Chapter 2 #2
She stepped off the elevator first and glanced around.
Cole gave her his arm as he led the way.
The plush box held four seats, lined up in a single row, so every seat had an unobstructed view of the stage below.
He walked all the way to the end.
She followed him and sat next to him. Her gaze was on the floor below as it filled with theater patrons, searching for any threat.
“Excuse me, are these seats taken?”
She turned to see a young man in a suit and a woman, in a black sheath cocktail dress.
Cole turned to them. “Yes, this is a private box. You’ll have to leave.”
“I don’t think so, Mr. Kincaid.” The man started to open his jacket.
In an instant, Regan was out of her seat and in the man’s face. The fingers of her right hand grabbed his neck, digging into the carotid artery. “All I have to do is pull and you’re a dead man. Is that what you want?” Her left hand was raised into a fist and aimed directly at his nose.
“N…no. Please, let me go.”
She noticed Cole had subdued the woman, pulling her arm behind her back with his left hand, capturing her wrists. “Cole, call for the police. We have an attempted murder here.”
The man was probably in his late twenties. With wide eyes, he repeated, “Please, just let us go. We won’t bother you again.”
Muscles straining, she applied more pressure. “Why don’t I believe that?”
Cole held his phone at his ear. “Yes, I need police at the Buell Theater. We’ve had an attempted murder. The box seats. My name is Cole Kincaid.” He listened.
“We weren’t going to murder you,” the young man pleaded. He raised his hands.
Regan squeezed. With her left hand, she checked his front pockets and found them empty. “Keep your arms at your sides and your hands in your front pockets.
“Okay. Okay.” He dropped his hands and put them in his pockets.
“Now,” said Cole. “What are your names, and what were you doing here, if not to murder me?”
The man swallowed hard. “I’m Jerry Sykes and this is Wanda Singleton. We just wanted you to come with us?—”
“So you could murder him elsewhere?” Regan squeezed again.
“No! No! It’s not like that. We figured, if we could just talk to him, we’d get him to see our side of things,” said Jerry. His forehead was sweating. “I don’t want to go to jail. Please.”
“Maybe you should have thought of that before you came into this box.” Regan used her left hand to pat down the front of Jerry’s jacket.
She found what she was looking for. A small, two-shot derringer.
“So, you needed a gun just to get him to listen to you. This is not looking good for you, Jerry. Cole, does she have a purse?”
“Yes, a small evening bag.”
“Search it.”
Cole looked at Wanda. “You’ll sit in the chair I was in, hand me your bag, and then sit on your hands, and you won’t move from that position.”
“Okay.” Wanda trained her gaze on Cole.
With her peripheral vision, Regan saw Cole open the purse. “Well? Is she armed?”
Cole held up a taser. “Yes, I’d say she’s armed.”
Eyes wide, Jerry tensed.
Wanda looked at Cole and then at Regan. “It was just for show. We never would have used them.”
Regan huffed out a laugh. “Yeah, I bet the police will want to hear all about it.” She leaned forward and whispered, “Jerry, you better hope the police are more forgiving than I am, because I don’t believe you, at all.”
Jerry grimaced. “It’s true. We only wanted to talk to him.”
“In the middle of a musical? Sorry I still don’t believe you.
” Regan gave his neck a little squeeze. “What were your actual plans? Tell me now.” She squeezed harder.
“Are you getting a headache yet? It’s because I’ve almost cut off the blood to your brain.
Do you want me to shut this side completely?
Let’s try it shall we? Maybe then you’ll start telling the truth.
” She squeezed a little harder this time.
“Okay. Okay.” Jerry started to pull his hands from his pockets.
“Don’t.” Regan narrowed her eyes. “You try that again and I’ll make you very sorry.”
His eyes widened. “Okay. I’ll be good.”
Regan was not in the mood for anymore lies. “Now, let’s start again. Why did you want to kidnap Mr. Kincaid, if not to kill him?”
“We wanted him to make a statement about how he was at fault for the oil spill.”
“But Mr. Kincaid says he wasn’t at fault and you know that, so, why do you really want to kidnap him?”
Jerry moved to stand straighter and stared at Regan with his eyes narrowed.
The look he gave her told her it was not just about getting the statement.
He definitely wanted to kill Cole. He was the one who wanted to make a statement.
“To get more people to our cause. We don’t want anyone hurting the environment. ”
She stared back. “I don’t believe that for a minute. You wanted to kill him; I can see it in your eyes. I would suggest you get a very good lawyer.”
Finally, the police arrived and took Jerry and Wanda into custody after confiscating their weapons.
An officer approached them. “Mr. Kincaid, what’s going on?”