She Left Me Breathless (32 page)

Rachel paced back and forth in front of the desk. She was a nervous wreck. All she could think about was getting her hands on whoever had Caitlyn.

Sydney casually tossed her jacket over the camera sitting on Caitlyn’s desk. She reached out to pick up the phone and Rachel grabbed her hand to stop her. “What about fingerprints?” she asked.

Sydney shook her head. “It doesn’t matter because whoever the kidnapper is, they are somehow tied to the embezzlement with a link to Welsh. For all we know, they are an employee and their fingerprints will be all over the place.”

“I suppose you’re right,” Rachel said and let go of Sydney’s hand.

Sydney picked up the phone on Caitlyn’s desk just as Jackie came running into the office. “Sorry it took me so long, Syd. I was visiting my parents over in Sugarcreek when I got your second message and I got here just as soon as I could.”

“It’s all good, I’m just glad you’re here,” Sydney said.

“Have they made any other contact?” Jackie asked as she came around the desk.

Sydney nodded. “Yeah and they let Caitlyn speak, so we know she’s still alive.”

Jackie looked at Sydney with raised eyebrows. “What about the police? Don’t you think it’s time you called them now?” she asked.

“Thank God. Someone who can see reason,” Rachel said, looking at Jackie. She turned to look at Sydney, shooting her a look that made Sydney want to cringe. “Who are you calling?” she asked.

Sydney shook her head. “I’m not calling the police. I’m calling my banker. I need her to pull the money together as soon as she can and there’s no reason she can’t do it within the time frame we need.”

Ignoring both Rachel and Jackie’s protests, Sydney turned her attention back to Caitlyn’s phone. Without meaning to, she accidentally hit the redial button. She looked at the display window and quickly disconnected the line. Without looking at Jackie or Rachel, she punched in a number and waited as the line rang through.

“Jen, I’m sorry to bother to you at this late hour but I need a huge favor.” Sydney cocked her head as she listened to Jennifer Ogden, her banker, assure her that the late hour was not a problem.

“Here’s what I need, Jen. Two-million dollars in unmarked bills,” Sydney glanced at her wrist watch, “within the next four hours.”

“Sydney, I know you know what time it is and how hard that will be,” Jennifer said through the phone.

“Listen to me, Jen, you either get the money and have it ready for me to pick up in the next four hours or I will find myself a new banker along with a new bank,” Sydney yelled into the phone right before she hit the button to disconnect the line.

Rachel and Jackie just stared at Sydney as she slammed the phone back into the cradle. Sydney didn’t miss a beat, though. “Jackie, see what you can find. Follow the blood and see where it leads,” she instructed, pointing at the blood on the floor that showed a clear path out the door of Caitlyn’s office.

After Jackie went out the door, Sydney sat down in Caitlyn’s chair and turned on her computer.

“What are you looking for?” Rachel asked, coming up behind Sydney to look over her shoulder.

“I have no idea,” Sydney reluctantly admitted. “Do me a favor, look through Caitlyn’s notebook and see if anything stands out,” she said, pushing a binder over to the side.

Rachel sighed in frustration as she flipped through the pages. “Sydney, nothing in here makes sense to me. It’s all gibberish except for something that says Project Burg.”

 Sydney stopped what she was doing. “Hand that to me, please,” she asked, looking at Rachel.

Rachel slid the binder over to Sydney. Using her finger, Sydney scanned the contents on the page that Rachel had open. “That’s it,” she said, looking at Rachel with a smile on her face.

“I don’t understand,” Rachel said, a look of confusion on her face. Sydney wasn’t making any sense at all.

“See this?” Sydney said, pointing to the line that said ‘Project Dem/Burg’.

“I don’t understand,” Rachel said, shaking her head.

 “It’s a building that I own off of seven-twenty-five and it’s set to be demolished in two days. I bought it a few months ago. Welsh is going to use it for our new computer recycling plant,” Sydney grinned.

Rachel frowned. “I still don’t understand.”

Sydney grabbed Rachel and kissed her fully on the lips. “Two Demo Burg,” Sydney said shaking her head. “Your daughter is a freaking genius, Rache. That’s all there is to it and I think I know exactly where she’s being held.”

Rachel shook her head. “But all she said was demo burg two. What does that mean?”

“I’m not one hundred percent sure. It could be anything, second floor, two people, second door. Hold on a sec,” Sydney said as she clicked the mouse a few times. She opened up a folder from Caitlyn’s files. She looked at Rachel and smiled.

“What?” Rachel asked. She had no idea what Sydney was doing or where her train of thought was leading.

Sydney pointed at the computer screen. Rachel looked at the screen and shrugged her shoulders.

“That building is scheduled to be demolished in two days and based on my update reports, the demolition crew partially rigged the building this morning with explosives.”

Rachel covered her mouth with her hand, she unsuccessfully tried to choke back a sob.

Sydney laid her hand on Rachel’s shoulder. “We need to get over there, Rache,” she said.

Both women looked up as Jackie walked back into Caitlyn’s office.

“I checked all the doors, no sign of forced entry. I did find a blood trail on the back stairwell, leading to the side parking lot. The trail stopped next to a set of tire tracks. It looks like whoever was here was also in a hurry to leave from the slide marks left on the ice,” Jackie said, looking at Rachel and then at Sydney.

It took Sydney several minutes to fill Jackie in on what they found and her opinion about what it all meant. She then voiced her feelings that there might be more than one kidnapper but she wasn’t sure. She knew Caitlyn would have put up a fight if it had been just one person and if by chance she were unconscious, the kidnapper in all likelihood would have needed help getting Caitlyn in the car.

“I agree with you one hundred percent,” Jackie said, nodding her head. “Just from the little bit of interaction I had with her, I can’t see her going peacefully.”

“Do you have your gun with you?” Sydney asked, looking at Jackie.

“Oh yeah, never leave home without Bertha,” Jackie laughed as she pulled open her jacket, revealing the gun and holster.

Sydney laughed. “Bertha? Really? Couldn’t find something a little more original?” she asked.

“Hey, watch it. That was my granny’s name and she was meaner than a damned old rattlesnake. So Bertha fits perfectly.”

“If you say so,” Sydney laughed.

“If you two are done chatting, I think we should call the police,” Rachel said, her voice undeniably filled with sarcasm. All she could think about was Caitlyn and what she must be going through. She’s probably scared to death.

Sydney looked at Rachel and shook her head. “Not yet, hon. We can’t take the chance of risking Caitlyn’s life. We’re just gonna drive over to the building and if we see any evidence that Caitlyn might be there, I promise, we will call the police. Okay?” she asked, looking at Rachel.  

Rachel and Jackie stood next to Sydney’s truck. They waited for Sydney to secure the door.

“Follow, behind us,” Sydney instructed Jackie as she walked up to the two women.

“You got it,” Jackie said, heading toward her own car.

 Once inside of Sydney’s truck, Rachel turned to look at her. “I don’t understand why you won’t call the police.”

Sydney shifted in her seat to look at her. “You just don’t get it, do you, Rache? Caitlyn knows who the kidnapper is and I have a strong hunch that she meant that there are two of them and that’s what she meant by the number two.”

“How can you be sure?” Rachel asked, slamming her hand on the dashboard in frustration. “Would you please share your fucking thoughts with me?”

Rachel’s use of the ‘F’ word caused Sydney to do a double-take. As long as she had known Rachel, not once had she remembered hearing her ever utter or use that word. She just didn’t say it—ever. She looked at Rachel and shrugged. “Because I’ve been around Caitlyn long enough to know that she wouldn’t have said it, unless it was significant.”

Rachel took a deep breath and tried to bring her emotions under control. “If she  was being held on the second floor, that would be pretty significant.”

Sydney looked at Rachel. “Please just trust me on this,” she said.

Rachel glanced at Sydney. She shook her head. “Why do I have a feeling that you’re hiding something from me? That you’re not telling me the whole story?” she asked.

“I don’t know why. Maybe its divine inspiration,” Sydney said with sarcasm.

Sydney pulled her truck into a parking spot, directly in front of the building and stopped. She unhooked her seatbelt, reached across Rachel, popped open the glove box, and pulled out a flashlight.

They waited for Jackie to park and then got out of the truck.

“I can see why you’re tearing it down, it’s a mess,” Rachel said, looking at the dilapidated old four-story structure that had large pieces of concrete missing along the front.

Sydney turned the flashlight on and pointed it down toward the ground. “I know. We just bought it for the land. Be careful here,” she said as they climbed up a set of steps that were in nearly as bad of shape as the building itself. 

“This is definitely not good,” Sydney said. The chain that had been used to secure the door had been cut and was hanging off to the side, the padlock still attached. “Once we get inside, try to keep your voice low,” Sydney said, looking first at Rachel and then at Jackie.

“We should call the police now,” Rachel said, her voice shaking slightly.

Sydney slowly pushed the door open. “I just want to have a look around and if she’s not here, then we’ll call the police,” she whispered.

“How do you want to do this?” Jackie asked, quietly closing the door behind them.

“Do you really think those are necessary?” Rachel whispered as she watched Sydney and Jackie take out their guns and check them. 

“It’s for our own protection,” Sydney said as she used her flashlight to look around. They were standing in what was once the lobby. She shined her light toward the back of the room. On either side of the receptionist’s desk were three doorways. Directly to their right, was an elevator that had a “Not In Service” chain hanging across it.

“If I remember correctly, that door,” Sydney shined her light on the doorway furthest to her left, “leads to the break room.”

Rachel grabbed the back of Sydney’s shirt. “I don’t like this. It’s so dark in here,” she whispered.

“Just hang onto me and stay close,” Sydney said as she moved toward the second doorway. “Rachel and I will check this side, you take the other one,” she said, looking at Jackie.

“You got it,” Jackie said and headed toward the door. 

“Hey, Jackie?” Sydney whispered.

“Yeah?” Jackie, answered, stopping to turn and look at Sydney.

“Be careful,” Sydney said.

“You, too,” Jackie said and then disappeared through the doorway.

“I have a bad feeling about this,” Rachel said, her voice trembling as she followed Sydney into a dark hallway.

“I promise we’ll call the police either way once we’re done here,” Sydney said, reaching behind her to briefly squeeze Rachel’s hand.

Sydney stopped at the first door they came to. She slowly pushed it open and shined her flashlight around the room.