Trapped (A Jenny Watkins Mystery Book 5) Read online

  “Do you forget what I used to do for a living? I can tell by the outside that it’s got to have a basement.” He walked back into the kitchen and opened a door that led to the pantry, where Jenny noted an excessive amount of gourmet cat food stacked neatly, by flavor, with the labels facing outward. It looked like a grocery store. Soon after, Zack opened a second door that was situated near the opening to the living room; indeed, it did have steps that led downward.

  “Good call,” Jenny said, legitimately impressed. As she broke through the threshold of the doorway she felt overcome by a wave of fear that was nearly forceful enough to bring her to her knees.

  Zack sensed her weakness and held her up by her arm. “Whoa. Are you okay?”

  Jenny nodded but didn’t reply to him; instead she called to her grandmother, “Amma! Over here!”

  Ingunn reappeared from down the hallway and headed straight for the basement door. “Indeed,” she said as she started down the steps, passing Jenny and walking with purpose into the cellar.

  Jenny followed her grandmother down the steps, where she was forced to make an immediate U-turn through an extremely narrow hallway into a finished basement that was completely decorated in University of Tennessee memorabilia. Jenny noticed there was no door to the outside; if Tate decided to make an appearance, they would have been cornered. She tried to dismiss that thought, although she recognized the need for rapidity.

  Despite the urgent screams in Jenny’s head, everything seemed perfectly normal upon inspection. The room looked like a typical man-cave: comfy-looking couch, big-screen TV, coffee table. Autographed pictures hung on the walls in various places, including the one wall that was made of ugly vertical wood paneling. She searched around for any evidence that would have suggested the girls had been there, or at least that they had been in contact with Tate. Sadly, she was unable to find such a thing.

  Fear gripped her body, but she wasn’t sure if that was her own or the victims’. Assuming it was the former, she reluctantly announced, “I think we should leave.” Her voice was beginning to sound scratchy.

  “I don’t see anything, either,” Ingunn said, “but the horror is tangible.”

  Jenny looked at Zack, who stood motionlessly as he stared at the wood-paneled wall adjacent to the hall that led to the room. He looked as if he was having a vision.

  “What is it?” Jenny asked him.

  He remained quiet for what seemed like an eternity; eventually he announced, “This can’t be code.”

  Jenny wasn’t sure if she’d heard him correctly. “It isn’t code?”

  Still looking deep in thought, Zack pointed to the hallway they’d walked through in order to enter the room. “The entryway. It wouldn’t be code in any state. It’s too narrow. A builder would have never gotten away with that.”

  Jenny and Ingunn remained silent.

  “And look,” Zack continued, pointing back to the furniture in the room. “This couch would have never fit through that opening. Neither would that coffee table.” He once again looked toward the wood-paneled wall. “This had to have been put in afterward.”

  Suddenly Jenny knew what Zack was getting at. She inspected the dimensions of the square area encompassed with the wood-paneled wall—this very well could have been the outside of the soundproof room she’d seen in her vision.

  “How do you get in?” Jenny asked quickly, looking for a doorway. She was unable to find one.

  Zack didn’t answer at first. He simply looked at the wall, studying it. Taking a few steps forward, he reached out and touched the seams between the panels, tracing his fingers up and down the lines. He glanced back and forth between two hanging autographed photos, stepping forward to look even more closely at the paneled wall. He reached up and removed one of the pictures, revealing a handle imbedded in a recession that was hidden behind the photo.

  “Holy shit,” Jenny said breathlessly.

  Without hesitation Ingunn removed the other photo from the wall, revealing a second handle.

  “Turn it,” Zack immediately directed to Ingunn, who did as she was told. With the release of both handles, a seal seemed to break and the section of the wall between them loosened. Zack used his handle to pull on the hidden door and slide it off to the side, revealing a horrified, dark-haired woman chained to the wall.

  Jenny rushed through the opening to the woman, who had been beaten to the point of being unidentifiable. Her cheekbones were swollen so badly that her eyes were nearly forced shut, and bruises tainted the rest of her face. Kneeling in front of her, Jenny said, “It’s okay. We’re here to help you. What’s your name?”

  The woman could barely speak through her injuries. With a whisper she replied, “Erin Stottlemeyer.”

  Jenny looked back at Zack and Ingunn with wide eyes. That was not the name of the woman who had been reported missing from Richmond. Then a thought occurred to her. Returning her attention to the victim she added, “Erin, what’s your street name?”

  “Michelle.”

  Chapter 20

  Jenny immediately dialed 9-1-1 while Ingunn and Zack ran upstairs for reasons unbeknownst to Jenny.

  “9-1-1, what is your emergency?”

  Although her nerves were tingling, Jenny remained focused. “I’m at 5402 Forest View Lane. We need the police here as fast as possible. We found the missing woman from Richmond; she’s being held here against her will.”

  The woman on the other end of the line sounded as if she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “The missing woman from Richmond who is the suspected victim of the Highway Killer?”

  “Yes ma’am. She’s chained to a wall in the basement of this house.”

  “She’s chained to a wall?”

  “Yes ma’am.”

  “Are you in the house now?”

  “Yes, I’m in the basement with her.”

  “Do you live in the house?”

  “No, ma’am.”

  “Are you also a hostage?”

  “No ma’am.”

  Ingunn returned with a glass of water, rushing quickly to the imprisoned woman. Jenny left the small chamber to give her grandmother more room to comfort Erin.

  The operator continued, “What are you doing in the house?”

  “We came in when we heard screams,” Jenny found herself saying.

  “Is the resident home?”

  Zack came rushing in with a pair of long-handled pruners. “It’s the best I could find,” he explained as he quickly went to work at cutting the chains.

  “No, ma’am,” Jenny said to the operator, “the resident isn’t home.”

  “How did you get in?”

  Jenny saw no sense in lying. “We broke in.”

  “You broke in?”

  Zack grunted as he strained to bring the handles together. “Come on, you little fucker. Break, dammit!”

  “Yes, ma’am. We broke in.” Jenny noticed how eagerly Erin drank from the water glass.

  “Who is with you?”

  “My boyfriend and my grandmother.”

  Zack continued to curse as the chains held strong.

  “You all need to leave that house right away,” the operator said. “You could be in danger. The police are on their way; they’ll handle it from here.”

  Jenny sneezed into the crook of her arm. “The operator wants us to leave,” she announced to her cohorts.

  Zack’s voice reflected his exertion. “I don’t want to leave without Erin.”

  Jenny spoke into the phone. “My boyfriend is trying to free the hostage.”

  “The police can do that,” the operator said with urgency. “You need to get out of that house now.”

  “Zack, we need to leave now.”

  “You two go,” he replied, referring to Jenny and Ingunn. “I want to stay with her.”

  “I don’t want to leave without you,” Jenny said adamantly before succumbing to another sneeze.

  “I’ll be fine.” Zack continued to struggle with the clippers. “But you sh
ould go. Make yourselves safe.”

  Jenny recognized the level of danger, and her allergies were about to do her in. While part of her wished Zack would leave with them, another part of her was glad he wanted staying with Erin. That poor woman had been through too much already; the last thing she needed was to be left all alone, still chained helplessly to the wall.

  “Come on, Amma,” Jenny said. “Let’s get out of here. We can wait for the police outside.”

  Ingunn lowered the glass from Erin’s mouth and patted her leg gently. “Don’t worry,” she said. “The police are coming.”

  Erin nodded subtly with understanding.

  “Stay on the phone with me,” the operator said to Jenny. “Don’t hang up until the police get there.”

  Jenny and Ingunn made their way up the basement stairs, heading back the way they came through the house. As they walked past the picture window, which was once again admired by the cat, Jenny froze.

  “Amma,” she said with urgency, “his car just pulled in the driveway.”

  Ingunn looked out the window and without a moment’s hesitation replied, “Go out the back door. I got this.”

  “I can’t leave you alone,” Jenny insisted.

  The 9-1-1 operator spoke urgently. “He’s there? Is there a way you can get out without being detected?”

  Jenny saw there was indeed a back door, but she was unwilling to use it without her family.

  Ingunn shook her head and held up her hand. “I’m an old woman. I’ll pretend I’m confused and I thought this was my house. You, on the other hand, are just the type of woman he likes to hurt. You need to get out of here.”

  While she didn’t like the idea, she glanced outside to see Hunter Tate exiting his car and walking quickly toward the house. She knew she didn’t have time to argue. “Be careful,” she said as she looked her grandmother in the eye.

  Ingunn flashed a rare smile. “Always.”

  “Are you leaving?” the operator demanded.

  Jenny looked at the back door that led to freedom and instead raced down the basement steps. “Zack,” she said quickly, “he’s here. Tate is here.”

  The voice on the phone sounded distraught. “You have to leave that house now.”

  Zack looked concerned. “Where’s Amma?”

  “She’s staying upstairs. She’s going to pretend she’s a confused old woman. But we need to hide.”

  “Come on,” he said. “Let’s put this door back and make it seem like we were never here.” He looked at Erin. “Don’t worry. We won’t let anything happen to you.”

  The fear in Erin’s eyes made Jenny feel like a monster as she helped Zack put the door back in place and twist the handles. Quickly she and Zack reached down and placed the pictures back on the wall, looking around for a place to hide.

  “The couch,” Zack said quickly.

  “Are you leaving?” the operator asked again.

  “I’m sorry,” Jenny whispered into the phone as she and Zack slid the sofa a little further from the wall. “I have to hang up on you now.” As the two of them worked their way behind the couch, Jenny ended the phone call and lowered the volume to silent.

  She could hear some commotion upstairs, but she couldn’t make out what it was. Dear God, please don’t let anything happen to Amma, she thought as she began a text to Howell.

  In Forest View house. Found Michelle. Tate came home. Ingunn is with him. Zack and I are hiding.

  In an attempt to be able to hear better, Jenny closed her eyes and focused on what was going on upstairs. She could detect footsteps and faint, indiscernible bits of conversation, but little else. Eventually Ingunn’s voice was loud and clear. “But I don’t want to go downstairs.”

  Jenny forced her breathing to become shallow, although she still felt like the wheeze that accompanied each exhale was loud enough to be heard from a mile away.

  “I just want you to get comfortable,” Tate said in a compassionate tone that grew louder as they descended the steps. “Then we can figure out where you belong.”

  “But I want to stay upstairs,” Ingunn said even louder, although she made her voice sound fragile. Jenny knew this was her grandmother’s way of warning them; she only hoped that after all of this was over she’d be able express her gratitude for that.

  “Well,” Tate replied sweetly, “you can have a seat down here for now.”

  Jenny’s phone lit up; it was a text from Howell that read, police are almost there. We’ll proceed with caution. Stay safe. She closed her eyes as she desperately tried to suppress the urge to sneeze.

  For some reason Tate’s demeanor changed dramatically. “That’s what I thought,” he yelled angrily. “Just who the fuck are you?”

  Ingunn continued to have confusion in her voice. “What do you mean?”

  “Those pictures!” Tate shouted. Jenny could only imagine he was pointing to the photographs they had re-hung. “They’re not in the right spot. Don’t even tell me you don’t know what’s going on.”

  Ingunn’s voice reflected genuine fear. “I-I-I…I don’t know what you mean.”

  “Like hell you don’t!”

  At that moment a sneeze crept up on Jenny; despite her efforts to keep it silent, she knew she had made a noticeable amount of noise.

  “Who’s there?” Tate called angrily.

  Every muscle in Jenny’s body tightened; she hoped she could remain silent enough that the sound would be dismissed. However before she knew it, Zack stood up from behind the couch. “I’m here.”

  Ingunn let out a shriek that led Jenny to wonder what had just happened.

  “Let go of her,” Zack commanded as he climbed over the back of the couch.

  “You just stay over there and she won’t get hurt,” Tate ordered.

  “It’s not her you want,” Zack said calmly. “It’s me. She doesn’t know what’s going on.”

  Jenny’s phone lit up again. Police are there.

  Almost simultaneously, the home phone started ringing. The silence between the rings was deafening, seeming to take an eternity.

  The phone eventually stopped ringing.

  Then it started again. The sound was unnerving.

  “I think that’s the police calling,” Zack said quietly.

  More quiet followed, interrupted only by the disturbing ring of the phone. Jenny’s mind raced. What possibly could have been going on in there?

  Finally Jenny heard some commotion, including what seemed to be weak whimpers from her grandmother. Jenny squeezed her eyes closed, overwhelmed with both fear and guilt over what Ingunn was going through. She eventually heard a beep that signaled the phone had been answered. “Hello?” Tate’s voice said.

  A long pause.

  “Well, I’ve got hostages in here. Two of them. So you just keep your distance.”

  Two? Jenny thought. By her account there were three. Then a thought occurred to her. Her thumbs pressed the keyboard on her phone.

  Torture chamber is behind paneled wall in basement. Remove pictures for handles. Michelle is there. Real name Erin Stottlemeyer.

  As she pressed the send button, she took satisfaction in knowing that, at the very least, Erin would be found and properly identified at the end of all of this. She only hoped Erin would be found alive.

  Tate’s voice interrupted Jenny’s thought. “Let me think about this.” Another beep signaled he hung up the phone. “Alright, up the stairs,” he commanded. “And don’t try anything. Your grandma’s life depends on it.”

  Jenny heard the sound of footsteps going up the stairs, followed by eerie silence. She let out a deep, wheezy breath and allowed her body to loosen.

  What to do? She thought. Her presence had gone unnoticed; perhaps she’d be able to maneuver through the house undetected and do something that would help Zack and Ingunn.

  But what?

  Whatever it was, she knew she wouldn’t be able to accomplish it from behind the sofa. Slowly creeping out into the open, she kept her ears alert for
any indication that Tate may be on his way back downstairs. She heard nothing of the sort.

  She tiptoed across the room to the hall that led to the stairwell, flattening her back against the wall once she arrived. A thought occurred to her; she used the phone that was still in her hand to send another silent text to Howell.

  Are you outside? Can you see in the window?

  As soon as she finished her message, the home phone rang again, causing Jenny to nearly jump out of her own skin. She prepared to run back for the safety of the couch if Tate planned to return downstairs, but then she realized that wouldn’t be necessary. The phone had been ringing from upstairs.

  The ringing stopped, and Jenny heard Tate’s angry voice, although she couldn’t make out exactly what he was saying. Her own phone began to glow, causing her to read the screen. Am outside. Can see in living room.

  Hearing that Tate was still arguing upstairs, Jenny replied, Do you see Tate?

  The reply seemed to take forever. Yes. In window. Has grandmother.

  Jenny thought for a moment. If she snuck up the stairs now—while Tate was near the picture window—she could possibly maneuver into the kitchen without being seen. She wanted to take some time to gather herself before she headed up there, but she knew that was time she didn’t have. As quietly as she could, she rounded the corner; a stairwell had never looked so long. One step at a time she crept silently, desperately hoping she wouldn’t get caught. After much too long, she reached the top of the stairs and took an immediate left, taking shelter on the floor behind the kitchen island.

  Once she accepted the fact that she had made it safely, she finally zeroed in on Tate’s words. “I’ll let the guy go, but you won’t get the woman.”

  Jenny looked around for something to arm herself with. She saw the knife block sitting on the counter in front of her, but she noticed it was already missing a knife. Perhaps Tate had it at Ingunn’s throat. She dismissed the thought before it crippled her.

  Quickly she decided against wielding a knife. She doubted she’d be able to win a knife fight against Tate, nor did she think she could actually plunge a blade into a man’s skin if it came down to it. She’d need to come up with something else.