Behind Closed Doors (33 page)

She also realized that meant no one was likely to find them. Chris and Paul thought they were at the restaurant. It was possible they wouldn’t finish at the courthouse in time to come looking for her, and wouldn’t realize something was wrong until she didn’t show up again at one.

Looking around, she didn’t see anything that could really help her. The minimal furnishings and sleek modern design Jared favored didn’t leave many options she could use to escape.

Panic started to rear its head, but she tried to breathe through it. If she wanted any chance of getting out of this, she had to keep her wits about her.

Ripping fabric brought her attention back to Stephanie, who had a pile of what looked to be clothing in front of her, and she was slowly shredding it.

She was about to ask Stephanie what she was doing, but thought better of it. She’d learned from experience that it was often best to be invisible in these types of situations.

Her mind raced, trying to figure out exactly what was going on and why Stephanie was doing this. If she could figure that out, maybe she could find a way to use it to her advantage. She didn’t have a lot of options.

It made no sense. Stephanie had always been the one person Elizabeth could talk to. The one person Jared never had a problem with; in fact, he encouraged it. They were here in the downtown apartment, and Stephanie had a key.

The wheels in her head came to a complete halt as all the puzzle pieces fit together. She knew it was probably better to keep her mouth shut, but she needed confirmation. “It was you. You were the one underneath Jared’s desk. You were the one he was having an affair with.”

Stephanie gave her a sinister smile. “You always were a slow learner. Jared said you’d never figure it out, and if you hadn’t busted into his office that day, you never would have.”

Knowing Stephanie had been the other woman, hurt. It also explained a lot. The one person she’d thought of as her true friend in her former life was the one who committed the ultimate betrayal. “How long?” she asked, feeling cold again despite the hot sun streaming in through the windows.

Stephanie just laughed, never pausing in her continued destruction of the material in front of her. “You were a toy, Elizabeth. A pawn. Only you thought you were anything more. Jared certainly never did. He needed a wife to parade in front of his colleagues that he could keep in line, and you fit the bill; meek and moldable.”

She thought back to all those nights he’d spent in this apartment. All the nights he’d worked late.

The click of heels brought her attention back to Stephanie who was walking toward her, material in hand. It was then she recognized what Stephanie had been ripping up. Her dresses. The ones Jared had bought her. She remembered that not quite right feeling when she’d looked in her closet after the break in. Now she understood. What wasn’t making sense was why she’d taken her clothes.

Stephanie knelt down so that she was at her eye level, and ran her manicured fingernail from Elizabeth’s temple to her jaw. “I’m going to enjoy killing you.”

Elizabeth’s eyes widened as a jolt of fear surged through her. Her gaze darted around frantically looking for anything that could help her. She could tell by the look in Stephanie’s eyes that her time was running out. She didn’t want to die.

Stephanie laughed and stood. “I wonder how your little boy toy will feel when he finds you’ve taken a nosedive from your dead husband’s condo. Do you think he’ll be sad?” Stephanie pouted mockingly.

She was stunned. How had she never seen this side of Stephanie? How had she not known she was psychotic?

“Chris will never believe that I jumped. Neither will the police.”

“Sure they will. I’m not stupid, you know. That’s why I’m setting the scene. You’re going to leave a suicide note and everything.” Stephanie continued to laugh as she moved around the condo, preparing for Elizabeth’s fake suicide.

Reality set in. Stephanie could actually pull this off. She could kill her. Whether she got away with it or not was irrelevant.

The words Chris had spoken to her the night they declared their love came back to her with complete clarity.
“Don’t ever leave me.”
His desperation had cut straight to her heart, then and now. She couldn’t leave him. She’d promised. With a sudden desperation, she looked around the room again, trying to find an escape, a weapon, anything. She was a survivor, and she was going to find a way to survive this.

Giving his statement had taken much longer than Paul had expected. Being an out-of-state cop seemed to complicate things for some reason. By the time Chris burst into the room, it was almost one o’clock.

He followed Chris back out into the hall without questioning what was going on. Chris was acting like a man on a mission, and for now, Paul was content to follow him.

The hallway was full of people, just as it had been earlier. He watched his brother’s eyes scan the crowd and knew he was looking for Elizabeth. There was no sign of her or her lawyer.

He turned on his phone and realized he had ten messages. The first was from Detective Stephens telling him what he’d found out about Stephanie Manning. He now understood why Chris was acting frantic.

Just as he was about to suggest to Chris that they go downstairs and locate a police officer, he saw Elizabeth’s lawyer exit the elevator followed by two uniformed officers; none of them looked happy.

Chris noticed them too. “Is she with you?” he asked.

“No.”

“She has to still be with Stephanie,” Chris said.

“Agreed.” Paul turned to the officers. “Ms. Manning said they were going to a restaurant near here called Lugi’s. Do you know it?”

The two men wrinkled their brows before the one on the left answered. “There’s no restaurant by that name near here. Nearest one I know of is near campus and that’s a good five miles.”

Chris let off a string of curses.

Paul rubbed a hand over his head. “This isn’t good. She’s with Stephanie.”

“We’ve got to find her.”

Paul turned to the officers. “Can we get a look at the security cameras? We know they were in the building less than an hour ago.”

“The judge will be back soon, and I need to tell her what’s going on,” Mr. Frederick said.

“You do that,” Paul said. “Also, see if the judge will agree to hold Mr. and Mrs. Carter for us. We don’t know if they’re involved.”

The ride down to the basement took too long in Chris’s opinion. Elizabeth was somewhere with a woman who had stalked her, broke into her apartment, and threw blood all over her bedroom wall. This same woman sat beside him last week and only pretended to be her best friend while they ate breakfast. The woman obviously had a screw or two loose.

Thankfully, with the two officers beside them, they made it through the security check without too much difficulty. The security room was big with wall-to-wall monitors. It didn’t take more than a minute to pull up the footage of Elizabeth with Stephanie Manning walking through the building and out a side door.

Chris’s chest constricted. He needed to find her.

“Do you have any cameras outside?” Paul asked.

“Only on the front of the building.”

“There are some outside cameras on the other buildings around here, but accessing them will take time.”

“Time we don’t have,” Chris said, already moving toward the door.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Paul said.

“I need to talk to the Carters. They live here. They run in the same circles as Stephanie. Maybe they have some idea where they’ve gone.”

“They may not talk to you.”

The look in Paul’s eyes said it all. Chris was grasping at straws, and he knew it. “I can’t lose her, Paul. I just can’t.” Without another word, Paul clasped his brother on the shoulder and they both trekked back upstairs to see if they could weasel any information out of the Carters.

When they walked into the courtroom, things were not looking good. “Give me one good reason, Mr. Frederick why I shouldn’t hold your client in contempt.”

“I’m sorry to interrupt, Your Honor,” Paul said, coming forward. “I think I can shed some light on this if you would allow me.”

“And you are?”

“Detective Paul Daniels of the Indianapolis Police Department. I’ve been working with Detective Stephens of the Springfield P. D., investigating crimes committed against Ms. Marshall. She’s been receiving threats recently.”

The judge glanced down at the papers in front of her again. “Springfield is where Ms. Marshall currently resides?”

“Yes.”

“And why is the Indianapolis P. D. involved?”

“They aren’t. My brother, Chris, lives in the apartment above Ms. Marshall. I became involved at his request about a month ago.”

“I see,” the judge said. “Please proceed, then.”

Paul kept to the facts as he filled the judge in, but it still took time, time that Chris knew they didn’t have. The judge motioned to the bailiff and handed him a note.

“We have reason to believe that the Carters may have some idea as to where Ms. Marshall is.”

“Like I’d tell you anything even if I knew,” Abigail said.

The judge narrowed her eyes. “Mrs. Carter! I will not tell you again to watch your tone in my courtroom. And I might add that if you do know something about Ms. Marshall’s whereabouts and fail to share them, you could be charged as an accessory to kidnapping if something happens to Ms. Marshall.”

That and the two police officers who stepped into the room seemed to bring her up short as she looked desperately to her husband and lawyer.

Mr. Haines finally said, “Try Jared’s old condo. It’s only about three blocks from here.”

The lawyer swiftly wrote down the address, and Chris grabbed it out of his hand and ran for the door, Paul and the two police officers hot on his heels.

“Hey!” Paul yelled, running down the hall after him. “Where do you think you’re going?”

Paul held the door to the elevator open. “Get out of my way, Paul.”

“You can’t just go storming over there halfcocked. You need to leave this to the police.”

Chris took a deep breath and looked his brother straight in the eye. “What would you do if it were Melissa?” He knew it was a low blow bringing Paul’s wife into this, but Chris didn’t have time to argue. Instead of stepping back and letting Chris go, Paul jumped inside the elevator with him along with the two police officers. “What are you—”

Paul cut him off as they began their descent to the lobby. “You asked what I would do, and you’re right. But I’m not letting you go alone. You’re my brother. If things get dicey, keep your head down.”

Elizabeth wasn’t having much luck in freeing herself. The only positive was that Stephanie seemed preoccupied with whatever she was doing and wasn’t paying her any attention.

All that changed in an instant. “Okay then. Are you ready? I don’t want to keep you tied up,” Stephanie said, cackling at her own joke.

Elizabeth tried to make it difficult as Stephanie pulled her to her feet and then pushed her onto the balcony outside. She tripped over a chair and landed hard on her right arm.

“Oh, don’t worry,” Stephanie said. “A few more bumps and bruises won’t matter when they scrape your body off the pavement.”