Crazy in Love (28 page)

They’d just pulled off the highway when Jake’s phone rang. He yanked it out of his pocket, not bothering to check the caller ID.

“
Flynn?” he asked. “Where have you been?”

“
I think where I am is probably more important.” Her voice was blank and flat. Was she still pissed off at him? Probably. And she had a right. He could only hope she’d get over it when he told her what he was doing.

“
How did the breakfast go?” he asked.

“
Not well.”

Jake felt the first strings of alarm ripple through him.
“Flynn? Are you okay?”

“
Ow! Quit it!” she said, her voice remote, and then louder, “Tucker? You still there?”

Jake gripped the phone tight in his hand.
“Flynn? What’s going on? Where are you?”

Flynn rattled off an address and Jake
’s heart sank. He tapped Gerard on the shoulder.

“
Punch it,” he said.

“
What?”

“
They’ve got Flynn!” he yelled. Gerard tapped the driver and gave a small nod, and the sirens went on. “Flynn?” he said into the phone.

“
She says no cops,” Flynn said. “Just you.”

“
All right,” Jake said, making eye contact with Gerard. “Fine. No cops.”

Gerard motioned for the driver to shut the sirens off.
“Flynn, what happened?”

She sighed.
“Well. It turns out I was right about Annabelle being in love with you. And you were really right about Chase.” He heard her voice crack. “But we don’t have to worry about him anymore, because he’s dead.”

“
He’s
what
?”

“
He’s dead. So is Rhonda.”

He shook his head, trying to put the pieces together in his head.
“You mean Annabelle’s got you?”

“
She’s a CWIL with a gun. The worst kind.”

A
gun?
Jake rubbed at the back of his neck. “Flynn, I’m coming, okay? I’m already on my way. You just hang in there. I’m coming.”

“
I’m so sorry, Tucker, I—”

The phone cut off.

“Flynn? Flynn!”

Silence. Jake slammed his phone shut and put
his face in his hands, trying to stay calm. Annabelle wanted Jake, so she wouldn’t hurt Flynn until Jake got there. And once Jake was there, he could protect Flynn. So it was going to be fine. It was going to be fine.

“…
phone number? Jake!”

He raised his head to find Gerard yelling something at him.

“What?”

“
Did you get the phone number?”

Jake opened his phone and scrolled through the ID list, then nodded.

“Good,” Gerard said. “We’re gonna need that when we get there.”

He opened his own cell and made a call. Jake caught random words like
“negotiator” and “hostage situation” but mostly all he heard was Flynn’s voice.

I
’m sorry, Tucker.

He
’d bet his life he was sorrier.

***

“Breathe into this,” Annabelle said, holding out a small paper bag to Flynn. Flynn reached out a shaky hand and took it, breathing into it slowly as Annabelle sat down next to her. She had been able to hold on to her pissed-offness until she’d heard the panic in Tucker’s voice when he’d told her he was coming for her. If Tucker was worried, she knew she was good and screwed.

“
He loves me, you know,” Annabelle said, rubbing Flynn’s back with one hand while holding the gun on her with the other. “I’ve been there for him all along. Eileen wasn’t supposed to get him fired. She was just supposed to get the laptop. She did it on purpose, you know. Went after him like that. She was always jealous of me.”

Flynn pulled the bag away from her face.
“You know, if you want me to calm down, maybe you could cool it with the crazy, okay?”

Annabelle pushed up from the couch.
“I’m sorry,
Flynn. I know you have feelings for him, too. And I never wanted you to get hurt in this. Chase got what he deserved for hurting Jake the way he did and Rhonda… well, poor Rhonda was just never going to get it, you know? But you… you’re an innocent. And I know that, but you have to understand that he loves
me,
okay?”

Flynn tried to resist opening her mouth, but the shock of knowing that two dead people were charbroiling in the driveway had put her in a very surreal, very stupid place.

“So, what’s your plan? You put a gun to my head and make him tell you he loves you? Of course he’s going to do it. It won’t make it true.”

She put the bag back over her mouth, concentrating on the crinkling sound it made when she breathed to keep herself from passing out.

“Oh, honey.” Annabelle stared down at her. “You are nobody. You’re a blip on the radar. Before you came, everything was fine. He would have asked me out ages ago, but Esther told him not to.”

Flynn gasped into the bag, and lowered it again.
“Holy shit. You killed Esther, didn’t you?”

Annabelle
’s eyebrows knit for a second, but then she smiled in understanding. “Oh, not for
that
. She’d been snooping in my books, which meant that sooner or later she would have figured out what I was doing, and let me tell you, I did not want to go back to jail. Do you know what kind of girls are in jail? Girls like Eileen Dietz.” She sat down next to Flynn again and patted her knee. “I was so freaked out when I thought you’d had the schnapps, by the way. You, they would have autopsied, and it would have been hell to explain an overdose of heart medication with you.”

Flynn felt her chest explode with rage.
“You crazy bitch.”

Annabelle stood up and put her hand to her chest, tears springing to her eyes.

“There’s no need to get personal,” she said. “I just did what I had to do, Flynn. Do you think I like this? Do you think I feel good about this? I don’t. I’m just doing what I need to do. This has been really difficult for me, you know.”

Flynn raised the bag to her face and concentrated on breathing in and out.

In and out.

In and out.

Annabelle paced back and forth, whispering something to herself that Flynn couldn’t hear over the crinkling of the bag. Which was just as well.

Because the bitch was
crazy
.

***

Jake had darted out of the car before the Suburban came to a complete stop, and was oddly surprised when he felt Gerard yank him backward.

“
The negotiator isn’t here yet.” Gerard put both hands on Jake’s shoulders, clamping down tight. “You wait.”

“
Fuck the negotiator.” He stared up the dirt road. According to the map, the house was less than half a mile away. Through the autumn-thinned woods, he could see the outline of a white house, and a column of thick black smoke.

“
Jesus Christ,” he muttered.

“
I know this is hard, but this is not your operation, Jake,” Gerard said. “There are people coming who know
how to handle this type of situation. Unless you want to get Flynn killed, you need to let them.”

Jake broke free of Gerard
’s grip, but didn’t run up the dirt path. Instead he focused his rage and kicked a sizable dent into the side of the Suburban.

“
I’ll pay for that,” he said.

“
Don’t worry about it.” Gerard stepped closer and put one hand on Jake’s shoulder. “We’ll convene here, make the call, and send you up once we have proof of life. That’s the plan.”

Proof of life.
The words sliced through him, but he nodded.
“Yeah,” he said. “Yeah. Okay.”

Jake
’s cell phone rang. He exchanged a glance with Gerard, then checked the caller ID. He held it up for Gerard to see and answered off his nod.

“
Flynn? You okay?”

Annabelle
’s voice bounced through the line at him. “Jake! It’s so good to hear your voice.”

“
Is Flynn okay?”

“
Oh, she’s fine, but… sweetie, I said no cops. Didn’t she tell you, no cops? We can’t really talk this out if there are police around. I won’t be able to concentrate, and I have some really important things to say.”

He shook his head at Gerard, and Gerard closed his eyes and swore.
“I’m sorry, Annabelle. They were with me when you called.”

Annabelle sighed.
“It’s okay. It’s not your fault. But they know I’ve got Flynn, right? And a gun? And they know I’ll kill her, right?”

“
Annabelle,” he said, “don’t.”

“
I don’t want to,” she said. “But I will if I have to. Can
you tell them to go away and then come on up alone? We’re kinda running out of time.”

“
Let her go, Annabelle. I’ll be on my way as soon as I know she’s safe.”

“
Jake, if she’s safe, those policemen are gonna come and get me and then we won’t have any time to talk. I’m so sorry, I just can’t. You understand, right?”

He leaned one hand on the Suburban and dropped his head, clutching the phone to his ear.
“I need to talk to her first. I need—”

“
Oh, what? Proof of life?” Annabelle giggled. “Right. I saw that movie. Here.”

There was some shuffling, followed by a strange crackling sound, and then, finally, he heard Flynn
’s voice. “Tucker?”

Every muscle in Jake
’s body tightened. “I’m on my way. Nothing is going to happen to you, okay?”

“
Chase is dead. Did I tell you that? I told you that, didn’t I? So is Rhonda. And Annabelle? Is crazy.”

Jake
’s heart cracked listening to her. She sounded so scared. He tried to inject calm into his voice. “Yeah, babe. I know. It’s gonna be okay.”

“
Chase said she was a good shot. I’m inclined to believe him.”

Jake flashed back to the night in the cabin.

So, who shot at us?

A bad shot who tried to kill us and then got scared off, or a good shot who wanted to send a message.

“I think maybe I should have stayed in Boston,” she said.

“
I’m going to get you out of this,” he said. “Nothing is going to happen to you.”

“
Hi! Me again!” Annabelle’s voice came back on the line. “Jakey, you really have to send the police away. I’m so sorry. Look, I’ll give you one minute, okay? Starting… now!”

Jake flipped the phone shut.
“Go. Now.”

“
Jake—”

“
Game’s over, Gerard. If you stay here, Flynn dies. And the only way you’re going to stop me from going up there is to shoot me yourself. It’s your operation. Your call.”

Jake was halfway to the house when he heard the Suburban pull away behind him.

***

Flynn folded up the paper bag neatly and set it by her side. Her breathing had returned to normal. She found that she could forget the smell of the burning car outside by concentrating on the shapes of the water stains in the ceiling.

One of them looked kinda like Mikhail Gorbachev.

Annabelle put down the binoculars and shoved the heavy drapes shut over the window, settling the room into a dark gloom that seemed appropriate.

“Oh, yay! They’re gone,” Annabelle said. “Thank God. That could have been so messy, you know?”

Flynn nodded. Finally, the urge to talk back had left her. She knew that Jake would be walking through that door in a moment, and he would save her and then some lucky therapist
’s kid was going to be lousy with ponies off of Flynn’s monthly bill.

See?
she thought.
Everyone wins.

There was a knock at the door. Annabelle smoothed her
hand over her long blond curls and grinned like a teenager on prom night.

“
Come in!” she called, and stood next to Flynn.

The first thing Jake saw was Flynn sitting on the couch, her hands tucked primly between her knees. He started for her, but froze when he saw the gun, which Annabelle raised and pointed directly at Flynn
’s head.

“
I’m sorry, Jake,” Annabelle said, “but we’re kinda running out of time, so I need you to tell her.”

Jake stared at Annabelle.
“Tell her what?”

Annabelle laughed, but her smile soon faded.
“That you don’t love her. That you love me. Then I’ll have to kill her, which is a shame, but we can get away, and I have scads of money. I’ve got two tickets on a flight to Buenos Aires that leaves in…” She checked her watch and made a face. “Oooh. Three hours. That’s kinda tight. So… go ahead.”