Page 79 of Evidence of Secrets

“Good. You make a great couple.” Sam exhaled and pointed to the door. “Now get out.”

Sam said it with a smile. Hank saluted her and walked out of the office.

* * *

Another bangand a lot of swearing were coming from the storage room.

Laura shivered. What the hell was Ryan doing in there?

She tried to move her limbs and stood and jumped, which helped a little. But she needed Jaimie to get up and move around.

Thankfully, Jaimie’s forehead had stopped bleeding, but she was still groggy.

Laura had so many questions for her. She looked at her watch. Was it only fifteen minutes since Ryan had put them in the freezer? God, she was cold. Her goosebumps had goosebumps.

Had he found what he wanted?

A plan was forming in her mind. As soon as Jaimie was able, they could implement it. Ryan threatened to kill them if they came out of the cooler before he left, so her plan required that she and Jaimie both be up and alert.

Laura tried remembering what she learned about breaking the zip ties in a self-defense class. But real-life situations were far more stressful than being in a class. Everything Sarina taught them was a distant memory.

After she tried twice, all she had to show for it was chafed skin on her wrists, so she stopped. In a little while, she’d try again. How had Sarina made it look so easy?

Jaimie moaned and struggled to sit up straighter. She looked around. “Where the hell are we?”

“In the cooler.”

“Why?” Jaimie tried to rub her head and realized she had handcuffs on. “Crap. I feel dizzy and nauseous. What happened? All I remember is that I needed to show you something, then I was hit at the back of my head.”

“Ryan Hall is what happened.”

Jaimie thought for a minute. “Oh. God. Ryan is the intruder,” she exclaimed.

“I know now. Tell me what’s going on.”

“Ryan and I were seeing each other. While cleaning this morning, I found this piece of paper covered with clothes. When I looked at it, I realized it was a diagram of the storage area with a secret room.”

Laura shook her head. “Why didn’t you call me?”

“I tried, but you never answered.”

“Damn. My phone died, and I forgot to charge it. Ryan’s breaking in makes sense now. I bet when it was a speakeasy, the mob made a secret room. I wonder what’s in it.”

“At this point, I don’t care. We’re going to freeze to death if we don’t get out of here,” said Jaimie. She shivered, her teeth chattering.

“If we leave the room, I’m sure Ryan will kill us. If we stay in the freezer, the cold will kill us. But I have a plan.” Laura sighed. It wasn’t much of a plan, but they had to get out of the bistro and call the police. There was no way in Laura’s mind that Ryan would let them live. However, if they didn’t get out of the freezer, it wouldn’t matter.

CHAPTERFIFTY-SEVEN

“Do you think you can walk?” she asked Jaimie.

Jaimie shrugged. “I feel a little light-headed, and I think I hurt my ankle when I fell. It doesn’t matter. I’ll try.”

“Let’s rest a few minutes. Maybe you’ll feel better.” It would only be a few minutes. Laura couldn’t stop shivering, and Jaimie looked pale and shaky, too.

“Laura, if we don’t make it out of here, I have a confession or two to make.” Jaimie exhaled, looked down at her hands, then at Laura.

Confession? What was Jaimie talking about? She barely knew the woman.

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