AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Quit being gloomy and think. We will know if Mallory is on the schedule today and if the car’s there because she’s working and has the habit of parking in the same spot every day or something else is going on. I mean, her car wouldn’t be there if she wasn’t unless there’s a problem.”
“Or she found someone to stay overnight with.”
“Or her car is broken down.”
“I’ll go to her house.” Monroe put the phone on speaker and began to finish dressing.
“No, don’t waste your time. There are no lights on, and curtains are closed like she’s gone for the day. Besides, remember the security gate? You won’t get in. Wait until closing, and let’s see what happens.”
“I don’t think I can… wait. I’ve got a call from Lexington police. Hold on.”
Monroe clicked over to the incoming call, “This is Merton.”
“Monroe Merton?”
“Yes, who is this?”
“I’mOfficer Whitley of the Lexington policedepartment.”
“Hello, what can I do for you?” Monroe tried to keep his suspicions out of his voice. He didn’t have time for some mess with them right now.
“I don’t know if you’ve heard tonight’s news, but a woman we believe you know is missing, and we were hoping you could help us. A woman matching the missing woman’s description has been located but refuses to speak to us except for asking for Monroe. We think that is you, sir.”
“Why would you think that?” His tone was even, but his heart beat a wild tattoo in his chest at the possibility of not only finding Mallory but of her being seriously injured.
“We found your name and a phone number in one phone we located. She tried to reach for it, and we believe it to be her phone.”
“One phone?”
“Sorry, on the phone that she identified as hers, so we assumed.” Silence lay in the air between them. “I mean, Monroe isn’t a common name these days.”
“If ever. Now, about Mallory, you found her? Where is she? I’ll be right there.”
“Sir, I don’t think… who is she to you?”
Monroe didn’t hesitate to attach a relationship to them. “She’s my girlfriend.” To Monroe, it wasn’t a lie; it was officially true. She just didn’t know it yet, so he hoped Mallory didn’t out him. “Where is she?”
“Wait, we are contacting her sister.”
“She lives too far away and has kids. Where are you?”
That personal information seemed to satisfy the police officers. Once Monroe got the information he needed, he clicked off the call and clicked over to Sharlee. “The police found her. I’m going—” Monroe explained the rest of the conversation.
“Listen. Mallory is on the news, along with others,” said Jac over the line.
“Others? I’m on my way to her but get as much as you can from the new story. I’ll update as I get more info after I take care of Mallory.”
Chapter 3
Mallory couldn’t wash the taste of icy terror from her mouth or out of her mind. It was how she imagined chewing on glass would feel like. Being kidnapped had never crossed her mind when she helped the woman pick up her spilled bag of groceries. Mallory saw the woman in the store just at the pharmacy closing time, thirty minutes before the rest of the store closed.
She hadn’t seen the woman before, but that meant nothing. She rarely noticed anyone but her own customers when she needed to counsel them on medications. Otherwise, she spent her day verifying and authorizing prescriptions. She didn’t think she could go back to that drug store or anywhere public for a long time. Being a self-sufficient woman, it upset her just as much that, for now, that horrible man still held her hostage mentally, if not physically.
Her chaotic and yet frozen emotionally in time, Mallory wondered about the woman who appeared nearly dead on the floor when Mallory had been thrown into that filthy, dank cellar after that fucker couldn’t get what he wanted from her. Mallory heard the other woman weakly cry out, but she was sure she’d passed out almost immediately. That was the best thing for the other captive so she wouldn’t feel the pain or have memories of their kidnapper's sick, sadistic behavior, but Mallory could not.
Mallory had gotten a glimpse of the items on a wall that memory made her instinctively recoil. The room she had been in first upon being dragged inside had smelled of blood, old blood with some lingering smell of rust, iron, disinfectant, vomit and even a lingering hint of sex which had her gagging. The blood had stiffened places on the sheets that lay in disarray on the bed in the corner of the room. The old iron bedpost had metal handcuffs hanging from it, rough hemp rope lay on the floor in a tangle, and Mallory’s own blood ran cold with her fear.
The only time she had felt safe in the last, how long did they say, three days, and this was the fourth night, was when she could concentrate on Monroe. He was so protective of her when they had spoken on the phone and the few times they had been together at the meet and greets. Monroe was the enormous presence in her life that she had grown used to, and she didn’t know if she could do without him. He was who she needed. Thank God she wasn’t in danger any longer from the man who had kidnapped her. But Mallory couldn't believe that there weren’t demons lying in wait for her everywhere.
