Jamie-5 (19 page)

As soon as he hung up, his phone rang again. It was Ronnie. She and Devin were on their way to pick him up, he was not to drive. Jamie looked up at Spencer, who was still on his phone to whoever.

“I want to go to our house,” he told Ronnie. “Mom is going to bring Pi there. She’ll want to cook, it calms her. Can you call the rest of the family and let them know that’s where I’ll be if they need me? They don’t have to come, but they should know where I am.” Ronnie snorted. “Like you’d be able to keep us away. I’ll text everyone with your location now. And Pi will need more food. I’ll call a friend of mine who owns an upscale store and have him bring out the works. Do you mind if the kids and nannies come too? That way we can stay together.”

“No, one thing we have is plenty of room. I’d like the family with me. Ronnie, I can’t…I need her back. I don’t think I can…she’s my life.” He didn’t know why he kept telling people that, but it did calm him somewhat.

“She’ll be home soon and be spitting mad that all this fuss was made over it. And Jamie, you’ve got the best working at getting her back. Cait won’t let anything happen to her.” He knew that too.

Spencer was pacing again. He did that when he was nervous. When he noticed that Jamie wasn’t talking, he sat down.

“Cait will find her and bring her home. She said to tell you she loves you. Meggie is coming here too. Did I hear you right? Are we going to the big new digs?”

“Yeah, Mom is picking Pi up now.” Jamie put his head in his hands before he continued.

“Then we’ll all meet at the house. Ronnie is having more food brought in. You know this is a lot of people for Pi. I think she’ll be all right though. She loves Dane. And Dane loves her.”

“Mom says she’s a hoot. I’ll ride over with you and Devin. He called to tell me what was going on. Taylor is closing down the office. Byron is catching a flight home from Germany. He said he’d catch a taxi there. Nick and Morgan are leaving as soon as they pick the twins up at preschool, and Dan and the boys are picking up Damon at the hospital. He is bringing his kit. He also said to tell you that he had a date tonight and you owe him big time.” Spencer leaned back in his chair. “He said that he wants a paint by number kit too. Want to explain that to me?” Devin walked in the door just as he was finishing up the story behind the chocolate and brushes. It seemed that everyone wanted a set for Christmas or their birthday, whichever came the soonest. Jamie told them he was getting one first.

The drive to the house was long; Jamie just wanted to find Dane and make love to her and pretend none of this had happened. And he needed to talk to Pi. Jamie just hoped she was easy to make understand and that he could understand her. He was beginning to love the batty woman and didn’t want to have to strangle her. He sat her down in the kitchen with his family around and a couple of men who had come with Cait. Men with nice suits and guns under their arms.

“You tell me what happen to Missy Dane or I hex your twig and berries. Missy Dane be mad, but you make me wait long enough. Split it now, Mister Jamie. I worried.”

“Someone has kidnapped her.” Jamie took Pi’s hands into his. “Dane said to tell you she loved you and that you were right. Do you know what she meant?”

“She tell you how much she love Pi?” That made her smile then she frowned. “She said anything else? I need to know. It important.”

“Dane said to tell you she loves you very much and that you were right all along and that you were right about everything. Does that help?”

“It be that bastard Markus. He a weasel of bad kind. He make her sick before. I tell her that he bad man, she no listen. Now we cut his wiener off and make it roast over fire then serve it to him. I no like him.”

No kidding, Jamie thought. He found himself cupping his groin and hoping never to make Pi this upset with him. He looked at his brothers, who were trying not to do the same thing. Cait snorted at them and turned to Pi. Easy for her to say. A man’s “wiener” was all he had.

“Pi?” Cait asked her. “What’s his last name, and do you have a picture of him? I want to find him too and you and I will discuss his demise. Also, how did he make Dane sick before?”

“His name is...train, Miss Dane say. Like a train. He make her sick by making her keep going. It hard for her. No time to rest. He keep sending her stuff to look at. She tell him no more.

I heard her, she say he have to learn to do job himself. You want hear it?”

“Hear it? Yes, I’d like to...train, you mean like the railroad company?” Cait looked at Jamie and he shrugged. He didn’t know. “Or a toy? Can you remember anything else?” Cait followed her into the study, Jamie close behind. He liked this room and wondered if Dane would let him set up his office in here. The smell of cigar smoke made him think of his father and grandfather. Pi walked over to the answering machine and pushed the button.

A man’s voice was leaving a message wanting Dane to call him back immediately. Then Dane answered him. Jamie watched as two men from Cait’s office started taking notes. He read their notes as they wrote.

~CHAPTER 20~

Dane woke to a dark room. The only bit of light was from beneath the door that was just in front of her. She was tied up, her arms up over her head, and she was hanging from them. Her feet were on the floor, but just barely. Every time she tried to move, the rope would cut into her wrists. The gag on her mouth cut into her mouth and lips.

The room wasn’t very big, she could feel that, and she could also feel the others that had been in here, their despair, the pain and the terror. Death was here, all through the room, and even on the gag in her mouth. She tried screaming, but she couldn’t make a noise past the cloth.

Terror made sweat bead on her skin and she could feel it dripping down her back.

Trying to focus on building a wall around her mind, she kept listening to anything that might tell her where she was and if help was available. The room was too loud and the voices of emotion too strong. Her mind simply shut down and she slipped back into darkness.

The next time she opened her eyes, Markus was sitting in a chair in front of her. There was also more light this time. He looked pleased with himself and he had a single red rose in his hand. When he noticed Dane was awake, he stood and brought the rose to her cheek and ran it down to her chin. She tried not to pull away, but he must have seen something and slapped her again. She simply let the darkness take her away.

Keeping her eyes closed this time, she reached out into the room to see if she was alone. Her head hurt so bad that she couldn’t concentrate long, but it was enough to let her know no one living was with her this time. Opening her eyes, she could see that the light under the door was brighter and that she could smell something, some sort of food smell wafting through the air. The odor made her belly jump and she thought she might throw up. Terrified she would kill herself if she did throw up with the gag in her mouth, she tried to breathe through all of it. She took several deep breaths into her nose and tried to think of anything else.

James. He would come for her. Dane knew he would, and Cait would too. They would find her and she would be all right. She had to keep saying that to herself. She couldn’t lose hope.

When a shadow crossed over the front of the door, she closed her eyes and relaxed against the rope. When the door lock was clicked and the brightness of the outer room shone against her eyes, Dane knew the door had been opened. She reached out gently and found Markus and a man she didn’t think she knew. But something was…familiar to her.

“See, I told you I had her. You just need to give me a little more time to acclimate her to my way of doing things. She’ll find your wife and child. I had to hit her a couple of times to get her to listen, but she’ll be ready to work when she wakes up.”

~~~

He sounded so calm, so normal that Dane could almost believe that he was the same Markus she knew. The one who she had worked with all those years.

“Ain’t nothing wrong with hitting a woman to keep her in line. You remember that. And I don’t give a turd’s hell about that brat. I want that woman back. She’s mine and I mean to have her. Nothing gets away from me, unlessin’ I say it can. Don’t know who helped her, but I wanna know that too. Got me some lessons to teach when she comes back. You and that girl there will make sure I get her too or else’n I’m gonna make you sorry you were born. Got me, boy?”

“Oh yes, Mr. Ormond. Dane and I are a team now. We’ll deliver. Don’t you worry about at thing.” Markus’ voice sounded slightly afraid and she could feel his fear of the other man too.

Dane waited until she heard the lock click before she opened her eyes. An urge to giggle caught in her throat. They actually locked the door and she was tied up like a Thanksgiving turkey. Did they expect her to cut herself down and then get away? she wondered. The room was screaming at her again and it was beating at her mind like a thousand little knives. She needed to get out of here or she would shut down. And she doubted that Markus would be calling Pi for instructions on how to wake her. Working at building the wall, she tried to concentrate. But pain was taking its toll on her too. She needed to work harder, she realized, before she went somewhere she couldn’t return from without help.

When Markus came in later, Dane was fighting the demons. She could feel eight different tragedies in this room. There were no windows and he had painted the walls flat black; the smell of fresh paint stung her nose. Her arms ached and she was pretty sure she was bleeding from somewhere on her face. The blood was dripping onto her chest and spilling down her shirt. Using every bit of her energy, she focused on Markus and what he was saying.

“You’ll do as you’re told, Dane, or I will punish you.” He snarled at her. “I know what to do to keep you in line. Your mother did it to you and look what happened. I’ll start out slow for you.

I know I hit you too hard, but you must learn to listen.” He put a cloth next to her face. It was too close to see, but she could smell the blood all over it. She tried to jerk away from it, but she couldn’t move. Screaming behind the gag, she reached for anyone she could touch and begged for help. When the cloth touched her face, she lost consciousness.

The cold water brought her awake screaming. It was only a small amount, probably just enough to fill a glass, but she wasn’t so deep yet that it wouldn’t work to bring her around. The first thing she noticed was that her shirt was gone and the second, there was someone else in the room with her besides Markus. He was sane…sort of, but he was evil. And she did know him.

The moment she realized who he was, she began to scream behind the gag and struggle to get away.

“Ah Dane, decided to join us did you? Good. This will be you’re first lesson in learning to obey me. I guess you know who this is, don’t you. Remember? He helped your mommy all those years ago right before you disappeared. It took me forever to find him. But he’s been so busy since those days. It seems he’s developed quite a taste for the whip. Haven’t you, Carl?” Markus’

laughter made her sick. “I’m going to leave you two alone to get reacquainted.” Dane started screaming again the moment the door closed behind Markus. Carl moved up behind her and started touching her with something. Her body reacted to the contact by convulsing and jerking. The power of the emotions on it ripped through her mind and body like a freight train. Death. So much death. He’d killed so many with this whip.

“You were such a willful child.” His voice was so soft and low. “Your mother paid me so much money to hurt you. I wanted to tell her I’d do it for free, but I like spending the money on whores and drink. Makes me horny to hit, to make someone bleed. I’m going to put a matching set of scars on your back, baby girl. You’re going to remember me every time you look in the mirror. And Markus don’t care none. He don’t wanna fuck you, he said. He said so long as I don’t hurt your head, I could have as much fun as I wanted.” The first slap of the whip took her breath away. His laughter tore at her memories and she tried to slide into a light place that she went when the world around her got to be too much. She was too weak, the loss of blood, the room, and the bombardment of it proved too much. By the time Carl had delivered his tenth blow to her back, Dane had slipped into a deep hole. And unless she got help soon, no amount of water was bringing her back. And she was at the point by then that she didn’t care.

~~~

Jamie read the notes from the answering machine. They were verbatim and they were precise.

Man: “Dane, if you’re there, answer the fucking phone. I’ve had enough of this. I need you to help me find a woman and her child.”

Danish: “I’m here. Markus I can’t do this anymore. I’ve had enough. I’ve had the week from hell and I—”

Man: “What’s happened? I haven’t heard from you all week and now you’re telling me you’re done. I’m afraid I can’t let that happen, Dane. I’ve a great many people depending on me.”

Danish: “Depending on you? How on earth are they depending on you? I thought your team knew about me. You said they all worked hard on keeping me out of the media. Are you taking credit for what I’ve been doing?”

Man: “Are you kidding? I’d have to share the proceeds if I did that. No, baby, it’s all you and me. We are going to clean up the streets with your power and my smarts.” Danish: “I’ve never charged a single person for my help. I told you that. But you have, haven’t you? You’ve been charging for my help and taking the money. Christ, I’ve been doing this for eight years, paying for my own plane fare to come to you, and you’ve been making a profit? How dare you?”

Man: “Damn right I dare. I dare a great many things. You’d be well to remember that, Swedish Danish Messenger. Yeah, I know all about your mother and her methods to control you.

The way she would lock you in that dark room until you begged to come out. Well, I’ve got my own little dark room just waiting for you. And if I have to come for you, you’ll be very sorry.” Danish: “Fuck you, Markus. You come near me and I will kill you.” Phone disconnects.

“This is a long enough call that we could trace it, but it’s a cell phone. He did call her from here somewhere in Ohio. It was about ten miles from where she lived when she received it. But that was five days ago. If he has her, and I’ve no doubt that he does, it’ll have to be in a place that will be secluded. He talks about a dark room. Do you know what that might be, Mr. Grant?” Jamie looked up from the transcript of the call. He had to ask the officer to repeat it. This man had his Dane.