Fear shoved the pain out of the way at his angry scowl.
The last thing she remembered was coming out of the bathroom and seeing Ethan tackle Darren to the ground.
Then pain.
Johann must have hit her over the head and somehow got her into his car with no one noticing.
Maybe Darren was simply the distraction.
She glanced in the side mirror but couldn’t see a four-wheel drive behind them.They were speeding down the road and she turned her attention forward as a massive timber truck headed straight towards them.She shrieked as Johann swerved back into the correct lane just in time.
Chelsea’s heart raced as she fumbled with her seat belt and clipped it in place.Not that it would help much in a head on collision with a truck.
She took three deep breaths before asking, “What are you doing, Johann?”
“I’m showing you what Lilydale could be.”
Confusion made her frown.Did he not realise the police were after him?There was no way for him to salvage this.What did he hope to gain by kidnapping her?
They were going too fast for her to jump out of the car and her head still spun from the blow.She touched the back of it gingerly and winced at the pain.
Had Ethan noticed she was missing yet?He must have and was somewhere behind them or searching for her.Subtly she felt her pockets.Her phone was still there, as was her wallet.If she called him without Johann noticing, he might be able to track her.They were heading south down the highway.How long had she been out?It couldn’t have been long, which meant they wouldn’t be at Honeybrook yet.Perhaps Ethan’s team could stop Johann on the way through.
Johann slowed and made a sharp turn down a side road.Chelsea grabbed the roof to balance herself and winced as the back of her head hit the seat headrest.
Flat farmland was all around them with no houses or cars in sight.
Johann was driving as if someone was after him, but there was no one behind when she checked the side mirror again.Cautiously she slipped her hand into her pocket and drew out her phone far enough to see the screen.
She checked Johann, but his focus was on the road.
“This is all Maggie’s fault,” Johann declared, making Chelsea jump.
That’s right.He’d killed Maggie.Fear and anger filled her in a potent combination.But perhaps she could learn something.She flicked to the recording app on her phone and pressed record.“What is?”
“This whole situation.”Johann waved his hand around.“If she’d sold me Lilydale when I first asked her to, none of this would have been necessary.”
“You mean you wouldn’t have shoved her off a ladder and killed her?”The words shot out before she considered if it was wise to antagonise him.
“That was an accident!”Johann yelled.“I wanted to scare her.”
“You wanted to bully a seventy-year-old woman into selling you the property she’d lived in her whole life?”
“She didn’t need all the space.She was being selfish.”
Chelsea gritted her teeth.“Why not choose somewhere else for your development?”
“Because people want to be close to Perth.It was perfect, and I’d promised my bosses I would get the land.They aren’t people you want to disappoint.”He braked sharply as they came to a T-junction and then turned left onto a gravel road.He drove a little more slowly, probably worried he’d damage his car.
That was right.Johann’s company had ties to organised crime.What would they do to Johann if they realised he hadn’t bought Lilydale?
Would they come after her if he failed?
Real fear filled her as her brain cleared enough to realise the full severity of the situation.
Though Johann was driving slower now, Chelsea still wasn’t sure whether she’d be able to jump out without breaking something.
What other options did she have?
