Page 76 of Crash and Burn

Or just let her suffer and dehydrate while a glass of water sat waiting six feet away.

Continuing to pick at the tape, she broke one nail, then another. But at last she got her ankles free. It took another moment to wad the tape up to where it didn't want to cling to her fingers. She needed somewhere to put it that Geller and his partner wouldn't automatically see it. So she peeled her remaining shoe and padded softly over to the table, then stuck the wad underneath like a piece of chewed gum.

Now what?she thought.

She started to use her right hand to pick at the tape stuck firmly across her mouth. But her nails were broken, so she tried her left hand, but even that hurt. She was going to have a rectangular rash on her face, letting everyone know that she had been kidnapped.

She should be so lucky.

The real problem would be if no one saw her. If her body wasn't found. And no one ever knew that she’d had tape on her face. So once again, Maggie committed to fast and harsh and ripped the tape off.

Son of a bitch!She gasped as quietly as she could while the pain slowly ebbed.

But she was free.

What next? Go out the window? Look in the closet for weapons?

Her house creaked like nobody's business and this place looked even older. The trees outside the window made her think she was in a cabin. That made sense with what she remembered of the trip here.

No one knew where the Blue River Killer had been taking his victims, only where he’d abducted them from and where he’d been leaving them.

The La Vista Rapist tended to make do at the scene he was already at. That would have been Maggie's home and Sebastian or her clients would have shown up. He’d planned this carefully ahead of time. And that alone made Maggie livid.

She held the shoe clenched tightly in her hand, her one weapon at the ready. But she’d prefer another. Then her eyes fell to the glass of water.

Leaving it here was truly a dumb move. They had to either believe she wouldn't get out of the bindings or it was drugged. She was thirsty, but the men were still arguing in the front room, and that spurred her on.

The tone of the conversation made her believe that Merrit Geller had something he was holding over the Blue River Killer. He definitely knew who the man was and Maggie wanted to know, too.

Could she peer through the lock and see his face?

No, she had to save herself first. She had to live to fight another day. If she saw his face and then died, it would all be wasted.

Peeling her jacket, she reached for the glass and carefully poured the water onto the floor, not willing to drink anything that had been left for her. Then she wrapped her jacket around the glass until only the silk lining could be seen. Putting it on the ground, she stepped down until she felt it crunch.

God bless high quality silk.She still cut her foot in the process. The jacket was already done for. Now it would have small pieces of glass clinging to the outside fabric. So be it.

She opened the jacket and carefully shook it out. It had muffled the sound of the glass breaking enough that the conversation in the other room hadn’t lagged. She turned it right side out and carefully slipped back into it. If they came back in, she needed to look as tied up as possible.

Then she picked up four of the largest shards and slipped two into each pocket. Next, she carefully tiptoed to the window. She managed to flip the latch relatively quietly but getting it open would be another story. She probably couldn't break the window quite as softly as she'd broken the water glass.

She'd need to slide it up but, the moment she pushed on the sash, it made a noise. The two voices out front stopped.

Shit, she thought. As quietly and quickly as she could, she headed back to the chair and sat down facing away from the door.

Her jacket sleeves still had the tape on them, so that would look intact at first glance. She hid the shoe between her legs as best she could. She held her feet and hands together just as they had been positioned when she was bound. Lastly, she hung her head, so they wouldn't be able to notice the tape was off her face.

As soon as they got close, she would have to come up swinging.

“This is all new to me!” she heard from the outside.

“Do your own wet work! I didn’t take her. This is on you.”

She would have muttered an expletive but she had to sit still. The front door slammed but footsteps came up to the door behind her.

Once again, she wished she was facing the other way. But she needed to buy those extra seconds. She had to look like she was exactly where she'd been left.

Behind her, the knob turned.

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