Built to Last (11 page)

CHAPTER ELEVEN

It was dark when she woke. She was lying on a bed that didn’t feel familiar and she moved to sit up only then realizing her hands and feet were tied. Fear shot through her as she tried to remember what had happened. She had been waiting for Cade to arrive for dinner when Griffin had made a surprise visit.

“Oh God...” she moaned. She listened around her in the dark. The wind was blowing very hard against the building and she could make out dim light around a door across the room from her. She could smell pine wood and as her eyes adjusted somewhat to take in the little bit of light she could tell she was in some sort of cabin. She struggled into an upright position. Her head was pounding and her mouth felt dried out. She leaned her back against the wall and used her teeth on the binding around her wrists but it appeared to be plastic and unbreakable.

Griffin had been standing on the other side of the large doors of Whittaker Hall when she had opened them. She had frowned at him. That was all she could remember. Her head throbbed and she carefully touched it with her bound hands. She winced at the stab of pain as she touched the gauze bandage on her head. What the hell had happened to her? Her heart was threatening to pound right out of her chest. Did she dare call out? Whoever had tied her up apparently wasn’t afraid anyone would hear her or she felt they would have gagged her as well.

She had no idea how long she had been out, with no window in the room, she didn’t know whether it was day or night. She heard footsteps in the next room and blinked back tears as the door opened and light poured in on her.

“Good, you’re awake.” Griffin’s voice filled the room. “Let’s look at that head of yours. You know I was beginning to think you would never wake up. When I came back, I found you on the kitchen floor with blood everywhere. You made a horrible mess for me to clean up. I couldn’t have Cade calling the police right away. I needed time to get you here. Of course, I was worried that you’d figure out what I had done before I could circle back for you. It’s hard to tell sometimes how a person will react to the drugs.”

Noelle gave him a startled look as she realized what he was talking about. “Why?” she whispered her throat feeling dry. “The club the other night…”

“Yes, I slipped something in your beer the other night too. I figured half a pill would be enough to loosen you up, but no, you had other plans. Tell me, did Cade reap the benefits of my sowing?” he asked nastily.

Noelle looked away from him quickly and blushed profusely.

“I thought so. You ran right from me and into his arms. You tell me that you don’t want a relationship. You aren’t in a good place right now. But you kissed me, Noelle. Then you run off and hole up with Cade for two days.” He sounded angry.

Noelle searched her thoughts for anything that she could think of that would have given Griffin any indication that she wanted to be with him romantically. How had he known about her staying with Cade? Did Cade… no she knew Cade well enough to know he wasn’t the type of guy that shared locker room gossip.

“I tracked your phone. It’s amazing what you can do with technology these days.” Griffin answered her thoughts.

“Griffin you don’t need to do this. I thought we were friends?”

“But we can be so much more Noelle. I just know you will come to your senses about us. I just needed to get you away from Cade. Now let me look at your head. I certainly don’t want you to get an infection.”

“I didn’t kiss you.”

“You did. I did not imagine it Noelle. I know you find me attractive. You told me so.”

Noelle flinched away from his touch when he pulled at the bandage on her forehead.

“Sit still.”

“Griffin, you don’t want to do this. Untie me please and let me go home and I’ll forget all about this. I won’t tell anyone.” She begged as he cleaned and bandaged the wound again.

“What would be the point in that Noelle? Cade has you under some kind of spell. You’d just go running back to him. No, you and I are going to stay here until you come to your senses. You’ll see, once he’s out of your system you’ll remember how you feel about me. Then we can go home together. Now I am going to make us some food. If you behave yourself then I will let you feed yourself, understand?”

Noelle nodded. Her mind was racing and she searched the room for anything that might be able to help her. With the door open, she could see a bit better even though it was still really dark in the room. “I’m afraid of the dark Griffin,” she lied to him, “Could I have a light in here, please?”

Griffin sat back on the bed and looked at her for a moment. “I suppose it is dark in here and a little bit of light isn’t going to change anything. I’ll bring one of the lamps in. Right now though, you need to get some more rest. You took a good blow to your head when you fell.” He stood and walked back to the door closing it behind him. She heard him turn a key in the lock, effectively sealing her in the dark once more. She watched his shadow move away from the door and then frantically tried to scoot herself to the end of the bed. She had briefly glimpsed a screw in the footboard of the log-framed bed and hoped she might be able to get it out enough to use. It was sunk into the wood though and she had nothing to use as a tool to loosen it. She felt around in the dark trying to find anything. The walls were log as well and fairly smooth. Nothing appeared to hang on the walls around the bed and her feet were tied in a way that prevented her from standing at all. She began to cry softly into the pillow on the bed. She only hoped Cade would call the police when he found her missing and that they would be able to find her.

***

Cade had waited another fifteen minutes with his gut in a twist before he began to search the house. Each room he checked caused his fear to rise. Something had happened to her. Another half an hour had passed by the time he made it back to the kitchen. He’d found her room and nothing seemed out of place, he
r purse still sat in her reading chair. In the coat closet, her winter coat still hung on a hanger. He pulled out his phone and called the police. Since she had not been missing for more than a couple of hours they seemed unconcerned asking him to call back in the morning if she still hadn’t showed up. He hung up the phone in frustration and then thought to dial Del.

“Hello?”

“Del, it’s Cade. When was the last time you talked to your sister?”

“Yesterday, why, what’s going on Cade?”

He explained everything to her, feeling the tension in his shoulders and the knot in his gut increase. Del seemed worried as well. He told her about calling the police. Del suggested that she call as well and ask for a wellness check on her sister at least to get the police to come out to the house.

“Have you checked her apartment yet?” Del asked.

“I hadn’t thought to. She sublet it to Griffin for the next three months. You think she’d go back into the city?” he realized that he hadn’t gone to look for her car. “Dell hang on I’m going out to the garage to see if her car is gone.” Cade made his way around the large house and back to the front door. Once outside he headed for the garage. It was all closed up but there was a small side door that he found unlocked and walked inside. Finding and flipping on the switch his worst fears were realized. “Her car is still here Del.” And how could he miss it, the garage could hold three more it’s size and it was the only thing in sight.

“We’ll find her Cade. I’m getting off the phone and calling now.”

Cade’s heart was slamming into his chest. He tried to remember every word of their last conversation to pick up any clues as to why she wouldn’t be here. Sure, he was late but it was obvious that she had dropped whatever she was doing and just disappeared. He walked back to the kitchen feeling completely lost as what to do next. Thinking of what Del had said about her apartment, Cade called his foreman.

“Do you have the marble mason’s number handy?”

“Yeah, what do you need it for?” Steven asked. He’d heard that Griffin and Cade had a disagreement.

“Just want to talk to him about a couple of things, Steven. It’s nothing for you to worry about for the moment. I’m not going to be at the site tomorrow and I need to cancel all my appointments. Something has come up.”

“With that pretty brunette you have been seeing?” Steven asked his voice edged with a tone of disapproval.

“Steven it’s important, just do this for me. I’ve got to go.”

He dialed Griffin’s number and the phone went to voicemail immediately. He left a message asking the mason to call him as soon as he received it and hung up. Cade heard the door chime and went to answer it.

“Good evening sir, we are looking for a Miss Noelle Fuchs. Does she live here?”

“She has been yes. I was the one that called you earlier. I was supposed to meet her here for dinner and when I got here, she is nowhere to be found. Dinner is cooked and waiting her purse, cell phone and car are all still here.”

“Do you live here sir?” the second officer asked.

“No, like I said she invited me out for dinner.”

“So you are not the owner of this house and you were coming to dinner with the woman who is?” the first officer asked.

“No.” Cade replied walking into the foyer so they would follow him in. “No, Noelle works here. She lives here too but she doesn’t own the place. She’s working for the owner getting the house ready for them to move back in.”

“Sir I’m going to have to ask you to step outside.”

“Why?”

“This isn’t your property sir and the woman you claim to be meeting here for dinner is not here. We will need to contact the owners.”

“Fine,” Cade sighed with frustration. “I’m sure you can find the Whittaker’s number on Noelle’s cell phone. It’s in the kitchen on the counter. I didn’t touch it.” He walked back outside and stood next to his car. The second officer followed him out.

Several minutes later, Cade heard the radio go off in the police car. “Officer responded to the 10-42 and found a 10-66. I need a call put out to the owner of the property, Elizabeth Whittaker. I have found signs of a possible 187.”

The second officer moved forward. “I need your driver’s license sir.”

Cade pulled his wallet from his back pocket and removed the driver’s license. “What did your partner say he found?”

“Nothing for you to worry about, right now.” The officer answered. “Now, if you would please turn around, and place your hands on the roof of the car.”

“What?”

“Don’t make me ask you again.” The officer responded. He clicked the button on the radio on his shoulder. “I need a 10-27 on Cade Harden.” He began spelling Cade’s last name phonetically over the radio.

The officer, that had been inside the house, came out and joined them. “You need to tell me again exactly what happened.”

Cade looked at him and started over with his story. “She’s my girlfriend, I need to find her. If you aren’t going to help me then I need to check out her apartment in town.”

“What’s the address?”

Cade gave it to them. “She is subletting to one of the guys on one of my construction crews. His name is Griffin Andersen. I tried calling him a little bit ago and he didn’t answer. I need to go over there and see if he has heard from her.”

“I’m afraid the only place you are going is downtown with us.” The second officer informed him as he grabbed Cade’s left wrist. “We have more questions to ask you.”

Cade was getting angry. He was worried that something serious had happened to Noelle and these two officers were not helping matters. He needed to find her. “Why are you doing this? Am I being arrested? If I am, for what?”

“Watch your head,” the first officer answered and pushed Cade down into the backseat of his car. “I’ll catch a ride back in with Billy. You get him in and processed.”

As they were driving out of the driveway, they were passed by a dark van with BCI stamped on the side. Cade knew this wasn’t good. He wondered again just what the officer found in the house.

***

“Breakfast time,” Griffin said as he opened the door again. Noelle was lying on her side trying to get some circulation going to her feet. “How are you doing? Are you hungry?”

She could smell what he had cooked and her stomach growled in response. She noted that he had said breakfast but of what day? How long had she been out? Was Cade looking for her? She’d spent a lot of time thinking about how she was going to get out of this while he was cooking. Before she could think about escape, she needed her hands and feet free. So she would play his game until she got what she needed.

“Yes, thank you. I haven’t eaten since breakfast yesterday. Griffin will you please cut my feet loose? The tie is cutting off my circulation. I promise I won’t try to run.”

He grabbed her ankles and inspected them. The tie had chaffed her skin raw. He pulled a knife from his pocket and flipped it open then severed the plastic zip tie. All the blood flowing back into her feet made them tingle painfully. “I know you won’t run Noelle. There’s nowhere to run to.” He leaned down and kissed the damaged skin.