Insinuations Read online

  Ellie nodded.

  “Everything that happened…It put some things into perspective too. We try to do as much as we can, but there comes a time…” She laughed, a bit nervous. “What I’m trying to say here is that I decided to take that vacation no one could get me to take, after all, and I want you to come with me. I hope you won’t be mad at me. I talked to Bristol, and he said it would be fine. A week from now, we could be on the beach and be lazy for a while, until we get bored.”

  “That is…Wow. Yes. I mean, no, why would I be mad?”

  “Because I booked us two weeks all inclusive? I know I should have asked you, but I wanted to surprise you. It’s…”

  “Magical,” Pauline finished the sentence for her, a happy smile on her face. “Ellie, I hope I’m not out of line when I say you’re very special to make that happen. I can’t remember the last time Jordan had a real vacation, and I’m pretty sure she can’t either. If there was ever a good moment, I’d think this is it.”

  Between the lines, Ellie could easily read the emotions, the worry and fear of the past few months, and she understood. They didn’t need to know everything that happened in Darby’s basement, but they did need to know that Jordan would be okay. She’d do her best to help with that. There was no doubt she could use a vacation herself.

  “When do we go?” she asked, making both Jordan and Pauline laugh.

  They decided to let the night wind down at the Code 7 later on, retreating to a table in a corner after they’d said hi to a few of their friends. Kate and Casey sat at the bar with Derek Henderson, Libby and Wes at another table.

  So many memories in this place, Ellie reflected, sad, bittersweet, hopeful…and that one time she and Jordan had hid in the bathroom, because they had nowhere else to go. That particular memory made her face flush. They were lucky they could just go home and pick up where they’d left off earlier. No more hiding, no more secrets. If the past few months had taught them anything, it was that their lives were better when they were together—and so much more satisfying.

  Ellie even felt generous to spare a brief thought for Bethany and wish her well. If they could pick up the pieces and start a new life, so could she.

  The text message came in when Jordan had left for a moment to talk to Detective Doss.

  I wish I could be with you tonight.

  Ellie thought ruefully that this was one small inconsequential secret she’d have to keep, at least for a few days. Soon, they would be sipping cocktails under palm trees—before that, she’d get a new cell phone after all. She didn’t want anything to spoil this new beginning.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Even with her suitcase packed and in the trunk, and a key to the house left at Derek’s, Jordan could hardly believe this was going to happen, two weeks with Ellie away from all responsibilities, just lazy days on the beach. Well, probably they’d still spend a substantial time indoors, based on the past few days.

  Being happy could be a dangerous thing, a lot more than settling for a less than satisfying situation—with the latter, you didn’t have that much to lose. Maybe that’s what Bethany had liked, not having that much to lose. There was no turning back now, not that Jordan wanted to. She had cut ties where needed, and maybe, one day, she might find Kathryn and talk to her, like two adults, and find closure. That part wasn’t so scary anymore, since it sank in that the choice was up to her.

  Jonathan Darby thought he was so special, but in the long run, he’d be nothing but a fading nightmare. He had lost. She was living proof to that, just like Judy Lawrence and Lori Gleason.

  Jordan was still unsettled about the fact they’d never found out who sent the messages to Ellie, but either way, she had given Darby too much credit. He wanted to play a game, but that would be hard to do if no one was playing.

  Ellie wasn’t waiting on the sidewalk when she parked in front of the apartment building. Jordan couldn’t help smiling. She had overslept which wasn’t a surprise after all the long nights not entirely due to work.

  The door stood ajar, so Jordan slipped inside and climbed the two flights of stairs to the apartment—no need to wake the neighbors taking the elevator at this time of night. They still had plenty of time with almost three hours until their boarding time.

  At Ellie’s front door, she rang the bell, and waited. No sound from within the apartment. She punched in the numbers of Ellie’s home number. The phone rang, but no one picked up. Ellie’s cell phone was turned off.

  When Jordan tried the knob, the door opened, confirming…Something was wrong.

  “Ellie?” She stepped into the dark apartment, almost stumbling over the suitcase right by the door. Ellie’s coat hung on the rack, but her purse was gone.

  No answer.

  The bed looked like it had been slept in, no visual sign of disturbance in the bedroom or bathroom, or anywhere in the apartment—but the door had been unlocked. Ellie wouldn’t run out without locking behind herself. She had no relatives in town. There was only one more person Jordan could think of that might need Ellie in the middle of the night. As unlikely as this scenario was, it would be so much better than any of the alternatives.

  A missed flight wouldn’t be the end of the world—it was just money.

  When she dialed the number of the division, Libby Marshall answered.

  “Kate? She’s here with me. Is everything all right? Aren’t you supposed to be on vacation?”

  A moment later, Kate McCarthy was on the phone, sounding distressed. “What is this about? I didn’t call Ellie or vice versa. I thought she was with you.”

  The darkness was overpowering for a moment, enveloping her, making her speechless. Ellie hadn’t run out because one of her friends needed her.

  “I’m at her apartment. McCarthy, I need you to drop whatever it is you’re doing and come over here.”

  She heard the shocked gasp at the other end. “What are you saying? What’s going on?”

  “I don’t know yet. All I know is she’s not here, and with you and Marshall being accounted for, there’s no explanation.” Jordan didn’t want despair creeping into her tone and her mind, not so soon, but she couldn’t help it.

  It wasn’t fair. This couldn’t be happening, to Ellie, to her.

  She took her time searching the apartment more thoroughly, trying to trace Ellie’s steps from when she’d last seen her.

  Just a few hours, Ellie had said, to pack, make sure everything was turned off in the apartment, and sleep until two in the morning.

  Her alarm was set and had gone off correctly.

  Where was she?

  Jordan went back to the front door, taking a closer look at the lock. It didn’t seem like it had been tampered with in any way—if anyone other than Ellie had come in, they must have had a key, or she let them in.

  In the middle of the night, the night she was supposed to go on a vacation?

  Not likely. Turning off the light in the hallway, Jordan bent to regard the lock from the other side, when the small line on the outside of the door, just above the floor, made her stop.

  There was blood, not much of it, but the sight made her heart skip a beat anyway. She sank to her knees, brushing her hand over the dark red carpet. Her fingers came away wet.

  She made the call in a calm and collected manner, refusing to think of the worst just yet.

  We will have those days in the sun, I promise you.

  I will find you.

  Also by Barbara Winkes:

  Indiscretions (Carpenter/Harding I)

  Halfway Home (Jayce & Emma I)

  Familiar Places (Jayce & Emma II)

  Published with Eternal Press:

  Autumn Leaves (Callie & Rebecca I)

  Winter Storm (Callie & Rebecca II)

  Secrets

  Spring Fever (Callie & Rebecca III)

  The Interpretation of Love and the Truth

  Amber Alert (coming Nov. 2015)

  Coming soon: Summer Wine (Callie & Rebecca IV)

 
www.amazon.com/author/barbarawinkes

  http://eternalpress.biz/people.php?author=518

  For new and upcoming releases, check out www.barbarawinkes.blogspot.ca

  Thank you for reading!

  Read the first chapter of the next Carpenter/Harding novel, coming Spring 2015:

  Chapter One

  He couldn’t believe what happened. This was impossible. He wasn’t supposed to work tonight. He couldn’t. There was something so much more important he had to do…but his dad said he needed him. Today of all days. He wouldn’t ever let his father down again, even if he considered the task mundane and irrelevant, like everything else regarding the business that made up the old man’s livelihood.

  Dad had been proud once. He was supposed to carry the torch next, but somehow, they both went off the right path.

  He cast an anxious glance at the big clock on the wall, the hands of time moving, unstoppable. He couldn’t stop disaster from happening either, the plan he’d set in motion already unfolding.

  He had imagined the moment a million times, and in his mind, it went something like this: The sound of high heels on the pavement—she always wore them after work. She would be unaware at first, then, maybe instinct would kick in as she realized she wasn’t alone on the street, that someone was following her. She’d turn around and try to identify the source of that vague, but bad feeling. She’d doubt herself.

  That was the moment when a dark figure would step out of the shadows and grab her. She would fight like she’d been trained to, but her attacker would be stronger, wrestling her to the ground, making her fear for the worst…

  This was where he came in, the knight in shining armor who had been humiliated, denied the uniform he craved. He would show them. Not only would he rescue the woman, but stop the perpetrator, with his gun if necessary. Of course, the junkie he’d paid a few bucks to scare the woman, didn’t know about the gun.

  Danny took another look at the clock, starting to sweat when the hand moved to twelve. It was happening right now, only there was no knight coming to the rescue. His chance had come and gone, and he was still sitting over the damn books, trying to make sense of the numbers and the fact that life had denied him another chance.

  It wasn’t until the next morning that he learned about the policewoman who was in the hospital after having been badly beaten by an unidentified perp.

  He was livid. How could anyone confuse “scare her a little” into “badly beaten”? Now he was back to square one. The junkie was long gone, and, with him, the money.

  He had to be more careful the next time.

  The atmosphere was somber the days after the attack. He even accompanied his father to the hospital once, hoping he could see her, but there were too many cops around. They were watching her like hawks—he couldn’t afford to raise anyone’s suspicions, not now. He saw them talking in hushed tones, fresh-faced rookies in shiny uniforms. The incident had rattled them, but it also forged an even stronger camaraderie, something he wanted to be part of so badly. They didn’t know how lucky they all were.

  He was lucky too, considering, because over time, the attack was attributed to a serial killer who for some reason was happy to claim responsibility. The officer returned to her routine, hooking up with a detective, undoubtedly to further her career. She didn’t look scared. If anything, she acted defiant.

  He’d been sorry at first, angry with himself and the man who had taken his money and done a lousy job carrying out the plan. He often saw her, though she never seemed to notice him. With time, his anger changed, and he began to transfer it onto the only person actually in his reach.

  The funeral of another young officer shocked the community, and once more, they banded together in grief. He was there, but he could have been invisible just as well, not part of any of it.

  He saw her, arms around her friend who had been engaged to the fallen officer.

  He knew about this kind of gossip, always picked up on it. Information could be valuable later on. Information would help him do better the next time.

  The next time had to be bigger, more impressive, and his timing had to be flawless.

  He wouldn’t be invisible any longer.

  * * * *

  By now, Ellie should have been in a luxury resort hotel room, with Jordan next to her. She wasn’t. Jolted awake out of a deep dark sleep, her heart racing, she was brought up short by the cuff around her wrist. Even with her mind still fuzzy—probably not just from sleep, she reasoned— Ellie knew this was wrong. She struggled to put the pieces together in her memory, fragments of images and sensations. The more she did, the more the scenery felt like something out of a nightmare, the kind where a person tried to scream, but no sound would come out until the abrupt awakening…

  “Hello? Is there anybody?”

  She was already awake, and her voice worked just fine. Ellie used her free hand to explore her surroundings carefully. As her eyes adjusted to the relative darkness, she could make out the edge of the cot, the wall to her left, a small window high above behind her.

  Not a chance.

  She went back to examining the cuff around her wrist which seemed to be standard, the other end fastened to the cot. Not much she could do without the key other than trying to take apart the frame, and with what?

  Whoever had taken her here might come back first and put a dent to that plan.

  Maybe they were already here.

  Maybe they had left her here to die.

  No.

  She had to focus, palm trees, luxury resort—Jordan. Jordan would come looking for her, as would all her colleagues. Ellie had once talked down an armed man who had kidnapped his own children—she could do it again. Not every person who committed a crime was a creepy serial killer torturing women in his basement…That wasn’t helpful, Ellie realized when her heart rate went into overdrive again, her body’s stress reaction to the imagery nearly making her pass out.

  She shook her head, to clear her mind of the disastrous ideas, to refuse. Whoever put that road block in her path, she wouldn’t have it. She was stronger than that.

  Jordan had been worried that Jonathan Darby could be behind the mysterious text messages, but they had ruled out the theory early on. This was just another distraction, a predicament she’d get out of soon. Ellie believed this because she knew with certainty that it couldn’t be any other way—because they deserved their happy ending, and they would have it.

  The warm wetness on her face was the only thing indicating that it might not be that easy after all. Her left hand hurt, Ellie realized all of a sudden, and she flexed her fingers only to become aware that they were slightly sticky.

  When and how had she hurt herself, or was the question rather, who had?

  “Oh God,” she whispered in the darkness as the image came to her in a flash, eyes behind a mask, like that other time. A nightmare? Reality? Ellie wasn’t much of a believer. She had to rely on herself until help arrived.

  * * * *

  Jordan Carpenter was no stranger to an out-of-body experience. For most people, it was a metaphor when they said they were beside themselves. They had no idea what it really felt like when all you could do was watch yourself, disconnected from your body in a disturbing way.

  At twelve years old, she had watched a young girl walk out of a trailer, afraid to look back, afraid of what lay ahead. The voices around her, some angry, some trying to placate, were muted like under water.

  A woman, strung up by chains dangling from the ceiling, likely to die if not for any form of intervention. I deserve to die. She remembered nearly choking on her words.

  This wasn’t about her though, it was about Ellie. Ellie was missing.

  There was blood on the carpet in the hallway.

  “Jordan. I came here as soon as I could. Are you okay?”

  The scene was becoming more surreal by the minute, yet she had to jolt herself out of her protective haze. A crime scene unit was looking for clues in Ellie’s apartment. Jord
an’s partner, Derek Henderson, had just arrived. How did he know?

  All of a sudden, her stomach lurched as if she was in a falling elevator.

  “Why are you here? This is a Missing Persons case. Not Homicide.” Oh God.

  “Officer McCarthy called me,” he said. “She thought…never mind. Easy, I don’t know any more than you do.”

  She caught McCarthy’s long thoughtful glance and couldn’t help wondering what demons she was battling at this moment. Her fiancé, another rookie cop, had been killed during a violent ambush. Ellie was her friend.

  “I had somebody call the hospitals,” Kate said. “Maybe…”

  “No.” Jordan shook her head, only now realizing that most of what she’d found wasn’t more than a thought, a horrible vision, at this point. “Someone took her. There’s blood. Not much, but…what are the odds?”

  “We’ll see what the CSU guys have to say, and look into the cases she worked on. Someone she arrested who might have gotten out.”

  “Yeah, sure.” How could he be so calm when she was about to come out of her skin? Jordan wanted to punch her partner, even though she knew that his calm attitude was mostly for her sake. After what happened to Officer Baker only a few weeks ago, no one wanted to take any chances. Everyone was on edge. “I’m coming with you. There’s nothing we can do here at the moment. Hey,” she addressed one of the techs. “The moment you’re done with your report, straight to my desk.”

  The man simply nodded, but Derek’s look told her she could have been a tad more polite. Jordan didn’t care. There would be enough time for an apology once Ellie was home safe.

  “We need to check on Darby—again,” she said when they sat in the car. “What if he was playing us all along, working with someone on the outside? Somebody like him?”

  “No,” was Derek’s quick answer. “I’ll check with him, no problem, because you are not going anywhere near him again. I mean it, Jordan. The last time it did more harm than good.”