15. Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Fifteen

A s Will walked through the church parking lot, he scanned it for Zara's car. She wasn't here yet. Not that he was surprised. She almost always was a few minutes late.

He walked through the doors and into the church lobby. AJ caught his eye. What was she doing here? He'd heard that she went to first service, but she was always long gone before he showed up and, more importantly, before Logan did.

She noticed him looking and waved him over.

He sighed and moved in her direction. "AJ."

"Hey, Will. Where's Zara? I have some books for her." AJ held up three paperbacks.

"Probably not here yet. I can give them to her if you'd like."

"Nah. That's okay. I'll wait." She looked past him, and her eyes widened.

Will glanced over his shoulder but didn't need to. Logan walked through the door.

"But I'll do it in here." She stepped out of Logan's view.

"If I see her, I'll tell her to come find you."

"Thanks. See ya later." AJ disappeared into the crowd.

Will turned and greeted his friend.

Logan smiled. "How'd the date go?"

Will's lips tingled at the memory of Zara's lips mingled with his.

"Quite well, I take it."

"Yep."

"Hoped that was the way it went, since Zara didn't reply to my text last night."

"Not like her to not reply to a text."

"Especially since I told her Rainie actually made bail again."

"Seriously? Why on earth did a judge grant her bail?"

"It was atrociously high too." Logan shook his head.

The worship leader greeted everyone.

Logan pointed into the sanctuary. "Guess we should find seats. Zara will find us."

"She always does."

The men went to the area of the sanctuary where they normally sat and found three seats.

The song started. It was one of Zara's favorite worship songs. Too bad she was missing it. Why wasn't she here yet?

Will glanced at his watch. Service had even started a couple of minutes late. Zara was normally here within the first verse of the first song.

Will tried to direct his mind to worship, but the longer Zara wasn't there, the more concerned for her he became.

The second song began. Then the third.

AJ appeared at Will's side. She gripped his elbow. "Something's not right."

Logan said, "I was beginning to think the same thing."

The worship leader invited everyone to sit, but the three of them left the sanctuary instead.

AJ turned to them. "I tried calling her. I was going to tell her I'd leave the books with you. The phone rang, but she didn't answer."

Logan said, "She could have left it at home."

Two detectives, Jared Johnson and his wife Becca Palmer, approached them. "What seems to be the problem?" Jared asked.

Will was taken aback. "How did you know something was wrong?"

AJ answered, "I told Caleb." Jared's brother, a paramedic who worked at the same station as AJ.

Will nodded. "Zara Grant isn't answering her phone and hasn't arrived yet. I was with her until about ten last night. She said she'd see me here."

Jared nodded. "Since someone broke into her apartment last week, let's go check on her. I'll go with you."

Becca said, "I will too. Amelia said she'd take the girls."

"Thanks, y'all." Will spun to the door. What if Ernie and Rainie decided to get revenge on Zara because of their arrests? What if Ernie made good on his threats?

Zara had no idea what time it was. She felt like she'd been stuck in this bathroom for days, but she wasn't sure—it could have only been a few hours. However long it had been, she'd spent most of the time trying to talk herself out of a panic attack or searching for something to break down the door with.

The bathroom was a disaster now. She'd pulled everything out of the tiny linen closet. Her curling iron sat broken on the floor from her attempt to use it to pry the pins from the hinges. It had worked on one of the hinges but broke on the second one. Nothing else could help get the others out.

She considered everything in the little room. Could she break the doorknob off? She'd tried with the tank lid of the toilet but only managed to crack the porcelain.

Once that had been a failure, she curled up with the small pile of towels and tried to sleep. She wasn't even sure she had slept at all. In and out. And when she did fall asleep, she was quickly overwhelmed with images of the masked man who'd attacked her. So then she'd tried to stay awake.

But that didn't work either.

Her lungs hurt. Her head hurt. Her stomach hurt. Everything hurt.

Should she try again? But what else could she try? Hadn't she thought of everything?

She hadn't tried yelling, but there was no point in that. No one would hear her.

"Help." Her voice barely met her own ears. She took a deep breath. "Help." It was a little louder, but her voice cracked.

A coughing fit seized her lungs.

Fresh panic rushed in like a tsunami. She couldn't get the air she needed. The coughing wouldn't stop.

She pulled herself up to the sink and filled a plastic cup. Between coughs, she took a few sips, and the fit eased. She needed her inhaler. But it was in her purse with her phone and her gun.

She slid back to the floor. What was she supposed to do? Would she starve to death before someone found her? Or would she die from a lack of oxygen? If these attacks kept happening, the latter was likely.

Resting her arms on her knees, she leaned her head down.

Thump.

She lifted her head. What was that?

There it was again.

Her heart took off. Was her attacker back?

She scrunched up further, hugging her knees.

The sound continued and then stopped. Was it someone knocking?

Could it be someone that could help? But there was no way she was going to be able to get their attention. Her voice was shot. And she didn't want to risk another coughing spasm.

She pushed herself off the floor. The bathtub was on the outside wall. She banged on the plastic bathtub surround. But she was so weak.

She stopped and listened. The exterior wall was brick. If someone was outside, there was no way they heard her.

Picking up a bottle of shampoo, she chucked it across the tiny bathroom. She would be stuck in here forever.

She grabbed a handful of the shower curtain and yanked. It didn't give. Flinging it aside, she jumped out of the tub and collapsed back into her pile of towels. It was hopeless.