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  Contents

  Part One: A Kidnapping

  Chapter 1: Holiday Plans

  Chapter 2: Reva is Captured

  Chapter 3: Grabbed

  Chapter 4: Reva is Afraid

  Chapter 5: “Grab her Before She Wakes Up”

  Chapter 6: Down, Boy!

  Chapter 7: A Piece of Cake

  Chapter 8: Sirens

  Chapter 9: A Few Small Problems

  Chapter 10: The Police Move In

  Chapter 11: “He’ll Get us all Killed”

  Chapter 12: Counter Attack

  Chapter 13: “Let’s Just Kill Her”

  Chapter 14: Messed Up

  Chapter 15: Diane Gets Nervous

  Chapter 16: Danny Loses Control

  Chapter 17: Gotcha!

  Chapter 18: Millionaires

  Chapter 19: A Slight Problem

  Chapter 20: Not Reva

  Part Two: Another Kidnapping

  Chapter 21: “We have to Kill her”

  Chapter 22: Killed

  Chapter 23: Footsteps

  Chapter 24: Who’s Watching Reva?

  Chapter 25: Big Surprise at Pam’s

  Chapter 26: Body Bags in the Trash Dump

  Chapter 27: Quiet as Death

  Chapter 28: Reva Gets a Break

  Chapter 29: One More Surprise for Reva

  Chapter 30: Pam’s Deal

  Chapter 31: No Escape

  Chapter 32: Falling Bodies

  Chapter 33: Bye-Bye

  Chapter 34: An Unwelcome Visitor

  Chapter 35: “You’re Coming with me”

  Chapter 36: A Scream

  Chapter 37: “Silent Night”

  About the Author

  PART ONE

  A KIDNAPPING

  Chapter 1

  HOLIDAY PLANS

  Paul Nichols felt like killing someone.

  He tapped both hands against the steering wheel and waited for the light to change. The stoplight glared at him, reflecting his anger, until the icy street and snow-covered trees and bushes seemed to glow red through the clouded windshield. Angry red.

  The soft, familiar melody of “Silent Night” came on the radio, and he grabbed the dial and turned the music off with a bitter groan.

  Less than two weeks before Christmas, Paul thought, staring into the red glow of the traffic light. Cold air blew over his feet from the broken heater. Why did he even bother to turn it on?

  Nearly Christmas and he had no job. No money. No nothing.

  “M-Merry Christmas to me,” he muttered under his breath. His stammer was back. It always came back when he was angry or tense.

  The light changed. He floored the gas pedal, and the old Plymouth squealed into the intersection, the smooth tires spinning over the ice.

  He had to slow down as he reached the center of town. Waynesbridge was known as “Christmas Town” because of its lavish decorations, which included a brightly decorated Christmas tree on every corner of Main Street.

  The shimmering lights only darkened Paul’s mood. He slowed to a stop, allowing a family of four to cross the street. They were smiling, their faces red beneath their wool ski caps. The two kids were pointing to the window of Toy Village, the big toy store on the corner.

  Watching the father take the little boy’s hand as they crossed, Paul thought of his family. Christmas was supposed to be a family time, after all.

  But not for Paul. He hadn’t seen his parents since he was sixteen, two years earlier. Not since he had dropped out of Waynesbridge High in his junior year.

  “Hope they have a r-rotten Christmas,” he muttered, squeezing the steering wheel harder until both hands ached.

  A few minutes later he parked the car at the curb in front of his apartment building and climbed out. The late-afternoon sky was scarlet, the red ball of a sun lowering behind the two-story brick building. Paul’s sneakers crunched over the small piles of hard, dirty snow as he jogged around to the back.

  The metal stairs clanged beneath him as he made his way to his apartment on the second floor. Shivering beneath his brown leather bomber jacket, he pushed open the door and stepped inside.

  “Hey—!” Diane Morris glanced up in surprise. She made no attempt to rise from the green vinyl couch.

  Paul’s expression remained blank. “Diane, you here?”

  She let the copy of People drop from her hand. “Yeah. You don’t mind, do you, Pres? My mom and dad—they’re tearing into each other, for a change. They’re both so drunk, it’s disgusting. I couldn’t stay there.”

  Paul grunted in reply. He tossed his jacket onto a chair and crossed the small room. An open bag of potato chips lay on the counter that separated the living room from the narrow kitchenette. He picked it up and stuffed a handful of chips into his mouth.

  “Did you get the job, Pres?” Diane asked, sitting up.

  He shook his head.

  Her hopeful expression faded. She lowered her eyes to the floor. “What about the one at Pick and Pay?”

  “I’m not going to deliver groceries!” he exploded, slamming the potato chip bag down on the counter. “I’m n-not a delivery boy!”

  “Okay. Okay, Pres,” she replied softly. She crossed the room to give him a long, tender kiss. He pulled away impatiently, turning his back on her.

  “Pres?” Diane pretended to be hurt. She had been going with him for three years. She was used to his outbursts. “Let me see your sneer,” she asked, teasing. “Come on. Let me see it.”

  He could never stay angry at her. He curled his lip and turned, giving her his best sneer.

  Diane called him Pres because he reminded her of Elvis Presley. He had the same straight black hair, which he wore with long sideburns. He had Elvis Presley’s dark, romantic eyes. And he had the Elvis sneer, which she had once caught him practicing in front of a mirror.

  She laughed. “You could be a star, Pres. You really could.”

  “You’re really stupid, Diane.” He said it with a smile.

  “Yeah. Because I hang around with you,” she shot back. She stuck her tongue out at him.

  Diane rubbed her skinny arms through the thin pink sweater she wore over straight-legged black denim jeans. The light from the table lamp caught her white-blond hair, tied back with a pink band. The black roots formed a dark, jagged line along her forehead.

  She studied Paul with her gray-blue eyes, her best feature. Before she had become a blonde, she had always thought of herself as mousy and plain. She was especially self-conscious about her two front teeth, which poked out. She hated it when Pres called her Rabbit. He did it only when he wanted to annoy her.

  Diane was seventeen, a year younger than Pres. She had graduated from Waynesbridge High the previous June with a solid C average. She could have gotten better grades, but it was impossible to study at home since her parents were always drunk, always fighting. She spent most of her time at Pres’s shabby apartment.

  She hadn’t been able to find a job either.

  “Oh, sigh,” she declared, shaking her head. She dropped down on the couch. The vinyl cushion made a loud whoosh. She raised her eyes to his. “Now what are we going to do? Did you see any other ads in the paper?”

  Pres shook his head. He carried the bag of potato chips over to the couch and sat down next to her. He stared at the bag as if studying it.

  �
��Well, we’re broke,” Diane continued. She poked him in the ribs. “How are you going to buy that Jaguar you promised me?”

  He sneered. “Don’t make me laugh.”

  Diane bent to pick up the magazine. “I was just reading about a man and a woman who robbed an armored truck. You know, one of those little trucks that carries money from banks. They parked their car so that it blocked off the street and pretended to have a flat. When the armored truck stopped, they both pulled out automatic weapons. They got six million dollars.”

  Pres shook his head. “Wow. Good work!”

  “Maybe we could do that,” Diane suggested seriously.

  Diane had fantasies that the two of them would become big-time criminals. She was always coming up with schemes in which they performed wild, daring robberies, just like in the movies, and got away with millions.

  At first Pres had thought she was joking, making up stories to amuse herself. After a while he realized that Diane was serious. She really believed they could get rich by pulling off a major crime.

  “What have we got to lose?” she asked. A familiar question. That’s what she always asked: “What have we got to lose?”

  “Well, I’ve already lost one job,” he replied bitterly, his fingers playing with a tear in the vinyl on the arm of the couch.

  Pres thought about the job he had for nearly two years at Dalby’s Department Store. Being a stockroom clerk wasn’t exactly a glamorous job. But the pay was enough to live on. And from time to time he had been able to steal some nice items—a leather bomber jacket, a watch, a portable TV.

  Not a bad job at all.

  But then one of the security guards had caught him with a portable cassette player under his jacket—and that was the end of the job.

  Pres had been taken to Robert Dalby himself. Dalby himself! Dalby liked to lecture employees caught stealing before he fired them.

  What a jerk!

  Pres had been so angry, he couldn’t even stammer out an excuse. Dalby’s face turned red, bright red. And Pres had to hold himself back, had to keep his hands stuffed tightly in his jeans pockets, had to fight off the impulse to grab Dalby by the throat, to strangle him with his own silk necktie.

  Pres hadn’t been able to find another job. It had been nearly three months. Three months of anger and rejection.

  Diane’s voice broke into his bitter thoughts. He realized she had been talking to him, but he hadn’t heard a word.

  “So?” she asked impatiently. “Did you?”

  “Did I what?” Pres asked. The potato chip bag was empty. He crinkled it into a ball and tossed it across the room.

  “Did you scout out Dalby’s house?” Diane demanded, her eyes narrowed at him, questioning him.

  “Yeah, I checked it out,” he told her.

  “And?”

  “And it wouldn’t be hard to get in there,” he said without enthusiasm.

  “Really?” Diane grabbed his hand and squeezed it excitedly.

  “I saw one guard dog. That’s all,” Pres told her.

  “You really think we could get in?” Diane demanded, holding on to his hand.

  “Piece of cake.” He turned to study her face. “Hey, you’re really serious about this? About robbing Dalby’s house?”

  “Don’t I look serious?” she replied. “It’s the perfect revenge, isn’t it, Pres?”

  He frowned. “Not if we get caught.”

  He flashed back three months and felt the store security guard’s hand on his shoulder. Once again he saw everyone in the store staring at him, staring as he was dragged up to Dalby’s sixth-floor office to be fired.

  “You were in Dalby’s house once, right?” Diane asked, lost in her own thoughts. “You saw the stuff in there?”

  “Yeah. It was last winter. Some kind of store party,” Pres replied. “The place is loaded with antiques.”

  Diane is really serious about this, he realized again.

  Am I serious about it?

  He wasn’t sure.

  “We could do it, Pres,” Diane said excitedly, squeezing his hand. “We could pay Dalby back for firing you. We could get in there and grab enough antiques to make sure we have a great Christmas! I mean, we could have a tree and presents and a turkey dinner—and everything!”

  With a burst of enthusiasm she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and kissed him. Her lips felt hot against his. “We could do it!” she cried. “It would be just like a movie, Pres. Just like a movie!”

  She held him tightly, her thin body trembling with excitement. “What do you say?”

  He stared across the room. His eyes moved from the shabby furniture to the threadbare carpet.

  Then, in a quick, sudden movement, he stood up. He turned and stared at her, a smile breaking out on his handsome face. “I have a better idea,” he said.

  “Huh?” Diane gaped up at him, her mouth hanging open.

  “Forget the antiques,” Pres told her with a sneer. “What do we know about antiques? Nothing.”

  “Yes, but—” Diane started to say.

  He raised a hand to silence her. “What is Dalby’s most precious possession?”

  Diane shrugged. “How should I know?”

  “His daughter!” Pres declared.

  “Reva,” Diane murmured, surprised she remembered the name. “Reva Dalby.”

  “Right,” Pres said. “How much could we get for antiques? A few thousand maybe? Maybe. But Dalby will fork over millions for his daughter.”

  Diane chewed tensely on her lower lip. Her gray-blue eyes locked on Pres. “You mean—?”

  “Yes!” Pres declared. “Y-you want a movie? It’ll be just like a movie, Diane! We just have to work it out carefully, step by step. Scene by scene. And with a little luck . . .” He grinned excitedly at her. “With a little luck we could be millionaires by Christmas! All we have to do is kidnap Reva Dalby.”

  Chapter 2

  REVA IS CAPTURED

  Reva Dalby backed up to the railing and raised her hands as if to shield herself. The dark figure continued to move toward her, advancing slowly, steadily.

  She let out a soft cry.

  The department store was dark and empty, silent except for the chorus singing “Silent Night” on the speaker system.

  The man drew closer. He was breathing hard, each breath a menacing groan.

  Reva pressed her back against the low chrome balcony railing. She glanced down to the main floor of the department store, shadowy and still, five floors below. She stared at the enormous Christmas tree twinkling brightly in the center aisle. Another chorus of “Silent Night” jarred the eerie quiet.

  “Please—no!” she cried to her attacker.

  He had a pistol in one hand.

  He leapt at her, arms outstretched.

  She shut her eyes and ducked.

  She could feel a cold gust of wind as he sailed over her, sailed over the balcony.

  She could hear him scream all the way down.

  Then she heard shattering glass. A loud crack.

  And then a long, tortured scream as her attacker landed on the Christmas tree. It shorted out. He twisted and writhed in the blue-white electrical current.

  Zapzapzapzap.

  The stinging hiss of death. A sound Reva knew she’d never forget.

  And then she heard his thin voice. He was saying, “Excuse me, miss. Miss?”

  Zapzapzapzap.

  “Excuse me, miss,” he was saying. “Can you help me?”

  Reva blinked. She realized she wasn’t up on the balcony. She was behind the perfume counter on the first floor. Slowly, she left the past and the scene she had pictured again and again since the Christmas before.

  Now it was a year later. One year later, and she still thought about that horrifying night every time she heard “Silent Night” over the store’s sound system.

  She couldn’t help but remember.

  “Can you help me, miss?” The voice finally cut all the way through her thoughts.

  She
was facing a middle-aged man with thinning gray hair. He was wearing a brown overcoat and carrying a worn leather briefcase. From the impatient frown on his face, she could tell he had been trying to get her attention for some time.

  “Do you work here?” he asked, staring at her with gray watery eyes.

  “No. I just like to stand behind the counter,” Reva replied, rolling her eyes. Cold blue eyes that grew colder as she gazed at the man’s threadbare overcoat.

  “Could you help me choose a perfume?” he asked, staring down at the shiny glass bottles inside the display case.

  “For you?” Reva demanded with a scornful laugh.

  The man blushed. “No. Of course not. For my wife.”

  “Sorry. I’m on my break.” Reva turned away from him. She lowered her gaze to an oval mirror on the counter and began pushing at her wavy red hair with one hand.

  “On your break? But the store just opened!” the man declared, his face growing even redder.

  Reva didn’t look up from the mirror. “I don’t make the schedules,” she said. She stared at his face in the mirror, enjoying his angry, helpless expression. She had to struggle to keep from laughing aloud.

  The man took a deep breath. “Listen, miss, couldn’t you help me? You seem to be the only salesperson in this department. I’ve got to be at work in ten minutes.”

  “Sorry. Store rules,” Reva replied, yawning into her hand.

  “But, really—”

  Reva turned to face him. Her eyes rolled scornfully over his unstylish brown overcoat, his shabby briefcase. “You’d probably do better in the bargain basement,” she told him. “The stairs are right over there.” She pointed.

  The man uttered an exasperated cry. He angrily jerked his briefcase off the counter and stormed toward the exit.

  What is his problem? Reva asked herself, laughing. I was just trying to help the poor geek save a little money.

  Reva’s laughter was cut short by someone noisily clearing her throat behind her. Reva turned to see Arlene Smith, the cosmetics department supervisor, glaring at her disapprovingly, her bony arms crossed tightly in front of her gray suit jacket.