Page 49 of Betting on Lizzie

She couldn’t be bothered with capitals and punctuation. And couldn’t wait for a reply. After ensuring the ringer was off, she hid the phone back in her boot and prayed he was awake and would get the text.

“That machine ate my card,” Ben said, returning from an ATM. “Gave me some message about a limit and that to avoid theft, the card was canceled. I only got fifteen hundred.”

Jenna shrugged. “I guess we’ll see what Marty says.”

“Do you live in New Bern?” Ben asked, getting back on the road.

“No. We came from Nashville. Marty owes some people money, and he thought I could get it from you.”

“I haven’t seen you in seventeen years. Why would he think that?”

“I told him about Maya a while ago, and he figured you’d give us money if we kidnapped her.”

“How did that happen? Did he hurt Maya?”

From the backseat, Lizzie noticed Ben’s knuckles whitening around the steering wheel. The anger rolled off of him, but Jenna seemed oblivious.

“No. I got Maya’s number from social media and called her tonight. Said I was real sorry I left, and that I wanted to see her. She didn’t want anything to do with me.”

“And…” Ben said.

“When I realized she wasn’t gonna meet me willingly, I told her my friend had taken you and that if she didn’t tell me where she was, he would hurt you. She must really love you, Ben, ’cause that upset her pretty good. She’d just come out of the movie theater. That’s where we picked her up. I got your address from her driver’s license and the key from her keyring. Marty dropped me off to talk to you and took her to the motel.”

“You left her alone with some asshole?” Ben was seething, yet Jenna remained clueless. So focused on telling the story, she hadn’t noticed Lizzie texting.

Ben pulled into the motel parking lot. “Which room?” he growled.

“It’s there.” Jenna pointed to a second-level room. “I don’t remember the number.”

Lizzie couldn’t see it from where they’d parked, and the chances of being able to text once they exited the car were slim. She texted 2nd floor to Noah and hid the phone again.

They got out and crossed the parking lot. Lizzie pulled off her scarf and prepared to leave it where Noah could find it. Unfortunately, it was black and generic, but Daisy had given it to her last Christmas and might recognize it. Lizzie had no doubt that if Noah told Daisy what was happening, she would insist on coming.

Outside room 214, Jenna tapped out a coded knock and waited. Lizzie draped her scarf on the breezeway railing, but the dark color made it almost invisible and probably wouldn’t help much.

A tall, skinny man opened the door and ushered them in. The room was small and dim. Maya sat in the corner, eyes red from crying, her mouth duct taped, and her hands tied in front of her.

Lizzie could feel Ben’s blood boiling. It matched her own. How could someone do this to a young girl? How could her mother have allowed it?

The man had beady eyes, yellow teeth, and a crooked nose. In his waistband was a gun, which he pulled out as Ben got closer.

“Stay where you are.” He pointed the gun at Maya, and Ben stiffened. “Where’s the money?”

Ben threw the cash on the bed. “Let Maya go.”

“That the whole two K?”

“Machine ate his card after fifteen hundred,” Jenna said. She had closed the door and stood meekly next to it.

Marty’s face screwed up in anger. “Well, that’s not gonna cut it. Is it, Jenna?” he sneered.

“I’ll get you the rest tomorrow,” Ben said. “But for now, let Maya go.”

“No way,” Marty said.

Fury pulsated off Ben in dangerous waves, but Marty wasn’t any good at reading people either. Lizzie, on the other hand, felt completely in tune with him. Almost as if she was communicating with him in her head, like she did with Lucy. She just needed to distract Marty long enough for him to point the gun away from Maya, and Ben would take care of the rest.

“Hey, sailor,” she cooed, stepping out from behind Ben to stand by his side. “I’m sure we can work something out.”

---