Читать книгу 24 Karat Ammunition - Joanna Wayne - Страница 6

Trish Cantrell rinsed her stemless wineglass and placed it on the top shelf of her dishwasher. She might as well call it a night. It was only ten, but she hadn’t slept well since she’d been abducted from a restaurant parking lot at gunpoint last week. Fortunately, her teenage daughter was away, volunteering in a summer camp program for disabled children.

The carjacking had left Trish so shaken she hadn’t been able to work for two days. The threatening phone call that followed demanding she return some mystery video had upset her just as much. But that had been a week ago and there had been no more contact. She had to move past this. Carjackings happened in the city. It was the new way of life in America.

She stretched and started back to the bedroom, then went back to double-check the deadbolt on the front door. She seldom went in or out that way, but checking locks had become a habit long before last week’s incident. She’d wait and set the alarm when she got back to the bedroom so that it would sound instantly if a window or door to the outside was opened or the motion detector was set off. Another habit that she’d had for years, though it was on her mind more now.

The floor creaked as she walked to her bedroom. She loved the house, which she’d bought almost on her first day in Dallas. It was almost seventy-five years old, but the previous owner had remodeled it without losing any of its original charm. The hardwood floors and the double fireplace that opened to the den and dining room were a couple of its most terrific features. And all of it cost less than the much smaller flat she and her daughter had in London.

Trish stopped to check the door that led from the laundry room to the garage. Locked, as always. She never forgot to stop and do that when she came in. In fact her briefcase, purse and keys were still sitting on top of the small household toolbox where she’d set them in order to turn the heavy double bolts.

A shuffling sound came from the hall, setting her hair on end. She shrugged. It was nothing but the old house settling. Despite the mental reassurance, a chill slithered along her nerve endings. She waited, and there it was again.

And then she saw him.

Adrenaline rushed her bloodstream as the man stepped closer.

“I told you to give up the video, but you just wouldn’t listen.”