won’t be long,” Ellen said to Margery when she drove down the Mendozas’ driveway. She went as slowly as possible, but her truck bounced quite a bit and she was pretty certain Margery was uncomfortable, even with the pillows all around her. “You okay here?”
“Yes,” Margery said with a half smile. “I don’t want to go out in the rain more than I need to.”
Ellen pulled up as close to the side door as possible, but she’d be soaked even walking ten feet.
The Mendozas’ truck wasn’t in the garage, and the door was wide open, which seemed unusual. She wondered if there was an emergency, but if there was, Avery would have called. She saw an ATV belonging to either Avery or Bobby parked on the side of the garage, which irritated her. It should have been stored in the barn or garage since Avery was spending the night.
Still, she was getting an odd feeling that something wasn’t quite right. Maybe Gianna had a medical emergency… but Avery would have called her. For all the times they butted heads about trivial things, Avery was a responsible teen.
Ellen jumped out of the truck and ran through the mud, up theramp, and stood under the porch. The wind pushed the rain into her back.
She pounded on the door, looked through the window, her hands cupped so she could see in the semi-dark.
“Rose! Carl! It’s Ellen!” She shouted to be heard over the rain that pounded on their roof. “Hello!”
She listened, heard nothing.
Where could they be? The barn? All four of them? Gianna’s wheelchair wouldn’t make it through the mud, and she couldn’t walk over the uneven surface.
She tried the door; it was unlocked.
She opened it and went inside.
“Rose? Carl? It’s Ellen McKenna. Are you here?”
“Ellen!” She heard a voice in the back of the house. “Ellen, help!”
She ran down the hall and opened Gianna’s door. The girl was in her rocking chair and as Ellen approached, she saw that her wrists were zip-tied to the armrests.
Ellen ran over to her. “What happened?” She looked around for scissors. “Gianna, where’s Avery?”
“I thought they were going to kill us, three people broke in last night, and, and, and they left with Avery!”
Ellen’s blood ran cold. “Where’s your mom and dad?”
“The living room, maybe? That’s where they said they tied them up. I haven’t seen them all day, I’m so worried!” Gianna was crying.
“I’m going to find scissors and I’ll check on your parents.”
Ellen ran down the hall, past the kitchen and stopped when she glanced into the guest room and saw blood on the white sheets. There was a lot of blood, bandages, scissors, prescription drugs. What the hell was going on?
She grabbed the scissors and went to the living room.
Rose and Carl were tied and gagged on the coach. Carl had a bloody gash on his forehead that had dripped and dried down the side of his face.
Ellen pulled the gags from their mouths. “Gianna,” Rose said breathlessly, her voice a scratchy whisper.
“She’s okay.” Ellen cut their binds.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I had to lie, they would have h-hurt Gianna.”
