“Why are these men here with you?” Richard Linbar asked. “Has Maggie Winter not been found yet?”
“No,” Chief Blake said.
“I don’t understand why you have come back, Chief Blake. I told you last night everything I know. I’ve tried over and over to ring Noel, but he’s not picking up. It’s the same with Linda,” Letitia said. “I don’t know where they are and I’m worried. I’ve lost one son, I don’t want to lose another,” she added close to tears.
“I understand that, Mrs. Linbar, but Maggie is still missing, and I need some answers,” Chief Blake said.
“Ask them, and we will answer if we can,” Richard said.
“Did you know Linda and Noel were involved in an affair two years ago?”
The couple looked at each other, and it was Letitia who answered.
“We did, but told Noel to stop, as he was to marry Mary and Linda was already married. To the best of our knowledge he did.”
“And is there anywhere Noel would go to be alone? Any place he’d take Linda where they wouldn’t be found? I need you to think hard about this,” Chief Blake said.
“Nowhere I can think of,” Richard said. “Just that silly bunker he had built somewhere on a piece of property he purchased years ago. He had it put in in case we were under nuclear attack or some such nonsense. His wife thinks he’s quite crazy, as do we all, and refuses to even visit it. But Noel spends a great deal of time there. He often says we’ll be the first to come running when life as we know it ends.”
“I think he goes there for solitude,” Letitia said. “He’s a busy man,” she said loyally.
“Where is it?” Fin demanded. When he had the location, he ran from the house with the others on his heels.
…
It had been dark when Maggie was finally dragged, terrified, from the trunk. She’d been nauseous and had retched several times until she managed to dislodge the glove in her mouth. At least then she’d been able to breathe deeper.
“One word, Maggie, and the glove goes back into your mouth,” Noel said.
The cold made her shiver as they forced her to walk over ground that was rutted from cattle with a gun in her back. How far from Ryker had they driven her? Could she escape? Maggie tried to focus on her surroundings, focus on Linda and Noel, and hope they made a mistake. Torchlight lit the way and showed her the barn up ahead. Old, it looked ready to fall down.
Once they were inside, she watched Noel hand the gun to Linda, who pointed it at Maggie. He then pushed aside an old cart. Dropping to his haunches, he opened a trapdoor. Her heart sank as she realized just how hard it would now be for anyone to find her.
“Why are you doing this?”
“Be quiet,” Linda waved the gun in her face.
She thought about running for it, but knew she’d take a bullet in her back if she did, and she had to still believe there was a way out of this. How, she had no idea, but she couldn’t give up. Fin would find her.
“Inside, then follow Linda down the steps. You say anything and I’ll gag you again, Maggie.”
“You’re going to kill me anyway. Why do I care if you do it now?”
“I’m sorry to say you’re right. We are going to kill you, but not until tomorrow. We have plans to make tonight,” Noel said.
She fought then, kicking out she connected with his thigh and he staggered back a step. But they overpowered her, and she was shoved hard down the stairs.
Stumbling, Maggie fell into the railing. She was then wrenched upright and nudged down the stairs slowly.
“Get in there and enjoy your last night alive,” Linda said. She was pushed into a room and the door locked behind her.
She hammered on it with her fists. “They know what you did! Know you wrote the note and that Noel is A.J.! They’ll come for me, and then you’ll be sorry!”
No one answered her.
“You can’t go back to Ryker now, they’ll know! Soon everyone will know you killed your brother!” Maggie banged on the door until her fists hurt. When exhaustion overtook her, she stumbled to the bed. She’d sleep, just for a while, then she’d think about how she’d escape.
“I’m not a victim anymore,” she whispered into the dark. “Fin loves me, and I love him. We have a life to live.”
