Chapter Eighteen
Michelle
Her trip home went off track when she walked past the restaurant.
The sudden growling of her stomach made it very clear that she needed to stop. A glass of wine and a huge plate of pasta later and her emotions felt dulled. She wasn’t better, or over, but they were in the background now. Like pain that started out sharp, but faded into something manageable. Right now, her hurt was manageable.
So it was that she arrived home, only to find her door ajar. She’d not been home, but her neighbor loved Max and had agreed to take care of him until she came back. Had her dog somehow managed to get out of the house? Nervously she approached, phone out ready to dial the police.
“That’s not good.” Not only was her door open, but it was broken. The hinge on the frame was ripped free and she could see where someone had used a boot to kick it in.
Her finger hit the call button and she quickly notified the police that she had come home and it looked like her place had been broken into. They advised her to stay out until they got there. Figuring that was smart, she went over to Mrs. Narrie’s place.
“Michelle!” Darlene exclaimed, wrapping her in a hug. “You’re back. Max will be so—”
Max, a German shepherd, came rushing down the hallway and flung himself against Michelle. He would have taken her knees out from under her if she wasn’t ready for it. “Hey, boy,” she said, scratching him behind the ear where he liked it most.
Immediately her overgrown adult-aged puppy sat down, his tail thumping against the floor as it went back and forth. A happy doggy smile on his face, jaw hanging open just a bit, he stared up at Michelle.
“Have you been a good boy?” she asked, crouching down. He obliged with a kiss.
“He’s been excellent, as always. So well behaved and friendly. You really did a wonderful job raising him.”
“Thank you, Darlene. He did most of the training himself, though. He’s just a good dog.”
Max shook and spun in circles a few times, tail wagging happily. “Yes, I’m talking about you.” Then she sobered.
“What’s wrong?” Mrs. Narrie asked, taking on a more motherly air now instead of a friend or neighbor.
“Did you hear any sounds from my place?” Michelle asked. “Anything unusual.”
“No, how come?”
Michelle looked back across the lawn between them. “Someone broke in. The door was kicked in. The police are on their way; I haven’t gone in yet, but I can’t figure out why they would do that.”
Darlene gasped. “Broke in? Oh my! Thank goodness. Max did bark at something last night—which was a little unusual, come to think of it, but he didn’t keep at it for long.”
“That must’ve been them.” She shrugged. “I have nothing worth stealing. I don’t understand why.”
The police arrived just then, and she spent the next twenty minutes answering questions while they confirmed her house was empty, and that she hadn’t been up to anything illegal. After that, they asked her to come inside and see if anything was missing, but after a quick search she couldn’t see that they’d taken anything.
“They were obviously looking for something,” the one officer said. “You’re sure you don’t know what?”
She shook her head. “Sorry, officer, I honestly don’t. To my knowledge I don’t have anything worth stealing. Nor do I have any enemies or anything. I’m just a scientist.” She shrugged helplessly.
An idea came to her, but she didn’t voice it. Could the man from the park be behind this? He’d not been too happy when she turned down his offer. Still, that seemed far-fetched that he would then come and ransack her house and take nothing. No, she was just dreaming up crazy ideas.
“It’s going to be a bit while we process the scene,” the officer in charge, Phillip, said politely. “Do you have anywhere else you can stay tonight?”
She saw Mrs. Narrie’s ready to volunteer, but another idea struck her. She wanted to go elsewhere. Somewhere she’d feel safe, at least. Being near her home wasn’t that.
“I do.” She turned to Darlene. “Do you mind looking after Max for a little longer? A few days, at most.”
“Of course. The sweet puppy, he basically looks after himself.”
Max’s tongue fell out as he looked around at everyone, tail still wagging.
“Thank you. I…I need to go make a call, though.”
She hugged Max goodbye, told him to be a good boy. He licked her cheek and then settled in at Darlene’s side, content to be spoiled with extra treats for a few more days.
The police arranged for a cab, and once it arrived, she called Kase. He didn’t answer. “Come on, please answer.” Seeing him wasn’t something she wanted to do just now, but if there was anything he was good at, it was making her feel safe.
When he continued to not answer, she sighed. “Fine, if you’re going to be like that.” Giving the driver directions, they eventually found the building where she’d last seen him. To her relief, his truck was still outside. It grated on her to be coming back to him like this, but after the encounter in the park and then her house, Michelle wasn’t sure where else to turn.
Maybe she would get some answers while she was at it, but she’d be fine if they didn’t speak either.
The door was still unlocked, and so she walked right in. The desk was empty, and she could hear no signs of life down the three hallways that branched off from the entryway.
“Hello?” she called tentatively.
There was no reply, her voice echoing down the empty hallways.
“Dammit, Kase, I know you’re in here,” she snapped, picking the hallway straight ahead, figuring that the important stuff would be at the center of the building and not along the sides.
She passed several empty offices before coming to a closed and locked door. Angrily, she shook on it, then banged it several times with a fist until her hand hurt.
“Open the damn door!”
Someone spoke from behind her. “Can I help you?”
Michelle almost managed to keep herself from freaking out, but she turned a little too fast. “You,” she said, recognizing the hulking figure at the end of the hallway. “Where is Kase?”
“He’s been taken elsewhere,” the man said.
“Right. Well, take me there.”
“Pardon?”
Michelle started walking toward him. “Take. Me. To. Him. Please.” She added the last bit as thunderclouds formed over the stranger’s eyes. Evidently, he wasn’t used to people addressing him this way. Well, too bad.
“No.”
She stopped. “Pardon?”
“I. Said. No,” he repeated, mimicking her punctuated delivery perfectly.
Forcing down the spike of frustration, she tried another angle. “Then please tell me where he is.”
“Why?”
“I need to see him. Someone broke into my place, and someone else approached me at the park today, and I think if I’d have been alone they would’ve tried to take me with them. I…” She sighed. This man had been there; he knew there were “things” between her and Kase. “I don’t know where else to go. I’ll feel safe with Kase, even if I’m still mad at him.”
“Interesting.” The big man turned away, disappearing from view.
Michelle hurried to keep up with him. “Will you tell me where he is?”
“I can’t do that.”
“Why the hell not?”
“It’s a secret location. You do understand what that means, right?”
“I’m not an imbecile. There must be some way you can help me out. I have to see him.”
The giant considered her words, staring thoughtfully as he tapped his chin. “This ought to be interesting. Come on, we’ll take his truck. That way he’ll have a vehicle if they let him out.”
“Thank you!” she said, heading for the door as he stepped into an office to grab a few things.
Ten minutes later, he finally came outside.
“Let’s get a move on,” she urged, tapping her foot.
“I’m sorry, but this was the only way,” he said, drawing close.
“What do you—HEY!” she shouted as he pulled a thick black hood over her head, obscuring her vision.
“In you get.” With a minimum of manhandling, he picked her up and put her in the car, ignoring her struggles to get away.
“You can’t do this to me! HELP!” she shouted, scrabbling to find the door handle.
“Listen, do you want to go see him or not? This is the way it has to be. I’m not going to hurt you. My wife would kill me.”
She paused. “You have a wife?”
“I do. If she knew I’d hurt you in any way…ooh, I’d be in a world of pain. This is just so you don’t see where we’re going.”
“You could’ve said that, you know. Instead of acting like you were kidnapping me,” she said sourly, crossing her arms. “I’m not unreasonable.”
“Maybe. Maybe not. But…hold on.”
She frowned at the very obvious change in focus in his voice. The door opened and she heard him—Jerrik, that was his name!—get out.
“Can I help you?” he asked.
The truck rocked heavily up onto its side. Michelle shrieked, thinking they were going to tip over—but then with sudden slowness, the truck came back down, bouncing violently until it stopped.
“What the hell was that, Jerrik?” she shouted.
There was only silence.
Nervously, she reached for the bottom of the hood.