Page 56 of Cold Vengeance

THIRTY

The motel room was pretty basic, but at least it seemed clean. Audrey had wrapped her wrist, so it was feeling better. The pills she took weren’t strong, but they helped. She’d slept for quite a while. When she woke up, Audrey smiled at her.

“I picked up some food while you were sleeping. Are you hungry?”

She nodded. She still felt a little groggy, but she knew she needed to eat. Audrey put some food on a paper plate and stuck it into the microwave in the small kitchen. Then she opened the refrigerator and took out a bottle of water, which she put on the nightstand next to the bed.

“Drink something,” Audrey said.

She sat up in the bed and swung her legs over the side. Then she reached over, took the cap off the bottle, and put it to her lips, which were dry and cracked. The cold water tasted so good. The water at the hospital was always lukewarm. She hated lukewarm water. She drank almost the entire bottle before Audrey gently took it from her.

“Slow down, honey. I don’t want you to make yourself sick.” She put the bottle down and went over to the microwave whenit dinged. “I warmed this up for you. Just a hamburger and fries, but I think you’ll like it. It’s pretty good.”

“Could anyone know we’re here?” she asked.

“I don’t think so.” Audrey sighed. “We’ll only be able to stay here for a short time.”

She unwrapped the cheeseburger and took a small bite. This was the first cheeseburger she’d had in a long, long time. It was so good. For some reason she wanted to cry. It wasn’t because of the burger, it was because her world was beginning to feel normal again. As if someone had opened the door to her cage and allowed her to finally come out. The truth was, she really had been a prisoner. Trapped and unable to escape. Until today. She’d just taken a second bite when there was a loud knock on the door. She dropped the burger onto her lap, and it fell to the floor. Audrey got up and went to the window, pulling the curtain back a bit. She looked out and then turned around, a look of horror on her face.

“I don’t recognize these men,” she whispered. “Don’t say anything. We have to be quiet. Don’t let them know we’re here.”

She started to cry. Surely this couldn’t be happening. She noticed a notepad and a pen on the nightstand. She grabbed it and started writing out a message. Before she could finish it, the pen ran out of ink. She quickly looked for another one, but there weren’t any. She tore the top piece of paper off and put it under her pillow, out of sight. Suddenly, the knocking stopped. Audrey looked out the window again.

“They’re gone,” she said. “We need to leave, right now.” Audrey grabbed her tote bag and put the food in it. Then she grabbed some bottles of water and shoved them in as well. “Get up,” she said, her voice high and shaky. “Can you walk?”

Before she could say yes, someone began yelling outside the door. Audrey turned toward her and smiled sadly. “They must have followed us. I’m sorry. Whatever happens, I want you topromise me that you won’t give up. I sent a letter to Nathan letting him know you’re alive. I couldn’t risk telling him where you were. If the authorities started snooping around before I could get you to safety, we would both be in danger. But you need to know that someone is looking for you, okay?”

As the tears ran down her face, she nodded. “Thank you. Thank you so much,” she said. Her voice was hoarse from not talking for so long. Could Audrey understand her?

Someone hit the door hard, and it broke open. Two men walked into the room and smiled at her. She tried to scream but she couldn’t. One of them walked over to her, reached into his pocket, and took out a syringe.

She yelled, “No!” as loudly as she could, but it was nothing more than a quiet croak. Even if there were people outside, they couldn’t possibly have heard her.

She felt the needle in her neck and almost immediately the room began to grow dark. She looked for Audrey, but the other man had her and was leading her from the room.

Then the familiar darkness overcame her.

WHILE TONY WAS PICKING UP LUNCH,River decided to do some research on Jeffrey Bailey. He was clearly a devoted father, but they didn’t know much else about him. Besides checking out his job as an investment banker, she also pulled up articles about April’s mother. What she discovered surprised her. By the time Tony got back, she was waiting for him.

“Hey, I found something. Maybe it doesn’t mean anything, but we need to talk about it.”

“Sure, but let me put this down first,” he replied. Tony put one sack on his desk and handed the second one to River. “What do you want to drink?”

“Water’s fine.”

Tony grabbed two bottles of water from the mini-fridge and handed one to River. Then he sat down. As River was reaching into her bag, she looked down to see Watson staring up at her. He looked like he was smiling.

“Tell him to lay down,” Tony said firmly.

“Oh, Tony. I can’t do that. Can’t he have a couple of french fries?”

Tony shook his head. “You’re spoiling him, but I guess it’s okay.”

“Good. Thanks.” She took out one of her fries and handed it to the happy little dog. His tail thumped loudly against the floor.

River reached into her bag and pulled out her BBQ sandwich. It smelled so good. She smiled at Tony. “Once the Strangler’s partner is behind bars, I think I’m going to miss this. You picking up my lunch and bringing it to me.”

“I doubt that,” Tony said. “My guess is that you’ll feel much better not having me hanging around all the time.”

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