Anna pressed her tongue to the roof of her mouth hoping to produce saliva, but it didn’t work. Her mouth was as dry as the Sonoran Desert, and it felt like sand, too.
In an attempt to relieve some of the tension in her neck, Anna rolled her head to the side and tried to lift her hand but was disappointed to find that her hands were bound together. Her eyes flew open and she scanned the room.
Why does this look so familiar? She was confused. It was a room she felt she had seen before. Then it dawned on her; this was one of her creations. She designed and furnished this room months ago. Right down to the comforter that spread across the bed she was lying face down on. It was just unfortunate that she couldn’t remember who she designed this room for.
Anna tried to roll over and found that it wasn’t just her hands tied together. Her feet were woven together tightly and every time she tried to pull them apart, the rope bit into her skin. She squeezed her lip between her teeth to bite back the scream that threatened to leave her lips. Any sound she made would alert her kidnapper that she was awake, and that was the last thing she wanted to do.
Suddenly, like turning on a light bulb, Anna realized who this room belonged to. The Sanders. She was in the home that belonged to Ethan and Cara. She struggled against the restraints and grunted from the pain it caused. The binds were so tight, she knew there would be no way she could get out of them. Anna was just about to do something drastic when she heard someone jiggle the door handle before pushing the door open.
A man she had never seen before stepped into the light. She quickly closed her eyes, hoping he hadn’t seen them open, but his sadistic chuckle told her that he had.
“Oh, Anna. The things I would love to do to you.”
The sound of his voice made her skin crawl.
“Lucky for you, I’m quite smitten with someone else.”
She squeezed her eyes together, wishing this was some nightmare, but when Anna opened them, he was still there.
He whistled. “Damn, you sure are pretty.”
“Why am I here?” Anna demanded, struggling against the ties again. She winced in pain as the skin around her wrist tore open.
“You’ll only make things harder for yourself if you continue to struggle.”
“Why do you care?” she snapped back.
He leaned in and murmured in her ear. “I’m only trying to help you.” His breath reeked of eggs and mint. She imagined he was trying to mask the rotting smell of his breath for the person he was sweet on.
Anna contemplated whether she should head butt him but thought better of it. It would render her immobile and just piss him off.
“Why am I here?” she asked again.
He sneered. “You pissed off the wrong person, baby.” The man grabbed Anna by her shoulders and pulled her to sit up. He began fixing her hair and righting her clothes. “Much better. Don’t want you lookin’ sloppy when the boss comes in.”
“Boss?” Anna’s eyebrows knitted together. “Why?”
He shook his head. “You’ll find out soon enough.”
“What is happening? Why am I here?”
He took off his jacket and draped it on a nearby chair, revealing a gun tucked into the back of his pants. When he caught Anna staring at it, he laughed.
“Don’t worry about that right now, sweetie. I don’t think I’ll be the one using it.”
Anna was about to tell him that he could take that gun and shove it where the sun didn’t shine when the door began to open slowly.
Cara.
Anna couldn’t believe it. The moment she realized she was in the Sanders home, she imagined it was Ethan who had hired some hack to kidnap her. Cara had never even entered her mind. The woman may have been rude, but she seemed so terrified of her husband.
Ignoring Anna, Cara walked to the mystery man, pulled him into her and they started kissing each other aggressively. The slurping sounds they made as their tongues met and fought for space made Anna’s stomach turn.
Still in the man’s arms, Cara said, “I’d like to introduce you to my lover, Gabe. He’s really good with his hands.”
As if that was his code word, Gabe lifted his hand and began caressing Cara’s breast. Her head fell back, inviting him to start nibbling on her neck. His other hand came up her thigh and disappeared under her skirt. Cara began moaning and panting with every movement his hand made, making Anna feel uncomfortable and disgusted. She looked away, not wanting to witness Cara’s fulfillment. When the woman screamed out her pleasure, Anna had to swallow the vomit that threatened to spill all over the expensive carpet.
“Mmmm. Gabe, you always know where my sweet spots are.” She glanced at Anna. “Shall we continue? You’ve seen my orgasm. Maybe I should let you see his, too?”
Anna swallowed hard and continued to stare at the wall. She wasn’t about to give her the satisfaction of an answer. Cara laughed heartily making Anna want to jump up and beat her senseless. Unfortunately, her hands and feet were still tied making all of her thoughts useless.
“Don’t be such a prude, Anna. I bet you’re rowdy in the sack. I could always let Gabe have his way with you while I watch to see if it’s true.”
Anna’s head whipped in her direction.
“Wow, that got your attention, didn’t it?” She laughed again and started walking towards her. “Gabe, let me formally introduce you to my husband’s mistress.” Cara stopped in front of Anna. “You aren’t so high and mighty when you’re not sitting behind a desk or with that fancy boyfriend of yours, are you?”
“I’m sorry?” Anna was confused by her comment.
“You know what a mistress is, right? Smart girl like you should know.”
When Anna didn’t answer, Cara continued. “You shouldn’t have fucked Ethan, Anna!”
She shook her head. “You have it all wrong, Cara. Your husband and I weren’t having an affair.”
Cara waved her hand in the air dismissively. “Oh, I know you didn’t physically fuck him, but you played a huge role in his mind.”
Anna sat there, speechless.
“Hello? Is this thing on?” Cara tapped her fist and blew on it as if it were a microphone. “His head, Anna. You were his favorite fantasy. He would go on and on about the things you and he did in his dreams.”
The woman was psychotic and had gone absolutely bonkers. Anna now wondered if Ethan was abusing his wife, because only someone who had been hit in the head one too many times would accuse a woman of an affair with their husband based on his imagination.
“So you’re punishing me for what goes on in his head?”
Cara nodded. “Absolutely. Ethan always gets what he wants. It’s just a matter of time before you spread your legs for him, and I cannot allow that to happen.”
Anna tried to protest but Cara stopped her with a slap across her cheek. She felt her face grow hot with anger and embarrassment, and it took her a minute to compose herself. When she finally looked up, Anna found Cara staring at her with a smug smile on her face.
“You see, Anna, Ethan had done something with you that he hadn’t done with all the other whores he screwed.” She paused. “He fell in love with you.”
“Come on, Cara. He did not fall in love with me.”
She slapped Anna across the face again, making her angrier than she was before. Who the hell did this woman think she was? Anna needed to come up with a plan of escape before the deranged woman did something drastic.
Cara’s attention was back on Gabe again, so Anna began pulling at the ropes, ignoring the searing pain in her wrists. Noticing the whispered conversation turning serious between the couple, Anna twisted and pulled, finally loosening one of the ropes enough to slip her hand free.
“Damnit, Gabe. You will do as I say!” Cara stomped towards Anna and she took her chance.
Anna jumped off the bed and lunged towards Cara, knocking her to the ground. She landed a punch to the surprised woman’s nose causing it to bleed immediately. She raised her fist to hit her again when two hands pulled her off and threw her towards the wall. Anna slammed into a nearby shelf full of glass knick knacks, causing it to fall with her as she hit the ground. Specks of blood began to surface as glass shards dug into her flesh.
“You crazy bitch!” Cara screamed as she threw her head back to try stopping the flow of blood from her nose. While pinching her nostrils together, she stomped over to Anna and kicked her in the stomach. The blow was hard enough for Anna to feel one of her ribs crack.
“You just signed your own death wish.” Cara pointed to Gabe. “Take her downstairs. I don’t need her blood to spill on my new carpet.”
Gabe nodded and threw Anna over his shoulder. She would have fought him, but after the kicks to the stomach and ribs, Anna couldn’t concentrate on anything other than the pain in her chest. It felt like an eternity before he dropped her to the ground. When she was finally able to catch her breath, Anna chanced a glance around the room he brought her to. It was one of the unfinished rooms in the house. Plastic hung over every window and the ground was still concrete.
“That’s right,” Cara said as she entered the room. “An unfinished room means I can do whatever I want to you and no one will know because it’ll be covered by paint and new floors.”
Gabe placed a chair in the middle of the room and set Anna on it. Since her feet were still tied, he re-tied her hands and attached them and her feet to the chair. The ties were even tighter than they were before. The pain had become so severe, her wrists had finally become numb.
“Cara, I don’t know what you want from me. I haven’t done anything—”
Her words were cut off with a blow to the face, but this time the hit came from Gabe’s closed fist. The force of it sent her head backwards causing the chair to tip.
“I’d love to hear you plead for your life, Anna.”
Anna’s eye was already swelling and her vision blurred. She could only make out the silhouette of Cara as she sauntered towards her.
She spit on the ground at Cara’s feet. “Go to hell.”
“Again,” Cara demanded, and another fist collided with her face, this time with her cheek.
“If you don’t want to be tortured slowly, you will keep your negative words to yourself. Otherwise, I’ll have Gabe here knock you unconscious and do whatever sick sadistic thing he wants to you.”
At this point, Anna just wanted to be put out of her misery. Death had to be better than whatever pain she planned to inflict upon her already beaten body. Realizing Cara would be true to her threat, Anna remained mute. She’d rather be beaten to death than raped.
As her vision began to focus, Anna peered through the slits of her eyelids and saw Gabe walking towards her. He landed a punch to her stomach, catching her off guard. It knocked the wind out of her and she struggled to breathe. Anna heard the door to the room open and the shuffling of feet. Hurried steps came to Anna’s side, and whoever it was whispered her name and touched her neck, feeling for a pulse.
“Cara?” the familiar voice said. “What the fuck are you doing?”
She recognized the voice and felt relieved. Ethan had come to save her.
* * *
Tom continued his research on the Sanders while they waited for the evidence to be processed and was surprised to find that Ethan’s wife, Cara, had to be hospitalized a couple years ago due to a psychotic break down. Apparently her husband had been sleeping with a number of women in his office and when she found out, she went to his office wielding a knife and threatened every woman in her path. She was held in the psych ward for six months before they released her into the care of her husband and a prescription for continued therapy.
“Hey, Ben,” he hollered over his shoulder. “Come check this out.” After they left Anna’s home, Tom brought him to his office where he thought it was best to wait until the evidence told them where they should be going. Ben protested but eventually gave in. As he stood over him reading the article on the computer screen, Tom glanced at the message on his cell phone: Call me ASAP! He stood and allowed Ben to take his seat before hurrying to the other room.
“Mac, what do you have?” he spoke in a harsh whisper.
“A lot, I have a lot, but the one that matters the most right now is the fingerprints found on the note and knife. They belong to a woman by the name of Cara Sanders. Blood on the knife did match Jarrod’s, but there is no other proof in the home that Cara was even there. She could have held the knife and note and someone else planted it there after they murdered Jarrod.”
“Got it. Thanks, Mac. We’ll head to the Sanders home to see what Cara knows. Text me the address.”
Tom poked his head back into his office and shouted, “Time to go!”
Ben looked up from the screen. “Where?”
He grinned. “The Sanders home.”