Amy Maxwell & the 7 Deadly Sins (The Amy Maxwell Series Book 2) (19 page)

Gee, I would hope he would have realized we didn’t come back with the pizza by now. Why didn’t he call sooner though? We’ve been gone at least an hour or more by now. He probably fell asleep.

“Maybe. But it doesn’t really matter
who
called. I’ve got to-” With one final gasp, I manage to press the redial button on my phone and hear ringing. “Oh thank God! It’s going to redial Roger!” I exclaim happily, just as the car grinds to a halt. I hear one car door slam and then a second.

No!!!!!!! We cannot be stopping now! Please just two more minutes! Two more minutes! Please pick up, Roger! Please, please, please! Do
not
go to voice mail!

“Hi, this is River! You’ve reached my cell…obviously…you called it. You know what to do. Beep!”

“
River
? Who’s River?” Beth is screeching. “Did you cheat on Roger? With some guy named
River
? Who names their kid
River
?”

I’m just as confused as Beth. I guess Roger hadn’t called me after all. River probably was calling about something for school.
Oh, that stupid project
…

I hear footsteps approaching and the trunk beeping. I realize I don’t have much time and it doesn’t matter who called me. I quickly attempt to leave a message.

“River, please help! We’ve been kidnapped by Claudia Fox and her husband! Call the police! Call my husband! 7325156-”. I don’t have time to finish the phone number because the trunk is flooded with light as Kevin pops it open.

Beth whimpers as Claudia steps into view, tossing her fashionable ponytail over her left shoulder and peering down distastefully at us. I push my body against the back of the trunk so that they don’t see the cell phone. I am practically in tears now. If I had gotten just three more seconds on the phone, I could have given River Roger’s complete cell number and a description of the vehicle. And even though I have no idea where we are, I could have given him a general idea of how far away we are. Maybe, just maybe, that would have helped.

But now, as Claudia brandishes her gun in our faces, I realize that the end is definitely coming. A heck of a lot faster than I thought it would, too. I hear the ringing of a cell phone and momentarily am alarmed that it is mine. But then I see Claudia with her phone to her ear.

“Hello?” She is now speaking in her actress voice. She covers the phone with her hand and waves her other hand in our direction. “Take care of this,” Claudia instructs Kevin, stepping out of view.

Kevin makes a face as she walks away and then turns to peer down at me in the trunk. “What the hell? How did you get out of the restraints?”
Crap. I’ve forgotten to pretend that I am still duct taped.

As Kevin roughly grabs for my arm, I feel like I am walking on a cloud and my vision is…well, the only way to describe it is
swimmy
. Like I’ve opened up my eyes in a heavily chlorinated pool or something. I can see Kevin but he seems to be swaying in and out of my visual field. Maybe my blood sugar is dropping or something. I realize that I haven’t eaten anything since breakfast and I’m pretty sure my nose is still bleeding. I’m tasting blood in my mouth from my tooth falling out.
Does that count as drinking?

Would it be too much to demand something to eat? You know, like my last meal or something? Even criminals get a last meal. Beth and I should at least get a last meal. And we’re not even criminals! Well, at least I’m not. Not that Beth is a criminal, but she’s been a bad girl. In fact, this is all her fault. She shouldn’t get any food…

These are the ludicrous thoughts that are swimming through my brain as I feel myself slip unconscious, blissfully unaware.

~Fourteen~

“Could you hurry this up?” Claudia says impatiently. “I have a massage appointment in less than an hour.”

“Well, what would you like me to do?” Kevin snips back. “Shoot her in the trunk?”

“Well that would certainly expedite things,” Claudia replies snottily.

“And then it would leave blood and brains and guts in the trunk of our car, Claudia. You want to talk about having it traced back to us? If we kill her in the trunk of the car, we might as well take out a billboard on the Turnpike that says so!”

I can’t open my eyes or my mouth to speak, but I do have some thoughts on the matter. Obviously Kevin has not read enough detective novels or watched enough CSI. Because unless they’re planning on having the trunk completely stripped, there’s enough DNA back here to send Kevin and Claudia away for life, between hair fibers and my bloody mouth. Coupled with my urgent message to River? That’ll be enough to send them
up
the River. Ha! That’s funny. At least they won’t get away with this!

Suddenly, I hear the whirl of helicopter blades and feel the ground shaking underneath the car. A loud booming voice sounds from a PA system. “This is the police! Drop your weapons and surrender! Keep your hands where we can see them!”

“Oh, thank God!” Beth exclaims. I have nearly forgotten about her.

I hear Kevin and Claudia being thrown on the ground, Claudia protesting violently. Just then, a gentle hand reaches out for me, pulling me out of the darkness. I blink and when I open my eyes, I see…
Jason
???

“Come on! Wake up…what’s her name again?” I hear Claudia’s annoyed voice.

“Amy. Her name is Amy,” my sister says. She sounds like she is outside the trunk. She must be standing by Kevin and Claudia. Her voice quivering gives me the impression that she is worried. I’m not sure if she’s worried about me or she’s just realizing that this situation is hopeless. That has to be it, because for the life of me, I can’t recall a single time in my life when she was actually concerned about me.

“Well, get up
Amy
! You’re wasting my valuable time,” Claudia snaps and I feel a rough shake. Still, I don’t open my eyes. It’s like I’m there, but listening to their conversation over a radio or something. I cannot open my eyes; my lids feel unnaturally heavy and my limbs feel dull and unfeeling. Except…it feels like my one arm is pinned underneath my body.

“Amy, please wake up.” My sister’s voice sounds desperate now and I can tell she’s crying again.

“Looks like she’s lost a lot of blood,” Kevin observes. “That’s probably why she passed out. She might just die from that.”

“What?” Beth squeals. “No! She just hit her head! The head bleeds a lot! And her tooth came out, remember? She’s not-”

“Great. Fabulous. Fantastic.” Claudia interrupts Beth. Her voice seems to be coming in spurts past my ears as if she is pacing back and forth. “Now we have
blood
in the trunk. We’re going to have to dump the car now, too in addition to the bodies.”

I jerk involuntarily at the insinuation that Beth and I will just be
bodies
soon. Although I feel like I can open my eyes now, but I don’t want to. If I do, it’ll take us one step closer to being
bodies
.

Fortunately, Claudia doesn’t seem to notice anything as she continues her ranting. “We’re going to have to find a new place to dump the bodies now because this won’t do at all.”

“Well, this is where you said-” Kevin stammers, but Claudia cuts him off.

“That was
before
there was blood in the car, you idiot! All it’s going to take is for someone to remember the minivan was parked in front of our house and then what do you know? There’ll be a search warrant! And what are they gonna find in the back of the Chevy, Kevin? The one thing we won’t be able to get out?”

“Blood,” Kevin mutters and I imagine him staring down at his feet, kicking up dirt with his shoes like a child who’s being reprimanded by his mother.

“Great job, Kevin. You f’d this one up as usual,” Claudia retorts.

“Me?” Kevin’s voice comes out in a squeak. “What the hell did I do? How is this
my
fault?”

“Well, for starters, we wouldn’t be here if you could keep it in your pants,” Claudia explodes.

“But you told me to! You wanted me to-” Kevin is practically sputtering.

“You didn’t have go and be all lovey with her, Kevin,” Claudia snaps.

“Exactly how was I supposed to seduce her if I didn’t play the part, huh, Claudia? Did you think she was just gonna fall in love with fat, old hideous Kevin?”

Beth whimpers. Claudia scoffs. Kevin continues his rant.

“Well isn’t that what you call me, Claudia? Behind my back? To your oh so classy friends?” Claudia makes a noise to protest, but Kevin cuts her off. “Don’t play innocent with me. I know that’s what you say. I’ve heard you. What I can’t for the life of me figure out is why you stay with me then. I mean you’re the one with the money, you’re the one with the job. Why stay with me, then?”

“It’s because she can push you around. She wouldn’t be able to push someone else around,” Beth inserts just then and I immediately hear the sound of a slap.

“You whore,” Claudia growls.

“Well, are you the pot or the kettle?” Beth growls right back, completely nonplussed at being slapped by her nemesis or called such a nasty name. “You know it’s true. You cheat on him to your heart’s content…oh don’t you dare act like it’s not true…everyone at Upton knows you do it.”

“How dare you-”

Beth doesn’t let her finish. “And then you can use him to do all your dirty work, like look for women to scam. Just because your show is tanking and your daddy cut you off.”

I open my eyes a crack. It doesn’t seem as if they are paying any attention at all to me anymore anyway. Kevin and Claudia are standing on opposite ends of the back of the car, Beth standing in between them, her hands still duct taped, her hair fabulously tussled as if she did it that way on purpose. Her one cheek is a pleasant rosy red, I assume where she has been slapped.

“I ought to slap you again,” Claudia screeches as she lunges at Beth. I snap my eyes shut again, one, because I don’t want to get caught, and two, because I really don’t want to see my sister get mauled by this beast of a woman. Yes, Beth is in shape, she works out religiously; but Claudia looks lean, toned, and like she can seriously kick the ass of my dainty little sister. Not that she’s my little sister, but…well, you know what I mean. Plus, Beth’s hands are taped behind her back and I’m pretty sure her legs are, too. She’s going to topple over. I cringe, waiting for the sound of Beth thudding to the ground like a tree.

Instead I hear Claudia shouting, “What are you doing? Get your hands off-’ A pause and then, “Are you insane?”

“You know what, Claudia, maybe I am.”

I am very tempted to open my eyes and see what’s happening, but it sounds like they are moving closer to the trunk. “I must be to stay with you for so damn long. Shit! I think you broke my finger!”

I wonder what Kevin did to deserve Claudia’s wrath. Maybe, just maybe, he tried to help Beth get away or something? One can always hope.

“Ha! Don’t act like you’re a martyr! You love playing with Daddy’s money more than I do, with your cars and your motorcycles,” Claudia scoffs.

“Well, that doesn’t seem to make much of a difference now does it,” Kevin retorts. “With him going bankrupt and your show being cancelled and all that. That life is over.”

“I told you I would take care of that, Kevin!” Claudia fires back with indignation.

“No, you had
me
take care of it! You had
me
do all the dirty work!”

I have to prevent my head from swiveling back and forth like I’m at a tennis game (or match or whatever they call it in tennis).

“Ha! You did nothing but get laid! I kidnapped Jillian. You couldn’t even do that!” Claudia shouts as I feel a drop of water hit my face.
Oh great. Let’s add rain to this already bizarre evening! Was it even supposed to rain tonight?

“Only because you beat me to it!” Her husband is just as fired up as she is. Cracking my eye open, I can see that he has his arm hooked around my sister’s chest, his face is beat red, and he has sweat pouring down his forehead and it is flying in my general direction.
Fabulous…at least I
thought
that was rain.

This is one of those times I really,
really
wish I had a tape recorder. This screaming match would put both of these clowns away for a very long time. Even if Beth and I were dead.
Especially
if Beth and I were dead. I hate the two of them so much, I almost want to be dead just to see them fry. Except we don’t have the death penalty in this state and I wouldn’t really
see
anything if I am dead. Ok, never mind. Don’t want to be dead.

“Well it worked out even better, didn’t it? Now we have two more people to collect ransom on.” She pauses for a moment and then remarks off-handedly, “Not that I think we will get very much for
that one
judging on the way she’s dressed. I mean my
God
how old is that sweatshirt she’s wearing?”

I squeeze my eyes shut even tighter and fight the urge to pop out of the trunk and deck her in her nose job.

“I’m sure Derek will pay whatever you’re asking for
all
of us. Just let us go,” Beth says desperately.
Wow, I can’t believe my sister is actually jumping to my defense.
“Don’t let my sister’s lack of fashion sense be an issue here.”
Ok, I
almost
liked her.

“You’ve got to be kidding!” Claudia sputters. “You really think I am going to let you go
now
? How stupid do you think I am, Beth? You’ll be at the police station quicker than I can get to the airport. Oh no, there’s no letting you go.”

Beth whimpers and I silently start saying my prayers. Until I realize, I can’t
remember
any prayers.
Uh, now I lay me down to sleep? No, no! That’s definitely not good. Our father who hails Mary? No, I’m pretty sure that’s not correct. Oh my goodness, I can’t even think straight! What’s my name again? Maybe I lost a lot more blood than I thought.

“Well if you don’t let us go, Derek isn’t paying any ransom! You either let us go or you’re not getting any money at all!” Beth shouts indignantly.

“Ha! That’s how much you know you pretty little moron!” Claudia snapped at my sister. I am envisioning her circling around Beth, trailing her gun across Beth’s face or something, just like the villains in movies. “Derek has already paid. That was the bank on the phone just now. I thought doctors were supposed to be smart, but you husband isn’t apparently one of the smarter ones. He didn’t even ask for confirmation that you were alive! He didn’t ask where you were or
anything
. Didn’t even pull a fast one to try to figure out your location or who were. All he cared about was Jillian.”

“Where
is
Jillian?” Beth asks and I can tell by the sound of her voice that her lip is quivering. Poor Beth. Not only has she found out that her lover was just using her; now she thinks her husband doesn’t even care if she’s alive or dead. I figure I have nothing left to lose since they’re planning on killing us anyway. I open my eyes.

It’s very dark out and I can faintly make out the silhouettes of my sister and Claudia illuminated by the reddish hue of the taillights. I can’t see Kevin clearly, but I think he is standing next to Beth, away from the glow of the lights. I see a faint shadow next to her, against a backdrop of pine trees. The wind is whistling now and from my vantage point, the scene appears downright eerie. I wrap my arms around my body, giving myself a little hug as I shiver from a chill. That kind of chill you get when
someone walks over your grave
.

No one is walking over your grave yet, Amy. But unless River gets your message and calls the police soon, this is probably the place you will meet your untimely demise.

This is when my life starts flashing before my eyes again. Riding a bike at age four, fighting with Beth over a doll, high school graduation, the birth of my children…all those precious moments I never savored while they were actually happening. I was always looking for more; more to my life, more excitement, never wanting to just live in the moments I considered dull and dreary.

And then I realize the last deadly sin is mine. I am a GLUTTON for punishment. Ok, ok, that may be stretching the whole seven deadly sins allusion just a bit, but it’s completely true. If I had just stood up to Beth and insisted on calling the cops, or explained to Roger where we were really going, we wouldn’t be here right now. I know this would be turning out completely different and most likely, better.

But no…I have to admit, I was curious and the thrill of an adventure lured me. Despite my nerve wracking escapade just a little over 365 some odd days ago, my adrenaline was rushing at the prospect of a new “case”. Damn, I probably would have made a good detective. But I guess I’ll never really know now, will I?