The bridal salon was located on the ground floor of an elegant three-story mall, sandwiched between Coach and Bebe. When we entered the salon Ellie looked around the front area for Sara but didn’t see her. “Huh. She’s not here,” she said.
“Maybe she’s in back,” I suggested.
“Yeah,” Ellie said as she grabbed my arm. “She’s probably by the bridesmaid dresses. Come on; let’s go find her.”
We walked to the back section of the store, and again Ellie looked around, but there was no sign of Sara. “Where do you think she is?” I asked.
“Might be in the ladies’ room. Let me show you the dress, and if she doesn’t show up in a minute or two I’ll ask around and see if anyone’s seen her,” Ellie said.
I followed her over to a group of absolutely gorgeous dresses. “Here we are!” she said, giving me a ta-da with her hands.
“Wow!” I said as I lifted the hem of one of the dresses to feel the fabric. Made of two layers of silk, the dress had an empire waist and long pleats of fabric that flowed softly down to a bell shape. The color was a kind of honeydew green that shimmered in the light of the salon. “Ellie,” I said as I felt the fabric beneath my fingertips, “this is gorgeous!”
“I know,” she said, beaming. “Sara picked these out, and they look absolutely fabulous on every single one of my bridesmaids. I just knew you’d like it too!”
“I do,” I said as I nodded my head, very surprised that I actually liked a bridesmaid dress, because I’d been forced to wear some doozies in my time.
“Gina was a size six. What size are you?”
“I float between a four and a six,” I said.
“Cool, that’s perfect. We’ll have to take up the hem, I think, because Gina’s an inch or two taller than you, and maybe a little around the bustline—she is like a double-D or something bodacious like that—but the tailoring here is fabulous. It should be a quick fix.”
Just then a pretty Asian woman approached us, “Hello, Ellie,” she said warmly.
“Hi, Kim,” Ellie answered. “Kim, this my good friend and substitute bridesmaid Abby Cooper. She’s going to wear Gina’s dress. It’s still in the back, right?”
“Yes, it’s here.” Kim chuckled. “I’ll go get it and we can see how it fits. If it needs a little tailoring we can get it done in time for the wedding.”
After Kim had gone into the back I turned to Ellie and asked, “Is your dress here too?”
Ellie nodded and gave me a finger wag that suggested I follow her. We headed back up to the front and over to one of the mannequins. On display was a lovely satin dress of dusky eggshell. A basket-weave pattern formed the bodice, and a full skirt of satin and crinoline flowed out from the waist. Small beadwork dotted the skirt here and there, and I whistled in appreciation. “My God, Ellie, you are going to be one beautiful bride!”
“It’s perfection, isn’t it?” Ellie said, giggling with delight as her happiness bubbled over.
“Wow, I can’t wait to see you in it,” I agreed.
“Well, the countdown is already on,” Ellie said with a grin. “It’s T minus four days from today!”
“Here we are,” came a voice from behind us, and we turned to see Kim walking with the bridesmaid dress dangling on her arm. As I took the dress from her and headed off to the fitting room, I felt a sudden and horrible pang of guilt. This was Gina’s dress, after all. How could I be excited about wearing a dead woman’s dress? I stepped into the changing room and shut the door. I placed the dress on a hook next to the mirror and sat on the small bench in the room for a moment, thinking about what to do.
Ellie would expect me to come out in the dress, but knowing Gina was dead and not being able to say anything to Ellie about it was making me feel so guilty my stomach hurt. I paced the floor for a bit, trying to work out what to do, when there was a soft knock on the door and Ellie entered.
“Abby!” she exclaimed when she saw me still fully clothed. “Come on, girl! Try that puppy on.”
I looked at her for a beat or two, her eyes dancing with merriment and excitement over her impending big day, and I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t break her heart just yet. I’d do it later, when she was surrounded by family and friends. Sucking it up, I peeled out of my sweater and skirt and put on Gina’s dress, silently sending up a prayer to her that I was sorry.
When I had the dress on I turned so Ellie could see me, and she squealed. “It’s wonderful!”
“You think?” I asked, avoiding my own eyes in the mirror.
“Yeah! I mean, we definitely need to take it up an inch or two at the bottom and maybe tuck some in at the bust, but otherwise it looks so awesome on you! I knew it would go with your coloring.”
“It feels weird to be wearing Gina’s dress,” I said as my discomfort grew.
“Why, honey? I mean, it’s not like she’s here to claim it.”
I winced. “Ellie,” I began carefully. “I don’t think I feel right about taking Gina’s dress.”
“You’d rather buy your own?” Ellie asked me, her head cocking slightly to one side like a trusting puppy.
“Uh, yeah, I think I would,” I said as I played that across my conscience.
“Okay, if that’s what you really want. I’ll have Kim pull out a size four and a size six, and you can try both of them on and see which one you like best.”
“Perfect,” I said, and hurried to take off the dress as Ellie disappeared out the door. I hung the dress up and stared at it as I waited. Somehow I knew that neither Gina nor I would ever get to wear the dresses outside of these walls, but that didn’t stop me from acting like nothing was wrong and plunking down three hundred and fifty dollars for the thing. What we do for friendship.
A little later, as I was having my Visa swiped, I asked Ellie, “So what happened to Sara?”
“I have no idea. I asked Kim if she’d seen her and she said she hadn’t, but that she’d been on her break until just before we got here. Knowing Sara, my guess is that she came in, waited a few, got mad and left.”
“She’s a by-the-clock kinda girl, huh?”
“You know the type?”
“Have you met my sister?” I deadpanned.
Ellie laughed. “How is Cat these days, anyway?”
“Think Julius Caesar meets Martha Stewart.”
“Ouch! That’s a wicked combo.”
“You wait; you’ll see,” I said, wagging a finger at her. “Cat will show up and it will be all chaos and mayhem.”
“I thought that’s when your parents arrive,” Ellie said.
“No, that’s when the bridal party joins you for your elopement—which, trust me, you will be planning the moment they get here.”
“So you’re telling me Claire and Sam haven’t mellowed with age?”
“Don’t think fine wine. Think vinegar instead.”
“Great,” Ellie said as Kim handed me my wrapped dress over the counter. “Remind me to tell the ushers to seat your parents in the back row.”
“You won’t need reminding.” I groaned.
Ellie’s cell phone gave a small chirp as we headed out the door, and she pulled it from her purse. Looking at the readout she gave a small frown. “Well, crap,” she said as she tucked the phone away.
“What’s up?” I asked.
“That was a text message from Sara. She said she can’t make the party tonight.”
“What party?” I asked.
“Didn’t I tell you? I’m such a bonehead. I’m having a bachelorette pajama-party for my bridesmaids and a few girlfriends.”
“Sounds like fun.” I smiled. If I knew Ellie, there would be good food, good drinks and good fun.
“Which brings me to my next question, and please feel free to say no.”
“Sounds serious,” I said.
“It’s not; it’s just that I would be imposing on you, but it would mean the world to me.”
“You’d like me to do a reading for the girls,” I said, already way ahead of her.
“Never could keep anything from you.” Ellie grinned. “So what do you think?”
“Like you even have to ask,” I said. “Of course, it would be my pleasure.”
“I will pay you, of course—”
“Don’t be ridiculous; consider it my gift to you,” I said, cutting her off.
Ellie took a moment to give me a sincere look as she took my hand and squeezed it. “Thank you,” she said solemnly.
“No sweat,” I said, squeezing her hand back. “So, did Sara’s message say why she couldn’t make it?” I asked, something buzzing in the back of my brain.
“No. She just wrote ‘count me out for party’ and that’s it.”
“Do you think she’s really mad?”
“Possibly. You know what they say about redheads.”
“Where are we going, anyway?” I asked as I noticed we were heading away from the entrance we’d come through from the parking lot.
“This way,” Ellie said giving me a coy look. “I have a surprise for you.”
I followed along with her, looking for any sign of where she could be leading me, but within moments we had paused in front of Tiffany & Co. and Ellie turned to me and said, “Surprise!”
“Are we having breakfast?” I asked as I followed her through the door.
“Nope,” Ellie said excitedly as she rushed to the counter. “Something better!” As a clerk behind the counter spotted us and came walking over, Ellie said, “Hi, Jan.”
“Miss McGinnis! So good to see you. I have your package ready for you. Wait one moment and I’ll be right back.”
As the salesclerk darted behind a curtain I gave Ellie a questioning look, but she only winked back as she danced on the balls of her feet with excitement. When Jan returned, she handed a small robin’s-egg-blue box tied with a silver bow to Ellie, who promptly handed it to me. “Ta-da!” she said with relish.
I took the box and gave her a grin, then removed the ribbon and opened the lid. When I folded back the Tiffany tissue paper I sucked in a breath as I gazed down at a beautiful silver charm bracelet with one charm. A heart dangled from the chain, and as I lifted it out of the box I noticed it was engraved in script with my name—Abby—on one side and a small diamond inserted in the center of the heart on the other.
“Ellie…” I said breathlessly as I inspected the bracelet.
“It’s my bridesmaid’s gift to you, Abs. Thank you for being in my wedding,” she said as she reached over and gave me an impromptu hug.
I was moved enough to give her a tremendous squeeze back, and then let her go and quickly put the bracelet on. I shook my wrist back and forth, showing it off to Ellie and Jan. I loved it.
“Thank you so much, El. This is just amazing,” I said as I put the box back together and tucked it into the bag Jan held out for me.
“Ready to go?” she asked.
“Sure am. But I have one request.”
“What’s that?”
“Can we get some lunch? I’m starved!”
“Your wish is my command, girl! I know just the place. It’s a bit of a hike from here, but well worth it,” she said, and we trooped out of the mall.
Ellie and I chatted companionably once we were in the car, and I hardly noticed her driving now that I had a shiny new bracelet to look at. At some point my stomach rumbled, and Ellie looked over at me with a sly grin. “You really are hungry, aren’t you?”
“Famished,” I admitted.
“There’s a protein bar in the glove box. Why don’t you have that as a snack to tide you over?”
I dug around in her glove box and came up with a Kashi Bar. I unwrapped the bar and took a bite. We fell silent while I munched on the snack, and with a contented sigh I looked out the window. We were on the highway now, and in the next lane was a blue sedan with a woman about my age behind the wheel. A man sat in the passenger seat next to her, and his attention seemed to be very focused on watching her. I was about to turn back to my snack when my intuitive alarm went absolutely haywire. I had the feeling that there was something terribly wrong with the scene in the other car. My eyes went back to the woman and I studied her intently, listening to the whisper of a thought that was circling in my head. Kidnap! Kidnap! Kidnap! pounded in my mind, and while I kept my eyes on the woman I said to Ellie, “Stay in this lane a minute and don’t speed up!”
“What?” Ellie asked, startled by the panic in my voice.
“Just stay next to this car for a moment!” I commanded, my voice sharp.
Ellie did as I asked while I intently gazed at the couple in the other car. I noticed that the woman looked slightly disheveled. She also appeared to be crying, but her eyes were pinned on the road ahead and she had a very firm grip on the steering wheel. The man was watching her intently, and then he noticed me. I saw him mouth something to the woman, and their car began to move past us. Ellie was glancing at the car too, and she also began to move forward.
Then I saw the man mouth something again to the woman, and she increased her speed even more. “Ellie,” I said, tearing my eyes away from the car, “swing behind them, and whatever you do, don’t lose them!”
As Ellie held back slightly, then zoomed into the next lane to keep pace behind the blue sedan, I grabbed my purse from the floor and pulled out a pen. I wrote the license plate number down on my hand, then reached for my cell phone. I put my earpiece on and flipped open the lid to jam 911 into the display, then waited an anxious three seconds until the emergency dispatcher picked up.
“Nine-one-one dispatch, what is your emergency?”
“I need to report a kidnapping!” I shouted as Ellie looked sharply at me.
“What is your location?” the dispatcher asked.
“We’re on…” I said, looking at my cell’s display and following the red star moving across the screen, “I-Seventy headed east!”
“Just past Route Eighty-seven!” Ellie added, leaning in toward me so the dispatcher could hear.
“Who has been kidnapped?” the dispatcher asked me.
“A woman in a blue Chevy Malibu. License number Victor-Paul-tango-six-nine-five! I think she’s being held against her will by a man in a dark brown shirt with brown hair, clean shaven, in his mid to late forties or early fifties!”
“Where are you in relation to the Malibu?”
“We’re right on their tail, and we’re not letting them out of our sight!” I said as Ellie gave me a firm nod and zipped to the right lane as the Malibu began to swerve in and out of traffic. I hesitated to look at the speedometer; we had to be going ninety by the way we were passing the cars around us. “We’re in a black Lexus SC four-thirty, right behind the sedan!”
“I’m sending a dispatch now; will you hold on the line with me until they arrive or you lose sight of the car?”
“Affirmative!” I yelled, my adrenaline pumping. The man in the car in front of us appeared to be shouting at the woman. His face was dark and angry, and I prayed that he wouldn’t hurt her until the sheriff had a chance to arrive. “Careful!” I screamed as Ellie had a very close call with a car on her left, barely missing it as we ducked in and out of traffic trying to keep up.
“Jesus!” Ellie grimaced as she gripped the steering wheel and righted our path. “Abby, what if we hang back? This is starting to get really dangerous!”
“Ellie, please do not lose that car!” I begged her. “If we lose sight of them that woman’s as good as dead; I can feel it! Just do your best, okay?”
Ellie glanced over at me quickly, her mouth forming a determined line, then back to the traffic in front of her as she lowered her shoulders and concentrated on not getting us killed or losing the sedan.
Finally we began to hear the sounds of sirens coming up behind us. I turned in my seat and felt a small sense of relief as I saw two approaching sheriff’s cars coming up fast and furious. “Patrol cars behind us!” I said to Ellie and the dispatcher.
“Are you still in sight of the car?” the dispatcher asked.
br /> “Yes! It’s about ten yards in front of us. They’re going about a hundred now, but we’re keeping pace!” Just as I got those words out the blue sedan swerved too suddenly and began to fishtail. “Ohmigod!” I screamed as Ellie punched the brakes, and cars around us also tried to avoid the swerving sedan.
“Hang on!” Ellie screamed as she pulled the wheel sharply to the left and into the median. She had no choice, because we were going so fast we would have hit the car in front of us in the next second. In the rough terrain the Lexus held its ground, and we slowed enough to regain some control, but the sedan skidded and fishtailed until it ended up in the median about a hundred yards ahead, its nose dipping into a slight ditch and coming to a rather abrupt stop. As we came to a halt I saw the man in the passenger seat jump out of the car. A dark blotch of blood covered his right hand as he looked wildly around, then darted across the median, running through oncoming traffic that swerved to avoid him. Just then the two sheriff’s cars arrived, and Duffy jumped out of one of them, running to us with an anxious look on his face.
“El!” he shouted as he got close to us. “What’s going on?”
“That man!” Ellie said, pointing to the fleeing assailant. “Duffy, don’t let him get away!”
Duffy took off running while another deputy arrived. My attention followed Duffy for a beat; then I ran toward the car. That blood had to come from somewhere. When I got to the sedan I yanked open the driver’s-side door, and inside was the woman leaning forward, her face pale and sweaty, her shirt one giant stain of blood. An ugly knife protruded from her right side, and one hand was clutched painfully around the shaft as she gave a small moan. “I need help over here!” I yelled back to the deputy, who was lingering by Ellie and talking into his walkie-talkie.
Both Ellie and the deputy rushed to my side, and I stepped back so that he could assist the woman. Ellie stood next to me as we looked on, and it was then that I realized my cell phone was still clutched in my hand. I checked my ear phone and asked, “Dispatcher, are you still there?”