Chapter 27
Fox’s world returned a little at a time. The first thing he knew was that at least he was still alive. He hadn’t opened his eyes, nor could he hear anything. But he was hot, and if he could feel heat, then he must still be among the living. For how long, he had no idea.
Slowly, he opened his eyes. Everything was blurry at first. Then he saw his legs, then his feet, and finally the concrete floor.
Pain shot through his head as he gently lifted it to look around his surroundings.
Closing his eyes again, he leaned his head against a wall behind him until the worst of it passed.
He was in a room with concrete walls and floor.
In front of him was a wall of glass that looked into some kind of office.
Except it wasn’t really an office; it was more of a meeting room with a table in the center.
His gaze found a large mural on one side of the meeting room.
There was a piece of art in the center with stuff attached to the wall around it.
He couldn’t quite make out what any of it was.
His tailbone felt numb from sitting on the floor. That’s when he realized that he no longer had on any clothes. He could see them piled on the table in the other room in a neat stack. He moved to retrieve them, but something stopped him.
Tracing his body with his hands, he realized he was tethered to the wall. He was free to move his arms and legs, but something around his neck held him in place.
His fingers probed the leather strap at his throat.
It had a lock on the side that he couldn’t break no matter how hard he pulled on it.
He couldn’t even get a finger between the strap and his neck it fit so snuggly.
Looking up, he found a series of pulleys across the ceiling with cables running through them.
There was a part of him that wanted to scream for help, but there was another part of him that dreaded what the screams would bring.
As hard as he searched his memory, he couldn’t remember how he got here. The last thing he remembered was walking into his apartment after leaving the townhome later than normal. He had been finishing the flooring in attic after the rest of the crew left.
Something had been wrong at the apartment. He remembered seeing red before everything went dark. His mind fought to bring it up, but it was no use. His memories were murky at best. The harder he worked to remember, the more his head throbbed.
“Hello?” he croaked. His throat was so dry. How long had he been out? Was it hours or days? “Tell me what you want. I’m sure we can work out something.” The room remained silent.
The glass in front of him looked thick. He wondered, even if anyone was in that room, if they could hear him. His hands reached up to wrestle with the strap again and brushed against something lying on his chest.
“What the hell?” he mumbled. It was something hung around his neck.
He lifted it as far as he could but couldn’t quite make it out.
He knew it was oblong with a relief etched into the surface of the disk.
It hung on a chain that was around his neck under the strap.
He tried to pull it over his head with no luck.
“Not important right now,” he said, dropping the necklace. “What’s important is getting out of here. There has to be something I can use.” His gaze took in the room again. “The only thing in here is me.” He checked every inch of what he could reach of the cable connected to the wall. Nothing.
“Help me,” he screamed. Still nothing.
He gave up, letting his hands flop back onto his lap. Never had he felt so helpless. Though he suspected once whoever took him showed up, that feeling would reach a new level.
The only thing that would save him now was his sister finding him. But how would she even know he was missing? They had never thought about communicating when they weren’t in the same room, but this seemed like a good time to try.
He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Focusing on just two words, help me, he started chanting them over and over. Chances were that wasn’t how it worked, but it was worth a try. It was all he had left. If no one ever came, he would soon die of dehydration. It would be a nasty way to die.
The heat must have helped lull him to sleep, along with the chanting. He woke up with his head slumped toward his chest. His neck felt like it was on fire from the angle.
Something caught his attention in the other room. A man sat in a chair on the other side of the glass. Slowly, he got up and walked to a door cut into the glass. As the man came into focus, Fox was shocked to realize he knew him.
“Edmund?” he rasped. “Holy shit, I’m glad to see you. Help me out of this. How did you find me?” He had a million other questions. All that mattered right now, though, was that someone was here to rescue him.
Edmund casually walked over until he was just out of reach. Then he crouched on his heels with a smile. Fox watched him trying to understand what was happening.
None of this made any sense. Where had Edmund come from? What had happened to him? He struggled again in an effort to put the pieces from earlier together.
“I think there’s a lock on the side. If you can find something to break it with or maybe there’s a key in the other room,” he added, more confused than ever. “At least call for help. My phone should be in my pants pocket in the corner. You can call my sister.”
Edmund simply watched him with interest. He made no move to help Fox in any way. He didn’t even look at the strap around his neck.
Slowly, Fox began to see that Edmund wasn’t a savior sweeping in to rescue him. He was the devil come to torture. Edmund must have recognized the moment Fox realized how much trouble he was in because he laughed.
“You know,” Edmund said. “I think I finally understand what Brooke saw in you. I’ve spent weeks trying to understand.
Not that I wanted her, but I always wondered why she set the bar so low.
I mean, a construction worker? What was she thinking?
But now I get it. Free room and board were a plus, but not enough.
Free babysitting was also a perk. But I think she just wanted something pretty on her arm that she could control. ”
“You’re probably right,” Fox admitted. He couldn’t remember what his sister told him about psychopaths. Did he humor them or push back against them. He was gambling on the former.
“I know she was seeing other men behind my back. I can only assume she needs more than I can give her.” He would say anything if it would get Edmund to loosen the strap.
“From what I heard, she wasn’t the only one sneaking around. Best of both worlds, huh? Exciting, crazy Brooke in one bed. Her sweet, soft sister in the other. Well, you won’t have to worry about choosing which sister anymore. Let’s just say I took care of that little problem for you.”
“What did you do?” Fox whispered.
“Nothing you haven’t dreamed about. Put it this way, nothing should stand in the way of that delectable older sister getting the brat.
But that’s neither here nor there. I have to meet my decorator to pick out furniture for my new loft in,” he checked his watch.
“About fifteen minutes. I’m sorry you won’t get to see how it turned out. ”
The two men stared at each other. One with contempt, the other with amused arrogance. Finally, Edmund pulled something out of his suit pocket. Fox couldn’t help but grab at the bottle of water held out to him. Edmund let out another laugh before standing.
“We’ll talk more in a little while,” Edmund said.
“I hope you’ll look forward to it as much as I will.
” He walked to the glass door before stopping.
“No, perhaps not as much as me. I’m afraid you might be a little too…
choked up.” With another laugh, he walked out of the room.
Fox barely watched him leave the outer office as he took a long swallow of water.
After drinking half the bottle, he recapped it and set it on the floor. Without knowing how long Edmund would wait until he returned, he needed to conserve it.
He tried to adjust his seat with no luck. The strap around his neck wouldn’t budge. His sister hadn’t mysteriously appeared, so he doubted his attempt at telepathy had done anything.
A shimmer in the far corner caught his eye. The shimmer quickly morphed into a person. He should have been more surprised when Memphis appeared in the room. He was so happy to see him, though, that he forgot everything else.
He should have known they would have noticed when he went missing. Hadn’t Knox said that they always took care of their own. But how did Memphis find him?
“Oh hell,” Memphis said. “What have you gotten into? Is there anyone else in here?” Fox shook his head. “Okay. Let’s see what we have then.” He moved across the room to investigate the neck restraint.
“That’s a nasty lock. Let me go see if I can find a key.” Fox watched as he walked through the glass wall into the other room. He could tell there was no key since there was nowhere to hide one. Still, Memphis combed the room before returning.
“I think I know where the evidence your sister is missing turned up. That wall is an ode to past victims. We just have to figure out how to release his current one right now, however.” He walked through the wall Fox was restrained against.
“Okay, I at least have a name on the side of the building. Don’t know if that will help,” he continued once he popped back inside. Fox would have jumped had he not been tethered to the wall.
“I think it belongs to an Anderson family. It looks like a warehouse. The sign was old, so who knows,” Memphis added.
“Edmund Anderson,” he said. “It was Edmund. He was just here. He said he’ll be back later.”
“Now that’s something they can use. Will you be okay if I go back for long enough to get this information to Knox?”
“Yeah, I’m not going anywhere. He said he was meeting a new decorator to pick out furniture.”
“Do you know who that is?”
“No. I only met the designer his mother hired. She might know. Her card is in my truck.”
“I’ll pass that on. I’ll be back when I can. Don’t give up.”
“I won’t. And, Memphis,” he said before Memphis could shimmer away. “You don’t have to come back. I know the toll it takes on you firsthand.”
“Psst. Piece of cake,” Memphis answered with a smile as he disappeared.
Fox wanted to scream for him to come back, so he wouldn’t be alone. But he was already gone. Besides, without help there was no way he was escaping this.
He tried to relax, but his mind turned to Brooke. What did he mean when he said he took care of the obstacle blocking Bailey from gaining custody of Ethan? That was basically what Edmund said wasn’t it?
Had he been one of the men Brooke was seeing behind his back? He wouldn’t put it past her. He knew she had always been scheming to land a rich man. He was just a stepping-stone on her way up.
Thoughts of what could have happened to Ethan if he had been there swept through his mind. He quickly pushed them away though. Those thoughts would drive him mad if he wasn’t careful.
If only Memphis would return, he wouldn’t have to wait to die alone. No, he couldn’t think like that. Dover would find him in time. He just had to keep telling himself that.
His eyes were slipping closed again, he guessed from whatever drugs were still in his system, when the outer door opened. Edmund stepped inside and walked quickly to the glass door.
“Unfortunately, our time has to be cut short. It seems someone is putting ideas into your sister’s brain. She called our office asking about properties near the wharf. I don’t know how she found out, but I have to leave immediately on an extended vacation.”
He walked over to a box on the wall. Taking out a key, he opened a panel on the front and flipped a switch inside. Then he slammed the panel closed. Fox felt the strap around his neck tug upward.
“It’s a shame. I was really looking forward to our time together. I’ll just have to see your demise in my dreams now. What delicious dreams they will be. Now,” he said, squatting in front of Fox again. “Try not to struggle. It will be better that way.” With a final laugh, he left the room.
Fox used his hands to pull against the cable over his head.
It responded by tightening a little more lifting him off the floor slightly.
He managed to get his knees under him before he was strangled, but that just made the cable inch upward again.
Before he knew it, he was having to stand to take the pressure off.
“Stop,” Memphis said, appearing out of the corner again. He quickly moved until he stood eye to eye with Fox. “I know it’s hard but stop moving. I think this thing has some sort of system that reacts to movement. The more you fight, the tighter it will get.”
Fox stopped fighting and became completely still. He felt a tear roll down his cheek.
“I know, but I’m with you. I’m not going anywhere until they get here. Trust me, Dover is running every lead to find you. There are cops swarming all over this city looking for this building. She’ll find you.”
Fox didn’t dare nod that he understood.
“All we have to worry about right now is if Knox will burn Boston to the ground to find you. He’s got a pretty impressive knot on the back of his head, but a bleeding head wound has never stopped him in the past.”