Murderous Matrimony(59)

I stared at her, hoping she might be telepathic and she’d get what I was thinking.

No such luck.

“What am I saying?” She floated off the bed. “We didn’t like each other when I was alive! The only reason I can stand you now is that you’ve become a source of amusement for me. I suppose it wouldn’t be that way at all if you were dead too.”

Untie me. You don’t want me to die.

I guess we’ll see how things unfold, won’t we, dearie?”

She was gone. I was alone with Robin. Both of us were helpless.

I hoped Tony would think something strange was going on when I didn’t come down from the treehouse. Even if he was just snoopy enough to find out if I was doing something with Robin that he could shame me for—I’d be happy with that.

Usually, I liked being right. I wasn’t so crazy about it then.

I searched the room with desperate eyes. There had to be some way to get free. I’d seen spies get out of worse situations in movies. If I didn’t panic, maybe there was a way out of this.

It was going to take John Healy a few minutes to get here, and get through the gate. I might have twenty minutes or so.

I saw a sword near Sofie’s bed. If I could push myself over to it, I might be able to get close enough to the blade to cut the pantyhose. It was a long shot, but I didn’t have anything else to do anyway.

It took me five minutes to maneuver myself into position near the sword. If the floor hadn’t been carpeted, it would have been easier. There was no sliding at all. When I got up against the blade, the sword fell, knocking over the lamp on the bedside table. I couldn’t get my arms or feet near the sharp part at all.

I lay on my back with a sigh, and tried to think of another plan.

I thought about my cell phone in the bag at my waist. There was no way to get at it. I tried breaking the lamp so I could use a shard of it to cut the pantyhose. I kicked at it, and brought my feet down hard on it. The lamp wasn’t breaking either.

Come on, Jessie. You’ve been in worse situations! Think!

Had I been in worse situations? Possibly. Wanda was right about my snooping. Any bad situation I’d ever been in at the Village was caused by being nosy about people and events I probably had no business looking into.

I swore, if I got out of this mess, that I would never snoop again.

I should have been talking to people about my wedding. I should have been enjoying my time at the Village. This was the life I’d always wanted. And I was about to lose it all.

Robin groaned. I rolled toward him as quick as I could. If he woke up, we’d have a better chance of finding a way to get free.

I rolled so far that I was almost on top of him. He groaned again, and his face scrunched up.

“Mmhhmmgmm.” I rubbed my face on his as I tried to make noises that might wake him up. “Rommbmm, wmmhmm umm!”

Finally, he came around and stared into my face with startled eyes. “MmhhmmJmm,” he said.

That’s right, I encouraged him silently. You can do it!

I rolled off of him so we could plot our strategy. “Rmmhmm. Wmm hvmm tgmm oumm hmm.”

“Domm yumm thmm uh thmm?” He shot back at me.

I nodded toward the sword. He shook his head. His hands were bound behind him, which made doing anything helpful even harder.

Or not! I suddenly recalled that horror movie where the woman had chewed off the other captured person’s rope. Maybe I could do that.

I pushed myself against him and nudged him on his side. Like an inch worm, I got my face close to the pantyhose that held him. My face was up against his butt as I tried to gnaw the fiber away.

The gag prevented me from using my teeth at all.

Robin got the idea though as he nudged me over on my back and rolled over on me. His head was deeply pushed into my chest as he lay across me, trying to rip the pantyhose off of my hands.

The gag kept him from doing that too.

“Mmhhmmermm,” he mumbled, his eyes apologetic.

“Whoa! Wait! This is so wrong!” Tony’s voice came from the doorway. “Jessie! What are you doing?”





Chapter Nineteen



“I am so glad to see you!” I hugged Tony when he cut me loose.

“Good job, Tony!” Robin rubbed his wrists.

“You know I almost turned around and went back out,” Tony said. “I couldn’t believe you were . . . you know. If Jessie wouldn’t have made that squealing pig noise, I probably would’ve left you alone.”

“I’m glad you didn’t. Where’s Marion?”

Tony shrugged. “I think she left the forest after she had Hank close it down. Why? Did she do this?”

“She’s the one who killed Dave and Bob,” I explained.

“For money.” Robin spat the words as he untied his feet. “Like an assassin.”