Chapter 25
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
While Dana reclined on the bed, Nolan worked at the sink, thinking through everything that had happened. The twins weren’t likely to release him until this thing was over, he knew that much. Even now they were probably watching, getting a kick out of seeing him washing the dishes. He could only imagine the labels they’d assigned to him. Pushover. Dumbass. Pussy . At least now he had total clarity. For so many years he’d excused their behavior. Not anymore. Even though they were blood, there was no love there. If he was completely honest, he didn’t even like them.
A sick feeling came over him as he realized his fingerprints were now all over this motel room, and in the other one as well. Watch, all three of them would be prosecuted for kidnapping, and they’d wind up in the same cell block. His own personal hell. And for what? Being too kind. He’d been overly compliant and unreasonably enabling.
The saying “no good deed goes unpunished” had never hit so close to home.
After Nolan rinsed off the last dish, he considered his next course of action. He’d left his phone next door in the other room. Just forgotten it on the table, like a complete idiot. He shook his head, wondering how he could have done such a thing. He had his wallet in his back pocket, not that he could charge or buy his way out of here. The windows were barred in Dana’s room, and he had no tools. The vent in the bathroom was too small. Was it possible to cut up the drywall with a butter knife and burrow into the other side of the wall, to command central, the room that didn’t have bars on the window? In theory yes, but in an echo of The Shawshank Redemption , it might take a very long time. Plus, his cousins would see him doing it.
But maybe they’d come into the room to stop him, and he could overpower them and break free? No, he realized, they wouldn’t try to stop him. They’d just watch on the screen and laugh themselves into hysterics.
Meanwhile, Dana had the TV back on and was channel-flipping once again. She let out an exaggerated sigh and shut it off. “I have to say, I’m not giving this motel a good Yelp review.”
“Neither am I,” Nolan said, pulling the plug out of the sink to let the water drain. “Zero stars.”
She shook her head. “You can’t do zero stars. One is the lowest.”
“Okay then. One.”
Next door they heard the music shut off and the door fly open, hitting the inside wall. Pete and Hunter were carrying on for some unknown reason. They didn’t really need to have a reason, though. Nolan had seen them react that way when one of them had successfully lobbed a crushed beer can into the garbage.
Dana sat up straight. “Something’s happening.”
As they listened, they heard Pete say, “Get this, in two hours we’re gonna be rich.”
“Oh yeah!” Hunter responded in a voice so clear he may as well have been in the same room with Dana and Nolan.
Nolan turned to Dana. “Could you hear us that well the whole time?”
“Every word.”
They heard Nolan’s cousins go back and forth, in and out of the room. The two weren’t talking, so his best guess was that they were moving something. A few minutes later, a car pulled up near the building and gave a short blast of the horn before it sped out of the parking lot. Shortly afterward, they heard another car engine drive nearby and onto the road. Dana tilted her head. “Did they come back, or was that a different car?”
“I’m not sure,” Nolan admitted.
“Do you think they both left?”
“Yes. They do everything together.” That was their one constant in life. Hunter and Pete lived together, worked together, and schemed together. It was almost unheard of for one to do something without the other.
Dana said, “They said they’re going to be rich in two hours. What do you think that’s all about?”
“We’re a two-hour drive from River Point, so that must be where they’re headed.” Nolan said. “They must have gotten word that your brother could come up with the ransom money after all.”
“Or maybe Courtney agreed to pay.”
“Either way, if they heard the ransom was going to happen, they’d be going to get it.”
Dana snapped her fingers. “Wait a minute. Aren’t they supposed to trade me for the money? Isn’t that how it usually works?”
“Usually,” Nolan admitted. “But those two geniuses came up with a plan wherein they’d get the cash and then release you afterward. They wanted more of a sure thing.” Now that they were gone, he could try breaking through the drywall without them watching. It was a long shot, but it was worth a try. He had to do something. What if they never came back? Once the food ran out, he and Dana could die in this dingy, dark motel room. It was true that he’d wanted to meet the author, but he wasn’t planning on having it be the last thing he ever did. “We need to get out of here,” he said, going to the drawer next to the fridge and pulling out a butter knife.
“I’d agree with that statement.” She picked up her purse as if ready to leave already. “Did you have something specific in mind?”
He held up the butter knife. “I was thinking I could cut the drywall and dig my way to the other side to get out.”
She twisted her mouth in thought. “That sounds like a plan, but won’t that be a lot of work and take a long time?”
“Yes, but I’ll be doing the work, and as it turns out we’ve got nothing but time.” He felt energized by having a plan. It was better than sitting there waiting.
“Not good enough,” she said, quoting Rebecca Cavanaugh. “You might have time, but I don’t. I’m tired of being here.”
“I could use a butter knife to try to unscrew the bars from the windows.” Whoever installed them on the inside wasn’t that smart. It would take some time, but if the screws weren’t too tight, he thought he could eventually remove the security bars.
“That sounds kind of involved. Also time-consuming and a lot of work.” She sighed. “I’d rather do something more immediate.”
“You have another idea?”
“You bet I do.” She sat down on the bed and rummaged through her purse. Eventually, she pulled out a tube of lipstick. She held it up triumphantly.
Nolan assessed it dubiously. “I wish I knew what you had in mind.”
“Not just regular lipstick.” She took the top off and showed him. “It’s sort of like a mini Taser.”
Nolan held his hands up. “You’re not planning on using that on me, I hope?”
“Not at all. I was planning on using it on your cousins if I had to, but that’s not an option now.”
“They might come back.” Even to his own ears, he sounded doubtful.
“Not soon enough, and I’m not staying for another minute. Enough already.” Dana went back to looking through her purse until she found a large paper clip and a plastic pen. She went to work, tucking the wire under the clip, unfolding the paper clip, and wrapping it around the plastic barrel of the highlighter until the sides had even protrusions. When she was finished, two wires stuck out parallel to each other like a two-tined fork. “Ta-da!”
“Now what?”
“You’ll see.” She went over to where the lamp was plugged in and lined the two wires up to the openings in the other half of the wall socket.
“I don’t think that’s a good—” Before he could finish, the room went dark except for a brief moment when sparks flashed from the outlet. After that, he couldn’t see anything at all. It was disconcerting to be plunged so quickly into complete darkness. Good grief, this had gone from bad to worse. Not only were they still trapped, but now they couldn’t see.
“Try the door now.” Her command cut through the blackness.
Nolan fumbled his way to the motel room door and pulled on the handle. Without much effort, it swung toward him. Apparently, an electric lock without electricity wasn’t a lock at all. He blinked in the sudden brightness of daylight. “How did you know to do that?”
“It was obvious,” she said. “Now let’s go.”