Web of Deceit (16 page)

“The next day,
Grant had a bandage on his arm. He told Nate that he must have gotten bit by
something. That day, Nate thanked Mrs. Freedman for all her help, but after
three months we were ready to get our own place. She insisted that we stay in
touch, and he kept the job she helped him get.”

“So, how did you
get a hold of the newspaper clippings?” Beth asks, wondering aloud.

“Two weeks ago,
Nate came home from work all excited,” Jade resumes. “Grant had become a
believer and was coming to dinner and a Bible study. Vicky was at a friend’s
house, and I had just gone shopping and went upstairs to put some things away.
Grant had come in while I was putting things away in the bathroom. I heard him
tell Nate he had something important to tell him. I didn’t hear everything that
Grant said, but my husband said, ‘I don’t care who she is. I won’t break the
law for anyone.’ I stayed upstairs because I felt Grant and Nate needed to
talk. About a half hour later the phone rang. My husband answered it and gave
it to Grant. I wanted to know what was going on, so I picked up the phone to
listen.

“I heard Mrs.
Freedman’s voice on the other end say, ‘Is he going to do what I asked?’ Grant
told her no. Then she said, ‘Then kill him.’ Grant said, ‘No, he’s a good man
and I won’t do it.’

“Mrs. Freedman
suddenly spoke in a calm, but tense voice, ‘You must kill him
now
! When
he’s dead your pain will cease.’ Grant began to scream and shout in such agony,
like I have never heard before. He just kept screaming, ‘I can’t! I can’t!’
Grant warned Nate to stay away from him. I was in our bedroom, and I couldn’t
hide any longer. I ran down the hall to the stairs. Nate shouted, ‘Don’t do it!
Nothin’s that bad. Don’t kill yourself.’

“I ran down the
steps. ‘Nate!’ I shouted, ‘Get out of here!’
Bang!
My heart skipped
beats as I ran through the living room to the kitchen, not knowing what was on
the other side of the door. Part of me already knew, I guess, but I was still
hoping.”

Tears are already
streaming down Jade’s cheeks as she gasps for breath. “I’m sorry,” she pauses.
“He was such a good man, and I miss him so much.”

“Don’t apologize,”
Beth says. “It hurts when you lose someone, especially when they’re taken
before their time. It feels as though part of you is ripped out and killed as
well.”

“Here.” Symphony
hands Jade a tissue from the center console while sneaking a peak at Beth at
the same time.
Wow, I never figured a princess would know real pain.

“Anyways,” Jade
continues after blowing her nose and pulling herself together. “When I walked
into the kitchen, Grant was standing over Nate sobbing, and he kept sayin’,
‘I’m sorry/ I’m sorry.’ He told me, ‘Nate was trying to take the gun away from
me and it went off by accident.’

“I told him, ‘I
know it’s not your fault, Grant. I’ll call 911. They’ll fix Nate, and we’ll
find out what she did to you.’

“He said it was no
use. He had already checked. There was no pulse. He kept crying and then just
like that he said, ‘She doesn’t know you’re here; you need to hide. Whatever
she did to me, I think she did it to you too. She tried it on Nate, but it
didn’t work.’

“A van pulled into
the driveway, and Grant said, ‘Go! You need to pretend you know nothing.’

“My husband was
just murdered. How do you pretend you know nothing? Anyways, we heard the doors
to the van open, and he begged me to go because they’d kill me too and then
who’d take care of Vicky? That’s when he gave me the envelope with the
newspaper clippings.

“ ‘You need to
go,’ he urged me as he opened the back door for me to sneak out. When I ran
outside, I hid in the garage until they left. Once they were gone, I snuck back
in, being sure I wasn’t seen. There was no sign of a struggle, and Nate was
gone. It was as though nothing happened. I started second guessing and hoping
that it was a bad dream until I saw the letter on the table. It was a ‘Dear
John’ letter from Nate. Can you believe the nerve? Killing my husband and
planning to make me think he ran out on us.”

“Is that when you
went to Maggie?” Symphony asks.

“What about those
clippings?” Beth asks. “Did he say why he gave them to you?”

“Yeah,” Jade says.
“While I was waitin’ for Vicky to come home, I called Maggie to see if she had
room for us. Grant called me about an hour later. I was grabbing stuff to get
out of there. He said that he found those clippings in her desk, and he was
hoping that someone could use them to stop her. He said he didn’t know how many
people she has under her control, but they need to be freed. She’s hurting a
lot of people who have done nothing wrong. He was gettin’ out of town because
he’s scared. All it takes is one phone call and her voice command and you’re
stuck doing her dirty work. He told me he was trashing his cell and that I
should do the same. Shortly after I got off the phone with him, Vicky came
home. I told her not to answer the phone because Mrs. Freedman was trying to
hurt us. I sent her to her room to pack her bag and then we got out of there.”

“Wow,” Beth says.
“Have you ever heard of anyone using hypnosis like that?”

“Yeah, I have,”
Symphony responds, “especially if it’s drug induced. If they convince the
subject they’re on their side and win their trust, they let their guard down
and open the door up for false memories and all kinds of travail.”

“There is one
thing that bothers me. When Frank went to Kelly’s apartment yesterday, it was
empty,” Beth says. “But by the time I got there, everything was back, and there
was evidence that proved Frank was telling the truth. Why would they do that?”

“Lots of times
when people would come to Mrs. Freedman’s they would move everything out of
their apartments and store the stuff at Mrs. Freedman’s house. Maybe not
everyone moves to Mrs. Freedman’s by choice like we did.”

“Yes, and maybe
that’s what happened to Kelly. She stayed the night at our place instead of
going home where they could find her. What’s more, Elliot went to work with
her. So, they could no longer make it seem like she moved out. Wow, this lady
is dangerous,” Beth says.
I have to find Sarah
. Beth dials Sarah’s
number again. “Hey, this is Beth. Hear anything yet?”

“No, nothing,”
Joanna answers.

“I’m just around
the corner,” Beth says. “Meet me at Elliot’s car. I think I know where Sarah
is.” Beth disconnects the call and says, “Symphony, I need you to drop me off
at the hospital. Take them to the Barstow. They’ll be safe there.” She dials a
number. “Hi, this is Beth Doyle from suite forty-two. I need a suite for a
client and her daughter. My assistant Symphony will be bringing them over.
We’re going to need security out front.” Beth disconnects the call and eyes
Jade in her mirror. “You’ll be safe there. Once this is over, I think they have
a position in housekeeping if you are interested. Your house was impeccable.”

“Thank you for
everything,” Jade says as the Jeep pulls to a stop in the hospital’s parking
lot.

Beth passes a
notepad back with a pen to Jade. “Write down Mrs. Freedman’s address for me.”

“Thanks for the
help,” Beth says to Symphony. “Just bring the Jeep in with you on Monday.”

“I want to go with
you,” Symphony says.

“It’s dangerous,”
Beth warns. “I’ll call you when I find Sarah.” She reaches back and takes the
pad with Mrs. Freedman’s address. “Make sure the desk knows they will be
needing room service for everything. It will be safer that way. They may even
feel better if you stay with them. Well, you guys decide. I’ll see you Monday.”

“Day by day …”
Symphony says with a smirk as she skooches into the driver’s seat.

Edwin drives north
across the bridge toward Malibu beach park with Elizabeth watching the
red-orange sunrise across the bay.

“Edwin, look at
all those people down there! They’re gathering around something or someone. We
need to see if it’s Sarah,” Elizabeth says.

“The construction
up ahead has backed up the traffic and I can’t get over,” Edwin says. “I’ll
have to turn around, unless someone lets me in, which doesn’t seem likely.”

Elizabeth
unbuckles. “Stop the car, dear. My gut feeling tells me I must go now. I’ll
meet you there.” She gets out of the vehicle and hurries between the stopped
cars and irritated drivers.
Oh my dear sweet Sarah, I should have never left
you with that nurse.

As she nears the
crowd, she notices an officer standing in the midst. She pushes forward.
“Excuse me, sir.”

“Please stand
back, ma’am. We …” the officer says.

“I’m sorry to bother
you,” she interrupts. “But I’m looking for my daughter.”

“What does you
daughter look like?” he asks as he puts his arm around her shoulder and directs
her through the crowd to a young woman with blond hair, wearing a hospital
gown. She is lying face up on the sand.

“Sarah!” She runs
to her daughter’s side. “Oh, my dear, dear child, I’m so sorry that I left you
with that nurse. Please wake up.”

Sarah opens her
eyes. “Mom, is that you?”

“Oh yes, Sarah.
I’m so glad you’re OK. Do you remember what happened?”

“Kinda. I remember
being chased by you. And I remember the people in the car said, ‘This ain’t
worth prison.’ They opened the door and threw me out. I can’t remember what
they looked like. It’s weird. It’s like I can see them but their faces are blurry.”

“I’m so sorry that
I left you with that nurse.” Elizabeth apologizes again.

Still groggy,
Sarah says, “Don’t talk like that, Mom. Jesus was with me the whole time and
still is. Actually, it’s not like you to …” Pain squeezes Sarah’s head like a
vice and she cries out, “Oh, it hurts.”

“What’s wrong,
dear?”

“I remember
hitting my head on a big rock when I landed, and the pain is unbearable.” Sarah
touches her head.

“You must relax
and lie completely still,” Elizabeth suggests, “until the ambulance gets here.
Why don’t you close your eyes.”

She closes her
eyes, and soon Elizabeth determines that she’s fallen asleep. After a while,
she says, “Sarah, Sarah, wake up.”

Sarah opens her
eyes. “Mom?”

“Yes, dear. You
fell asleep. Does your head feel better?” Elizabeth asks.

“Yes.”

“Elliot has reason
to believe that Jade and Vicky are in trouble,” Elizabeth says. “He wants to
get police protection for them right away.”

“Oh, no. I hope I
didn’t cause this.”

“Of course not,
dear,” Elizabeth says, assuring her. “Put that thought out of your mind. Elliot
needs the address.”

“Why didn’t he get
it from Beth? Oh, my head,” Sarah says, in agony.

“Oh, you poor
dear. Is it hurting again?”

“Yes.”

“Close your eyes
and rest them.”

“Sarah … Sarah.”

“Mom?” Sarah asks.

“Yes, dear, you
dozed off again. Jade and Vicky are in trouble. Elliot needs their address. He
tried to get it from Beth, but he couldn’t get ahold of her.”

“Oh, I hope Beth
is OK.”

“I’m sure she’s
fine,” Elizabeth says. “But Jade and Vicky are in horrible danger.”

“Oh, that’s
terrible. Tell him they’re at Maggie’s, 151 Fulton in Dorchester. Oh, my head.”
Sarah raises her arm to rub her head. “Why can’t I lift my arm?”

“Close your eyes
and relax. You must sleep and your pain will go away,” Elizabeth says, comforting
her.

Sarah closes her
eyes and goes to sleep.

*   *   *

“OK, guys. You
heard her. Find out who is closest to 151 Fulton and have them bring my lost
daughter home,” Mrs. Freedman says with a sinister smile crossing her face as
she reaches down and strokes Sarah’s blond locks. “You need to get a good
night’s sleep. We have a busy day tomorrow. I think you’re going to be a
wonderful addition to my family, my dear,” Mrs. Freedman says as she flicks off
the light in the bedroom and locks the door behind her.

As Beth reaches
Elliot’s car, Joanna is coming up the walkway. She pulls out a spare key to
Elliot’s Vette and waves it in the air as Joanna approaches the car. “In the
mood for a road trip? I think I know who is behind all this.”

“Absolutely,”
Joanna responds as she directs herself to the passenger door. “Wow, Elliot
trusts you with his car?”

“No, just the key
in case he loses his,” Beth says with a rueful smile.

“Nice, that makes
this trip even better” Joanna grins as she opens the door and gets in the
Vette.

“Did you bring
Sarah’s phone with you?”

“Yes.” Joanna
pulls a phone out of her coat pocket.

“I don’t have
Sarah’s dad’s cell number on me, and he’s the only one I haven’t tried.”

“Good idea,”
Joanna says. “Has anyone ever driven this car other than Elliot?”

“Only Howard, the
car’s mechanic.”

“Oh …”

“Yeah, this will
probably end badly.” Beth grinds the Vette’s gears, backing out of the parking
spot.

“Is this the first
time you’ve driven standard?”

“No, it’s just
been a while. They say you never forget,” Beth says, not wanting to show her
lack of experience.

“Yeah, so they
say.” Joanna squints her eyes and presses her hand against the door as a chill
runs up her back. “You know, it may be difficult talking on the phone and
driving because it’s been so long since you’ve driven a standard.”

“You’re saying?”

“My car’s a
standard, so I could drive while you use your phone,” Joanna replies,
clarifying herself.

“Well, I guess
Elliot won’t mind, considering the circumstances.”

“I’m sure he
won’t,” Joanna agrees. After switching seats, Joanna feels a surge of
excitement rush through her body as she grasps hold of the stick shift,
depresses the clutch and shifts gears. “Which way are we going?” Joanna asks,
keeping her cool.