After walking about a mile, Amelia came across an open radiator repair shop. She explained what had happened to her and asked to use the phone. The manager was very helpful and showed her where the phone was and where she could wait for the police to arrive.
Maggie nearly jumped out of her skin when her phone rang. She jumped up off the sofa and grabbed her cell phone.
"Hello?" she whispered tightly.
"Maggie, I'm okay!" cried Amelia, breaking down in tears for the first time since waking up in the locked room.
"Amelia! You're okay! Where are you?" asked Maggie. "I'll come and get you."
"I'm in a radiator repair shop and the police are on the way. I'll have them take me to your place when we're done here," said Amelia. "I think Officer Brighton is on the way."
"Oh, good. We told him everything this morning after we realized you had been kidnapped. God, I am so glad that you are okay!" Maggie said with a heavy sigh.
"Me too!" replied Amelia. "It was a man, a very tall man, that kidnapped me. Then he left me in an abandoned warehouse. No food, no water, just me handcuffed and blindfolded in a dank, dark room."
"Oh girl! I am so sorry this happened to you. It's all my fault!" cried Maggie.
"No, it's not!" Said Amelia angrily. "The fault is only that of the psycho that did this to all of us. To you, to me, and to Andy! Never you! None of this is your fault! Ever!"
"It feels like my fault. If I hadn't let you get involved," Maggie said.
"They probably would have still kidnapped me because I'm your best friend and that would have hurt you the most. That's how these psychos think." said Amelia. "Now stop taking the blame! I have to go. The police just got here. I'll see you soon."
With that, Maggie hung up the phone and filled Andy in on the conversation, especially the part about the kidnapper being really tall. She hoped this would give Andy a better idea of who in the IT department in his office might be the kidnapper, and it did.
"I think I know who it might be. The one really tall guy in the IT department is Gareth." Said Andy. "I'll let Officer Brighton know when we see him next."
Amelia gave the responding officer her statement while they waited for Officer Brighton to arrive. She described her location and how far she had walked to get to this repair shop. Brighton arrived, and they went to the warehouse. Amelia showed them where she had been held prisoner and, realizing once more that they had tried to let her die, she wept.
Brighton lent her his phone so she could call her husband and check in with him. He had been out of town for the last several days on business, but had been called when she went missing earlier that morning. She was sure he was in a panic, waiting to hear if she was okay.
The kidnapper had left no prints or other clues at the warehouse. From what Brighton could tell, he had walked in with Amelia, dropped her off and left. Most likely, he had been wearing gloves during the entire operation so as not to leave any prints behind.
After finishing their questions about what happened and their inspection of the warehouse, Brighton took Amelia to Maggie's place. He came in with her so he could give them all an update on what he had found out.
Andy told him he thought maybe Gareth could be the kidnapper if they were indeed looking for someone very tall, as Amelia had described the kidnapper. Officer Brighton reported to them that Gareth had been the only member of the IT department that wasn't in the office today. He was "working from home" today, but when Brighton when to his home, there was no one there.
"Well, that doesn't seem to be a good sign, does it?" asked Amelia, who had just come out of the bathroom after cleaning up and putting on a pair of Maggie's jeans and a sweater.
"It's hard to call it anything at this point. I want to talk to him before I call it anything." Said Brighton, sounding very official.
"Yes, of course," said Maggie. "But one would expect someone working from home to be at home. But that's just me, I guess."
"We don't know that it is this Gareth person yet. He is just someone of interest. I want to have a conversation with the guy," answered Brighton.
Just then, the doorbell camera app on Maggie's phone pinged that someone had been to her door. She checked her phone and saw a shadowy figure back to the camera bend down and leave something by her door.
"Oh, man, I think they just struck again! Quick, go look!" She said to Brighton.
Officer Brighton rushed to the front door and found a box. And saw a dark figure turning the corner around the next building and out of sight. He hurried down the stairs and out onto the sidewalk toward the next building. But he had lost the person he was trying to follow.
Returning to her door, he picked up the box and brought it inside, where they all waited to see what was going to happen next. He carefully opened the box and found a dead bird sitting on top of the note. He pulled out the note, leaving the bird inside the box. Reading the note to the group, he said.
"Roses are red, violets are blue, this bird is dead, and you will be soon, too."
"OH MY GOD! This is not good! This is a direct threat to my life! What the hell?" Said Maggie, who was now furious and terrified.
"What the hell is going on?" asked Amelia.
"You have to do something to stop this, now!" cried Andy.
"Everyone calm down. Let me call my Sargent and get some protection set up for you Maggie." said Office Brighton as he walked out of the room and onto the back porch so he could have some privacy while on the phone with this boss.
After about twenty minutes, he returned. He wasn't happy with how the conversation went, but he told them he had secured protection for this location for the next couple of nights, but not during the day. They would be on their own during their working hours. Somehow, they would have to work together to protect themselves from getting to and from work, shopping, etc. during the day.
"But both kidnappings happened in broad daylight! Doesn't your boss understand that?" yelled Amelia. "What the hell is their problem?"
"Because of budget cuts, I'm afraid we are limited in what we can do," he answered.
"I'm going to die," said Maggie to no one in particular. "This guy is going to kill me, and the police will not do a thing to stop it."
"I'm going to do everything I can to stop this from happening!" said Brighton.
"I don't know what to do. This is crazy!" Maggie replied as she paced around the living room.
"The main thing is to remain calm and stay here." replied Brighton. "All of you, stay put and stay together. I'm going to go check on a few things and I'll check in with you in a few hours."
"He wants me to remain freaking calm!!! How am I supposed to remain freaking calm? Someone is going to kill me?" said Maggie.
"I think now is an okay time to cuss if you want to. We won't be upset, will we Andy?" said Amelia.
"FUCK!" yelled Maggie at the top of her voice.
"That's my girl!" replied Amelia. "Felt good, didn't it?"
"Fantastic!" answered Maggie.
Andy just sat and watched the two women and chuckled softly to himself. How much grace Maggie showed through all of this chaos amazed him and this was the first signs of stress she was showing. If he had been the one dealing with all of this craziness, he would have lost it a long time ago.
"How you are holding up Andy?" asked Amelia as she noticed him watching them.
"I'm hanging in there. This is some crazy crap that's going on. I would never have thought Gareth capable of this kind of thing." He said. "I mean, we all knew he was gay, but kidnapping, leaving cryptic notes, and now threatening to kill Maggie! That is beyond bizarre! I don't know how you've held it together like you have, Maggie."
"I feel like I am losing my damn mind right now," she replied. "I don't think that counts as holding it together at all. Not even close."
They sat in the living room and waited to hear from Officer Brighton. The hours passed slowly as they tried to keep themselves occupied. Maggie took out a deck of cards and the few board games she had in the hall closet; Apples to Apples, Ticket to Ride, and Trivial Pursuit. They also took turns playing backgammon and cribbage.
Maggie was sure it had been four or five hours since Brighton had left when she checked the clock, but she found it had only been ninety minutes. She was shocked!
"Ugh, when is Brighton going to call?" Maggie moaned.
"It hasn't been that long. We just have to be patient." Said Amelia.
"I don't want to be patient. I want my life back." cried Maggie as she started pacing around the living room again.
As she passed the living room window, a shot rang out, and the window shattered. She screamed and hit the floor where she was standing. Glass rained down on her in a fine shower of shards.
Curled in the fetal position with glass in her hair, Maggie found she had been holding her breath once she stopped screaming. Unsure if she could move or if she should move, she slowly stretched out one leg, then the other. Andy and Amelia rushed to her side, down on the floor.
"Maggie!" cried Amelia.
"Are you okay? Can you move? Speak to us!" said Andy as he brushed the glass off her legs.
"Oh, my God! What the hell just happened?" asked Maggie as she sat up while shaking off glass from her back and arms.
"Someone just shot out your living room window with you as target." explained Amelia.
"Crap! I guess we better call Brighton and leave him a message," said Maggie, as she picked shards of glass out of her hair.
Andy went over and closed the curtain over the shattered window to protect them from any other shots being taken. He then took Maggie's phone, called Officer Brighton, and left a message with the information about the recent gunshot.
He then went into the kitchen and started looking for the broom and dustpan to bring into the living room so he could start cleaning up the bulk of the broken glass. Andy collected all the big chunks and then started sweeping up the smaller shards until he couldn't get any more. He would need to vacuum the remaining glass, but he didn't know where she kept her vacuum or if she owned one.
Suddenly, there was loud banging on the front door and Officer Brighton calling out to be let in.
"I leave you people for thirty minutes and you get into all kinds of trouble!" he said as he walked and took in the scene. "What the hell happened?"
"Maggie went to walk into the kitchen, and then a shot came in though the slider. She fell to the floor screaming, and here we are." Answered Amelia succinctly.
"I swept up the glass. It's in the bin next to the table if you need it." added Andy. "But we didn't touch where the bullet lodged itself in the wall. We left that for you and your techs to take care of. We thought that would be the best thing to preserve the evidence."
"I'll get my team back here to get the bullet out of the wall and make sure the door is secure for you. I'll also have them go out and inspect the grounds to see if they can find any clues about where we suspect the shooter took the shot from," said Brighton. "They might not be able to find much at this hour; the light isn't that good right now."