Page 77 of Benjamin and the Thief

Trying to remain as calm as she could, Catalina slid her right hand off her lap toward the door handle. When she felt the smooth contours of the metal flap, she took a breath, then pulled and pressed outward, but the door didn’t open.

The judge scoffed, and she whipped her head in his direction.

“Child lock. You think I was born yesterday?”

His friendly mask was gone now. He was showing his real face.

“You couldn’t leave well enough alone, could you? No, you had to dig around in things that are none of your business. You think you can drag us all down with you?”

He scoffed. His voice was cold. Plain fear spread inside her. Whatever he’d planned for her, it was nothing good. For all she knew, it would end with her in a ditch.

“Let me go!”

“That’s not my call.”

The light changed to green, and the SUV lurched forward. The car gained speed again.

“Please! I won’t pursue it. I won’t tell anybody about this,” she lied.

“Oh, I’ll make sure you won’t.”

He pulled something from his pocket, and for a second, she thought it was a gun, but then she recognized it as a cell phone. He tapped on it, then brought it to his ear.

“Yeah, I’m two blocks away. Open the garage door.”

He disconnected the call and shoved his cell phone back into his pocket. She shivered at the thought of what would happen now. She couldn’t get out of the car, and he wouldn’t make the mistake of stopping the car on the street somewhere. The SUV would disappear into a garage, and nobody would ever see her again. She suppressed the urge to cry and lament her fate. She couldn’t lose hope now. There had to be something she could do to get out of this situation.

She looked around herself. Could she fight the judge before he entered the garage? She had to try. It was her only chance at escape. Knowing she had less than a minute before they would arrive at their destination, she looked at the dashboard and center console. When she spotted the start button that started as well as stopped the engine, she lunged for it and pressed it hard.

Judge Norton tried to shove her hand away, grabbing her wrist, but she fought him. She knew she needed to press the start button for at least three seconds for the engine to stop while the vehicle was in motion. Any less than that and the emergency override function wouldn’t kick in.

“Fucking bitch!” the judge cursed and finally managed to jerk her hand away.

But the engine stopped, and the car lost speed. Clearly pissed off, Judge Norton slapped her so hard with the back of his hand that her head whipped sideways. The pain was excruciating. Despite it, she tried to open the door again, but it was still locked. She pushed the buttons on her door, but the judge had already managed to restart the engine, and they were moving again.

She’d failed. When she turned her head back and looked out the windshield again, she saw the house they had reached. She recognized it instantly even though they had approached from the side where the large garage was located. Its door stood open. Two cars were already inside, but there was space for the SUV.

Judge Norton parked the car inside, and a moment later, she heard the door of the garage being lowered. It felt like the lid to her coffin was being closed.

She felt as if she wasn’t inside her own body anymore. She felt detached and knew it was her mind trying to protect her from the reality of the situation. There was no way out of this. She couldn’t turn back time and undo what had led to this point.

The sound of a car door closing made her realize that the judge had gotten out of the SUV. He was at the passenger side in seconds and opened the door for her.

“Get out!”

Her limbs reacted out of habit, and she moved without her mind giving the orders. As if she were a marionette. He grabbed her arm and dragged her toward the door leading into the house. It was unlocked.

The corridor inside was sparsely lit, just sufficient for them to not trip over their own feet. As she looked ahead, she noticed light streaming from an open door into the hallway. Judge Norton steered her in its direction.

He pushed her ahead of him into the salon. The room wasn’t empty.

Like she’d suspected, James and Elizabeth Preston were expecting them. It was their house after all. James Preston was dressed in gray silk pajamas with a robe over it that was open in the front. Elizabeth wore a long white silk nightgown and a matching robe.

James reached for something on a side table, and when he turned to her, she saw that he was pointing a gun at her.

Her breath caught, but no sound came over her lips.

“Thank you, Tylor,” James said.