Death and Deceit (20 page)

Kent followed an aggressive Liz. He had to hand it to her, she was not backing down. For someone who started out being scared she’d grown a lot. He still wondered whatever had possessed Liz to send the frightening e mails to Jessie. Obviously she cared about Jessie or she wouldn’t be risking her own life tonight. But, all over him? Why did women do those sorts of things? It was ludicrous
to him. He’d never been able to figure out women and their wiles, but he wished right now that he knew what Jessie had been thinking when she got involved with Ricardo Alvarez.

She trusted him at first, that much he’d figured out easily. After all he was a cop and he stood for justice and the law. He also represented safety to her, something she’d felt had been ripped from her. And Kent felt that she had lost faith in him. Whatever they’d meant to each other it had not grown strong enough for her to confront him with the e mail ploy. She’d taken Liz’s word for it. And even after Liz had tried to tell her she’d been too hasty, Jessie couldn’t accept that. She still thought he was involved. Well, he would show her now that he could be trusted. Show her just how much he loved her — even if it killed him, for life without Jessie wouldn’t be worth much — not since he’d been with her.

“Hurry up, will you?” Liz called from the top of the hill.

Kent caught up with her and whispered. “Christ, Liz, you needn’t scream. I told
you before, do you want bullets whizzing by your ear?”

Liz ignored him. She seemed unafraid of the night or the policeman with the gun.
“There’s a valley below. And look down there.” Her flashlight beam roamed around.

Kent’s eyes took a moment to adjust then he saw the cabin with a dim light glowing. “Do you think they’re down there?”

“Like I’m physic?” Liz said. “But it’s a good possibility. The clothing stops at the top of the hill.”

Kent looked around. “Where is it?”

“Where’s what?”

“The clothing?”

“It’s where it should be. Still on the ground. We may need to find our way out of
here and in a hurry. If we can’t find that wood’s path, we’re in trouble.”

Kent knew that Liz, as usual, was right. But he wished she knew what to do now.
Instead she only stood on the hilltop waiting for him to decide.
The view from the hill was stunning even in the middle of the night. An
odour of summer wafted through the grass, and Kent could hear frogs from a near-by pond and the occasional song of a night bird. It was so peaceful he felt a tear slip down his cheek. His thoughts melted into the darkness, and staring into the gloom he was filled with longing. What the hell might Jessie be going through down below
if
she was indeed in the cabin?

Liz only heard the windless calm. The strange, silent air often found in high places. She could stay silent no longer. “Well, what do we do now? Just sit here?”

“You got a better suggestion?”

“I say we go down — peek in the windows. Right now we don’t even know if
Jessie’s in there.”

She was right again and Kent had to agree. They started down the steep grade.
Stealing carefully up to the back of the house, they fell to their knees before approaching a lighted window. It was Liz again who got up to take a peek. She then dropped to her knees and slid her back up against the house. Kent crouched beside her.

“It’s them all right,” she whispered. “Jessie’s handcuffed to a cot and he’s walking the floor. She’s staring straight ahead and she looks absolutely terrified.”

“Is she hurt?”

“She doesn’t look to be.”

“Let’s get out of here,” Kent whispered.

Liz didn’t argue. She followed him back up the hill to their retreat at the top. She didn’t speak until they’d seated themselves on the look-off. “Well, Kent, we know where they are. What do we do now?”

Kent had been thinking wildly during their up-hill climb. “We need to get help,” he said firmly. “Goddamn. If only I’d brought my phone. You go back to the car and phone the local police. I’ll wait here and—”

“Oh, no. I’m not going back there alone. And you can’t do anything here.”

“But I can watch below. What if they leave?”

“This time of the morning? Looks like they’re settled in to me. He was carrying
a glass of something around. Some kind of liquor it looked like. No, I don’t think they’ll
move, at least until daylight. He looked like he was thinking. Walking and thinking. He’s probably planning his next move.”

“And we have to move too, so get going.”

“I said, no. You come too. We’re in this together.”

Kent drew a long sigh and jumped up, wiping the damp grass off his rear end.

“All right, come on then,” he said, and they moved down the hillside towards the wood’s path.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Jessie watched Ricardo pace. Her hands were numb. He’d snapped the handcuffs around the metal frame of the small bed, leaving her without much chance to move her arms about. Was this his idea of love? Chaining her to a bed, holding her captive, for how long? He looked caged himself. Walking the floor and drinking that whiskey. “My hands hurt,” she said, hoping he’d stop pacing and release her.

He did stop pacing. And he turned like he’d been in a trance and had just been
released by her words. He came over to her and sat on a wooden chair he’d drawn from the table set just across from the two beds.

He straddled the chair. “I’m sorry, Jessica. I don’t want to make you uncomfortable, but I don’t feel you’re ready to stay with me. I can’t trust you.”

“Where would I go? It’s dark outside and we’re in the middle of the woods
somewhere. I don’t even know where.” Jessie did know she was on the outskirts of Wakefield, but the part about going outside in the wilderness was the truth. She wouldn’t know which way to run even if she did escape. She’d at least wait until morning for that.

“Yes, you say that now. But if I took the handcuffs off, it might be a different
story. And I’d find you, you know. I just don’t feel like running through the woods anymore tonight. I’m tired.”

Jessie looked around the cabin. There were two doorways off the main room, and a hallway running between.

“Are those bedrooms?” she asked.

He nodded.

“Then why are the beds out here?”

“Because I put them here. I haven’t been here since winter. We brought the cots out by the stove because it’s damn cold here in February.” He looked at her rather lustfully and Jessie shivered. “You needn’t fear me, not tonight anyway. You see this glass?” He held it up and sloshed the brownish-golden liquid. “I don’t usually drink whiskey. I keep it here...for my hunting buddies. But I try to avoid it, except on occasion. It makes me limp as a noodle, if you get what I mean, and that’s what I want tonight. It’s too soon to make love to you. I found that out at the motel. You need a rest and a good meal. Are you hungry?”

Jessie shook her head that she wasn’t. She was relieved to hear that he wouldn’t try something with her. But she also knew it was just a matter of time. “So the whiskey makes you impotent?”

“You got it. I don’t even want you except in my mind. My body’s totally turned
off. Aren’t you grateful?”

Jessie didn’t answer and he jumped off the chair and grabbed her by the hair,
twisting slightly on the short strands. “Say it, Jessica. Say you’re grateful.”

Jessie winced and swallowed hard. “I’m...I’m grateful, Rick,” she stammered.

He loosened his grip and smoothed her hair back. “That’s my girl. Now go to
sleep. I’m going to take the other bed and we’ll talk or whatever in the morning.” He got up and strode towards the other cot. He scratched his shoulder, then his hair. “Ya
know it’s just as well that you’re not hungry, because I don’t think there’s a damn decent thing in the cupboard. I had a feeling there was a car following us tonight, that’s why I
ditched the cruiser. But tomorrow I’ll go out and get us some food.”

He finally took off his gun belt along with his shirt and placed his gun under the
pillow. He emptied the whiskey down his throat then lay down.

Jessie didn’t like the sound of his plan. “You’re leaving me here tomorrow?”

He pulled back the blanket on his cot and replied, “You’ll be fine. I can’t take
you with me, you know that. Why you’d only act up and try to get away from me. You’ll be better off here. Besides I won’t be that long. After I get you a good meal, I’m looking forward to a sweet reward, and I’m not talking about dessert in a can.”

Jessie shuddered and watched him climb in bed. She wondered what time it was. Her mind wandered back to the motel room. A clock there had put the time around 10 p.m. A lot had happened since then. She didn’t have her watch and there was no clock in the cabin. Ricardo wore a watch but he looked to be asleep already. Lost to the whiskey.

She figured it must be at least two or three in the morning. It had been so moonlight when they’d arrived at the cabin that she’d been able to see the front yard, which was full of weeds and wild grass. A low fence of broken and tilted posts ran across the front and sides of the yard. The floor had felt gritty under her feet when they’d entered. She imagined the poverty in that little house when Ricardo would be a small child. No wonder he was warped.

Her mind grew fuzzy. If only she could take this time to form a plan, an escape. But her mind wouldn’t cooperate. She was just too exhausted. And even though her hands hurt and the skin on her wrists was scraped and raw from the close contact of the handcuffs, she felt herself falling into a stupor of sleep. And it felt good, so comforting to just let go. Her eyes drooped and in the quiet of the cabin she heard only snoring.

****

Liz stood in the moonlight listening to Kent’s conversation with the Wakefield
police.

“This is Kent Morgan. I want to report a kidnapping...That’s right...I don’t know
exactly where. I’ve been standing on a hilltop looking down at a cabin, and that’s where she is...Jessica Albright...No, I don’t know where I am exactly. But the character that’s kidnapped her is a cop from Harbourside name of Ricardo Alvarez...You do?...He is?...So this place was his home?”

There was a long pause and Liz watch Kent. She had turned the flashlight on him
when he grew quiet, and he now wore a look of astoundment on his face.

“I’ll wait for you. There’s nothing else for me to do...No, I won’t go down there, do you think I’m nuts? He’s a cop, he has a gun…Yes, I’ll wait, and yes, I’ll stay out of your way. You guys can handle everything; I’m not looking to be a hero.”

When Kent got off the phone she questioned him. “What was that all about? Do they know Ricardo Alvarez?”

“Oh, yeah,” Kent said. “The police chief in Wakefield remembers him. Apparently he grew up around here, lived in that old house. Chief Davis said Alvarez was a bad little boy, always getting into trouble...until he reached his teens. He then did an about-face and knuckled down to get through high school and went on to the Police Academy. He can’t understand Alvarez’s motives. He knows where this cabin is and he’s bringing his two men out here with him as soon as they return from the motel.”

“Uh-oh. They were alerted by the gun shot there I guess.”

“Yes. He said I couldn’t even have reached him in the office this time of night if
not for the motel commotion.”

“Don’t suppose there’s much action around here usually,” Liz said. “So, what do
we do now?”

“The only thing we can do is go back and wait. Watch the cabin and wait for the
police to show up. They’ll take over from there. If Alvarez leaves with Jessie before they come, we’ll follow him and keep in touch with the police by phone.”

“Okay,” Liz said turning towards the path. She still carried the flashlight,
but this time she didn’t use it. As they walked through the woods she spoke to Kent who was trailing behind her. “What do you think the police will do first, Kent?”

“I imagine they’ll go up to the door and knock. What else would they do?”

“And what if he lies and says he’s alone?”

“I don’t know, Liz. They’ll decide to enter, maybe. I’m no cop. I can’t strategize
for them.”

“Then what about Jessie? What if Alvarez gets violent?”

“Stop speculating will you? I don’t like this whole creepy mess anymore than you. And yes, I’m just as worried about Jessie, but I don’t know how else we could have helped her except to get the police involved.”

The trek through the wooded path seemed shorter somehow to the two walkers, who were getting used to the rutty terrain, and the walk across the field and up to the hilltop was turning into a well-worn path. No clothing was needed now to mark the way. Kent had brought a jacket from his car and he passed it over to Liz.

“It’ll be chilly on the ground. “You’d better use this.”

Liz took the jacket and spread it on the grass. She lay down with the upper portion of her body on the jacket. With her arm doubled under her head, she stared across the valley as Kent settled down close beside her.