Chapter 29
CHAPTER
THE NEXT DAY, I was too nervous to eat. Three o’clock felt like it would never come. When it was finally time to go, I crushed my mom in a giant hug and promised to visit again soon.
I threw my duffel bag into the backseat of my car; I was planning to head back home to the city after my little adventure at the park.
I wanted to fill Savannah in on everything as soon as possible, and help her start looking for a new lawyer.
I just needed some proof—like a confession—to seal the deal. That’s where Melanie would come in.
I called her to confirm everything before taking off for Sausalito.
She said the meeting with Nora was still on.
That’s when I told her the final part of the deal: right before Nora arrived, she would call me and stick her phone in her pocket.
I wanted to be able to hear and record everything Nora said.
Melanie was to bring up their plan so I could get Nora on record discussing the blackmail and the phony DCS investigation.
Melanie was pissed, but she knew she had no choice.
I reminded her that getting Nora’s confession would help her out too, if the police came after her—it would prove that Nora had blackmailed her, had forced her into all of it.
This was for everyone who had been a victim of the Clarks.
A few minutes before three, as I hid behind a tree some distance away from the picnic table where Melanie sat waiting, I saw a white Mercedes-Benz pull up to the curb and park on the street next to the basketball court.
My phone buzzed—it was Melanie, holding up her end.
I pressed the phone to my ear in anticipation as the woman I knew must be Nora Clark got out of the car and slung her Louboutin tote over her shoulder.
She wore a stylish black dress with a bright pink blazer and black pumps.
Her eyes were hidden behind black, cat-eye sunglasses.
Her energy was sharp and focused. Melanie gave her a little wave as she approached.
“Hello, Melanie,” Nora said in a clipped voice.
“Hi, Mrs. Clark. Thank you so much for doing this.”
“Of course. You are a dear family friend. We care about you.”
Okay, Melanie, here goes. Get her to acknowledge the plan she forced you into.
I heard Melanie clear her throat. A few seconds went by and she cleared her throat again.
What’s going on? She’d better not be chickening out. I carefully peeked around the trunk of the tree at the two of them. Melanie was scratching her arm and looking around nervously. Dammit, Melanie, don’t spook her. Get on with it!
Finally, she said, “I really appreciate you loaning me this money, so I can put a down payment on a doctoral program, Mrs. Clark.”
“Of course, Melanie. You know how highly our family values education. And when you’re all finished, you come see me and Mr. Clark—we’ll see if we can’t find something for you at his law firm, or my real estate firm.”
What? Loaning her money for school? Wait a minute …
Oh no, no, no!
Melanie had played me. She tipped Nora off and they made up a phony story about what the money is for. I swallowed a lump in my throat, trying to hold back tears. My plan is ruined.
A twig snapped somewhere behind me. Someone was approaching between the trees. I watched with wide eyes as the person emerged from the shadows.
“You must be Jenna.”
It was Madison, standing before me with an evil grin on her face. My breath froze in my lungs.
“It’s time to come with me,” she said, and I heard a small, metallic click.
That’s when I looked down and saw the gun in her hand, pointed right at me.
My heart pounded as Madison jerked the gun in the direction of the street and Nora’s Mercedes. I barely felt my limbs move.
My eyes scanned the park frantically, hoping someone would spot Madison with the gun, call 911—but Madison’s coat concealed the gun as we walked side by side. She kept her face calm and smiled outwardly, as though we were just two friends out for a stroll in the beautiful October weather.
Nora watched us walk by, a self-satisfied grin on her face. Melanie looked terrified. I was furious at her for selling me out, and as we passed, I shot her one last look. Please, Melanie, call or text someone for help! Don’t let them get away with this!
What were Nora and Madison going to do with me? Maybe they just wanted to talk, to scare me into keeping my mouth shut. Maybe I’d let them think they’d won; I could cower and cry and make all the promises they wanted to hear, until I could get away and get to Savannah.
Savannah! I had to get a message to her somehow.
We reached the car; Madison opened the door and shoved me into the back seat. Then she shut the door and turned around, her arms crossed at her chest as she waited for her mother. I saw her slip the gun into the deep pocket of her coat. It gave me an idea.
While she was looking away, I angled my body away from the car door and shoved my hand into my pocket, reaching for my phone.
I pulled it out but kept it low, against the seat.
With trembling fingers, I pulled up the photo of Melanie at Starbucks and texted it to Savannah.
I was about to send another message asking her to send help when the door of the car swung open.
I barely had time to turn my head before Madison was shoving a piece of fabric against my face.
A sharp, chemical smell overwhelmed my senses.
My head filled with black storm clouds that pressed down on me, heavier and heavier, until they pushed me over the edge of a cliff, into darkness.
Voices floated in and out of my head. I could hear them, but I couldn’t see them. Who did they belong to? My eyes felt glued shut. There was nothing but black, stretching endlessly in every direction.
“How long do you think we can keep her here?” a male voice asked. Max?
“I don’t know. I really hope no one shows up to tour this house. My mom said there were no other appointments on the schedule today, but since the owners don’t live here, an agent could always just drop by,” said a female voice.
For a moment, everything was silent. Then: “Mom? … Yes, she’s still unconscious … Listen, how long do we have this house? Do you think anyone is going to show up? … Okay, good … Oh, fantastic … Okay, we’ll see you soon.” Madison.
“What did she say?”
“My mom got us a cabin at the state park in Lagunitas. She’s on her way here to help us move everything over there.”
“Oh, okay. But what’s the plan from there? I mean … what are we going to do with her?”
“Look, how much longer until the baby’s due?
November eighth, right? That’s only three weeks away.
I think this birth needs to happen now, Max.
It’s the final piece of our plan—we make it look like Savannah tried to take out both me and Jenna before going into labor at the cabin.
Then she calls you to come get her and the baby, thinking the three of you will be a family.
When you find out what she’s done to me and Jenna, you call the police, and Savannah goes to jail for a long time. Hopefully forever.”
“So, we take out Jenna … and make it look like it was Savannah?”
“Yes. And that she tried to take me out, too. Then she calls you to tell you she’s given birth. When you get to the cabin and see what she’s done, you’re horrified, and call the police. The baby will go home with you, its father, obviously—and Savannah goes to jail.”
“What if she fights back?”
“Then we take her out too! We say it was self-defense. Or that you were trying to save me.”
I heard footsteps that sounded like pacing, and Max muttering to himself. My eyes still felt like lead weights; I couldn’t open them. But perhaps that was better. Let them keep talking. If they think I’m still unconscious, they’ll leave me alone.
“Sweetheart, how are we supposed to make it look like she tried to take you out? I don’t want you getting hurt.”
“I haven’t figured that part out yet … you may need to rough me up a little, sweetie. It’s okay.” I heard clothes rustling and the sounds of kissing. “You know I’m strong. I can take it.”
I heard a whoosh of air as one of them sighed.
“I don’t like this, Madison. I wish we didn’t have to do all this, just to have a baby.
We deserve to have a child. We’d be great parents!
Much better than most of the crappy parents I see out there every day.
I still don’t understand why we couldn’t have just adopted. ”
“We’ve been over this, Max. Adoption is not an option. Not if we want the money and the estate to be ours someday.”
Max gave a low, frustrated growl. “And I’m still really pissed the surrogacy agency rejected us.”
“I agree. I mean, what could we have said that turned them off? How dare they say they have ‘concerns’ about our ‘psychological profile’? Any child would be lucky to have us as parents.”
“I know, babe. I’m sorry.”
“This whole Jenna situation has just screwed everything up. I thought we were done with her!” Madison exhaled forcefully, and I heard footsteps as she paced. “I still don’t know what you even saw in her, Max. How could you ever be attracted to someone like her?”
“I’m sorry … I didn’t care who it was—I was just trying to distract myself from how much I missed you,” Max said.
Madison sighed. I heard a chair scrape against the floor.
“If only it had worked out; if this bitch hadn’t lost the baby.
Then that could have been our baby. We’d already be parents by now.
But then again, she looks nothing like me.
It was definitely a better idea to look for someone who looks more like me.
And now we’re so close. That baby is almost ours.
And then we can finally be rid of both of them. ”
“The one part that worries me, though—how do we make sure Savannah gets the blame for trying to take out you and Jenna?”
Madison sighed. “Maybe we need a witness. Someone that’s solidly on our side. Someone we can trust to stick to the story. Maybe Melanie? We can offer her more money. Hmm … she looked freaked out at the park, though. Maybe Jamie? I don’t know, let me think about it.”
I was finally able to lift my eyelids for a second. The overhead light in the room pierced my brain like a knife. I stifled a moan and managed to get both eyes to stay open.
I was lying on a bed in a bright, airy room. I could see trees in a dusky sky through a window on the wall to my left. Whose house is this? Where am I? I heard footsteps, and shut my eyes again.
A few minutes later I heard a doorbell.
“That must be Mom. Time to get going,” Madison said. “Can you carry Jenna to the car?”
“Sure.”
I heard Max enter the bedroom. I tried to stay calm, but fear made my body start breathing hard, all on its own. The footsteps stopped right by the bed. When I felt hands on me, I couldn’t help it—I screamed, kicking my feet and flailing my arms.
“No! Stop it! Leave me alone! No!”
My foot connected with Max’s face and I heard him yelp. I tried to swing my feet over the side of the bed to get up and make a run for it, but the motion sent a wave of intense dizziness through my brain, and I fell back onto the bed.
“Madison!” Max pinched his nose. A thick trickle of blood oozed between his fingers.
Suddenly, Madison was charging into the room, her features set in grim determination. She barreled toward me, holding a white cloth in her hand.
My vision filled with white, and I caught a whiff of that same acrid smell.
Then blackness took over.