Suspicions (29 page)

Horrified by the sight of the knife in
Patricia’s hand, Stacey was nearly paralyzed with the thought of
getting stabbed. Then Nikki cried out in fear and Stacey’s concern
for herself vanished as she considered her daughter. She knew she
had to draw Patricia away from Nikki, at all costs.

“Please. Put that down,” Stacey began. “We
can talk about this.”

“No more talking,” Patricia said as she
advanced closer to Stacey. “I’m tired of all the talking. It’s time
for action. It’s time for you to stop your interfering.”

“Look. You can have Jason. He obviously wants
to be with you. I can accept that.”

Patricia stopped about six feet from Stacey.
“You shouldn’t lie to me, Stacey. That was Gary Tomlison’s
mistake.”

Trying to keep Patricia talking, Stacey said,
“I don’t understand why he was involved in this.”

Patricia smirked. “One day at the health club
he started talking to me, complaining about his miserable life. By
then I had figured out a way to get the money I wanted, but I
needed someone to do the dirty work. After a few weeks of this I
decided he was the one. It took a little convincing, but he finally
agreed.”

“But why did you get his wife involved in
Beautiful You?” Stacey asked, noticing Patricia had relaxed the
knife in her hand the more she spoke.

“The more Gary and I had to meet to make
plans, the more suspicious she got. So I came up with the idea of
having her sell the beauty products. That would give me a reason to
call their house and stop by. It worked. I don’t think she
suspected a thing.”

“You thought of everything, didn’t you?”
Stacey asked, tightening her grip on the bottle behind her back, as
she took a step forward.

“Of course. People are always underestimating
me.” Her eyes suddenly narrowed and she pointed the knife at
Stacey. “Like you. Did you really think I would get distracted by a
conversation?”

Letting out a quiet sigh, Stacey kept her
eyes locked on Patricia and the knife in her hand. “Why can’t you
just let us go? Hurting us will only make it worse.”

“I’m willing to take that chance.” She
paused. “You said you could accept Jason being with me, but you and
I both know that isn’t true. As long as you’re in the picture,
he’ll never love me fully. That’s why you have to go.”

Stacey watched in horror as Patricia abruptly
stepped toward her and swung the knife in her direction. Caught off
guard, Stacey was nearly slashed, but quickly recovered and swung
the bottle around, slamming it down on Patricia’s arms.

Nikki screamed and Patricia cried out in pain
as the knife skidded under the dresser.

Knowing her family was still in danger,
Stacey swung the bottle around again with all the strength she
could muster, this time hitting Patricia square in the head.
Patricia fell with a grunt in front of the dresser,
unconscious.

“Nikki!” Stacey yelled as she ran to her
daughter and gathered her into her arms. “Are you okay?”

Nikki sobbed as Stacey stroked her hair. “We
need to go. Can you walk?”

Nodding, Nikki stood and took Stacey’s hand.
Stacey glanced at the dresser and considered taking the knife, but
she would have to move Patricia to reach it and she didn’t want to
get that close to her. She didn’t know how long she would be out
and just wanted to escape with her family.

“Let’s get Daddy,” Stacey said, leading Nikki
from the room. As she stepped into the hallway she was shocked to
see Robby standing there, terror clear on his face. “What are you
doing here? You were supposed to stay in the car.”

“I wanted to help you,” Robby said.

Taking his hand with her free one, Stacey
hurried into the room where Jason was still groggy on the bed.

The children ran to him. “Dad! Are you
okay?”

“We need to hurry, Jason,” Stacey said.
Suddenly, she heard moaning coming from the master bedroom.
Glancing over her shoulder, she shook Jason roughly. “Get a moving!
She’s waking up!”

“What’s going on?” he asked, rubbing his
eyes.

Not having time to explain, she yanked on his
arm. “Can you walk?”

He sat up on the side of the bed. As he
attempted to stand, he suddenly fell backward on the bed and shook
his head. “I feel dizzy.”

“Stacey!” Patricia yelled. “Where are
you?”

“Take the children and go,” Jason whispered,
trying to sit up again.

Hesitating, Stacey glanced from her husband
to her children.

“Go!” he whispered more loudly.

“She has a knife,” Stacey said quietly so the
children wouldn’t hear.

“I love you,” he said, smiling.

“I love you too.” Stacey grabbed the
children’s hands and ran into the hallway. As they reached the
front door, Stacey paused with her hand on the doorknob. “Jason,”
she whispered. How can I leave him? She thought.

“Mommy,” Nikki cried, tugging on her arm.

Looking down at her helpless children, she
knew she had to take care of them first. Pulling open the front
door, Stacey led them outside and looked at the cars parked in the
driveway. Patricia’s car blocked Jason’s car in. They’d have to run
to Stacey’s car.

The moment they began to flee, the front door
swung open and Patricia yelled to Stacey, “Where do you think
you’re going?”

Ignoring her, Stacey held her children’s
hands tighter and urged them forward. As they raced toward her car,
Stacey could hear Patricia panting behind them, not more than forty
feet back.

It was dark and there were many trees
surrounding the property. A moment later, Stacey could see her car,
parked along the side of the road. Racing to the door, she pulled
on the doorknob.

“I locked it when I came to find you,” Robby
said, out of breath.

Frantically digging through her pockets,
Stacey could hear Patricia getting closer. Her fingers wrapped
around the keys stuffed deep in her pocket. She pulled them out and
tried to control the shaking in her hands as she fit the key into
the lock.

Yanking the door open, she shoved Nikki, then
Robby, into the car. As she was about to follow, she heard Patricia
stop right next to her.

“There you are,” Patricia said.

Recognizing that she wouldn’t be able to
climb in the car with Patricia so close, Stacey shoved the lock
down and slammed the door closed, securing her children inside.
Then, wanting to draw Patricia away from her children, Stacey began
to slowly back away.

“Stop right there!” Patricia said, lifting
the knife so Stacey could see it.

Ignoring her command, Stacey continued to
back up until she was next to the trunk of the car. Once the car
was no longer blocking her path, she turned and ran behind a
tree.

“Come out, come out, wherever you are,”
Patricia called out.

Looking around in the moonlit night, Stacey
saw a broad tree. Dashing out from the tree she’d been behind, she
ran to the larger one, hiding herself from Patricia’s view.

Forcing herself to breathe normally, she
peered around the tree trunk. She could see Patricia walking slowly
in her direction.

“Staaaacey. Where are you? I promise not to
hurt you. I only want to talk to you.”

The knife blade glinted in the moonlight.
Stacey closed her eyes for a minute, trying to think of what to do.
She didn’t have anything with which to defend herself.

Looking around for a stick or something to
use as a weapon, Stacey saw that nothing in her immediate area
would work, but farther over she saw a good-sized branch that might
do the job. Gathering her courage, she dashed out from behind the
tree and scooped up the branch. Her heart froze in her chest as
Patricia called out to her.

“There you are, Stacey. Why are you running
from me?”

Patricia walked calmly toward her. Stacey
darted away, but she could hear Patricia running now, too. She
realized there would be no more running away; she would have to
stand her ground. Stopping behind a tree, she held the branch high
above her head.

When she heard Patricia's heavy breathing
coming closer, her hands tightened on the branch. Not able to tell
where Patricia was, she stood completely still, not even daring to
take a breath.

“There you are, Stacey.”

Stacey spun around, the branch still held
over her head. Patricia was standing behind her, the knife held out
in front of her. “Put the stick down.”

Stacey knew she didn't have much choice and
began lowering the branch. As Stacey set the branch down, she
suddenly scooped up a handful of dirt and threw it into Patricia's
eyes.

Patricia yelped in astonishment, the knife
falling harmlessly to the ground. She covered her face with her
manicured hands. “You didn't have to do that, Stacey. I wasn't
going to do anything to you.”

Stacey bent down to grab the knife, but
jumped back suddenly as Patricia dove to the ground and grabbed the
knife first. Swinging it wildly, she slashed it at Stacey.

Stacey felt a sharp pain in her left arm.
“You’re going to go to jail, you know,” Stacey said as she gingerly
covered the spot with her right hand. When she pulled her hand
back, it was covered in blood.

“Now we'll see who goes to jail.” Patricia
laughed, secretly amused at something. “The police think you did
it, you know.”

Stacey tried to control her trembling. “You
must have been the one who called the police to say I killed Gary
Tomlison.”

Patricia grinned wickedly. “That's
right.”

Stacey had to find out. “How did you even
know I'd met Gary?”

“I kept an eye on you.” She laughed again.
“It was easy too. You're so trusting.” She laughed again. “You even
thought the kid's father did it. That's funny.”

Stacey stared at the knife in Patricia's
hand, the ivory handle in her fist, the blade pointed down, blood
dripping from the end. Stacey tried to distract her. “You didn't
really think you'd get away with it did you?”

Patricia smirked. “What do you mean? I did
get away with it.”

“Where did you put the money?”

Patricia hesitated for only a moment. “I'm
not going to tell you that.” She smirked again. “It's somewhere
you'd never think to look.” She laughed. “You might say it's under
your feet.”

Stacey had no idea what she was talking
about.

Patricia grinned at her own cleverness. “Now,
are you ready to die?”

She raised the knife above her head. Stacey
turned to run away and heard a “whoosh” as the knife sliced through
the air behind her. Then she heard Patricia cry out and turned to
see what had happened.

Relief surged through her at the sight of
Jason holding tightly to Patricia's wrists. He squeezed harder,
until she dropped the knife. Stacey bent to pick it up, holding the
blade carefully pointed at the ground.

She began shaking.

“Are you okay, Stacey?” Jason asked.

She held up her bloodied left arm and his
face hardened into a mask of anger.

His gripped tightened on Patricia's wrists,
making her cry out. “You're hurting me! Let go!”

Stacey implored him with her eyes to not hurt
her. “Let the police deal with her.”

The anger slowly melted from his face,
although he didn't let go of her wrists. Patricia began struggling
with Jason, yanking her body back and forth. In his weakened
condition, Jason was having trouble holding on to her. He was
starting to lose his grip when they heard a voice calling from the
road.

“Hey, do you need some help down there?”

Startled, Patricia stopped struggling long
enough for Jason to regain his grip.

“Yes!” Stacey yelled. “We're down here!”

Two men hurried through the trees to where
Jason, Stacey, and Patricia stood. The men looked at Jason
restraining Patricia and asked her, “Is everything okay,
ma'am?”

“No, you idiot! Can't you see this man is
hurting me?”

Stacey quickly stepped toward the men and
showed them her bleeding arm. “This woman stabbed me.”

The men looked uncertain about who to
believe. One of the men pulled out a cell phone. “Something's not
right here. I'm calling the police.”

“Thank you,” Stacey said. “Will you please
help us take her to the road?”

One of the men helped Jason lead Patricia
back through the trees and to the road while the other called the
police. When they reached the road, Stacey raced over to her car to
see if the children were all right. They were crying hysterically,
peering out the windows into the darkness. Robby unlocked the door
and Stacey yanked it open and pulled them into her arms, murmuring
soothing words.

A short time later several police officers
arrived and took Patricia into custody. An ambulance transported
Jason, Stacey and their children to the hospital to make sure they
were okay.

Jason and Stacey tucked the children in bed,
exhausted from their ordeal. The doctor had given Jason and the
children the okay to go home. Stacey had needed stitches to close
up the knife wound, but was able to come home, too.

The police had questioned them about what had
happened and they were happy to tell their version of events. When
the police asked them if they knew what Patricia had done with the
ransom money they truthfully said they had no idea.

Jason and Stacey walked down the hall toward
their room holding hands.

“I'm just going to check on Robby and Nikki,”
Stacey said.

He smiled. “I’ll be in the bedroom.”

Peeking into Robby's room, she saw him curled
up with his teddy bear. Stacey walked in and tucked the blanket up
around his chin, then bent over and kissed his forehead. He stirred
slightly, then rolled over.

She went into Nikki's room next. Stacey had
to blink several times to keep the tears from coming, as she
thought of Nikki curled up on Patricia's floor, helpless and
vulnerable.