Legal Ease (Sutton Capital Series) (18 page)

“I’m so ashamed, Jack. I’ve been just awful to you and Kelly and  before that, to your parents.” Tears began to fall down Mabry’s cheeks and she swiped at them with the backs of her hands. Jack was stunned as he watched the transformation before him.

“I don’t know how things got this bad, Jack. Somehow, you went from being the nephew I loved to being…well, I just don’t know, Jack. There’s just nothing I can say to make this right. But, I can see that you and Kelly love each other,” she continued and Jack burst with happiness inside when she spoke of Kelly’s love for him. Now he just wanted to hear it from Kelly herself to be sure. He wanted to see if they could share a life together.

“It’s all right, Aunt Mabry,” Jack started to say, but she cut him off.

“No, it’s not, Jack,” she said firmly again, with a shake of her head. “I know that now. I got so lost after Dan left me and I’ve been angry and hateful ever since. It was like a poison washing through me. And I let it change the way I saw everything and everyone around me. Chad tried to tell me so many times what he wants and I never listened. I never saw how much my hatred and anger was hurting all of you because I never wanted to see it.

I want my life back. I want my family back. It’s too late with your mom and dad and I’ll never forgive myself for that – for how awful I was to them – but I still have you and Chad and now Kelly and I don’t want to lose you.”

Jack smiled cautiously at her and she continued, “I know it’ll take time to earn back your trust and I won’t ever be able to make everything up to you but I’m going to try. I packed my things and I’m headed back over to my place. I’ll get out of your hair so you and that sweet new wife of yours can enjoy yourselves without your old aunt getting in your way.” 

Jack laughed and came around his desk to hug his aunt and hoped that this truly was a
genuine change for her and a chance for him to have his old aunt back.

“But, I do expect invitations to dinner from time to time. And, Chad should come too. I don’t see my own son often enough,” Mabry insisted.

“Does this mean you’ll call off your private investigator?” Jack asked and he laughed, relieved to be able to put all of this behind them.

Mabry pulled out of his arms and looked at him quizzically. “I didn’t hire an investigator, Jack,” she said.

Jack felt his blood run cold and the air being sucked from the room. He gripped Mabry by the shoulders. “You didn’t have Kelly followed, Aunt Mabry?”

Mabry shook her head, the pain and fear as the situation dawned on her, evident on her face. “No, Jack. Oh my God. Jack, no, I didn’t.”

Jack grabbed his cell phone and dialed Kelly’s number but it went straight to voicemail. Panic swept through him but he pushed that down and tried to stay focused. She was probably busy at the clinic or out shopping and couldn’t pick up the phone. He tossed the phone to his aunt.

“Keep hitting redial.” Jack picked up his desk phone and dialed Chad.

“Chad, I need you right away. Kelly’s in danger.” He hung up and looked to his aunt who was repeatedly hitting the redial of Kelly’s number. She shook her head at him – Kelly wasn’t answering.

While he waited for Chad, Jack called the legal aid clinic, all the while chanting in his head.
She’s fine, she’s fine, she’s fine
. They told him that Kelly had left an hour ago and they hadn’t heard from her since then.

Chad arrived in Jack’s office in a matter of seconds and Jack gave him an update. He looked somber as he dialed the man assigned to Kelly. Chad spoke briefly into the phone and then hung up to update Jack.

“She hasn’t hit her panic button at all but he’s been parked on the street out front and he never saw her leave the clinic. He’s headed into the clinic right now to check that out.”

“I just called there. They said she left already,” Jack said.

“Let him check it out, see if he finds anything. In the meantime, let me get one of my tech people to your house to set up a trace in case we get a call.”

While Chad and Jack talked, Mabry stepped out the door and asked Jack’s secretary to get Andrew right away. Minutes later, as Jack paced back and forth, knowing in his gut that Kelly was in danger because of him, Andrew slipped into the office
and got a quick update from Chad.

Jack was cursing himself for putting Kelly in danger because the only explanation now, if someone had her…was they were after his money. If he hadn’t married her, she wouldn’t have been a target connected to him; there would be no reason for anyone to take her. And, if he had taken this threat more seriously, like he should have in the beginning, she would have had a bodyguard right next to her instead of down the street. Jack wouldn’t forgive himself if something happened to the woman he loved.

Chad’s phone rang and he answered it to get a report from his man in the field. His face was grim when he hung up the phone.

“He found Kelly’s purse by the back door of the clinic and her car is still parked out front. Her phone and alarm are still in her purse,” Chat reported.

“Then no GPS to track her,” Jack added grimly.

“One of the staff at the clinic said that Kelly took the garbage out to the dumpster on her way out this afternoon so she left by the back door. She should have walked down the alley and around to her car out front. It looks like someone grabbed her in the back alley. She probably didn’t have time to go for her panic alarm,” Chad continued.

Jack felt like he had been shot in the gut. He should have increased her security as soon as Chad had found out about the rotating license plates instead of waiting to talk to her tonight. He had just found Kelly. He couldn’t lose her now when he finally knew what it was like to live your life with someone else,
for
someone else, instead of being alone. He couldn’t imagine his world without her.

Chad continued to bark out assignments and took charge of the situation as his military training had
taught him to do. “Andrew, I want you to begin to liquidate assets and free up as much cash as you can in case we get a ransom demand. Mom, contact Kelly’s family and get them over to Jack’s house so we can have everyone in one place. Send the car service to get all of them, wherever they are.

“Jack, you head home now in case there’s a ransom demand before I get there with tech support. I’m going to check in with some contacts I have at the New Haven Police Department and FBI. I’ll be just a few minutes behind you.”

They all turned and rushed out of the office to set up base at Jack’s house.

***

Kelly’s head was throbbing when she woke up and she felt nauseated and confused. She couldn’t quite figure out where she was as she tried to shake off the foggy feeling in her head and the cotton feeling in her mouth. Panic set in as she realized that her hands and feet were bound with thick layers of duct tape and she was in a room she didn’t recognize. Kelly felt as though a band was tightening over her chest, suffocating her and she struggled to breathe as waves of panic swept over her and bile burned at the base of her throat.

She could remember walking out the back door of the clinic. Denise had asked her to take the trash out to the dumpster on her way out so she left through the back door. She struggled to remember details, but she felt like there were holes in her mind, like her brain wasn’t functioning quite right. She could remember someone coming at her from behind as she walked out into the alley. Something hit her from behind and then a strong, sweet-smelling rag covered her mouth and nose before she blacked out. It didn’t make sense, but Kelly thought it might have been Denise who hit her from behind as she walked out the door.

Tears were flowing freely now as Kelly began to realize what had happened. Her mind ran through scenarios. Could it be Aunt Mabry messing with her and Jack? Would she have gone that far?
No
,
she wouldn’t go that far. If not Mabry, then a stranger? Wait, strangers. There had been four of them
.

She clearly remembered four men and a van. They had worn masks and had duct tape….

Sheer terror bolted through Kelly’s body and she closed her eyes tight and tried desperately to calm the fear she was feeling, but she had never felt a level of fear like this. Her mind started running through all the ways that this could end, each image sending her into further panic until she felt like she would choke on the fear. Then one image stopped her catapult into darkness.

Jack taking her in his arms. Jack holding her, safe again.

Kelly latched onto that image and tried to take deep breaths to calm herself. You can do this. You need to stay calm and figure out how to get yourself out of here.

Kelly looked around and assessed the room. It was a typical bedroom; a bit small. It was still daylight out. It would have been noon when she was grabbed. She had left the clinic at noon.

Kelly heard muffled voices outside the door to the room. It sounded as if all four of the men were out there but she couldn’t hear what they were saying. She did hear the sound of a television as it played in the next room. Kelly hoped that would mask any sound she made as she tried to move and release her bonds.

Kelly tried to stay as quiet as she could so that they didn’t realize she was awake. She studied her surround
ings and tried to understand her circumstances. She was sitting on the floor with heavy layers of duct tape around her ankles and wrists. There was tape over her mouth too. Thankful that they had bound her hands in front of her body instead of behind her back, she found she was able to use her hands a bit. She reached up with her hands and pressed her lips together to fight the urge to cry out, and then pulled the tape from her mouth. She left the flap of it hanging from one corner so that she could put it back if they came in.

Kelly began to take inventory of the room.
Is there anything I can use to get out of here? Look around, Kelly. Focus.

There was a twin-sized bed, and an upholstered chair in the corner, but that was it. The room was bare, other than those two pieces of furniture. Swallowing another wave of panic, she saw how little there was in the room, how hopeless her situation was. Kelly again forced herself to take deep slow breaths. She needed to look out the window.

Kelly lay down again and began to roll sideways, moving herself slowly and quietly toward the window. She was methodical in her movements to avoid making noise. She rolled up onto her knees and then placed her bound hands onto the windowsill and levered herself up to look out the window. It had been nailed shut.

She appeared to be up on the third floor of what looked like a small apartment building. She could tell because there was another, similar building across the street. Kelly wondered if she could signal anyone over there but she didn’t see any movement in the windows. It was hard to hold herself up at the window with her ankles bound so tightly, but she made a mental note to look out the window again every fifteen minutes to try to get someone’s attention.

Kelly turned and sat on the floor, leaning her back against the wall. There were two other doors in the room in addition to the door leading to the voices. After resting for a few minutes, Kelly rolled over to one of them.

A closet. Empty.

Kelly rolled to the next door and opened it. A bathroom. It was just as empty as the rest of the apartment. No shower curtain. No towels or bathmat. Kelly took a deep breath and rolled to her knees, put her hands onto the sink and pulled herself up. She hopped up onto her feet and bumped her lip on the corner of the sink. She swallowed the urge to yelp at the pain and shoved open the medicine cabinet above the sink. Empty. Kelly pushed down another wave of panic and reminded herself to be methodical, cautious…to think.

Kelly crouched back down and rested on her heels.
Think, Kelly,
think.
That was her mantra now, to keep her focused and calm. Kelly looked up at the sink. It could provide a long-shot possibility; there was no other way to get out. Kelly remembered watching a child safety video when she was little. Their parents played it for her and her sister and brothers all the time. It had this cheesy caped safety hero who taught safety for kids. Kelly had a sudden memory of a scene in the movie.

The sink. Turn on the taps and let the water
run over to flood the apartment below
. She thought about it for a minute. She would need to turn it on low so the men outside the door wouldn’t hear the water running. And she had to fill the safety drain hole in the basin by the wall. Balled up toilet paper did the trick. She just hoped she had enough time for it to overflow if it poured at such a low rate – and that there was someone below to see it.

She figured she could listen to the kidnappers and come turn the flow up or try to break a window and call for help if she heard them leave the main area. That seemed like a long
shot, though, because there were four of them. It was unlikely they would all leave at once so Kelly knew her best chance was to focus on silent ways to alert others of her location. The open sink faucet might be her only shot.

Kelly turned the tap on low and plugged the drain, then rolled back into the bedroom and lay back down where they had left her. She put the tape back onto her mouth and closed her eyes, and tried to picture Jack. She squeezed her eyes shut as tightly as she could and blocked out the fear by picturing herself back in Jack’s arms.