business.”
“Perhaps then we can get on with the real plan,” Jacob said.
Chapter Five
Ana felt four kinds of grimy—layers of fearful sweat and exertion, dirt, and emotional smudge. Five layers, if embarrassment counted. She directed Sabel toward the garage under the house because there was no available street parking and Ana didn’t know how far she could walk. Tomorrow she’d have to send Ruben to get her car, if he ever showed back up from his wild night. She gave Sabel the code to open the garage door and watched her glide out of the car to the number pad and back again. There could not be a worse way to spend time with this self-possessed, beautiful, cryptic woman.
The soles of Ana’s feet were thickly bandaged and she wasn’t sure if she could walk across the basement floor on them. The process of cleaning them at the hospital hurt at least as much as running on them, and now they both stung and ached despite the prescription dose of painkillers they’d given her. If Sabel wasn’t here, she’d seriously consider crawling out of the car and up the stairs.
“How can I help?” Sabel asked.
“Could you just go up and open the door for me? I need a sec.”
The other problem with crawling was how many muscles she’d have to use. Her shoulder was sore from hitting the ground and she didn’t want to have to put weight on her arms. She clenched her teeth and stood up. She’d sprinted on the balls of her feet and they’d taken the brunt of the damage, so she put her weight on her heels and hobbled to the stairs. She hated Ruben for a moment for forgetting to reinstall the railing after he’d painted months ago, but she put her good shoulder to the wall for balance and went up one slow step at a time.
If only Ruben were there, he could have picked her up and carried her. She’d texted him a few times from the car, but there was no answer. Clearly his night at the clubs had turned out the way he planned. She’d also sent a quick email from her phone to Detlefsen to let him know that she wouldn’t be in the office that morning. She assumed the police would be contacting him about Helen and he’d have his hands full without worrying about Ana’s absence.
Sabel waited in the hall. She didn’t say anything as Ana continued her painful progress up to the second floor. Ana made it to the bathroom and then paused in the doorway, swaying slightly, because she couldn’t figure out how to turn on the tub and get her clothes off.
“Oh by everything holy, let me help you,” Sabel said.
“But you already—”
“Let you get kidnapped? Took forever to find you? Yes, I’m batting a thousand tonight. Go. Sit.”
The bitterness in her voice surprised Ana. She limped to the closed toilet lid and sat on it. At least she’d used a bathroom at the hospital so she was spared trying to figure out how to navigate peeing, bathing, and Sabel.
“You knew I was going to be kidnapped?” Ana asked.
Sabel turned on the bath water and rinsed out the tub, letting the cold water swirl down the drain.
“You’re going to have to get in first or you’ll soak the bandages,” she said. After a pause she added, “I thought Helen might be in danger. I had no idea it would spread to you. If I’d known more, I’d have warned you. But I should have come with you to Helen’s. If I’d just come with you…Hindsight. It’s hard to know what I should have known.”
Sabel’s gray-blue eyes were storm cloud dark. She held her fingers under the running water for another moment and then turned off the faucet. Ana had too many questions trying to get out of her mouth at the same time. Why hadn’t Sabel come with her? Was it just because they were strangers to each other? Why did Sabel seem to think she could have prevented both of them from being taken? What did Sabel know about Helen? And, when Ana was running at random through an unknown neighborhood, how could Sabel pinpoint her?
She asked the
“Perhaps then we can get on with the real plan,” Jacob said.
Chapter Five
Ana felt four kinds of grimy—layers of fearful sweat and exertion, dirt, and emotional smudge. Five layers, if embarrassment counted. She directed Sabel toward the garage under the house because there was no available street parking and Ana didn’t know how far she could walk. Tomorrow she’d have to send Ruben to get her car, if he ever showed back up from his wild night. She gave Sabel the code to open the garage door and watched her glide out of the car to the number pad and back again. There could not be a worse way to spend time with this self-possessed, beautiful, cryptic woman.
The soles of Ana’s feet were thickly bandaged and she wasn’t sure if she could walk across the basement floor on them. The process of cleaning them at the hospital hurt at least as much as running on them, and now they both stung and ached despite the prescription dose of painkillers they’d given her. If Sabel wasn’t here, she’d seriously consider crawling out of the car and up the stairs.
“How can I help?” Sabel asked.
“Could you just go up and open the door for me? I need a sec.”
The other problem with crawling was how many muscles she’d have to use. Her shoulder was sore from hitting the ground and she didn’t want to have to put weight on her arms. She clenched her teeth and stood up. She’d sprinted on the balls of her feet and they’d taken the brunt of the damage, so she put her weight on her heels and hobbled to the stairs. She hated Ruben for a moment for forgetting to reinstall the railing after he’d painted months ago, but she put her good shoulder to the wall for balance and went up one slow step at a time.
If only Ruben were there, he could have picked her up and carried her. She’d texted him a few times from the car, but there was no answer. Clearly his night at the clubs had turned out the way he planned. She’d also sent a quick email from her phone to Detlefsen to let him know that she wouldn’t be in the office that morning. She assumed the police would be contacting him about Helen and he’d have his hands full without worrying about Ana’s absence.
Sabel waited in the hall. She didn’t say anything as Ana continued her painful progress up to the second floor. Ana made it to the bathroom and then paused in the doorway, swaying slightly, because she couldn’t figure out how to turn on the tub and get her clothes off.
“Oh by everything holy, let me help you,” Sabel said.
“But you already—”
“Let you get kidnapped? Took forever to find you? Yes, I’m batting a thousand tonight. Go. Sit.”
The bitterness in her voice surprised Ana. She limped to the closed toilet lid and sat on it. At least she’d used a bathroom at the hospital so she was spared trying to figure out how to navigate peeing, bathing, and Sabel.
“You knew I was going to be kidnapped?” Ana asked.
Sabel turned on the bath water and rinsed out the tub, letting the cold water swirl down the drain.
“You’re going to have to get in first or you’ll soak the bandages,” she said. After a pause she added, “I thought Helen might be in danger. I had no idea it would spread to you. If I’d known more, I’d have warned you. But I should have come with you to Helen’s. If I’d just come with you…Hindsight. It’s hard to know what I should have known.”
Sabel’s gray-blue eyes were storm cloud dark. She held her fingers under the running water for another moment and then turned off the faucet. Ana had too many questions trying to get out of her mouth at the same time. Why hadn’t Sabel come with her? Was it just because they were strangers to each other? Why did Sabel seem to think she could have prevented both of them from being taken? What did Sabel know about Helen? And, when Ana was running at random through an unknown neighborhood, how could Sabel pinpoint her?
She asked the
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