Kidnapped

It was finally Saturday. I promised myself that I would sleep in as long as I wanted, then I was going to go play with Maizie all day. We would go to the park, have coffee at Tovoni’s, paint her nails and put ribbons in her hair, and anything else she wanted to do. We were having a Maizie-Day.

11:00 a.m.

“Ummm, Deb?” Cinnamon’s voice sounded hesitant on the phone. It was very un-Cinnamon.

“What is it Cinnamon?” I asked. Maizie and I were walking down toward the Waterfront and I was talking on my cell phone. With all the choices I’d given her, Maizie wanted to go to the office. No kidding! That’s what Mrs. Prior said. We were almost there.

“Miss Riley,” she said formally. “I’m in trouble.”

“Where are you Cinnamon?” I asked. “Are you in jail?”

“No. I’m at the condo.”

“I thought it was closed up.”

“Mrs. B. has a key.” Shit! Brenda Lamb Barnett was back in town. “She says that if you send for police, she’ll take me off the roof with her. She wants you to come here now. I’m sorry, Deb. I’m so scared.” The line went abruptly dead.

Maizie and I turned into my office. Mrs. B. isn’t the only one with a key.

I glanced up from the window and could see the roof-top garden of The Condo. Hang in there, Cinnamon, I thought. I’ve been through this before. And the one thing I learned was to call for back-up. I dialed Silas’s number and quickly explained the situation to him. He agreed to let me get there and give me enough time to get Cinnamon out of danger before he moved in. We were going to close this baby down once and for all.

I slipped on a wire and set it to broadcast at the frequency Silas gave me. As soon as I get a chance, I’ve got to start replenishing the stock of electronics in Dag’s Vault. I’m going through things kind of fast.

I looked at Maizie and she actually barked. Yeah. This time I’m taking reinforcements in with me.

“Let’s go partner,” I said.

10:00 p.m.

Yeah. The fact that I’m writing probably indicates that I made it through alive. Not everyone did, though.

Maizie and I walked through the front door of the building and took the elevator straight to The Condo. There was no sense climbing stairs or using a service elevator this time. I was expected and I was walking through the front door. As soon as we were in the elevator, I unsnapped Maizie’s leash. “Keep a low profile, girl,” I said. The doors to the elevator opened and I stepped into the room. There was still crime-scene tape stretched across the elevator doors. I walked through it and let it break. I knew where I was going. I walked straight through The Condo to the office. I didn’t bother to knock. I knew that Brenda was watching me. I lost track of where Maizie was. I just hoped that Brenda did, too.

The sight that greeted me was not what I expected. Oh Brenda and Cinnamon were there, all right. Cinnamon was tied in the very chair that I’d spent time in a month ago. Brenda was tied to the desk chair.

Behind her, Angel held a gun.

“Angel?”

“I knew you’d want to be here for this,” she said. “We’ll never be free until she’s dead. She blamed Dag for killing Simon, and she’s made it impossible for us to ever be together while she’s alive. So we’re just going to arrange a little accident.”

“Angel, you can’t do this,” I said. “Let’s just call the police and turn her over.”

“What good are they?” she demanded. “They let her loose when they had her in jail here. They couldn’t keep her in jail in Belize. Oh yes. I knew where she was. And I knew she was back in town.” She threw a cash card on the desk. “Don’t ever believe you can’t be traced through these. I own the database. I tagged all the cards that I knew she had and I watched for the account to be drawn on. When she showed up in Seattle, I was waiting. This is where it all started, and this is where it all ends.”

“Angel, bad as she is and as much as she deserves to die, we can’t just execute her.”

“We’re not. We’re rescuing poor Cinnamon. Mrs. B. was trying to throw her off the roof. Didn’t you get the message? We just came to her rescue.” The more I looked at Angel the more wrong she looked. She was losing it. She still wore no makeup. She was dressed in clothes that were too tight. She looked old. She was turning into the same kind of person she hated: Brenda. She had gone over the edge into grief and insanity. Now what was I going to do?

“Let’s talk this out,” I said. “Let’s hear what she has to say.” Brenda was sitting at the desk with tape over her mouth shaking her head at me fearfully.

“No.”I’ve heard enough of her. Let’s go.” Angel waved the gun around and gave Brenda a push out of the chair and onto her feet. I could tell she was near the breaking point. “Bring Cinnamon,” Angel snapped at me. I moved behind her and untied her hands. She looked at me fearfully and I removed her gag.

“Deb, I’m sorry,” she began. I hushed her by laying a finger on her lips.

“Maizie,” I whispered to her. Her eyes darted around and she joined the parade out of the office and around the corner to the dressing room door that led to the rooftop garden. Angel came in the rear, pushing Brenda ahead of her. When we were all on the roof, Angel pushed Brenda toward the edge of the roof.

“You can’t just toss her over with her hands tied and her mouth taped shut, Angel,” I said calmly. “It doesn’t look like suicide.”

“Cinnamon,” Angel commanded. “Go untie her.” Cinnamon obediently went to Brenda and removed the tape from her mouth first. A stream of invective began issuing from Brenda’s mouth as soon as the tape was off.

“You stupid bitches!” she yelled. “You will never get away with this. You will all hang. Three blonde tarts dangling from adjoining ropes. Somehow or other I will be there to watch.” Cinnamon worked the knot loose from Brenda’s hands, paying more attention to Angel’s gun than to what she was doing. I saw it a moment too late to act. As soon as Brenda’s hands were free she wrapped an arm around Cinnamon and pulled her in front of herself as a shield. Cinnamon screamed.

“Now get back!” Brenda yelled propelling Cinnamon in front of her. “If I go over the edge, so does she.”

“You see,” Angel snarled. “I told you she was threatening to pull Cinnamon over the edge with her. Now I’ll have to shoot her.” Angel raised the gun to take careful aim. There was no way she could make this shot. Brenda was ducking behind Cinnamon and I could sense that Angel was going to shoot anyway. I saw Maizie streak across the roof from the open doorway behind Brenda and I went into action at the same time.

I grabbed Angel’s arm and forced it up as she fired. She swung toward me and I used her momentum to trip her and wrench the gun from her hand. It went flying across the roof and Angel went down to one knee. In the meantime, Maizie had run up behind Brenda and bit her on the calf. Brenda fell backward with Cinnamon on top of her. Maizie ran in a circle barking and went for Brenda’s arm. Brenda let go of Cinnamon long enough for the girl to roll free, but Angel was on her feet and diving on top of Brenda.

There was no way to get between the two women, each of whom was bent on killing the other. Maizie circled, diving in to nip where she thought it would help and I reached to grab Angel’s arm as they rolled closer to the edge of the roof. When I loosened her grip, Brenda took advantage and drove her elbow into angel’s face knocking her out of my grip and over the edge of the roof. She teetered against the low wall for a moment and I thought she had regained her balance. But Brenda rushed her to give her the last push off the edge. Angel wrapped both arms around her as she passed the point of no return and both women disappeared over the edge of the roof. I rushed to the edge and could see that the building was already surrounded by police. Silas had moved in and I could hear police in the Condo behind me.

I sank to the ground and saw Cinnamon staring at me in terror. Maizie crawled up into my lap as the officers came through the door onto the roof.

It took a couple of hours before I could speak. Cinnamon had already recovered and told most of the details. Silas was hobbling into the Condo before he heard the report that two women had gone over the edge of the roof. He rushed, hobbling on his cast and cane as quickly as he could into the cold air.

Cinnamon rushed into his arms sobbing and I could see him comfort her, then call an officer to help him. Two officers approached me, but kept their distance as Maizie growled every time they got near. They looked to Silas for instructions and he motioned them away and told them to secure the apartment. Then he hobbled over to me and knelt down. He let Maizie sniff the back of his hand and she butted it to get her ears scratched.

“That’s a good girl, Maizie,” he said. “Let’s take care of Riley now.” He reached out gently and straightened my wig. Then he helped me to my feet and I leaned on him as we made our way back to the elevator. Silas shook Maizie’s leash at the elevator door and she sat in front of him waiting to be hooked up. Cinnamon had already been led down to a waiting ambulance and in minutes I was lying on a cot in the back of an emergency van with Silas and Maizie sitting beside me.

I would be happy if I never saw the inside of an ambulance or hospital again.

I would be happy if I never saw someone die again—if I never lost another friend.

I would be happy, but I’m not.