Page 11 of The Beachside Cafe 5
EIGHT
Cameron ran after Amanda, his fear of losing Jaymee almost overwhelming him. He hadn’t wanted to leave her behind. He didn’t know what she’d been injected with either. Whatever it was, he doubted it was a placebo. Jaymee could be dying in that room right at that moment and he wouldn’t be there with her. She was all alone.
But he continued after Amanda, seeing her dart through a doorway. He already knew that was the door to the stairs. He hoped she was going downstairs. Running up after someone was exhausting.
He ran onto the landing between the stairwells and grabbed the railing, leaning over to see if she was going up or down. To his relief, she was running down, probably in an attempt to get out.
“You’re not gonna get away, Amanda!” he yelled as viciously as he could. He wanted to put the fear in her the way she’d put it in him and Jaymee. “If you killed her with that, you’re going to hang for it.”
He heard Amanda’s wicked laughter drifting up to him. “They don’t hang anyone anymore, Mr. Smith,” she called back to him. “Don’t you know that? I can get away with anything I want. I know people in high places.”
“Then why are you running?” he asked loudly, still running down the stairs after her.
She didn’t respond to that question. The only sound was the echo of their feet as they ran down to the first floor.
She got there when he was still two staircases behind her. He burst through the door and saw her racing toward the front doors. To his relief, the front of the building was lined with police cars, obvious from inside because the walls were nothing but tempered, dark, reflective glass.
“Stop!” Cameron screamed.
The two security guards behind the desk were both standing, staring at Amanda in utter amazement. Cameron figured they probably knew Amanda well and were shocked to see what was going on.
Amanda slid to a stop, seeing the police cars lining the front of the building.
“No,” she said, shaking her head. “It wasn’t supposed to go this way.” She turned her head and spotted the two security guards, who were staring at her stunned into silence.
“Ma’am?” one of them said, blinking rapidly. “Are you all right? Can we get you some help?”
Amanda raised one shaking arm and pointed frantically at Cameron. “He’s coming after me!” she cried out. “Stop him! He’s why these cops are here!”
Cameron suddenly realized he had run into a trap. The two security guards both set one hand on their security weapon on their hips and slowly came toward him. He raised both hands, shaking his head.
“It’s not me they’re here for!” he said emphatically. “They’re here for her. Look at her! She’s deranged.”
“Let’s just take a moment to talk about this, sir,” the black security guard, the same height and build as Cameron took another step toward him.
“Wait,” Cameron said. He leaned to the side to look at Amanda, who looked very satisfied with herself. “Go out there, Amanda,” he said. “Go out there if they aren’t here for you. I will willingly walk out there without a problem. My two detective friends are waiting for me out there. They’ll want to talk to you if I don’t come out. And if anything has happened to Jaymee.”
Amanda once again looked furious. “You should have left well enough alone, Mr. Smith. You should have kept your nose out of our business. He was blackmailing us! He was skinning us alive! We were going broke because of him!”
“That 700 dollar dress suit you’re wearing says otherwise.” He turned his gaze back to the two guards, settling it on the black guard, who looked like he’d suddenly realized he was going after the wrong person. He spun around and set his sights on Amanda.
“Miss Dinklage? I think you better come with us, ma’am.”
“You’re going to believe him over me??” Amanda cried out. “What’s wrong with you! I’ve been working here for years and years! Don’t you know who I am?”
Seeing that Amanda was going to be taken care of, Cameron turned and ran in the direction of the staircase.
“Sir? Sir? Stop!”
Cameron did come to a stop but it was mostly because he’d reached the elevators and saw no reason why he should run up to the seventh floor when an elevator would suffice. He twisted his upper body to look at the white security guard who had called after him.
“My girlfriend is up there on the seventh floor. Amanda injected something into her. I need to find out what it is and how she’s doing. Send the police to the seventh floor, please. That’s where I’ll be.”
He’d pressed the button to the elevators as soon as he slid to a stop so when the doors opened in front of him, he hopped on and smashed the seventh floor button with his thumb.
He didn’t realize how restless he was until the doors closed and the elevator began a gentle movement upwards. The sound of faint music played and Cameron was distressed to hear a song that was very popular when he was a teenager playing. It had been made into an instrumental with violins taking the place of the hard singing performer who had originally created the material.
He tapped his foot impatiently, staring at the digital numbers above his head, waiting for the number seven with all his patience.
