Chapter eighteen
Gianna
After I hung up the phone with Dimitri, I grabbed some of my belongings and headed downstairs to put them in my car. I had put two crates and was putting a third when I felt someone behind me. I didn’t even have a chance to scream for help before I was knocked out.
I had no idea what was going on or how long I had been out, but when I woke up next to Jonas, it took everything in me not to start screaming.
How the hell did I get here? Where the hell were my clothes?
All I had on was my bra and panty. As I laid still for a few minutes as my heart pounded rapidly in my chest, I tried to figure out what to do.
I didn’t want to make any sudden moves because I didn’t want to wake him. I didn’t know what he had planned for me, but I wasn’t going to stay here and wait for him to do it.
Once I built up the courage, I took a deep breath and slowly slid out of the bed.
It was dark as hell in the room, so I wasn’t going to chance searching for my clothing.
I stayed still because I wasn’t sure if he was going to hop out of the bed or not.
Hell, I was scared to move, but I knew I had to get out of here.
As I crept slowly out of the room, I prayed that he wouldn’t wake up. Once I made it to the kitchen, I started looking for keys. I thought about running to the neighbors’ house but didn’t want to go out in just bra and panty.
I opened the door that led to the garage and checked the SUV for keys. Of course, the keys had been removed. I saw the white car parked next to the truck and checked the ignition. Those keys were gone too. I hurried back inside to see if I could find a set of car keys.
God must have been on my side because right there on the counter next to the fridge was a set of keys. One of the keys was for the white Honda, so without thinking twice, I grabbed them and took off back to the garage.
I hit the panel on the wall and the door quietly opened.
I climbed in the Honda Accord and sped out of the driveway.
Being that this was a really good area and subdivision, I knew it wouldn’t take long to find a policeman.
Once I got on the road, I began driving erratically.
I just wanted to do anything I could to gain their attention and get pulled over.
Finally, I saw the red and blue lights behind me. Thanking God, I pulled over and waited for the police to approach me. I hoped he wouldn’t shoot me because this wasn’t even my car or anything. I was partially clothed and confused as hell, but I had to get help.
He approached me and asked, “Ma’am do you know why I pulled you over?”
“Officer, I’m sorry but I was kidnapped!” I cried frantically.
“You were kidnapped?” he asked as if he didn’t believe me. Once he shined his flashlight on my body, then back at my face, he immediately called for backup.
“Don’t go anywhere. I’ll be right back,” he said as he got in his car. A couple of minutes later, he opened his trunk and approached me again. “Are you Courtney Peters?”
“No, my name is Gianna Martinez.”
“Do you know Courtney Peters?”
“No,” I said as my voice trembled.
“Can you step out of the car, Miss Martinez?”
I opened the door and he handed me a blanket to wrap around my shoulders. More police cars pulled up, and they began to exit their vehicles.
“What’s going on Randolph?” asked one of the other deputies.
“I stopped this young lady because she was driving in and out of the other lane. Ran the tags and the car came back registered to a Courtney Peters. She isn’t Courtney Peters. She said her name is Gianna Martinez and that she was kidnapped,” the officer explained.
“What?! You were kidnapped?” the black officer asked.
“Yes,” I said as tears began to fall from my eyes.
“Do you know who kidnapped you?”
“My professor,” I said.
“Your professor? Are you a student?”
“Yes.”
“Do you know Ms. Peters?” the cop asked.
“No. I woke up in a bed next to my professor. I found the keys to the white car on the counter, so I took them and escaped,” I explained.
“So, where is the person who kidnapped you?”
“He was asleep when I left!”
“Was Courtney Peters there too?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t see her,” I said.
“What’s the address of the house where you were being held?” asked the first officer.
“I don’t know it by heart, and I can’t find my phone!”
“Do you know where the house is located? I mean, can you show us where it is?”
“Yes.”
“I’m gonna need you to do that,” the officer said. He opened the back door to his patrol car, and I got in. I didn’t have any clothes or shoes and I had a headache.
As the officer drove back the way I came, a couple of officers stayed behind to wait for the tow truck that was coming to get the white car.
There were several police cars following behind us and as we approached the house I had just fled from I became more nervous. My anxiety level was through the roof.
“This is it right here on the right side,” I said.
“This house here,” he asked as he pointed.
“Yes! Please don’t make me go back in there!” I cried.
“I won’t. I won’t make you go inside. I just need you to sit here and wait until I get back. Can you do that for me?”
“Yes.”
He exited the vehicle, and they all went inside.
I prayed that Jonas was in the house and that he would be captured and arrested.
I wasn’t sure what made him think what he had done to me was okay, but it wasn’t.
I had ended things with him since my grandmother’s funeral, and I meant it.
I couldn’t wait to see Dimitri so I could feel his arms around me.
I just wanted him to tell me that it was going to be alright. About twenty minutes later, some of the cops exited the house. The one who drove the vehicle that I was riding in headed over and got behind the wheel.
“Did you arrest him?” I asked.
“He wasn’t in there. Do you have any idea where he might be?” he asked.
“No! I guess at his house.”
“This isn’t his house?”
“No. It belongs to his cousin who was deployed overseas.”
“What is his full name?”
Even though I gave him that information already, I gave it to him again. Then he said we were heading to the police station.
“Wait! What about my clothes?” I asked. “I can’t go to the police station like this!”
“Where are your clothes?”
“I don’t know. I guess in the bedroom. My phone is there too. I need my phone!”
“Okay. Let me go check the house. I’ll be right back.”
He went inside and returned about ten minutes later with my clothes and shoes. Thank God!
“Are these yours?” he asked.
“Yes.” He handed the clothes to me. “Did you find my phone?”
“Is it this pink one?” he asked as he produced the phone.
“Yes.” He handed it to me as well. “Thank you.”
So, we headed to the police station, and I made the call to Dimitri after I slipped my clothes on. I didn’t want to call him so late because I knew he had to work in the morning, but I had to. There was no way I could go through this shit alone.
“Hello,” Dimitri answered sounding groggy. I hated that I had woken him up, but I needed him.
“Dimitri,” I said as I started crying.
“Babe, what’s wrong? Why are you crying?”
“He kidnapped me!” I blurted out.
“What? Who kidnapped you?”
“Jonas! He kidnapped me!”
“When? Where are you? Have you called the police?” Concern was evident in his voice.
“Yea, but I got away. I’m with the police now. He’s taking me to the police station to answer some questions,” I said.
“Whew! Thank God babe! Are you okay? Did he hurt you?”
“No, he didn’t get the chance to. I don’t know what he would have done had I not gotten away. I can’t believe he did this!”
“I can. I told you that dude was unstable. Let me get dressed so I can head out there,” he said.
“Babe, you don’t have to…”
“I know I don’t but I wanna be there for you.”
“But don’t you have to work tomorrow?”
“Yea, but I’ll call out tomorrow and Friday. It’s cool because I have a ton of vacation and sick time. I’ll hit you up when I get on the interstate,” he said.
“Thanks bae,” I said.
“No thanks needed. That’s what you do when you love someone. See you soon.”
We ended the call and it suddenly dawned on me that it was the first time Dimitri said he loved me. Even though he hadn’t said those three words directly, he still said it and I felt it too. I had been through a horrific experience tonight, but I couldn’t help but smile at what Dimitri had told me.
“Are you okay?” the officer asked.
“I’ll be fine. My boyfriend is driving out here from New Orleans.”
“Oh, you’re from NOLA?”
“Yea. Just out here for school. I’ll be graduating in December,” I said.
“That’s good. Congratulations,” he said.
“Thanks.”
We pulled up to the precinct a few minutes later and he led me inside. Once I was seated, I started to write my statement, but a thought caused me to pause.
“Something wrong?” the officer asked.
“The pregnant girl found in the river…”
“What about her?”
“She used to be a student at the university I attend.”
“Yea, I know,” he said as he looked at me with a puzzled expression on his face. “Do you have any information about her death?”
“I don’t know who killed her or anything like that, but she did come to see Professor Alexander before she disappeared,” I offered.
“Yea, we spoke to him.”
“Oh, so he told you that they were arguing that day?”
“No. He told us she went to see him for some advice. They were arguing?”
“Yes. I was in his office when she barged in. She looked really upset, and once I walked out, I could hear them arguing.”
“Do you know what they were arguing about?”
“No, but I have a feeling that he’s the father of her baby,” I informed him.
“What? The professor!” He sounded shocked by what I said, and his facial expression said it all. “Why do you think that?”
“Look Officer Duncan,” I said as I read his name on his tag. “Professor Alexander has been sleeping with his students…”
“And you know this how?”
“Because I am one of the students that he was having an affair with.”
“So, you were sleeping with your professor?” he asked.
“Yes, for a couple of months. I broke things off with him a few weeks ago, and he’s been acting crazy ever since.”
“You do know he’s married, right?”
“I just found out. The same day Tanya went to see him, his wife also went to see him about signing divorce papers,” I said.
“Wow! This is getting even more complicated.”
“Tell me about it.”
I gave him all the information that I had, and he said he would leave my name anonymous until the district attorney deemed otherwise. A couple of hours later, I was free to go. However, after what had just happened, I didn’t feel comfortable getting an Uber to come get me.
“Would you mind giving me a ride back to my dorm room please?” I asked.
“Oh, sure. No problem.”
Twenty minutes later, I was in the shower and getting ready to lie in bed to wait for Dimitri.
I still couldn’t believe that Jonas had taken shit that far.
I should have listened to Dimitri when he said that Jonas was acting crazy.
I saw in class that he wasn’t the same person I met before, but damn!
I wasn’t expecting him to do what he did to me.
I wondered if Tanya had pushed him too far and maybe he had killed her. This was just too much!
I was not expecting anything like that from Jonas.
He always seemed so poised and well put together.
Well, except for the last two weeks. Over the last couple of weeks, this man had been anything but well put together.
I wondered if that was something he had been taking medication for or what.
Sometimes the way people acted had something to do with their mental state and all it took was a couple of pills to get them back on track.
It made me wonder if I really knew that man at all. I thought I did, but I guess I really didn’t. I just hoped they found him before he had the chance to hurt anyone else.